Doe with fawn .... just couldn't do it.

[Mr.Magoo]

Maybe I've been brain-washed by Disney, but I had a doe with a fawn come by my stand TWICE this morning and just couldn't drop the string.  I did draw, but just couldn't do it.

Hopefully I'm building-up good karma for a 10 point to walk by.

[Izzy]

Sometimes I let em pass.It all depends on what the voices in my head are saying or how hungry I am for some fresh backstraps.

[Matty]

Theres nothing wrong with having a soft spot... I Like to beklieve thats why I have been so UN-successfull over the years.  We used to joke with my dad. He hunted for 30 years before he shot a deer We didnt think he was THAT unlucky..LOL He a big Softee....
That KARMA is Growing for you...

[James Wrenn]

Normally I never give it a second thought if shooting the doe or the fawn.A couple weeks ago a big doe came out in a food plot with two little ones.While I was waiting for the doe to work down a little closer the little ones put on a show for me.I have watched lots of deer play but this was a spectical that went on for 20 minuites.Never have I seen such frolicing,chaseing and playing grab ass going on.   :D   At one point one of the fawns jumped over mommy at full run with the other right on her tail.When the doe finally got right for a shot I took my arrow off the string.I might kill her any other time but the little ones earned her a pass that day.     All I could thing the whole time was how I wished I had a camcorder at the time instead of the bow.  

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by Izzy:
Sometimes I let em pass.It all depends on what the voices in my head are saying or how hungry I am for some fresh backstraps.

LOL, I'm with Izzy.

[Brook Trout]

I let a mom and fawn walk this morning, too.  I like to shoot a judo at a spot where they were at.

[Cmane07]

If the little ones still have spots I normally won't shoot the mom... guess its just my weak spot but if they have lost those spots they can fend for themselves  

[Travisc406]

I can't bring myself to do it either. I shot a doe once and tracked her into the trees and her fawn was bedded by her.

[John3]

I say to myself every year that I will kill the first legal deer that I can get close enough to...


Then when a yearling comes in I watch them and let them walk...  I just do not want to kill "this years deer" esp. when I cannot usually tell if it is a button buck or not.  Buttons are perfectly legal but I want the bucks to grow older.  Does are always in trouble.

John III

[katie]

I let them walk as well.  My husband is glad that I do.  Makes less deer for him to help drag out of the woods:)  Seems like Moms and babes everywhere this season.

[xtrema312]

I don't shoot the little ones.  That is my only rule.  They are tender, but too easy and a lot of work for the meat volume.  I have let a doe with fawns walk once.  They spent too much time under my stand behind a leafy branch where I couldn’t get an arrow in her ribs.  I watched them do the nuzzling thing and lick each other’s faces for a long while.  I couldn't shoot after that so I let her walk when she got in the open.  I needed one more to round out the years meat supply, and I figured I had time to shoot some other deer.  That was the last shot I had that year.  Kicked myself a whole year for being a softy.  I never had a hesitation since then. This year I had the same thing happen.  Had the little ones either on the back side or front of the vitals.  A couple times I was in the clear only to have a fawn head pop into my shooting hole in the leaves.  I didn’t get a shot off, but not because I was holding back.

[twitchstick]

Most of the data that I have read suggests fawns will be fine after august if the doe is killed.I still try to harvest a dry doe or a 1 1/2 year old "hay burners" without a fawn when I am lucky enough to draw a antlerless tag.This year the fawns all had still had spots durning archery season because of late rut last year.I think the fawn survial rate would be low without the doe present this season.I know I will always be softy though.

[razorsharptokill]

I let a button buck walk several times last year and ate tag soup. That's ok though.

[Tioga]

I have a hard time of it to anymore. Guess I'm getting soft as well. Heck....a few weeks ago I set small box traps for a few mice and chippies that were digging out trenches underneath the pool. Caught them, and was on my way to drowning them, and just couldn't do it. Ended up taking them 10 miles down the road and releasing them.              

Worst hunting experience I ever had in my life was with a first week doe that I dropped back in the 70s. She had a fawn with her that refused to leave after she went down. The entire time I was dressing her, the fawn stood just out of eyesight bleating. I went back the next morning to get my stand, and that fawn was still there bleating. I knew that fawn would survive, but I decided right then and there that I'd never do it again.  

[Eric Krewson]

I went hunting yesterday evening, first time this year even though the season has been open for 3 weeks. We have had rain almost every day and that combined with my hectic fall schedule I just didn't make it to the woods.

I really went hunting to watch the sun go down, not to kill anything. I had 5 does working around my stand, none with fawns and passed on about 10 perfect shot opportunities 12 yds or less. I don't generally pass on shots but just didn't want to kill a deer yesterday. I will probably regret my decision when the freezer is empty later in the year.

On the original topic, I never shoot does with young fawns, too much softy in me in my old age.

[Bear]

I let 'em pass about as often as any other apex predator would.

That said, I might get a little picky with the smoke pole this year. "MIGHT".

[LCH]

The only reason I pass on one is I don't feel like dragging one out(which isn't too often), or I think I will have a chance at a big buck there. Here in NC we need to do all we can to control our deer herd. The fawn will be fine. LH

[Gatekeeper]

I hear you… It’s the dilemma of being human and a predator.

Food for thought, if the fawn is a button buck the doe will chase him off next spring when she is ready to give birth. So, if you want to see more bucks you may want to keep this in mind. Of course just because the doe is dead doesn’t mean the young buck will stay in the area but it may increase the chances.

Deer and Deer Hunting magazine recently had an article about the doe chasing off her last year’s buck fawn written by Charles J. Alsheimer (if my memory is correct). He describes how the doe rids herself of the young buck and it is not a pretty thing. She pretty much beats him up until he gets the message and leaves. As you can imagine he’s a little confused and it takes him a while to get the message. After all, this is his mother and he has been by her side for his entire life and then suddenly she turns on him. Nature is rough and not for the weak.

[joevan125]

I hunted with a college friend of mine who were huge land owners. One of the propertys we hunted on was a 6,000 acr cattle farm that they turned into nothing but hunting land. There land was way overpopulated so they hired a well known bioligist and started weighing and pulling all the jaw bones for aging. We were told the best way to manage the heard was to take out as many of the yearlings we could. We had 75 doe tags so it was quite a undertaking.He said it was better to leave your older doe because thats the deer you wanted your dominate bucks to breed. Out of those 75 deer only about 10 were young bucks and they stayed on this program for about 10 yrs. Some of the deer they have taken in the last few years have been 150 caliber bucks and this is land in North Alabama. I always found it hard to shoot those small deer but the results speak for themselves.

[George D. Stout]

I would have to be really hungry to shoot a spotted fawn.  I like to give them at least a chance to get another year older.  Just me.