Situation 1:

Talk to the forefront of deer hunting (biologists, people like Charlie Alsheimer, Grant Woods, etc) and they will tell you that question is a bottomless pit for answers. In that situation, shooting the doe and/or fawn can be the best thing to do management-wise depending on the enviornment. Not shooting is always an option, but one people seem not to be able to get over.

Recent studies in the past 2-3 years have shown that shooting the mother of a fawn (yearling who is weaned, can survive on own without need for mother) increases the probabality exponentially that that specific fawn will remain in the mother'shome range, instead of eventually being pushed out by the mother. This can be extremely beneficial if that fawn is a buck, which normally seeks out new ground miles away once the mother forces it out.

Shooting the fawn can also be acceptable management-wise under QDM situations.

Not shooting is always a choice, but the harvesting of the mother at the very least should be emphasized when management requires it to be done.

For meat shooters...it is totally different. And I have no problem with that.

Situation 2:

If it is a trophy to you, or that meat is the trophy to you, then what does anyone else have to say otherwise? That is strictly a personal choice first, then a biology choice second. Studies conflict on the importance of spikes within the herd. Some say they can grow decent racks (although all studies clearly say the extremely large majority of them will never reach the potential of their same-age fork/basket 6's and 8's counterpartsin antler point/mass ). Others state they should be harvested because of their poor genes.

Right now, there is not enough evidence to 100 prove either theory. As such, it should be a personal choice. I would harvest it late in the season, if I felt little opportunity for a mature buck remained, or during bow. I feel any deer with a bow is a trophy to me, due to the challenge of it. But with a gun, if it is the last weekend of the season, then it'll mostly likely end up on my dinner plate.

No offense but thats cold blooded and what if they wernt winged?

c, b

I have no problem shooting a doe with a fawn, as long as the fawn doesn't appear to be a late born fawn(size comparative to the doe will tell). If the doe is shot, the fawn already has the capabilities to survive on it's own, It will more than likely join another family, but I've seen a lot of button bucks alone with no mother around. I think it depends on the deer, some does will run their fawns off before breediong season begins and some button bucks take out on their own earlier than others. If I needed some meat and didn't want a whole lot I would shoot the fawn(as long as I can confirm that it is not a button buck with my binos). Either way it would benefit the herd and my freezer. I do consider myself as a trophy hunter(but I do shoot does for meat, I'm a rarity I guess), so I wouln'd even consider shooting an immature buck. It took me many years of hunting to mature enough to become a trophy hunter. At first it was hard to watch those little bucks walk by, but now It's very enjoyable. You just have to be willing to "eat" a few buck tags.

I don't think I would shoot the deer or the fawn. However, I would shoot the spike. Although if I were in a situation to survive, I would probably shoot the doe, then the fawn. Trophy size deer are great. However, for me and my family, it comes to getting meat first.

WOW!!

By the time hunting season rolls around, deer and elk ARE weined. If they weren't wiened, then the Nevada Department of Wildlife wouldn't have an antlerless season that early. Besides there were 30 or so elk in that herd. I saw the elk at about 600 yards, picked out the lead cow, and put a 500 yard stalk on her. When I shot, all of the elk in the area kind of hung around. They didn't really spook too bad.

And thank you for calling me cold blooded, I appreciate it