I don't like when folks shoot em right after they lost their spots, at least let them get a year under their belt and give them a chance. Not everybody is looking for big racks, many are just meat hunters.In a many parts of the country moreguys need to shoot a few more does.To each their own but I would have a hard time shooting the real small ones.

I have never had the heart to shoot anything small, yearlings and such. I might take a 2-year old for the tender meat, but it's just heart breakning shooting something that small. Worst part is when you go to retrieve the "baby" and the mother is still around trying to see what the hell is going on.

It all comes down to personal preference and ethics, but for me...I just can't do it

It is always a personal decision. I took my 13 yr old nephew out yesterday for his first youth hunt and unfortunately the only deer we saw were 2 yearling fawns. We had plenty of time to glass them and decide how big they were. I was proud that he decided it would be better to let them walk since they were so small. I have killed many deer over the years...some big and some that were pretty small by my current standards. What is acceptable by one person would be too small by another. Any deer in the eye of the hunter is a good thing.

ya shoot more does at my camp we shoot does all the time

The area of the state I am in it is no does or fawns etc.. But with one deer a year to me it is OK to shoot a spikehorn which is almost 2 years old tho... Most of those are bigger than a doe anyways..

Another reason I dont shoot fawns or yearlings with their mother is because I feel that even if I shoot the mother, the chances of the yearling to survive reduces as it is still inexperienced to be on its own...just something else to think about...?

well yearlings you can shoot the doe with them because there mother is going to kick them out soon but if the yearlings are real small I would let the doe pass but if there pretty big and healthy it is ok to shoot the doe

There is such a thing as doe fever.

I have a friend who more than once shot very small does thinking they were much bigger than they were. He simply misjudges the size. One of them fit in the "size of a dog" category--small enough that after field dressing, one of the hunting party held it up by the hind legs like you would a rabbit.

The beauty part is that it provided some of the best razzing and obnoxious comments to ever come out of deer camp.
The aforementioned deer was actually a buttons buck and he shot it through the hindquarters. He's jovial, enthusiaistic, and always interjecting things like "Shoot big mama does so we get big bucks." If you want to get teased mercilessly in deer camp, be gung-ho about shooting big does, and then pop Bambi the Buttons Buck in the rear end.

I'm all for meat hunting myself, but how much meat do you really get off such a small animal?? Theres alot of work involved in the processing, and to me it just doesnt seem worth it. But really its whatever makes you happy. My brother in law spined a button buck for his only deer so far this year, and yes I have been giving him **** about it all season.