Has anybody out there shot a deer and when you go to get it, it turns out to be a lot younger than you thought. I shot a small doe just before dark and when I got down to retrieve the deer it was way smaller than I expected and I really feel crappy about it. Has this happened to anyone else or am I the only one who has made this horrible mistake.
Too young
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Yep shot me a nubbin buck last yr thinkin it was a doe! Felt bad but hey I killed it and It deserved more than pitty! Be proud eat it and do it the justice of giving it the same respect you would for any other deer! You can see a pic of it on my profile take a look do I look ashamed?
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About 5-6 years ago, my hunting buddy shot a really small fawn and a couple weeks later shot a button buck.
At the time I remember thinking "Dang, I would have never shot that little bitty deer!"
Well, the following weekend, a lone doe comes walking in about 1 hour after daylight...she looks like a good doe to me and I haven't shot a deer yet this season, so I shoot, she goes down...I walk up to her and turns out its HIM. Little button buck. I felt like crap.
Well, I'll be damned if the EXACT same thing didn't happen to me AGAIN 2 weeks later. I went from never having shot a tiny fawn like that to shooting 2 over a 3 week period.
Since then, if I'm going to shoot a doe I TRY to always make sure she's with other deer so that I can compare them and then I try to take the biggest one. If I do shoot a lone doe, I always look at the face very hard. If they have a short, "cute" look to them, I don't shoot. A mature doe will have a long looking face and a long nose.
At the time I remember thinking "Dang, I would have never shot that little bitty deer!"
Well, the following weekend, a lone doe comes walking in about 1 hour after daylight...she looks like a good doe to me and I haven't shot a deer yet this season, so I shoot, she goes down...I walk up to her and turns out its HIM. Little button buck. I felt like crap.
Well, I'll be damned if the EXACT same thing didn't happen to me AGAIN 2 weeks later. I went from never having shot a tiny fawn like that to shooting 2 over a 3 week period.
Since then, if I'm going to shoot a doe I TRY to always make sure she's with other deer so that I can compare them and then I try to take the biggest one. If I do shoot a lone doe, I always look at the face very hard. If they have a short, "cute" look to them, I don't shoot. A mature doe will have a long looking face and a long nose.
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Yep I shot a lone doe two years ago. I knew she wasnt huge but I thought she was a decent size doe. Walked up to her and it was the size of my dog... It is hard sometimes.
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i shot two does last year that were yearlings....as much as i got ragged on by my buddies....they all shut their mouthes when the backstraps hit the dinner table!!!
your good as long as the fawn doesnt still have milk on its lips!! :wink:
your good as long as the fawn doesnt still have milk on its lips!! :wink:
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don't sweat it, the meat will be great........:wink:
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Its just a deer man congrats enjoy the good eats .It will not get any better than the one you just shot!
And for the record I never made a mistake with shooting a deer that was too young because I will shoot a .5 year old befor I will shoot a big brood doe on purpose .They are still a doe and does need to be shot I just keep the breeders around for buck bait.LOL
And for the record I never made a mistake with shooting a deer that was too young because I will shoot a .5 year old befor I will shoot a big brood doe on purpose .They are still a doe and does need to be shot I just keep the breeders around for buck bait.LOL
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It happens to bucks also, called ground shrinkage, once you get on the ground they shrink!
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Not to come across like an a## but if you were in earn a buck dont think you would even care. It can be tough to shoot the small ones but dang it, if its early season and you need to have a sticker to shoot a buck down the road its game on. And plus you can eat hind quarters anyway you want, nothing tuff about those!
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I did it during shotgun season a couple years ago. My buddies ragged on me for a day or two, but it doesn't matter. It was good eating.
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The cow I shot looked pretty big to me so I took her. (My first big game animal) When I went to get her loaded up she was way smaller than I thought an elk should be.I felt that I made a mistake. My grandpa said that I couldnt have shot a better cow than that one. He said that the meat I would get off of her would be the best it can get. He was right. I got 98 pounds of the best tasting elk I have ever tasted!! He said that you could put 100 cows in front of him and he would have aimed for that one.
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You're certainly not alone. That seems to be a common risk when shooting antlerless animals, especially if it is alone. With nothing to compare it to like a bigger one or a smaller one and/or if it is partially obscured buy brush, it can be deceiving.
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yep, I've done it. Felt kinda bad, but when I ate those backstraps I didn't feel bad anymore. That is good tender meat.
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your good as long as the fawn doesnt still have milk on its lips!! :wink:[/QUOTE]
Milk.........smilk!! tender is tender......lol Isn't that just deer veal?
Seriously this thread woud be shorter if everyone that HASN'T had "ground shrinkage" on a doe spoke up. I shot one last Friday that I thought was a big 'en. She wasn't tiny, 1 1/2 year old, but she was a lot smaller than she was when I loosed the arrow.
The only way I know to be sure you're getting a big one is to get two or three together to comare sizes. I never can judge a doe any other way.
Milk.........smilk!! tender is tender......lol Isn't that just deer veal?
Seriously this thread woud be shorter if everyone that HASN'T had "ground shrinkage" on a doe spoke up. I shot one last Friday that I thought was a big 'en. She wasn't tiny, 1 1/2 year old, but she was a lot smaller than she was when I loosed the arrow.
The only way I know to be sure you're getting a big one is to get two or three together to comare sizes. I never can judge a doe any other way.
I did that not to long ago. It was a dark, cloudy morning and right at daylight a deer comes right under me. I looked it over and decided to pass cause it looked small. few minutes later a deer comes out from my right and stops about 25 yards. I said that one looks bigger so I shot and it was a yearling.
I`m not ashamed but I wanted to shoot a big doe.
They do taste good and easy to drag.
I`m not ashamed but I wanted to shoot a big doe.
They do taste good and easy to drag.
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