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Post by Sandbur on May 13, 2021 4:26:21 GMT -6
This year I shot a buck fawn. That tastes great! I hope we get another one this fall and we should shoot a doe or two.
My neighbor who always said to protect the young bucks, also shot a buck fawn last fall. He always had said we should shoot a doe instead.
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Post by Bwoods11 on May 13, 2021 10:46:06 GMT -6
This year I shot a buck fawn. That tastes great! I hope we get another one this fall and we should shoot a doe or two. My neighbor who always said to protect the young bucks, also shot a buck fawn last fall. He always had said we should shoot a doe instead. I have to admit I shot a buck fawn back in the day, thought it was a doe (late season). When they are by themselves in the last hour of shooting (snow and cold) tough call.
Hey it's your land, and they do taste good, each situation is different depending on the property.
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Post by badgerfowl on May 13, 2021 11:03:50 GMT -6
Have never shot a fawn. Never will. Too little meat to go through the effort. Nice yearling doe tastes just fine. I don’t care much for venison steak anyways. Much prefer beef. A nice big buck makes a lot of sticks and jerky.
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Post by benmnwi on May 13, 2021 11:08:23 GMT -6
This year while turkey hunting a farm we also deer hunt on I found 4 winterkilled fawns, which was odd because I didn't think the winter was too bad and the local deer herd had great food in a neighboring winter rye field.
Seeing that makes me think it would be a good idea to intentionally target a fawn or two for the freezer since many will not make it through the winter anyway.
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Post by badgerfowl on May 13, 2021 11:13:33 GMT -6
This year while turkey hunting a farm we also deer hunt on I found 4 winterkilled fawns, which was odd because I didn't think the winter was too bad and the local deer herd had great food in a neighboring winter rye field. Seeing that makes me think it would be a good idea to intentionally target a fawn or two for the freezer since many will not make it through the winter anyway. We found 3 sacks of bones this spring. On 30 acres. Either winter kill or a lot of fudd's out there. They were in the thickest ravines we have. I'm guessing shot/injured, but purely a guess.
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Post by Sandbur on May 13, 2021 11:24:43 GMT -6
This year while turkey hunting a farm we also deer hunt on I found 4 winterkilled fawns, which was odd because I didn't think the winter was too bad and the local deer herd had great food in a neighboring winter rye field. Seeing that makes me think it would be a good idea to intentionally target a fawn or two for the freezer since many will not make it through the winter anyway. John Ozoga once wrote that some of those fawns should be shot in northern areas of the Great Lakes states as some won’t make the typical winter. He even had some critical weight for survival or not. i tend to pick the biggest fawn which is usually the buck fawn. They are great on the grill.
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Post by Catscratch on May 13, 2021 11:36:07 GMT -6
We've (the family) have shot a few fawns over the years. The youngest shot a young buck this year still in velvet, it tasted great! Honestly though most of the older bucks I shoot taste fine. Nothing wrong with them if I process them way I like to.
I usually find 4-5 dead deer in the spring while I'm shed hunting. Doesn't bother me much unless it's a bunch of mature bucks. Figure if nature takes them it will be the weakest getting removed from the genepool. If I take them I could be removing the strongest. As long as we aren't trending towards over-population it's ok in my book.
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Post by Bob on May 13, 2021 11:38:01 GMT -6
Have never shot a fawn. Never will. Too little meat to go through the effort. Nice yearling doe tastes just fine. I don’t care much for venison steak anyways. Much prefer beef. A nice big buck makes a lot of sticks and jerky. Science help us all if everybody discovers canned venison. There'd be a lot more pressure on the herd.
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Post by badgerfowl on May 13, 2021 11:42:07 GMT -6
Have never shot a fawn. Never will. Too little meat to go through the effort. Nice yearling doe tastes just fine. I don’t care much for venison steak anyways. Much prefer beef. A nice big buck makes a lot of sticks and jerky. Science help us all if everybody discovers canned venison. There'd be a lot more pressure on the herd. I love canned venison. When someone else makes it. No canner here though.
