Took a Fawn....Mixed feelings

Don't worry if you can hit a small one the big ones are easy.

 

Shoot whatever makes you happy...! I shot a fawn this year as well. Made some dang good jerky too...lol. In my experience they make the best jerky. I wouldn't worry about what anyone else thinks....TV has played a huge role into hunting....good and bad! Congrats on the deer though.

 

I have failed the ground check a time or two in the past. It does happen and yes they are very tasty. I definitely prefer adult deer though and consider a doe over 120 lb. a trophy. Usually when a small one comes in, mama is nearby and if you just wait a few minutes, she will likely follow. Sometimes with a buck following her. If you want a youngling, they are tasty but they make terrible photos for the bragging wall.

 

Dang Muzzy Man, you stole my thunder,..cause I was gonna say, ..shootin a fawn is like sleepin with a fat chick,..alot of fun, you just cant tell anybody,.......

 

hahaha aint no shame in my game! LOL

 

Nice job on the kill, if your happy with what u shot that's all that matters. If u second guessed the kill, then maybe u know u want something different next time.

 

Yes they do have buttons. A button buck is this year's fawn. They will have spikes at a minimum the following year.

 

No worries THW, all the haters have just admitted to never / or lied about killing a squirrel, rabbit, antelope, etc etc etc....

Good hunt buddy.

 

To flip this thread back at you OP......would you do it again?....the reason I ask is because I did that one year and havent since....I dont mind it at all and if there was a really rough season I would absolutely pull the trigger again so I guess my answer is yes but...for some reason...I like to wait for the big ol girls now...they taste good to

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What haters???

 

Train wreck.

 

Congrats on the kill. As long as you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

Me personally, I won't shoot a fawn. I will go without before I ever kill one again. I know many on here may think I sound like a pansy for this, but I just feel too bad shooting a fawn. I've done it before, but never will again.

 

I like for game to have lived a full life...that means I feel better shooting mature deer (or anything else) when I can age them at all. I agree, the more tender meat is a line of crud...a myth...the old mature buck I shot this year has not had a tough cut cooked out of him yet. In fact, he's been every bit as tender as the doe I have taken. I've had younger deer in the past that were tough....I think it depends on their diet.

Anyone that has taken very many deer or has had a very long hunting career has probably taken small deer either on purpose or by accident at some point though, to each their own.

 

I've eaten both. I shot a button buck, once. Realized it while gutting it and came upon his nut sack.

Once I realized at that small a size, you can't tell if it has buttons or not, I made a conscious decision to not shoot that young a deer.

BTW the buck I'm eating now tastes just like roast beef. Its all in how well you shoot it and how quickly it dies.

 

Small deer may or may not taste better, but they sure are easier to drag back to the truck

 

Shoot what you want and enjoy the meat!


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As if anyone needs an "excuse" to shoot any deer they want. A fawn is 100x more tender than any buck or old doe regardless of how they died, it's not even remotely close. As far as taste I think they all taste pretty good if processed and prepared right.

OP, there are millions of deer. Shoot all you want of whatever size you want (within your states limits of course). I think some of the varying views on deer often come from people having different hunting backgrounds. Almost all the land I hunt here in VA we have DMAP tags, essentially you can kill all the antelerless deer you want in a season and the farmers don't want to hear you spouting off about all the deer you pass in search of a "trophy". If they do you likely won't be hunting there much longer. On a lot of hunting sites deer seem to viewed as some majestic animal(which I get, they're awesome to hunt) but often in the real world in many areas deer are viewed about the same as a raccoon in your trash can.

 

Yes, when deer numbers are way too high and overpopulated...I would not have as much of a problem shooting the youngsters...but that's a different circumstance. From a habitat and a management perspective, getting the population into sustainable levels is more important than considerations of young deer. A person is doing the overall herd far more benefit (not to mention the local people) than harm in that case.

 

Everyone gets to set their own goals. If the goal is to take a deer, then any legal deer will do. I have killed fawns before, but I also felt bad afterwards. So, I choose to pass them up these days. I also try not to shoot mature does with fawns. Just a personal choice for me. I don't think less of people that do.

 

To answer your question, I honestly don't know it depends on the situation. Where I am hunting, population, and what I am trying to accomplish in that particular scenario. I am not so sure I would do it again, but I am not going to say I would NEVER do it again, if that makes any sense. I usually don't go out hunting looking to shoot fawns, this was a first for me in 10 years of hunting. But it is also something I have been wanting to do given this particular location for the fact of having some good eats. Closest I have come to this was a button buck I shot 8 years ago or so, he was my first slug gun kill and couldn't tell he was a button through the scope and I squeezed one off. So I wanted to see for myself the hype about how well young deer really do taste. Def wasn't trying to offend people what so ever.

^^^THIS EXACTLY!!! Where I was hunting this weekend was Suffolk County, Long Island because I could not make it upstate for the weekend. Our deer numbers on the island are out of control and filling our DMPs is highly encouraged. We get as many bonus tags as we want. All I do is bring the head back to DEC ands they issue a new tag for me on the spot. This was my second DMP that I have filled this season and hope to fill more next weekend if given the opportunity. Like I said above it depends on the situation. If I was hunting our land upstate I wouldn't have shot that fawn, but since the location I was hunting is in need of a thinner deer heard and was alone I decided to let one fly. I felt bad at first given it was my first fawn and had mixed feelings, but after my dinner last night it was def worth it! I have no shame in my harvest and to be honest I am proud of myself. I got down on one knee in my Lone Wolf and placed an arrow through about a 5 inch window/lane and center punched her. Quick and painless.

Same here bud. I touched on this above, but we have unlimited DMPs each year on Long Island due to our large deer numbers. We get bonus tags and can shoot 20+ doe/antlerless deer a year if we wish. There are many ways to look at it. In a different situation things would have gone differently .Since I was hunting closer to home and somewhere that promotes filling DMPs and coming back for the bonus tags also I decided along with other reasoning to take the deer. I know every hunter is different and I encourage people to hunt the way they want and the way that makes them happy. I am happy with my harvest and I do not regret it one bit. She tasted delicious last night and I was very pleased.