just i would like to know

[tommyc50]

hi, if anyone else would let a deer walk. i mean last year i was in a stand and there was this doe a nice young doe with a pretty face 20-30 yds from me it was the last day of gun season for me[ i went for a knee replacement on 11/30]. well like i said this doe comes in to my field and i watched her for like 10 mins i was amazed how she would disappear and im like wow where did she go and i would see her flick her tail or raise her leg. i know alot of guys on here would do the same as me i mean i love deer meat and could justify shooting a young deer like well i pay alot for my license i got a doe tag that says i could, but in reality what would have i gotten a hot dog off her plus i would very embarrassed to bring her back to the house where i stay and the guys i hunt with said that i did the right thing.i have been hunting for 30 yrs and can count the deer i got on both hands . she was just too cute to shoot

[Jeremy K]

Only you can make the call, every situation is unique.

[sethf11]

I let some deer walk last season. I let some younger bucks walk and I let a few does walk.

But I always let a bounding and running and stopping doe go around the first week or 2 of November. But I usually try to shot what's following her.


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[G-Man]

It's a personal choice ..I let lots go by and sometime I'll shoot the same deer a few weeks later .. It's not hard to get one ..just depends if I feel like gutting one or 3 that day...

[Pygmy]

Bless your heart, tommyc....I also have a weakness for pretty young females...

Actually in recent years, I seem to have a weakness for some pretty OLD females....<<sigh>>....

[Swamp_bucks]

I usually always let the does with little ones go.  But i dont have the greastest hunting spots so buck wise if its legal ill usually try to take it. But trying to not shoot anything smaller than a 6 this year. But see how long that lasts. Lol

[Steve D]

I let some walk every year and do not regret it if I don't get to fill a tag.

[helmut in the bush]

3 hours ago, tommyc50 said:

hi, if anyone else would let a deer walk. i mean last year i was in a stand and there was this doe a nice young doe with a pretty face 20-30 yds from me it was the last day of gun season for me[ i went for a knee replacement on 11/30]. well like i said this doe comes in to my field and i watched her for like 10 mins i was amazed how she would disappear and im like wow where did she go and i would see her flick her tail or raise her leg. i know alot of guys on here would do the same as me i mean i love deer meat and could justify shooting a young deer like well i pay alot for my license i got a doe tag that says i could, but in reality what would have i gotten a hot dog off her plus i would very embarrassed to bring her back to the house where i stay and the guys i hunt with said that i did the right thing.i have been hunting for 30 yrs and can count the deer i got on both hands . she was just too cute to shoot

You letting that doe walk, she could produce a few bucks for the future, good going

[grampy]

Last year, I let em all walk except one. Right before I shot my buck last year, I was watching two yearling bucks for quite a while. Every hunter has the choice to shoot or not to shoot whatever is legal. Shoot what you like and like what you shoot!

[wolc123]

If it were the last day of gun season, we still needed meat, and I had a tag, then I would not let any legal deer walk.  Even a single hot-dog provides more nurishment than one of those paper tags.  That said though, in 36 seasons of deer hunting, I have never killed a doe-fawn.   I lost count years ago of the number of buck fawns that I killed however, and they have made up about 25% of my antlerless deer.  When filling DMP tags, I always target the largest antlerless deer first, which is probably why "little sister" has always gotten away.  My wife really loves those button bucks.  For me, it is worth killing one just to see the smile on her face (along with the "other" rewards she provides) when I bring one home.  That is a lot better than the complaining I get when I have to take a big-antlered one to the taxidermist and get her to surrender a little more wall space.  

In the old day's, when deer were scarce, I never passed anything legal, but these days all 1-1/2 year bucks are pretty safe from me for the first half of archery season and up until Thanksgiving day during gun season.  After that, anything goes.  As a pure meat-hunter, my favorite deer to harvest are 2-1/2 year old bucks, which I feel offer the best combination of quantity and quality.  Last year I was rewarded with one of those with my crossbow, about 5 minutes after passing a cute little 1-1/2 year old 3-point.  Unfortunately, a younger guy next door killed that little buck a few weeks later.  He was genuinely upset about it, and said that he did not see the horns and thought it was a doe.   If that is not a good reason for mandatory AR's then I don't know what is.  I would like to see a 3-point per side restriction if for no other reason than to help folks be a little more certain of target identification.  I think slowing folks down a little bit would make us all a lot safer.        

3 hours ago, tommyc50 said:

hi, if anyone else would let a deer walk. i mean last year i was in a stand and there was this doe a nice young doe with a pretty face 20-30 yds from me it was the last day of gun season for me[ i went for a knee replacement on 11/30]. well like i said this doe comes in to my field and i watched her for like 10 mins i was amazed how she would disappear and im like wow where did she go and i would see her flick her tail or raise her leg. i know alot of guys on here would do the same as me i mean i love deer meat and could justify shooting a young deer like well i pay alot for my license i got a doe tag that says i could, but in reality what would have i gotten a hot dog off her plus i would very embarrassed to bring her back to the house where i stay and the guys i hunt with said that i did the right thing.i have been hunting for 30 yrs and can count the deer i got on both hands . she was just too cute to shoot

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by wolc123

[Buckmaster7600]

It's pretty rare for me to shoot a doe, I also would have let her walk.


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[fasteddie]

For me , it would depend on the size of the deer . I avoid shooting the little ones . I have also passed on shooting small bucks and because of that have eaten Tag Soup but you do what's right for you .  I am not desperate for venison so I can be choosey .... To each his own ! 

[GreeneHunter]

The only person whom can judge you is you !

[left field]

Clearly you are new to the internet. 

[jjb4900]

nothing wrong with letting a deer walk, in fact I think the opposite is true, feeling the need to kill a deer just because you paid for a license or need to fill a tag to feel successful is the wrong the thing to do, that's my thought anyway.....if it didn't feel right at the time, it wouldn't have felt any better killing it.

[First-light]

I bring a kid to camp almost every year. He is not a kid anymore (21) but I can remember one late season hunting December. It was his only weekend to hunt. I did a small push to him. Three doe come out but he doesn't get a shot off. The last of the three was a yearling that stopped looked at him and ran up not more than a few feet away. The deer starts jumping around trying to get his attention and almost head butts him. He said it was the most amazing thing he has ever saw in the woods. He actually started to shoo the deer away and it finally left. I asked him did it ever cross his mind to shoot, he said no way the deer was just so cute and so close to me I couldn't. 

[Tughill Tamer]

I let them walk alot it depends on many variables which include how's my freezer looking, what time of the season is it, how big is the deer, how far away from the road am I and do I have any help and so on.

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[ny hunter]

I have let a few go its up to you.....You either take the shot or you let the deer go till next season.

[Doc]

Ha-ha..... I really try not to get personally involved with my food. I do have to admit that there are times when I have to remind myself what I am really doing out there.

[Critter4321]

I try my best to let the little ones go I look at the head and ears short head or ears and they walk. I have always said I'll never tell another hunter what to shoot, like i tell my kids its still all the same cuts and time wise just half to1/3 of the meat. and then they drive me beyond nuts when they throw away the front shoulders they say oh theirs no meat there well then why the h$#l did you shoot it in the first place

[Pygmy]

I agree with Critter....A small deer seems to be as much work to cut up as a big deer and you only get 1/2 as much meat...

I don't shoot fawns for that reason...

Back when my hunting area covered many more acres than It  does  now, I used to pick out the big old "trophy" does..More meat, and I never ate a doe I didn't like..

Now that I am hunting a smaller acreage, I try to select the medium sized does...I feel the big old matriarch does are the foundation  of the deer herd on the property, and I'd rather see them survive...

[ATbuckhunter]

Depends for me really. If its during the rut, I usually let the doe walk and the bucks that I don't get excited about. Also shooting the biggest doe can actually mess up your hunting for a few years. The other doe tend to follow the habits of the matriarch doe (which tends to be the biggest), So when you remove that doe there is a chance they will adjust their habits in a way you are not used to. 

[Doewhacker]

19 hours ago, wolc123 said:

.  Last year I was rewarded with one of those with my crossbow, about 5 minutes after passing a cute little 1-1/2 year old 3-point.  Unfortunately, a younger guy next door killed that little buck a few weeks later.  He was genuinely upset about it, and said that he did not see the horns and thought it was a doe.        

 

You both killed 1.5's. Stop kidding yourself or trying to fool anyone.  We have heard the story 1000 times and seen the pics the same.  On top of that the age of the deer you kill does not matter to anyone but you. 

Same goes for everyone else, you fill your tag however you want. I don't shoot fawns and, like Pygmy would prefer to pass the old doe out back if I can. Other areas it doesn't matter because there are more to choose from. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have no issue killing first year does. Button bucks, nah, but a nice young doe, absolutely. I actually try to take one a year. The meat is extremely tender, and on one of our farms, the emphasis is number reduction. I could really care less what others think of me killing doe fawns, it's fine by me and that's all that really counts. I'm picky with my bucks, not my does. 

[mowin]

I've let hunderds of does and smaller bucks walk over the yrs... But I've also shot many of em.  Depends on the situation. Yearlings get a pardon for the season.