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Post by Catscratch on May 13, 2021 11:43:47 GMT -6
Have never shot a fawn. Never will. Too little meat to go through the effort. Nice yearling doe tastes just fine. I don’t care much for venison steak anyways. Much prefer beef. A nice big buck makes a lot of sticks and jerky. Science help us all if everybody discovers canned venison. There'd be a lot more pressure on the herd. Intentional play on words?
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Post by benmnwi on May 13, 2021 11:49:00 GMT -6
This year while turkey hunting a farm we also deer hunt on I found 4 winterkilled fawns, which was odd because I didn't think the winter was too bad and the local deer herd had great food in a neighboring winter rye field. Seeing that makes me think it would be a good idea to intentionally target a fawn or two for the freezer since many will not make it through the winter anyway. John Ozoga once wrote that some of those fawns should be shot in northern areas of the Great Lakes states as some won’t make the typical winter. He even had some critical weight for survival or not. i tend to pick the biggest fawn which is usually the buck fawn. They are great on the grill. Those fawns are excellent on the table and those packages of venison don't last long in the freezer. In SE MN we could stand to harvest some adult does, but I wouldn't have any issues taking a fawn if the freezer needed a little more meat. Especially after seeing how many die in the winter anyway.
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Post by Bob on May 13, 2021 12:20:02 GMT -6
Science help us all if everybody discovers canned venison. There'd be a lot more pressure on the herd. Intentional play on words? Purely accidental. But in hindsight, that's a clever one.
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Post by sd51555 on May 13, 2021 12:22:06 GMT -6
Have never shot a fawn. Never will. Too little meat to go through the effort. Nice yearling doe tastes just fine. I don’t care much for venison steak anyways. Much prefer beef. A nice big buck makes a lot of sticks and jerky. i told sister brother that last night. I was bitchin at him for not wanting to hunt the luxury ground blind when I offered it to him. He told me if he did, he'd shoot the first deer he saw. I told him, 'no problem,' but if it's a fawn, you're butchering on your own.
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Post by Bwoods11 on May 13, 2021 12:34:39 GMT -6
We've (the family) have shot a few fawns over the years. The youngest shot a young buck this year still in velvet, it tasted great! Honestly though most of the older bucks I shoot taste fine. Nothing wrong with them if I process them way I like to. I usually find 4-5 dead deer in the spring while I'm shed hunting. Doesn't bother me much unless it's a bunch of mature bucks. Figure if nature takes them it will be the weakest getting removed from the genepool. If I take them I could be removing the strongest. As long as we aren't trending towards over-population it's ok in my book. I do not know if there is anything to this, but we have found that bucks shot in Iowa are more tender than older bucks in MN? No idea if there is any real reason for this, if others notice this? Just my observation. Seems like most of the mature bucks we shoot in MN, are tougher meat, not the case so far in Iowa....maybe Kansas is similar (a down south thing?)
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Post by Catscratch on May 13, 2021 13:33:05 GMT -6
We've (the family) have shot a few fawns over the years. The youngest shot a young buck this year still in velvet, it tasted great! Honestly though most of the older bucks I shoot taste fine. Nothing wrong with them if I process them way I like to. I usually find 4-5 dead deer in the spring while I'm shed hunting. Doesn't bother me much unless it's a bunch of mature bucks. Figure if nature takes them it will be the weakest getting removed from the genepool. If I take them I could be removing the strongest. As long as we aren't trending towards over-population it's ok in my book. I do not know if there is anything to this, but we have found that bucks shot in Iowa are more tender than older bucks in MN? No idea if there is any real reason for this, if others notice this? Just my observation. Seems like most of the mature bucks we shoot in MN, are tougher meat, not the case so far in Iowa....maybe Kansas is similar (a down south thing?) Lots of ideas to this. Could it be that a large antlered buck in Iowa is sometimes younger than the same sized buck in MN (so you aren't actually comparing similar aged animals)? Could it be that nutrition has something to do with tenderness? Could it be harshness of winter creating a difference? Could it be genetic differences favoring southern deer for meat quality? I know genetics, nutrition, water, etc can affect beef in flavor and marbling.
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