2019 Deer Hunting

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Okie4570

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Finally got the eldest out this evening, took grandpa's 1968 Ruger 3 screw .44 but only saw small bucks this evening. Was nice to get out.

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undeg01

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Had a great first hunt with my oldest granddaughter this weekend. We saw 16 different doe/fawns, but only one spike and one button buck the whole weekend. We had deer within 8 ft and consistently had doe within 20 - 30 yds. We had one barren doe come in last night, but she stayed in cover and never presented a shot.

Bella said that the best part of the weekend was getting to spend time with Papa. No deer taken but a great weekend nonetheless.

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ElkStalkR

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Its funny to me that some of you won't shoot does with fawns/young of the year.

There is no biological reason not to this late in the year as they are well old enough to make it on their own. Furthermore some research has shown that button bucks who lose their mothers during deer season often fare better than if they had hung with mom till she kicked them off.

I'm not really railing on anybody here. Absolutely to each their own. Just find it strange is all.
 

kirk1978

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Its funny to me that some of you won't shoot does with fawns/young of the year.

There is no biological reason not to this late in the year as they are well old enough to make it on their own. Furthermore some research has shown that button bucks who lose their mothers during deer season often fare better than if they had hung with mom till she kicked them off.

I'm not really railing on anybody here. Absolutely to each their own. Just find it strange is all.

This one still pretty small.

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ignerntbend

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Its funny to me that some of you won't shoot does with fawns/young of the year.

There is no biological reason not to this late in the year as they are well old enough to make it on their own. Furthermore some research has shown that button bucks who lose their mothers during deer season often fare better than if they had hung with mom till she kicked them off.

I'm not really railing on anybody here. Absolutely to each their own. Just find it strange is all.
I used to say I wouldn't shoot one with a fawn on her, or one that didn't have her winter coat. I'll say, sometimes, it's bad luck.

It's worse luck to be superstitious. Hah! I generally just shoot or don't shoot depending on how much time I've got and how hungry I am.
 

makeithappen

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Yesterday morning I got skunked. I knew where I wanted to be but the winds wouldn't allow. Guess where moose showed up? Yep...

I dumped some corn at 1230 to try and center the deer for a shot. At 245 I snuck back in to push 2 does off the corn. They came back at 450 and stayed for 10 minutes before blowing and taking off. It wasn't because of me. 520 a young 7 point chased a yearling in with a mature doe. They fed for a few minutes before they too started blowing. What the heck? I had started filming with my phone to catch three buck grunting when I saw the problem. A bobcat was sneaking in. He passed 5 yards from my stand and all 3 deer were quite mad and followed it for 80 yards making a racket before returning to eat for another 30 minutes.



Right at dark, I started packing up when 2 deer snuck in to eat. I was almost sure one was a target buck due to time and direction. 10 minutes later, I'm frozen in the stand and a third deer comes from the opposite direction, alone. I can't see a damn thing. By 740 I break out my grunt call and lightly started on it. I was able to get the first 2 to slowly leave with the third round of grunting but the third deer was mad. He was stomping and walking in circles, from what I could hear. At 750, I see lightning in the distance and I have a 12 minute walk to the truck. I started barking and growling. This just made him mad. He started to circle the stand at 15 yards. The lightning started intensifying and I had to leave! I kept barking as I eased out of the stand with this deer within 20 yards. I slowly worked my way away from the stand until I walked into a branch in the dark. I used my phone screen for light, holding it at knee level and left. He never spooked. They were right in front of my camera the whole time. The next card pull will be interesting. I got in the truck right as the bottom fell out of the sky. The ride home was rough with the storms. Made me glad the deer didn't arrive earlier for a shot.
 

undeg01

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Its funny to me that some of you won't shoot does with fawns/young of the year.

There is no biological reason not to this late in the year as they are well old enough to make it on their own. Furthermore some research has shown that button bucks who lose their mothers during deer season often fare better than if they had hung with mom till she kicked them off.

I'm not really railing on anybody here. Absolutely to each their own. Just find it strange is all.

I have no problem shooting does with fawns as far as that goes. I prefer to take barren doe that are old and possibly barren due to their age. I track the doe that I have on the place and if a particular doe is producing twins year after year, I choose to leave her. I also prefer to leave doe until after rut so I have more “attractant” for bucks during rut. If I know where the doe hang out, that’s where I’ll be.

We took 13 deer off our place last year and only 4 were bucks, so taking doe is definitely not a faux pax...just selective timing of harvest.
 

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