Your opinion please...

[elkstalkr]

Some studies have shown that fawn bucks actually do better WITHOUT thier momma's!! They are more independent and learn to avoid danger faster without them, thus helping them to grow big and old.

Therefore it might not be always bad to shoot momma's with fawns just for this reason. Of course in areas of low fawn survival rate, this may be different. But most of the U.S. has very little problem with whitetail fawn mortality.

I usually shoot the biggest antlerless in the bunch. Having worked check stations as a biologist I know from experience that BIGGER DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN OLDER, when it comes to antlerless deer. On several occasions I have checked in does that were taken from the same property on the same day. The big doe would age 1.5 years and the smaller doe would age 3.5-4.5 years.

Typically, older is bigger, but not always.

I also have no problem shooting fawns. The unit I hunt in NE pretty much has unlimited antlerless tags, and I will shoot antlerless deer until they stop coming or I run out of purchased tags.

My personal opinion is shooting doe fawns is the absolute best thing to kill IF your objective is to reduce the size of the herd. Once fawns make it to hunting season, thier odds of survival until next breeding season are very high. Therefore, the young, are the most "fit". By that I mean they have the potential to produce more offspring in the coming years than any older deer. Thus you end up with an "aging" deer herd that simply can't produce the # of offspring younger deer can. BUT.....thats a great theory that isn't really practical, as most hunters refuse to shoot fawns for a variety of reasons.

 

[goosehunt2]

Well this is kind of tough. I personally would take the old doe out of the mix. One, More meat for the deepfreeze and Two, In hopes of cleaning up the gene pool a little. Mortality rate here on the fawns is not bad at all. Our winters are basically pretty mild anymore and the survival rate of the fawns is actually pretty good.

 

[RAF]

It's been my understanding that young does, those have their first fawn, usually, if not always, have only 1 fawn their first time. Older does usually produce twins. If this is the case, then it would be a good idea to leave the the older does who will produce more offspring. In my experience when hunting or relaxing at my cabin, I like to watch the deer. I see lots of does and the small ones usually only have one fawn with them. The bigger ones generally have twins. I'm interested in hearing some more opinions.

 

[user 70]

From http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view ... 8&q=150818 (Pennsylvania Game Commission):

The age and health of a doe influence her reproductive capacity. Females from the best range produce more fawns than those from poor range. Adult females (2.5 years and older) usually produce twins, triplets are not uncommon. There is a pronounced tendency for young females to produce a larger percentage of male offspring than older does.

Which deer you harvest depends on what you are trying to do. I'm trying to thin the resident deer herd in an effort to minimize crop damage while also filling the freezer, so does get the first nod. I mentioned I like yearling does for the freezer. Reading the above passage from the PGC might make me rethink this. If yearling does have a single fawn and it is usually a buck, maybe I should be concentrating more on shooting the older does carrying twins.

Your management goals might vary.

 

[Anonymous]

Take the old Doe. More meat, she is neer the end of her life cycle, and if barren is not contributing to the heard and is using resources needed by the productive animals.

 

[jlaughlin72]

Take the old Doe. More meat, she is neer the end of her life cycle, and if barren is not contributing to the heard and is using resources needed by the productive animals.

As for the doe being at the end of her life cycle, my buddies son killed a big doe early in the season that weighed 145# and was aged at about 8.5 years old.
As for which one to take,
My buddy came into this situation right at the end of the season, big doe and a decent size yearling doe, he chose to take the big doe. When we were cleaning the deer we noticed the bad inside her was larger than normal. Upon closer examination, she was pregnant with twins, they were about 4.5 inches long and developed enough to see that one was a Buck and one was a Doe. I have a couple of pics, but I am not gonna post them unless someone yall want me too. Or send me a pm and I can give you the link for the pics.

 

[Rifleman]

If I only had one tag or was using a muzzleloader, then I would shoot the first one that gave me the chance to blast it right between the running lights and splatter brain matter all over the tree tops.

If I was using a repeater and had tags for all of them, I would shoot them based on their ability to escape the impending doom of the dinner table. Most likely to escape, first shot.

Quite frankly this seem like a good opportunity for a claymore mine or some similar device. Why can't the DNR allow those? :lol: