My First Deer

[Manxdriver]

Well done! Next year, find a kid, or two to join you! Aw heck, take their Dads and Moms and sisters too! I try to add one new shooter every year.

[unclejumbo]

Meat is meat. Congrats.

My roommate when I first got out of the academy shot a doe/yearling about the size of a German Shepard. He hung it from the tree in front of the house, that was a little embarrassing.

If it concerns you, there are ways to make field ID on a deer before you shoot. One way is to look at the face, another is to look at the shape of the body.

[PAwhitetailbowhunter]

Excellent!! Nothing unethical about shooting a young doe or a young buck. Young meat is tender! If in the future you want bigger doe, you might consider waiting until you see a group and pick out what are obviously the larger doe. Difficult for new and first time hunters to judge size when the deer are by themselves. Couple of rules of thumb. Antlerless deer by themselves are often button bucks, so look closely at the head with your binos if you don't want to shoot a BB. During the breeding time (Nov.) Momma doe usually kick out the fawns when they mate so if you see a lone doe it is often a yearling. Mature Doe have LONG snouts. So look for the long nose if you want a big doe. Have no fear about shooting a Doe with fawns they are weaned by gun season.

[jthrelf]

Excellent!! Nothing unethical about shooting a young doe or a young buck. Young meat is tender! If in the future you want bigger doe, you might consider waiting until you see a group and pick out what are obviously the larger doe. Difficult for new and first time hunters to judge size when the deer are by themselves. Couple of rules of thumb. Antlerless deer by themselves are often button bucks, so look closely at the head with your binos if you don't want to shoot a BB. During the breeding time (Nov.) Momma doe usually kick out the fawns when they mate so if you see a lone doe it is often a yearling. Mature Doe have LONG snouts. So look for the long nose if you want a big doe. Have no fear about shooting a Doe with fawns they are weaned by gun season.

Awesome advice! Thank you and everyone else.

[howard stiffy]

My dad got one a few years back. Lone deer at about 300yds. One shot, leaning against a tree. I said, I don't see it. He said, I damn sure got it. When he found it and I took the truck out to him, I lifted her up with one hand!

Congratulations on your harvest, and enjoy your 'veal'.

[Swamp Fox]

Congratulations on your first deer! Don’t worry about the size, that is about the size of my first deer that I shot on the last day of doe season in Carbon County back in 1970, just before dark. It was my last chance with a rifle that season. You could pick it up and throw it over your shoulder. Used a .30-06 Remington 760 Gamemaster with 150 grains. Lucky I didn’t ruin a lot of meat. I hope you get many more. My days of deer hunting are winding down.

[gghbi]

Excellent!! Nothing unethical about shooting a young doe or a young buck. Young meat is tender! If in the future you want bigger doe, you might consider waiting until you see a group and pick out what are obviously the larger doe. Difficult for new and first time hunters to judge size when the deer are by themselves. Couple of rules of thumb. Antlerless deer by themselves are often button bucks, so look closely at the head with your binos if you don't want to shoot a BB. During the breeding time (Nov.) Momma doe usually kick out the fawns when they mate so if you see a lone doe it is often a yearling. Mature Doe have LONG snouts. So look for the long nose if you want a big doe. Have no fear about shooting a Doe with fawns they are weaned by gun season.

Good advice, but... That's how I knew about how tender small does are. My BIL was watching a bunch of does and decided to shoot the tallest one, which turned out the be almost the smallest, but it was standing on the highest point of ground thus looked taller. The joke is that when they cooked the backstrap, his wife said 'We need to order pizza for the kids' and hie asked if the meat was that bad, which was followed by no, it's that good!

[stopphillysmrdrrate]

Congrats! Beggers cant be choosers public land shotgun no rifle sights..I say you did good real good!!

[Palerider]

Congrats on first harvest!

[God's Country]

It's not uncommon to shoot a small deer your first time, especially with the seasons we now have. I've done it, most of us have at some point. I hate myself when i have done it, not because it's small or young, but because to me it's mostly all the same amount of work with far less meat. It's not unethical, or anything to be embarrassed over.

JUST DON'T DO IT AGAIN!!!

She should eat well, and congrats! Happy to see another hunter joining the ranks!