Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Damage Hunt, doe and fawns?

When hunting for herd reduction I purposely will shoot a fawn for every mature doe I take. In my head it keeps the age classes of the herd balanced. Where if I shot 4-5 mature does a season I feel it disproportionately effects that age class.

I'm w/you Bighorn...just can't bring myself to shoot a doe or fawn. powdr

IMO ( for what that's worth ) your approach/reasoning does have merit.

I have only done culling or attempted herd management on small scale. IF I had property that I could control the deer population, I'd sure give your
philosophy serious exercise a few years to see the results.

I have NO control on properties contiguous to where I hunt so I can't truly manage the deer population.
I know from my observation and my family who lives there that there are WAY more 'does' than bucks. I have no
compunction about killing Does.

As to fawns, there isn't enuff meat for ME to waste a tag.
Does are the deer 'producers' or manufacturer.

IF we could distinguish buck/doe fawns, I would shoot doe fawns. We can't !!

IF you want more bucks -- don't shoot buck fawns !

Jerry

I will not take a doe with fawns unless:

The fawn(s) appear to be thriving and eating on its own OR

I can genocide the whole family.

I take damage control hunts seriously.

As for the fawns, get a couple of ziplocks and get to work.

I do the same, not easy work but whack the lead doe first. 22 wmr between euevabd ear then pick off all her fawns and any other does. Same for young bachelor herds on depredation. One falls on feed pile and the rest kick him to move him. Just time it right and you can kill 5-6 at a clip. Doesn't really dent the 50+ in the field but keep it up and the numbers drop plus you can go a decade plus without buying beef. It is heartless but I have seen Farmers shoot hundreds in the stomach small caliber and let them run off. Horrible yes, illegal no and it's their livelihood. I take depredation seriously and consider it killing not hunting. I am doing the Landowner a favor and if I pass on any legal animals I am not fulfilling my commitments. Even if I trophy hunt the same land. Each season I am there for a ourpose and sometimes it requires me to do things that are ruthless or counter productive. If you have qualms about shooting button heads or mid summer bucks and they are legal depredation animals make it known to the Landowner and explain why. Some understand, some don't but it spares heart burn later. IMHO and worth what was paid.

JWall speaks of managing bucks I think. In depredation it's herd control. Kill eldest breeding females will drop numbers. Younger deer less likely to produce twins, triplets and keep live. It will drop herd numbers, that is your purpose on depredation. It's hard for those like myself even in the frigid north with low numbers. Go south of the Mason-Dixon where there seem to be 50 in every field and 4 month seasons and it's all about controlling numbers/crop loss. It tends to change your opinion.

SBHooper, I remember years ago sitting in my climber along the same question. 104 degree NC heat streak and about 5 pm sweating in my mask hoping for some does to pop out. I killed one and had to rush to clean in 95 degree weather. It sucked, Landowner let someone from the State College grow in the field and deer devastating crop. It was more of a feel good deal but I saw it as an opportunity to give Hunters some good publicity and usefulness. It worked out but was a hard miserable deal.