Is it illegal to hunt baby deer?

Question

I don't hunt but I was having a conversation about it and now I'm curious. If it's legal, it shouldn't be but I really need to know.

Answer 1

is it illegal to hunt babies?

Answer 2

Yes, it is illegal to hunt baby deer. Fawns (infants) are easy to spot (when you can actually see them) because they still have spots on them, to aid in camouflage. Yearlings, referring to any immature deer, won't start growing antlers until about three years old. Size will tell a lot about a deer, as a mature deer will stand about three feet at the shoulder (depending on the species), and can weigh as much as 250 pounds for a large mule deer.

Fawns and yearlings will generally stay with their mothers for about two years, and until the rut (mating season, in the fall), you probably won't see one without it's mother in the immedeate vicinity.

If you are caught shooting an immature deer, you can be slapped with a fine if it was a mistake (you judged it to be larger than it was), or jail if you knew it was juvenile and shot it anyway. The laws on what is considered a "legal" deer vary from state to state, and some actually have a minimum rack size for you to harvest a deer (that part is ridiculous in my opinion). A large, long thick rack means a virile, healthy buck, and if too many people worry more about making Boone & Crocket (the score keeping for record deer) there will be a blight on the population, and there will be a massive decline in both quality and quantity of deer, as the only ones left to mate will not be of the highest caliber.

Answer 3

Danielle, deer are wild animals. While they have very keen natural instincts, they are also dumb animals that don't have souls or feelings like humans do. They don't talk to each other like you see in the movies, that's all make believe.

The only purpose for deer is to feed carnivores, like humans.

Most places you cannot harvest deer under a certain age and a certain gender. Trust me, there is a lot of der out there and there are people whose job it is to manage their populations, so hunters don't take too many or too few.  

Answer 4

Yes you can, however by the time the Deer are in season to legally hunt them the fawns will not have their spots, but can be recognized by their smaller size and weight.* A true Sportsman and Hunter will not harvest these young deer.* It is not however illegal to harvest them.*

Answer 5

Many people refer to a smaller, imature deer as a baby.  They are normally young adults at the time hunting season occurs.  They may be less than one year old as they are born in the early spring under normal conditions.  They are very thin in weight, but are nearly as tall as an older dear, so it can be difficult to tell if it is a yearling. When hunting it is often difficult to size up the dear, especially for an inexperienced hunter.  The first deer i killed was a yearling, i had little time to determine its size as i was an inexperienced hunter.  I did not kill a deer last year as all i saw were yearlings.  I prefer not to shoot yearlings, but that is just my prefference they are legal in IL.  Protected deer are Albino  

Answer 6

The hunting regulations in each state vary. In most, if not all, when hunting buck deer (males), the buck must have a minimum number of "points" on its antlers or the antlers must at least be a certain length.

A baby deer (fawn) will not have antlers at all. A yearling will have very small antlers. Both would be illegal to hunt in most states.

Answer 7

ALL game animal season are worked around breeding seasons. There arent any fawns "baby deer" to be had during hunting season as they have already matured into young adults capable of fending for themselves.

Same goes with all the other game species.. hunting does not disrupt breeding. Only exception I know of is feral species such as hogs that destroy habitat and compete with native species for food.  

Answer 8

Antlerless hunting is generally only allowed on a single weekend in any particular state. To a hunter this means you're hunting for Does. You want to stay away from Buck fawns, which are young male deer. A female (Doe) reaches maturity around 1-1/2 years. This is the deer a hunter hunt's when that short season is open. Fawns are not hunted and avoided at all costs by hunters. Bagging Buck fawns can get you cited.

As for the PETA wannabe's answering this question... you obviously have no idea of Deer Control, or Deer Management. Keep eating your processed foods thinking that you're not harming any of "Mother Natures" creatures in the process.  Read up on something before you talk... it might make your comments sound a little wiser.

Answer 9

most areas have a requirement for having a hunting permit and restrictions on the age and s*x of the animal being taken.

most if not all require a certain age of animal, besides, who would want to take a smaller animal when larger ones are available.

since deer have no natural predators besides cars, how do you thin the ranks nd keep the population in control?  only a certain number of animals can live off of a limited area.  if not hunting, then starvation.

Answer 10

To expand just a bit on previous posts: Places where it is legal to hunt deer that were just born this spring, it is done for herd control purposes. Without a reduction in the number of deer, the animals will overpopulate and destroy their own habitat. Subsequent to that about twice as many deer will die slow painful deaths by starvation, and will be completely wasted. In most states that utilize this conservation tool, it is still illegal to harvest a deer that still has visible spots in it's coat.

Answer 11

here in va most folks say if its brown its down

now me i dont shoot young ones unless for the tender meat

i mostly wait for a mature buck

Answer 12

Hi Danielle.  For the most part it is illegal to hunt baby deer.  However not for the reason you may be thinking.  A true baby deer is called a fawn and States gear their hunting seasons so that mother deer and fawn are protected.  A 'baby' deer (not a fawn but not a fully grown deer either) may become fair game during anther-less hunting season, but anther-less hunting is limited and varies from State-to-State and county-to-county.  In Texas where I hunt (not the entire State but only the county where I hunt) anther-less and regular deer seasons have been concurrent for years.  This is because we are overrun with adult doe.  That because for years shooting anther-less deer was forbidden.  People used to think that does attracted male deer (bucks) much as men are attracted to place that feature beautiful women.  This not so in the deer kingdom.  Bucks are only attracted to does during the rut (the mating season) which is usually only a couple of weeks.  This is when the buck's hormones are raging.  The rest of the year all deer (male or female) want to do is look for food.  So if you have a place overrun with female deer then the male deer will go hunting for greener pastures LITERALLY.  That's where the deer food is.  

So you see, it is NOT like in the movie BAMBI.  Bucks are not monagomous.  During the rut they are just players and often butt and beat the doe into submission.  Deer don't form a family and look after mommy & Bambi.  In fact the mommy will always run the baby off after it is old enough to fend for itself.  She will butt and kick Bambi so he will 'leave the nest' and go fend for himself.  Survival of the fittest.  

The movie BAMBI is literally a fairy tale that does nothing but needlessly put a black mark on deer hunting.  Deer hunting is necessary to keep deer from over populating forcing deer to move in on human food supply or become diseased and starve to death.

Don't believe everything you see in the movies.

H

Answer 13

No, it is not legal to shoot a fawn.

Answer 14

Laws dictate the hunting of any animal.  Most baby deer, fawns, are protected until the hunting season, which is usually in Oct. for bow season and the tail end of Oct. to sometime in Nov. for rifle season.

By then, the fawn is grown and his/her mother has taught the baby deer a lot.  The deer is born with natural instincts also and what it is not taught, learns from that natural instinct.

By fall, any deer's senses are put on alert, deer realize that the time has come to "pay attention".  This is because of the human traffic in the woods as hunters prepare themselves for the upcoming hunting season.  A doe (mother) and the bucks are much more cautious and the fawns learn even more.

Bambi is not politically correct, by fall most baby deer have lost their spots and look like an adult, only much smaller.  The baby males  have bumps on their heads where they will sport antlers the next fall when they are a year and a half old.  Doe fawns are usually a bit smaller than males, but not always, depends on genes.  Also occasionally, a half year old buck will sport small antlers, I've seen them with almost two inches tines on their head.

I've  spent well over 30 years hunting and keeping ledgers on my deer hunting seasons.

Hope this has helped.