Absolutely not. Even before I killed my first deer, I passed on fawns. When my oldest son was on his first deer hunt ever, he had a fawn spend the entire first evening under his stand. He could have taken virtually any angle shot at any distance--including point blank . . . and he left his bow on the hook. He was rewarded for waiting by killing a P&Y buck for his first.

They'll never get to be big if you kill them when they're little.

After reading all of the posts, I think there has been a distinction made between male/female fawns. Taking a mature doe over a fawn (doe) is always better in QDM. But, if it is at the end of the season, and I have doe tags left (that we pay $ for) I will certainly take a female fawn. Shooting does is critical, always take adults if possible, but don't let extra doe tags go to waste when you could be helping the herd. NOBODY should ever be ridiculed for legaly taking the deer of their choice. We would then be stuping toward the "dark side"(antis). I have taken fawns in my earlier years and have not for many years, but have not made doe tag soup either. Buck fawns? Not an option for me. Spots? Well, the spots are usually gone by early Jan.IMHO.

I was named buttonbuckmaster for a reason. If its brown its down

No I don't shoot fawns and I don't shoot to many does either. I hunt for horns.

Mammasboy sort of hit onto what I was thinking. There is one main point of this thread that is being left out. What time of the year are you talking about?? Sept or early Oct....then probably not. Late season?(for us in MN I'm talking Nov-Dec), then yes I would shoot a DOE fawn if given the opp. I need to thin out the population anyway, so why not. Waste a doe tag on a fawn someone said? At $12.50 per doe tag, I'll take the hit in the wallet. Fawns are most likely the ones that will get taken out by a bad winter and/or predators first. Also someone eluded to that they let doe go if they have fawn(s) in toe. It's my personal opinion that if they have made it to archery season already.....they should be able to make it without mom. If they are doing any nursing, it's not much. Crops and other sources of food are already their main source of diet. They will hookup some other doe if that happens. They will be just fine. Also, how many times have you seen a fawn still with spots during archery season?? I'm sure some have, but I can't imagine not too many have. Spots are long gone by our archery opener.

If a fawn has spots, or is nursing then I would not. If a fawn does not have spots and I am positive it is a doe fawn, then I would consider the shot. Without positive identification on a button buck vs. doe I would pass on the shot.

There is nothing ethically or legally wrong with shooting a fawn. It comes down to a personal choice. One could argue herd reduction, or herd growth by shooting a fawn doe that has not been bred vs shooting a mature doe that may have been bred. Usually that is not an issue until later into the breeding period of the rut vs early archery.

Our opener is October 1. I see many spotted fawns each year during early bow season. I have no problems shooting a doe with fawn, but I would never shoot the fawn.

a 6 month old doe fawn without spots, yes, great eating, plan on taking one this year if i get a shot

Well when I first started bow hunting I had decided that I would take any deer as long as there were no spots as my first.... well long story short, I had a perfect 10 yard broad side on that years deer, no spots, and I could not bring myself to even draw the bow!

I have not seen a fawn with spots in quite a while during the season. I probably wouldn't shoot it if it did have spots. I'm soft I guess. Where I hunt we have ample bag limits, so whether I take it or not...really isn't dependant on that, I wouldn't be "wasting" a tag. I would NOT shoot a button buck. I have shot plenty of doe fawns over the years, and will probably shoot more. It really depends on my attitude at that particular time. Sometimes I just don't feel like fooling with them, so they walk. Good eating and easy dragging for sure