Shooting A Doe With Fawns? (Should/Shouldn't I)

[LambeauLeap]

Hey guys, I was hunting this morning and a good sized doe with 2 clear fawns came up and decided to start eating in the soy field. I had a 35 yard, easy broadside shot on the doe, but I decided not to take it because she had 2 fawns with her.

Did I do the right thing? Would those fawns most likely die if their mother had been killed by me?

Another reason I didn't shoot was because of the rut in a few weeks. My party and I have seen a TON of does (taken a good sized one) and we all know when there is does, the bucks will come. So I am hoping to take a big boy down during shotgun week.

Would you have taken the shot? I feel like it was the right call, but my buddy says he would have and other hunters I know say they wouldn't have.

What do you think?

Thanks.

 

[Phat Eagle]

You did the right thing. Hopefully everyone else does too.

 

[the spank]

It's all a part of the natural order of selection. Think a wolf would leave her go because she has fawns? Only humans would use reasoning. If you have good numbers then go for it. If it were a year with very reduced numbers then maybe a little help via passing on a shot is worthwhile.

 

[delta1]

You did the right thing in my book.

 

[TedNugent]

You did the right thing. Hopefully everyone else does too.

Ditto.

 

[laurencen]

did the right thing,

 

[Betty-Lou]

Right move, I wish more people did the same.

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

It isn't a right or wrong situation, it is a you situation, you have to live with the decision on either side of the scale within yourself.

As for the fawns, they are resilient and mature enough to be on their own if mother deer vanishes, personally, I wouldn't have due to low numbers and I don't need to hunt to survive.

 

[thepolinator]

shoot the fawn? I hear it tastes better.

 

[Sqr]

Hey guys, I was hunting this morning and a good sized doe with 2 clear fawns came up and decided to start eating in the soy field. I had a 35 yard, easy broadside shot on the doe, but I decided not to take it because she had 2 fawns with her.

Did I do the right thing? Would those fawns most likely die if their mother had been killed by me?

Another reason I didn't shoot was because of the rut in a few weeks. My party and I have seen a TON of does (taken a good sized one) and we all know when there is does, the bucks will come. So I am hoping to take a big boy down during shotgun week.

Would you have taken the shot? I feel like it was the right call, but my buddy says he would have and other hunters I know say they wouldn't have.

What do you think?

Thanks.

You did what all ethical hunters would have done. The chances of the young ones not surviving are very poor without the mother. Now their are two more to harvest for next year.

Very cool and I commend you on a wise choice.

 

[Shootski]

I know someone who has a taxi'd fawn in his basement. Senseless killing to shoot a fawn imo.

On topic, kudos to OP. Hope you find a nice buck.

 

[DiabeticKripple]

i shot a doe with a fawn last year. i hope that fawn lived

 

[Bugout]

I let the same doe with two fawns go, twice during one week, and came back empty handed. Also passed on a dog sized buck. Would I do it again? Sure thing.

 

[Suther]

It's all a part of the natural order of selection. Think a wolf would leave her go because she has fawns? Only humans would use reasoning. If you have good numbers then go for it. If it were a year with very reduced numbers then maybe a little help via passing on a shot is worthwhile.

No the wolf would eat the fawn. Or all 3 of em...

OP i think you did the right thing.

 

[jjohnwm]

If it makes you feel better to let her walk, then by all means do so; a fawn born last spring is fully capable of independent survival now, and I wouldn't worry about shooting the doe if I wanted her for meat and had intended to take a doe. I've been told of instances where fawns were born late in the year, and were still very small by hunting season; I'd probably pass on that situation, but I've never ever seen a case that had me worried for the fawn's survival alone.

My freezer is full now from other hunting, and our deer population in Manitoba is still on the recovery from a couple of bad years, so I am not interested in killing a doe under any circumstances this year.

 

[big boar]

A fawn at this time of year can survive without the doe and if there are a lot of deer around I wouldn't hesitate to take the doe.

 

[woodchopper]

shoot the fawn? I hear it tastes better.

This is what I do. I shoot the fawns first, easy to gut, easy to load in the truck, very tender tasty meat.

if the doe is still around when I'm done gutting the fawn and I still have a tag then I'll shoot her to.

 

[MikeinCalgary]

Good call in my books.

 

[NL-Hunter]

For moose, it is the law in some countries to shoot calves first, if you have enough tags, take all three. I pass on cows with calves every year. You did well.

 

[madcow]

Think bambi