Took a Fawn....Mixed feelings

Well, if you think doe meat is just as good as fawn meat...your mistaken. It's not.

I can understand teaching your son "morals". Every father should and I think it's great that your son has a father willing to show him the ropes in the deer woods.

 

I agree with the guys that say fawn, doe, young bucks all eat the same ... all of them are tender and delicious ... at least in my area ...

 

This is what I don't get either...how anyone can compare fawn meat to any other deer meat is beyond me. It's not even close.

 

True fawn meat is just a step above. At least...if you know how to cook it is

 

Not sure I really see the correlation between shooting fawns/yearlings and disrespecting animals or having some kind of lower values/morals. Not trying to be argumentative or anything just don't see how letting a deer go multiple times only to shoot it later is that different i.e. letting a yearling doe go then shooting it the next season. End result = 1 dead deer any way you slice it. I guess I don't understand why age matters(other than for mature bucks). But I also hunt a lot of farmer land who want them gone and I know that influences my feelings on the topic.

 

Exactly ...it has NOTHING to do with morals, respect, or anything like that ...If I see a fawn this weekend, I am killing it..if I see 2, both die ...I have yet to kill a deer and I passed dozens of fawns this year ... but they are now on my hit list .... a yearling buck and a BB are the only thing I wont shoot .....maybe This weekend ends my deer season .... I have dropped my standards ... crucify me

 

I have never really noticed a difference in the meat of different aged deer or between a buck and a doe. I think it could be the way we butcher and eat them. We cut up the deer mostly ourselves. We cut up and package the back straps. The tenderloins are never frozen and are eaten fresh. We keep some roasts, but not many. The rest of the meat is put in plastic containers and are taken to the butcher after the season is over to guarantee we are getting our deer meat back and it is a pretty big cost savings to just have the deboned meat processed.

I have never had a bad tenderloin. Back straps are not far behind the tenderloins. I have eaten the back straps of rutting 275 pound bucks and they were not tough or bad tasting. Roasts at my house are always cooked in a crock pot for hours and are always very tender. The grind is hamburger or sausage usually and I am not sure how you could tell the difference in them. I am guessing if we cooked the roasts different or kept more types of steaks maybe we would notice a difference?

 

For me personally, it's a feeling that I would be robbing an immature being of playing out a full role in life. Which, I consider being birth, maturity, reproduction and then returning to the food chain.

Beyond that...I won't waste my time skinning and butchering a little deer for a finite amount of meat vs the time it takes me to deal with it. I'd rather eat tag soup than deal with the hassle for a few pounds of meat. For me personally, there's just too many negatives to the entire mess to take a fawn.

 

This is the way I look at it. If you kill a mature doe its like taking 2 or 3 deer out of the herd. A doe fawn on the other hand has much less chance of successfully raising her fawn(S).

I got this from a artical in a Deer and deer hunting magazine.

 

This is the way I look at it. If you kill a mature doe its like taking 2 or 3 deer out of the herd. A doe fawn on the other hand has much less chance of successfully raising her fawn(S).

I got this from a artical in a Deer and deer hunting magazine.

 

Well said Simon! And so true...I never could really see there being a huge difference in the meat until now. Youngest deer I have shot before this one was a button buck when I was still new to hunting almost a decade ago during gun season and he was delicious too, but no comparison between the two. She has been a DELICIOUS meal for me so far twice this week. Truly amazing! Plus I'm a pretty good cook too LOL

I know the feeling PT, it being late season was another determinging factor for me on this deer. Good luck this weekend and get it done!!! Im hoping to fill some DMPs this weekend myself!

 

At the same time, mature does with fawns are "known breeders". Fawns are unknown.

 

Well from a true "meat hunter's" POV, letting a fawn/yearling walk until next year = more meat next year. So it IS slightly different to let that yearling doe go and then shoot it the next season...... Though if your goal is only to "kill", then I guess there would be no difference.

 

I follow you as far as meat I was speaking more towards the comment about respecting animals, morals, values, etc. I see no difference in killing bucks, does, fawns, etc in regards to that.

 

Killing is serious business. I kill what I can live with. Q

 

Terrible photos huh? Lol! I'm damn proud of my 1st deer. It was a doe fawn. My dad had it mounted too and it gets showed off on my wall proud. Shooting a 2.5 year old buck is just as easy. Their dumb too.



Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

Great point... hope I didn't insult anyone's trophy pics or memories. Of course a doe fawn in Minnesota is probably bigger than a four year old down south.LOL

 

lol! It was an early season fawn. Dressed at 42 pounds. In late season we've shot fawns that have dressed 90lbs. Not much smaller then the doe's.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

90 pound fawns... dressed... that is an average adult doe in Bama if not larger than average.

 

Location definitely is key. Up by my dads in northern Minnesota their doe's will dress out on average at 130 pounds. Around here in central Minnesota it takes a big doe to dress at 120lbs. Most are in that 110 pound range.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk