nny243

I' m absolutely paranoid about shooting fawns (mistakenly). I' m afraid I' m going to pass up a good doe for fear it will end up being a fawn. I shot a nice doe last week with the bow that I almost passed up cause she had a little stubbier face than normal, like a fawn would. Obviously I can tell a fawn from a mature deer if I have enough time to scrutinize it but we don' t always. Sometimes a brisk walk through a shooting lane is the only look we get.

Does anyone else have this problem / worry?

BTW: This isn' t a judgement against those who shoot fawns purposely. My hunting buddy shoots the first deer that presents itself. I myself have shot two. The first bothered me terribly. I took her opening day of muzzleloader a few years ago. The second one bothered me very little. I took her the last hour of late muzzleloader. My question isn' t about the ethics of shooting fawns (no spots). It' s about stressing out if you don' t want to shoot one.

Just curious.

Gryan

Meat is meat. Just a difference in the amount. In NJ we have to shoot an antlerless first, so in order to shoot Mr. Hatrack during the rut, I have to make sure I have a doe in the freezer early. Personally, I don' t discriminate.

Besides, any deer with a bow is an accomplishment. Once I get the obligatory doe out of the way, I get selective only because I think full grown deer, those who have survived a deer season or two, can be tough to harvest.

Greg

HaGar43

Shoot a fawn, save the herd.

BarnesX.308

There are about 1,500,000 deer in Pennsylvania. I won' t lose sleep if I shoot a doe that' s smaller than I thought. If it' s a button, I usually feel a little bad because he was next year' s buck. It' s really no biggie, though.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

Tomster

The smaller ones that look like big dogs make great burger.

My friend has a saying going back to that fist day PA had a concurrent doe and buck day, " if it' s brown, it' s down" .

Good luck....

Tom

Sweetwater

I understand your concern & I used to have a similar fear. I have harvested a first year deer mistakenly before and I was not thrilled, but I also knew there was no way to prevent it.

I never knowingly shoot a younger animal, but it will happen time to time. I guess you have to make the call for yourself. Some folks care about it & others do not. I personally do care about that & therefore I take time to asses a deer before releasing on the animal. Just my .02

Best of luck this season. I hope you get a chance to hunt with some family - that is what its all about right there.

jroot

i went hunting for the first second time this season this past saturday. doe came up and i shot fast as i could and the arrow flew true. it dropped within 40 yards just out of sight ...when i found it it was a 1 year old small doe.

wouldn' t intentionally shot if i new but to late now ...didn' t think about it twice. broke the ice for this season and have some tender meat in the freezer.

i consider myself lucky.

deerhunter1224

Is there any way to tell if the deer is a yearling deer. I almost shot a button buck last week. I noticed it was more orange so i held off. I am so glad I did not shoot. About every morning I have had these two does or so I thought were does come past my stand about every morning. If It were gun season I could have had one by now. Any way I saw those same two deer out eating next to a older doe. I could tell they were much younger. I believe they are twins and one of them is the button buck. Up in the stand most deer look about the same size. Call me crazy I dont like to kill deer that were just born this spring. I want to give them some enjoyment in life.

thenuge15

I read an article that said it was better to shoot a fawn. I know this is not the reply you are looking for but they said that if you shoot the mom then they have more chance of getting hit or eaten by coyotes. Plus they taste better. Me if I see a big one and a small one I always would shoot the bigger one but if the small one presented a shot first...whack. So no I do not worry about this.

kevin1

Check for a " belly horn" before shooting .