Poll: Would you shoot a doe with a fawn?

[Duck-Slayer]

If I shoot a Doe that means it did not have any fawns, too old of lost them.... either way I don’t. This does not mean I won’t on the last day of the last season, I’m a meat eater
Matt

 

[Bowhuntrben]

I should add that my answer of “no” is for hunting at home. If I have a cow elk tag, I’d take her either way

 

[sbhooper]

I've got a spotted fawn all alone eating grass from my lawn as I type. Pretty sure the doe is road pizza since she isn't with her and there was a car sitting with a smashed in hood at the end of my driveway yesterday morning. Biologically, fawns are able to survive without milk by early August and I'm sure she will be fine.

There are plenty of valid personal reasons for not shooting a doe with a fawn but fawn starvation from a biological standpoint isn't one of them.

Absolutely correct.

 

[luck1440]

My rule is if the fawn has spots I don't shoot either. I don't have any sort of scientific reason for this. I guess I just feel better about myself if the fawn doesn't have spots.

 

[Preacher shaner]

Biological concerns and legality (may vary state to state) aside, just a personal ethics dilemma. I was just curious how many would shoot a doe with a fawn standing nearby? This came up in conversation about depredation hunts and population management.

I dont know where you are at but our seanon opens sep 29 thia year. And the does are foing to run them off in 6 weeks for the rut. The deer will survive just fine. And the little ones tast better. Kill ether one. Or both.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Re: some people will pass on the doe because they "think they know more about the population than the wildlife managers"

in Iowa whitetails are locally abundant. Doe family groups rarely migrate or relocate, and unless they are thinned population explodes because of no predators, unlimited food, and mild winters. I have seen extreme overpopulation in one area and 1-2 miles away very low densities. DNR publishes recommendations for hunters to use discretion in whether or not to take does based on local populations, and in counties with very few doe tags a landowner can apply for a depredation permit to take extra does on their own ground due to local overpopulation. Mule deer are totally different in that they migrate based on food availability and other reasons and population management is not hyper local.

 

[Stewart]

I'm assuming by fawn you mean little tiny one with spots born later in the year. No. Did it before and would try not to do it again. I didn't see the fawn until after the doe was shot; it bleated all night and into the next morning. I believe it took up with another doe with a fawn on the farm and survived.

 

[tzone]

Biological concerns and legality (may vary state to state) aside, just a personal ethics dilemma. I was just curious how many would shoot a doe with a fawn standing nearby? This came up in conversation about depredation hunts and population management.

Yep

 

[SticksMcKinley]

Probably not, but I wish you'd offered a "maybe" button. Depends on time of year, size of fawn, status of my freezer space, etc.

 

[Smith_Hunt]

Nope, I would not. Even though where I hunted whitetail deer were everywhere and def over populated. I wouldnt judge anyone who did. Just not for me, would probably keep me up at night feeling guilty for that little fawn lol

 

[WyoDoug]

I will qualify my no vote. I will not deliberately kill a fawn with a doe (or female with young of all other game species for that matter). Sometimes the young are hidden and I have found does still lactating indicating there is a fawn nearby that will die without mom around. To keep deer around, at least some of the young have to survive to become adults.

I also will not shoot a young buck or bull. My preference is to allow all wild game a chance to breed before I take them. My preference is 3 years or older on both sexes when I am hunting. For deer that would be at least 3 points. On elk, I will not take any bull less than 4 points. If you want a chance at a trophy, you have to allow the young to live to become one.

 

[SD-Esox]

Voted yes because I’ve seen Doe’s kick their YoY bucks away in early Sept

 

[rookhawk]

I hate my name being recorded "yes/no" to a loaded question, so I wouldn't participate.

But here with nuance, my answer:

Yes, if there is utility in having the meat and it's legal, provided that the fawn is of sufficient age and at a point where it will thrive without the presence of the doe. If it were a semi-adult fawn in late October or early November, there is no difference in shooting the animal if it was with or not with its mother. That being said, I saw a very small spotted fawn this week near my home...clearly a very late birth. That animal will not achieve independence until much later in the year.

 

[gouch]

A long time ago I did shoot a cow elk that had a calf but I guess I'm getting soft in my old age so I would just let them go