fawndo... yummy

if its a year old i call it a yearling.

To me anything born in the spring of that year is a fawn(ie spring 2005). A yearling is a 1-1 1/2 year old animal or the previous years fawn(ie spring 2004).

Once they loose their spots I consider them a yearling. Does can breed at 6 months old. So what you consider a doe fawn born that spring can breed before the end of the year. think dog years

a yearling to me is an adolescent deer. if it has spots, then it's a fawn.

Once they lose their spots I do not consider them fawns...we then call them "this years deer." I looked up the definition of fawn from Merriman-Webster and get the following:

Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English foun, from Middle French feon, faon young of an animal, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin feton-, feto, from Latin fetus offspring -- more at FETUS
1 : a young deer; especially : one still unweaned or retaining a distinctive baby coat

The deer born the same spring as hunting season are fawns/calves/lambs. After that I call them does/cows/ewes. Thats what my tag says for antlerless deer and elk. Cow/Male calf/Female calf. (you check which one it is).

Hence the word: Yearling!

I've often thought that it was amusing that folks that take a young animals just do NOT want to admit that that lil' basket racked buck they are bragging about is actually a YEARLING!

I guess it just doesn't sound macho. In my area of west central Illinois they are called FAWNS the first year and YEARLINGS the next season when they are only 18 month old animals.

I must be wrong but I call a deer in it's first hunting season a fawn, 2nd. season (1 1/2 yr old) a yearling. From there it's a 2 1/2 , 3 1/2 etc. Have never shot one in it's first season.