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Does and Fawns

TNSTAAFL

TNSTAAFL

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Age my deer:

2018 Doe #3 (first saddle kill!). 116 lbs field dressed. Assumed she was 1.5

September hunt in NY and she was with a non-spotted fawn that didn't seem to care at all when mom went down. Again, I assumed she was the mom. Maybe not. Maybe mom was still bedded, or off in the distance, or already killed...so many unknowns. Easy to make mistaken assumptions.
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TNSTAAFL

TNSTAAFL

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kyler1945 said:
fawn: 0 days old, to .5 years old.
Yearling: .5 years old to 1.5 years old.
Adult deer: 1.5years old +
Mature deer: fiction created by hunters with access to prime habitat, high deer density, and low Hunter Density, to separate Themselves from the common folk.
Click to expand...
Ok, so if that is the case there's my problem.

By that standard there are perhaps no such thing as fawns during hunting season. At least not young ones, up north anyway. Can't speak to breeding timing way down south.

Fawns drop here in June. From what I understand it is a pretty narrow window. Has to be due to extreme weather swings. Has to be late enough to have food for momma to lactate, and early enough for fawn to put on weight before winter.

Hunting season is October (archery) and part of November (rifle). Brief December muzzleloader season. I guess a June birthday through October is 4 months which is what you call a fawn, but I find it strange that two months later (in the same overall hunting year) it has evolved to a "yearling". To me they are the same age class of deer 0.5 which I call a "fawn") and would mostly fall under the same personal decision to harvest or not.
 
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slonstdy

slonstdy

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I'll shoot does at every opportunity.
Fawns with spots definitely get a pass as do those without that are noticeably small in size only because there's not enough meat to make it worth the effort to break them down.
My dilemma shooting a doe with what I determine to be a "shootable" fawn is that I'm not sure what order to shoot them in that will keep the second from running off so I can get a shot on that one too.
 
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TNSTAAFL

TNSTAAFL

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Here's this year's 57 lb field dressed fawn. No spots. I actually thought she was bigger as she was traveling with a smaller deer and my vision was obscured. Narrow decision timeline and had gone a year without seeing or harvesting deer. Yielded a surprising amount of meat and tastes delicious so far.

Traveling partner ran off. No momma ever sighted but something did blow at me when I climbed out of the tree 2 hours after shot. Suspect it was her.
4bbde398c446b878c6a1e90b72f77e6d.jpg
 
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OspreyZB

OspreyZB

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New Jersey
TNSTAAFL said:
Ok, so if that is the case there's my problem.

By that standard there are perhaps no such thing as fawns during hunting season. At least not young ones, up north anyway. Can't speak to breeding timing way down south.

Fawns drop here in June. From what I understand it is a pretty narrow window. Has to be due to extreme weather swings. Has to be late enough to have food for momma to lactate, and early enough for fawn to put on weight before winter.

Hunting season is October (archery) and part of November (rifle). Brief December muzzleloader season. I guess a June birthday through October is 4 months which is what you call a fawn, but I find it strange that two months later (in the same overall hunting year) it has evolved to a "yearling". To me they are the same age class of deer 0.5 which I call a "fawn") and would mostly fall under the same personal decision to harvest or not.
Click to expand...
You are correct, a deer is a fawn until it's first birthday. By definition a yearling is an animal in it's second year.
 
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TNSTAAFL

TNSTAAFL

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This year's 73 lb button buck. Had no idea it was a male. If known, I would have passed to protect males in our heavily skewed ratio state. That said, I don't feel guilty, and I wouldn't not shoot just due to the risk of this undesirable outcome.

Was traveling with a similar sized partner that previously spooked. No adults/moms ever sighted or heard.
736af12e744aa84017c52877eacd2abd.jpg
 
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rhagenw

rhagenw

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If it’s legal and you eat it I say fare game...pun intended
 
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