Author Topic: Shoot fawns or not?  (Read 1508 times)

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Offline wreckhog

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Shoot fawns or not?
« on: August 05, 2010, 03:34:11 PM »
My club and several others are in a co-op that donate nuisance deer to a homeless organization. We have a contracted rate with a butcher who also stores the meat for pickup. In return, we divy up the nuisance permits that a number of local farms receive every year. We also kill whatever the farms want killed, mostly as targets of opportunity, rather than directed hunts. It is a fairly easy way to get access to farmland and to hunt deer anytime you want to. Some farms have been doing this for decades. Since local land went from a few hundred $ an acre decades ago to what it is now, farms have slowly disappeared.

Anyway, we keep records. Partially to justify the relationship.

The last 2 deer came to the butcher field dressed at under 25lbs, well under.

We figured that at the contracted rate for butchering/storage and the yield, we could just donate filet mignon.

Butchering/storage are spilt by the clubs out of the club budgets, it does not come from whoever killed the deer.

The clubs have really low dues.

Little bit of discussion in the club. The farmers are perfectly happy with us killing fawns. But it is less efficient to them, since coyotes get a lot of fawns anyway.

Ideally we would just kill big does, but they don't alway present themselves.

Anyhow, we decided not to shoot fawns for the next year. See what happens.

Offline buck460XVR

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2010, 05:40:58 PM »
Tough call. But @ less than 25#s field dressed those deer must be less than 40#s on the hoof.  Put a bullet hole thru the shoulders and all you have left is a coupla drumsticks. But what happens if your club  members wait only for big does and fail to fill the nuisance tags? Somebody else get 'em and maybe next year you're out of the picture?
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Offline Sourdough

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2010, 07:13:54 PM »
Something that small I would not bother taking it to the Butcher.  I'd just run it all through the grinder at home.
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Offline mcwoodduck

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2010, 07:31:52 PM »
My buddy some years ago shot a deer about that size.
We skinned it and cooked it whole on the grill. 
Kind of like a medium rare pig pick.  It was good.
Tender.

Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2010, 02:45:04 AM »
I try to shoot one (out of spots) fawn each year.  It would be like throughing away money to take one to a processor.
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Offline Savage .250

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2010, 04:04:29 AM »
To each his own but I draw the line on that. 
" The best part of the hunt is not the harvest but in the experience."

Offline 243dave

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2010, 06:54:32 AM »
Personally, I won't shoot one in spots during bow season and won't shoot a doe with a fawn with spots.  I guess I've gotten soft.  At the end of the rifle season if the fawn is of good size and not too small I'll shoot it(as long as its not a button head) cause a yearling is better eat'n and easier to drag too.       

Offline BUGEYE

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2010, 07:49:35 AM »
nuasance deer should probably be old big-uns.
for eating, the young of any species is better.
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Offline BBF

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2010, 08:05:18 AM »
They make great eating,especially when the whole deer is fixed to be put on a spit. Done it, would do it again as long as it is legal to take.
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Offline wreckhog

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2010, 11:40:23 AM »
I read once that poaching fawns for Texas baby goat BBQ is good $ for some guys. Never tried anything under 60lbs field dressed. I won't bother processing anything close to that size for myself, so I won't bother shooting it.

Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2010, 04:43:33 PM »
Never tried anything under 60lbs field dressed.

Now try to be a little understanding there Wrecker...  :-\  Where I hunt an average doe is about 60 lbs. dressed.   I try to kill 3 or 4 a them a year.  ;)
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Offline bobg

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #11 on: August 07, 2010, 03:49:29 AM »
  You sure have some small deer there Richard. The smallest one i have ever seen shot was 54 pounds on the hoof. It still had spots and believe me the kid that shot it never got an invitation to hunt on my property again.

Offline Cheesehead

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #12 on: August 07, 2010, 04:18:55 AM »
They make great eating,especially when the whole deer is fixed to be put on a spit. Done it, would do it again as long as it is legal to take.

+1

If is saw a 4 point buck, an adult doe, and a fawn standing together, the fawn gits it.

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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #13 on: August 07, 2010, 04:53:20 AM »
You sure have some small deer there

Yah we do...  :-\  Small for Jawja even.   :(  I killed the biggest deer taken off the farm and it went 125 dressed.  Some folk say it's 'cause the deer in our area were restocked way back when with deer from the coastal islands; they're even smaller.  But that was a long time ago and only a few of those deer were released so dunno 'bout that.  We darn sure ain't got none a them Wisconsin Whitetails 'round hereabouts!

