Is there a true definition of " yearling?" Some people call a yearling a 1.5 year old deer....around here a yearling is this years fawn, not 1.5 year old deer. It seems to me that it would make sense to call a deer that is less than 1 year old a yearling....after that you' ve got age like 1.5, 2.5, etc. While a 1.5yo deer isn' t totally ' mature' it is almost ' mature' and has adult size, looks, breeding ability, etc. I would think that this stage in a deers life would be the adolescent stage. What are your thoughts?

Personally I consider a yearling, last years fawn. I call a fawn, a fawn. Who knows what is right...I guess to each his own. I guess this goes right along with the 8pt or 4x4 debate

WV, I agree that there doesn' t seem to be a solid definition. I was just curious as to what everyone thinks....

That' s a good point I' ve wondered the same thing.

Fawns / yearlings are the same thing to me

My .02 I' ve always considered a young deer a fawn if it has spots and a small deer with its mother a yearling Could be the same deer just a little later in the season. Whats right???? I dunno[]

I think one reason people call fawns yearlings is because " I shot a yearling" sounds a heckuva lot better than " I shot a fawn" . I call this year' s crop fawns and last year' s crop does or bucks.

You know after I replied...I got to thinking.
Yes... I guess I' ve always thought when someone is talking about a " yearling" ...it is not a fawn. I always think " fawn" when talking about a fawn. However....I thought...I can' t ever really remember myself using the term " yearling" . Never really gave it much thought I guess. I always say...fawn, small doe, med doe, big doe, button buck, rack buck, etc. Laymans terms I guess.

I was curious, so I looked it up on the websters dictionary site, Soooo, for what it' s worth...which probably ain' t much

One entry found for yearling.

Main Entry: year·ling
Pronunciation: ' yir-li[ng], ' y&r-l&n
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
: one that is a year old: as a : an animal one year old or in the second year of its age b : a racehorse between January 1st of the year after the year in which it was foaled and the next January 1st
- yearling adjective

Ive always considered last summers fawns as this summers yearlings and everything born this summer is a fawn until 1 yr old.

I call anything born this year a fawn, anything born last year a yearling. Seems to be the most common definition around here.