Worth shooting as a back up plan?

[PastorJoel]

Is hunting (for you) about getting meat or the sport?  If you need the meat, get any deer you can.  If you hunt more for the sport, then I would let it pass.

[coachcw]

If you wanna boost the population in the area don't shoot. If there's any remorse then don't shoot , if you can hunt the late season don't shoot. If your familly needs the meat for survival  then shoot . By November that  fawn won't need her nearly as much. 

[WildBear]

Wouldn't shoot, at least not in September. Plenty of time to be pursuing bucks. Save that thought for the late hunt. 

[csaaphill]

alone no fawn and a bit fatter I might, but yeah save for later.

[Jpmiller]

I am not in any way opposed to shooting does. My dad is over in Mazama and I now hunt his property every year. I have taken does opening morning with spotted fawns following them and watched them grow up. I actually harvested a fawn from a doe my dad killed the year before that was only three and a half months old when it was orphaned.

I am sure that not having mom around hurts survival chances but from having watched firsthand deer that I can identify on sight grow up orphaned I don't feel bad in the least when I do take out mom.

To me hunting is about both having fun and eating wild game. I love looking at antlers but I love eating venison more. A deer in the freezer is worth a herd of world class bucks in the field in my book. At the end of the day do what is in line with your personal hunting goals. If you're looking for a deer harvest take the first legal animal. If you're looking for a buck wait for a buck and so on.

[HunterofWA]

This is what my the average doe looks like during late season.

[jackelope]

Bucks will breed multiple does. If you have an excess # of does, then from a management standpoint it wouldn't be a bad idea to kill some does. If you want to boost the # of deer in the area, then don't shoot. If you are just looking for meat then kill the deer. If you want to kill a buck, then don't shoot the doe....at least not until later on in the season. Odds are if you're hunting over your bait sites or your food plots, you'll have plenty of opportunity to shoot a doe. Maybe wait for one without a fawn or an obviously older doe to shoot. That one in the 1st picture looks to be young and has a fawn.

[CP]

Too skinny - the little parasite is sucking her dry - leave her to take care of her little one.

 

[Rainier10]

If you wanna boost the population in the area don't shoot. If there's any remorse then don't shoot , if you can hunt the late season don't shoot. If your familly needs the meat for survival  then shoot . By November that  fawn won't need her nearly as much. 

[HunterofWA]

Bucks will breed multiple does. If you have an excess # of does, then from a management standpoint it wouldn't be a bad idea to kill some does. If you want to boost the # of deer in the area, then don't shoot. If you are just looking for meat then kill the deer. If you want to kill a buck, then don't shoot the doe....at least not until later on in the season. Odds are if you're hunting over your bait sites or your food plots, you'll have plenty of opportunity to shoot a doe. Maybe wait for one without a fawn or an obviously older doe to shoot. That one in the 1st picture looks to be young and has a fawn.

Thanks for the tip!

[HunterofWA]

I just thought of this: If the doe is kinda skinny wouldn't that mean that they isn't enough food around? to many deer?

[Jonathan_S]

I just thought of this: If the doe is kinda skinny wouldn't that mean that they isn't enough food around? to many deer?

Deer are more thin in the summer, looks perfectly healthy to me.  If it's legal and you want to shoot it, then do it.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I just thought of this: If the doe is kinda skinny wouldn't that mean that they isn't enough food around? to many deer?

Lactating does are normally thin in the summer, they are putting all their excess energy into getting their fawns as large as possible. The bigger the fawn, the better its chances of survival to grow up and breed. In fall, lactating does' physiology shifts to putting on fat to prepare for the demands of growing fawns and surviving winter, and only excess energy goes into lactation.  Fawns don't need milk after around 3 months age for survival, but if the doe is on a high nutritional plane lactation can occur well into winter.  If you are seeing skinny does after October, there is possibly a shortage of feed, but it can also indicate parasite loads, disease or other stressors. 

I have no issues with your choice to kill the doe or not.  If you would be happy to do so, and not regret not being able to hunt later in the season, go for it.  I once tagged out on a doe in September to concentrate on elk, and found myself in late October, during an open season, rifle in hand watching a 32" 4x4 mule deer and 5 smaller bucks.  That doe was my second deer ever, and that was the first time I thought about trade-offs, and kind of wished I'd held off.  However, the next year I killed a yearling buck before 8am September 1, and was perfectly happy about it all season.  There is no ethical reason to hold off, but I'd probably hold off myself for a bigger doe or a fat yearling buck, purely from a meat quality/quantity perspective. 

[HunterofWA]

Ok

[HunterofWA]

How about this one?