Yearling with spots

[ranger 3]

I was out last evening and seen a yearling come to my stand. It was fairly large to still have spot this time of year and this is the first time I have seen spots this late. I think it was a buck because it was all by it's self, I figure the mom has ran it off. Has anyone seen this before this late?

[RC]

I`ve seen deer with spots in december here before but we have allooonngg rut. You can hardly tell it sometimes.
  They are very good to eat though...RC

[Cyclic-Rivers]

easier to pick a spot.

Good eaters. Up here late fawns have a much harder time making it through the winter between feeding and predation.

[Blaino]

Originally posted by RC:
I`ve seen deer with spots in december here before but we have allooonngg rut. You can hardly tell it sometimes.
  They are very good to eat though...RC

x2.  i let em walk though.

[huskyarcher]

I dont see why its taboo to shoot spots? in 3 weeks when all the spots are gone there just any other deer, they are so much better eating!

[Night Wing]

Some yearling deer with spots might not be whitetail deer. It might be an axis deer if it's large.

[kpete]

in other parts of the world, young-of-the-year critters are harvested as part of good game managment.  Mortality is high in the first few years anyway.  Here we have hang-ups about shooting "big dry does".  Many areas of our country have too many deer. Spots or not, do what you want to do, within the law.
I regularly get a brochure from a PH in South Africa and their packages for game often include many opportunities to shoot young game animals.  Especially wart hogs and impala.

[John Scifres]

A yearling is an animal between 1 and 2 years old.  If it's a yearling then I'd be surprised with spots.  

I've seen lots of fawns with spots this late and even later.  I shoot fawns later in the year after they add some weight but I have a hard time shooting them this early.  Good for camp meat I guess.

[ranger 3]

I miss spoke, I meant to say Fawn sorry

[John Scifres]

Then it makes sense to me.  I was hunting early November a few years ago and had a doe come in.  I was going to shoot her and then a very young, spotted fawn shows up and starts suckling.  It couldn't have been more than a couple months old.  That means the doe was bred in late winter.  Lots of does and only a few bucks will do that I guess.  Or maybe she was a late bloomer     This was in KY where winter kill isn't a big factor.

[Blaino]

Originally posted by huskyarcher:
I dont see why its taboo to shoot spots? in 3 weeks when all the spots are gone there just any other deer, they are so much better eating!

i didn't say it was taboo.... i just don't shoot anything smaller then my dog.  if you want to then go right ahead.  who am i to judge what you should and shouldn't shoot?

[tradbower]

Shootem Liz Shootem

[Orion]

John S.  You are right, I think.  Regardless, "yearling" has become the euphamism/synonym for fawn in a lot of areas.

[rolltidehunter]

i have seen deer with spots in late november in Tennessee. In late oct last year i had a doe and spotted fawn walk under my tree in a green field and the fawn was less than 2 weeks old. it lokked like a rabbit with long legs. it still was wobbling around when it walked. it could of been a week old.

[Night Wing]

Originally posted by ranger 3:
I miss spoke, I meant to say Fawn sorry

Two weeks ago, I had a whitetail doe and her two fawns come up to our house for some corn we throw out every evening before dark because of the drought. Her fawns were spotted then, but last evening with the fading light of day, we saw her and her two fawns and the fawns no longer had their spots.

[jamesh76]

I am still seeing them around here.

[Shawn Leonard]

John has it right, it is a fawn until it is between 1-1.5 years old. Whitetails can have spots as late as Nov. around here if it was not born until the 2nd. week in July. Most of our does drop the first 2 weeks of June. Shawn

[Bladepeek]

In Germany, they manage the herds very carefully to match the available feed. We shot does, bucks and fawns there, but normally take the fawn first and then the doe. That way you don't leave an orphan. I never did any bow hunting there (obviously, because it's illegal) but have taken a fawn several times and the doe just stands and watches. Of course they drop at the shot with a rifle. Might not be so easy if the fawn runs off.

[BRITTMAN]

I have took yearlings in my early days of deer hunting but I just dont need the meat so I hold out for a good size doe or buck . Its not at all uncommon for me to see yearlings with spots this early but they will lose them shortly .

[Ky Double Lung]

Just last evening I had a spotted fawn pass under me that couldn't have been no more than 8 weeks old. Momma was no where to be seen. That means old momma doe was bred sometime in mid Feb?