Georgia's kinda strange when it comes to the rutting periods also.  Where I hunt in south central Georgia, it begins around the last of October or the first of November.  But if you go west just a bit there is a small section in the southwestern corner of the state where it doesn't start until December or January.   ???

It's like that all over the state.  I assume  ::) there's that word again!  Anyway, I assume this is because of the diversity in the areas where the deer used to restock the state came from.   :-\

With that understanding, where I hunt fawns are in spots when Bow season starts; mid September.  But are out of them by the time gun season opens in Mid October.  I try to hold off until as close to Thanksgiving as I can get before shooting one.  I like to have a "Leg of Bambi" on the menue for T'giving and Christmas dinner.  The rest of 'im gets cut into stew meat or whatever special cut I want to try...   ;D

Darn!  I done got my mouf to waterin'!   :P
Richard
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Offline slim rem 7

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #14 on: August 07, 2010, 06:33:55 AM »
got some experience with fawns ..a big cat made thier mom a kill..the fawns camped out right behind the house .. i chose after much thought to just keep an eye on them..the stronger of the two was taken by a predator..the smaller made it ..my wife took pics of it as an 8 month old ..
 then sadly at least for me an karry.. some big game hunter took her dn during season..this,, supposition on my part..but its doubtful the big cat came back during hunting  season..imo..coyotes mabe.but she was a survivor.. no big packs here.. that ive seen sign of..
 oh well ,if the meat was needed.. ive no problem with it..but theres about 3-4 a week get taken back there..
if i was mean id have the game warden ,set up onum ,an see how many tags were used..but i pretty much mind my own buisiness,as thats the way i was brought up.. to each his own.. its appointed all life on earth once to die..slim

 

Online Casull

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #15 on: August 07, 2010, 01:56:08 PM »
Quote
I won't bother processing anything close to that size for myself, so I won't bother shooting it.

It's all relative.  Would you shoot a rabbit, or a squirrel?  They weigh a lot less than that.   ;)
Aim small, miss small!!!

Offline hillbill

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #16 on: August 07, 2010, 02:44:22 PM »
i used to be a trophy hunter only, never shot a deer unless it was a big buk or a big doe.gave most of the meat away after i processed it myself. well that was until a buddy showed me just how good eatin them little ones were.look at it this way, a mature doe or buk has the best chance of reproduceing. the little ones here have a lot smaller chance of survival thru the winter.ill still shoot a big buk but much prefer the little ones for the freezer.we are full up with deer here for our habitat, if we were not id be more selective.i think its really a judgement call as far as what your area needs.if yu are shy of deer for the acres yu got, then harvest the older deer on the downturn of production.if yu have plenty of deer then harvest whatever yu like.thats the way i look at it

Offline yukondog

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #17 on: August 08, 2010, 04:59:02 PM »
I have know problem taking a doe,buck or small deer if the heard can suport it, but lets not forget that he is talking nuisance deer here.That small nuisance deer will grow up to maybe produce two more deer and so on and so on.
an unloaded wepon is equal to the same mass and volume as a rock.

Offline IOWA DON

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2010, 07:47:01 AM »
On one hand fawns are about as much work to process as does, but don't yield much meat. On the other hand, I think that taking an old (smart) doe out of a herd makes it more difficult for the rest of the herd to survive. The farmers where I hunt would prefer the herds not survive, but I like to hunt so am happy about the deer overpopulation problem. Anyway, when I do shoot a fawn I don't feel bad. It's like I get more shooting for the damage I do to the herd.

Offline anweis

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2010, 11:14:31 AM »
Something that small I would not bother taking it to the Butcher.  I'd just run it all through the grinder at home.
Something that small is the very finest eating in cuts, not ground. That venison is too nice to turn into crappy sausage. 

Offline BUGEYE

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Re: Shoot fawns or not?
« Reply #20 on: August 17, 2010, 03:00:43 PM »
Something that small I would not bother taking it to the Butcher.  I'd just run it all through the grinder at home.
Something that small is the very finest eating in cuts, not ground. That venison is too nice to turn into crappy sausage. 
anybody that likes lamb or veal will love a fawn.  I do.
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