Hunting Forum

Here is my dilema, I am on a farm with some older friends (like 50s and 60s), and we have let this farm sit basically for 3 years to get our bucks where we want them. We are now very over run with does because I am the only one who would kill one. Now the head of the farm wants all does killed that we can. Just about all the does I am seeing have fawns with them, and on the famr we must kill a doe before a buck. I do not want to shoot a doe who has fawns with her, not becuase I do not know if they will make it or not, but I accidentally killed a doe who had 2 fawns with her (I never saw them and she was in bow range). For the entire year they stayed by my stand and fawn called for their mom all year, I said right then that I would never do that again. I have some nice bucks in the area, but what do I do about my doe situation? Thanks for the advice.

If you want to continue hunting this mans land, then you'll hunt the way he tells you to or else pack your stuff and leave. As for shooting a doe with fawns, by the time season opens, the fawns are old enough to take care of themselves. I normally try to find a barren doe, but that doesn't always happen. By thinning out the does, you'll actually help the health of the remaining herd.

i dont have a problem getting a real good look for nubs on the fawns and if none are there i will harvest, yes i do feel guilty until i cut the first chop with my spoon

Hunt normally, shoot a doe whether she has fawns or not.  They'll be fine. The landowner wants the herd thinned.  If your group doesn't  do it, he will find someone who will.

That said, I think your situation was extremely unusual.  If it happens again, shoot the fawns, they're obviously dumber than a box of rocks and need removed from the gene pool by a hunter or other predator.

The only other options I see are to find a place where you only buck hunt or quit hunting.  There will ALWAYS be a chance that there are unseen deer.

Dale

bluedevil you said they stayed there all year , so obviously they did just fine . Now they are mature and you might just shoot one of those this year .

i'm like you.don't like to shoot does unless i need some meat and thats not to often.just check her out real well,if she looks old or older than most of them you have seen then take her.her fawns will do fine.if shes a young looking doe then check out the fawns.it doesn't hurt to take a few fawns out with a few older does.just look hard for the buttons.

I shot a doe with a fawn a couple years back and will NEVER do that again! If there are lots of does you should have no trouble finding does without fawns and culling them. Good luck.

i'd say let them walk. If there is more than one mature doe, you may think differenly. I just hate for the fawns to lose their teacher before they know anything. They haven't been in a winter yet. If there are two mature does with them, chances are they will still hang with one that survives. Kill all the does, and your bucks will go elsewhere. Maybe you can let them walk and not tell the land owner. This is where hunting is not killing. It teaches young hunters that you just aren't out there to kill.

If you get a look at the fawn and it don't have nubs.  Take the fawn, that should count as a doe.      Better meat, and my logic, kill a fawn in the fall you've killed one deer.  Kill a doe in the fall, you've killed at least 2 deer.  A fawn has less chance of surviving winter then a mature doe anyway.

If the property is over loaded with does, killing a few fawns will help to get the buck to doe ratio straightened out. The SC DNR has reasoned that fawns are capable of taking care of themselves after the middle of September on average. That is why we can start killing them ( with our optional doe tags) on Sept. 15th. Then our first antlerless day is Oct. 1st. We will have antlerless days every Saturday except for the first two in Dec., and then the last day of the season is also an antlerless day as well. Of course, we can get 4 of the tags and those can be used any time, beginning Sept. 15th and lasting till the end of the season on Jan. 1st.
Killing does and the occasional fawn will allow the other deer an opportunity for more food and minerals, which should relate to bigger and better bucks, as well as the does and their fawns.

Thanks for all your replies. I shot does for meat. I have a nice buck on the wall and wont shot another buck unless its bigger then what I have gotten already. I love to fill my freezer with meat in early bow season. Im hoping that I can find a few does that do not have fawns with them so I wont have this dilema on stand. Im of the same mind that double eagle said. I know they may survive, but if I kill off the mom, then I wonder if I am reducing the chance of survival. Thanks for all your thoughts, its very much appreciated.

I think rt4 put it plain and simple. In MD our early bow season starts september 15th, which is set at that date because it is when the fawns can completely survive on their own, they are done nursing, and will find their own food, unless the coyotes find them first. Come sept 15th, if the does are still with fawns, don't feel bad, but at this time of year, look for the ones without fawns to help your moral dilemma. They have been completely weened, and you should start seeing the fawns walking around together, and playing...without mom.

By decreasing the herd concentration, you are, in fact, increasing the survivabilty of the remaining herd members. Decreasing the load on the environment means better quality forage for remaining deer. Short of fencing the whole place in, you'll never kill 'em all.

The herd will get thinned, one way or another. 1: You do as asked, 2: Your replacement does as asked 3: Mother Nature's way. Your choice.

TEEZR, STRONG POINT. I WOULD HAVE TO SAY, IF YOU HUNT A PROPERTY AND THE LAND OWNER ASKS YOU TO DO IT, I'D DO IT. I KNOW ITS HEART BREAKING TO SEE FAWNS LIKE THAT AFTER YOU SHOOT THEIR MOM, BUT YOU KNOW, THATS NO DIFFERENT THAN IF SAY A PACK OF YOTES WERE TO KILL THEIR MOM, THEY'D BE STRANDED TOO. PLUS, DIFFERENT AREAS, LIKE SAY WHERE I HUNT, NORTHERN INDIANA, OUR SEASON OPENER IS OCT. 1, BY THEN, FAWNS ARE NO WHERE NEAR THEIR MOTHERS ANYMORE, THEY ARE OFF ON THEIR OWN WITH OTHER FAWNS PLAYING. MHO, I'D SHOOT MATURE DOES, EVEN IF SHE IS WITH FAWNS. IF YOU HAVE THAT MANY DOE ON THE PROPERTY, THEN IT WON'T HURT TO SHOOT A FEW DOES WITH FAWNS, I'M SURE THE FAWNS WILL WANDER OFF AND BE JUST FINE. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU IN YOUR SITUATION AND HOPE YOU START TO SEE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR HERD.

Think about it , if this would create a problem it would have been exposed decades ago . Fawns are fine to fend for themselves now .

Taking a doe in the range for breeding is the quickest way to reduce the herd numbers. Taking a fawn too young to breed will encourage more breeding. Once the spots ar off a fawns chances of survival are only slightly less than a fawn with a doe.

After 40 years at this, I stil lhave the same issue ............ leaving orphans, but it has to be done to balance the herd. Shooting the does will not run the bucks off either, especially if the doe count is high like you say. I have come up with a process as to which does to shoot. First, I hunt private land also and on a regular basis, so I somewhat know which deer I am seeing regularly, every year there seems to be that one doe that just knows I am there ........... she can be up wind and I don't make a sound or movement and she will stop in stride and look and stare right at me ............... she is the one to put down. If this isn't the doe for you, look for a barren or 1/1/2 year old doe that hasn't dropped fawns yet ..... one of these 3 senerio's usually gets my doe tags burned.

 

 

Not only are the fawns capable of fending for themselves by that time, don't forget that deer are herd animals and they will seek out the other does and fawns through the winter months. They will be just fine.

Sounds like the landowner's own Earn a Buck program. LOL. Actually, I've never shot a doe or fawn. Just can't bring myself to do it for some reason. I'll probably have to this year...beef is getting expensive.

What's this "beef" you speak of? Killing some does and even one or two fawns is healthy for the herd, and they make much better table fare than some big old nasty gnarly buck!