[kennethmandel62]

Well this is my first season...I shot a pretty damn small one two days ago with my bow. I'm talking probably 45lbs. I killed my first cow horn a couple weeks ago with my bow and this doe was the first one I've had a shot at since. Of course I wish it was bigger, but it was a damn good shot for two reasons. 1) she never stopped, i had to lead her with my bow. 2) she was a small target. I was just wondering how small of a group of 'kill'em all' Hunters do I fall in? Sorry no pictures. lol...I was a little embarrased.Either way..she'sin my cooler Iice and will be getting processed tomorrow.

 

[Caspr21]

processed????????? whats left to process??? I am not saying I havent shot small deer before on accident like running dogs whenI was a kid or something of that nature,But if you had just killed a cow horn, why shoot a baby???? Why not try to wait for a bigger deer and move up????? I just think you shot the deer for the wrong reasons. From my experience, you should wait for a good solid kill shot, that doesn't mean well this is a small deer and its walking/running lets just see if I can hit it. Especially if you haven't killed a lot of deer with the bow. What would have happend if you would have been 3-5 inches back, and gut shot the deer? Then you have a wounded baby. I just think we as bow hunters owe it to our game to be as ethical as possible. I am not trying to hammer you, just giving you a different side of the story.

 

[DarthYoda]

Yeah, that would suck to find out now!:banghead

 

[kennethmandel62]

actually...the season is in...do you even hunt?...it's crossbow season through today.....but it was private land where I work in mississippi.

Crossbow season

Not applicable on WMAs

Season dates:South Zone Oct. 8-12 Central Zone Oct. 22-26 Northwest Zone Nov. 26 - Dec. 2<P align=left>Hunting methods: Only crossbows andbows may be used. Crossbows and bows must have minimum draw weight of 35 pounds. Hand-held releases on bows are allowed. For hunting deer, turkeys or hogs, broadheads must have at least two sharpened edges with minimum width of 7/8 inch.Prohibitions: ? Hunting turkeys in Holmes County? Using dogs to take deer, turkeys or hogs;<P align=left>I can't say that I disagree with yall on the shooting of small one's. But I did...I definitely wasnt proud of the size when I walked up on her, but...either way...she's in the cooler! The question was what's the smallest deer you've ever killed?...I guess i'm in a very small group..so far consisting of 1

 

[kennethmandel62]

Or just a bow. Also, to caspr and rivergulf...if you "accidentally" shoot deer then I dont even want to hunt in the same state as you. Listen I might be new to hunting, but i'm not new to shooting! I'm sure through my military training I've looked through a sight and pulled a trigger as much as most of the people on here. One thing I do know is what I'm shooting at. There's no such thing as an "accidental shot". Tip to all...if you dont know what you're shooting at then...dont pull the trigger!

 

[ironman172]

These are my smallest....they probably had spots a month or so ago...:banghead....meat for the feezer:hungry.....I got 3 this past week....nothing to brag about:reallycrying

 

[kennethmandel62]

LOL..Damn man..nice kill...we should go hunting together lol...I think I killed their little sister..j/k mine was about the same...I couldnt bring it to myself to take a picture though.

 

[croakerchoker]

you will lose all regrets once ya eat it. i killed a 30 # hog with my bow and i have never tasted anything so delicious.

 

[Geronimo]

To each his own.

I personally have passed on two small deer just out of spots in the past week. It just doesn't do anything for me to kill baby deer. It's beginning to look like I won't fill my doe tags this year but I'll eat them before I shoot yearlings.

I'm not bashing you I'm just stating my own opinion.

 

[Xanadu]

Fawn kabobs rock! Here's one just before we speared it the other night.

 

[ironman172]

I don't know...

when they get to this point..... they all look the same:hungry:hungry

:hungry:hungry:hungry:hungry:hungry:hungry:toast:toast:toast:usaflag

 

[Jason]

During Florida's crossbow season you can hunt w/ a regular bow also, but doe's can't be taking unless there are permits. As fer small deer, the only problem shooting small deer is not knowing ifin it's a small buck and we all know Florida needs more bucks. The smallest 1 I shot was a fresh outta spots baby and luckily it was a doe....I killed her momma too. I shot momma 1st but then the baby freaked out and ran straight to me so she got blasted too! My 1st bow kill was a field dressed at 58 lbs doe this year. I wish more folks would kill more doe's here in Florida, maybe 1 day the management folks will get their heads outta their rectum and put in place a better program so instead of folks going to Alabama they might spend their money here:banghead

 

[TeamDilligaf]

There aint nothin better tasting then a small doe, but just like written above its hard to tell when there that small if t's a button buck or not, last year i killed a whole family cause they needed some doe thinning, unfortunately one was a buck, hell his nuts hadnt even dropped. I would say to each thier own on this subect.

 

[flyingfishr]

Doe dressed about 100 lbs for me, I've seen them smaller, when fresh out of the spots get taken during a bow season. I've also had the small ones taste pretty foul on occasion. I think it has to do with the way they were processed more than the age of the deer, in that case anway. Good hunting.

 

[ScullsMcNasty]

i went to a party last weekend in Beulah and a couple of kids, looked to be just out of high school, had a little doe they had shot that afternoon. i could pick it up with one hand by its back legs. very tiny.

 

[Grassflatsfisher]

I went to a hunting show a few years ago that had a game biologist who came in to discuss deer management. His take was to focus on those little does like that. His reasoning was 1. they do nothing but eat the first year (takes supplement and food source from your bucks)2. They can't bread the 1st year (or at least here in Fl and So AL where the rut is so late) 3. You aren't hurting your herd due to there being so many does not all of them are getting bread anyways. Another thing to think about is that fawn deer this year is the same 60-70lb doe you will shot the opening day of bow season next year. What has that deer accomplished for you? Nothing. She ate some of your high protein food source that could have been eaten by your buck which would have made him a 18" wide 10pt instead of a 16" 8. Ok...made that last part of that sentence up..you get where I'm going though.

To me a doe is a doe.Not saying I would shoot a 30lb but my favorite is a good ole 60-70lb.Easy to drag and usually a little more tender to eat. If you are going to shoot those little ones though just make sure there aren't any nubbins under there.

 

[countryjwh]

i like to call this size of deera 6-pack deer. two fingers in the nose and the thumb in the butt and carry it out like a six pack. nothing is better than this size.

 

[skullworks]

Grassflatsfisher (12/2/2007)I went to a hunting show a few years ago that had a game biologist who came in to discuss deer management. His take was to focus on those little does like that. His reasoning was 1. they do nothing but eat the first year (takes supplement and food source from your bucks)2. They can't bread the 1st year (or at least here in Fl and So AL where the rut is so late) 3. You aren't hurting your herd due to there being so many does not all of them are getting bread anyways. Another thing to think about is that fawn deer this year is the same 60-70lb doe you will shot the opening day of bow season next year. What has that deer accomplished for you? Nothing. She ate some of your high protein food source that could have been eaten by your buck which would have made him a 18" wide 10pt instead of a 16" 8. Ok...made that last part of that sentence up..you get where I'm going though.



To me a doe is a doe.Not saying I would shoot a 30lb but my favorite is a good ole 60-70lb.Easy to drag and usually a little more tender to eat. If you are going to shoot those little ones though just make sure there aren't any nubbins under there.

This is the same thing that we heard from a biologist when we were on a management program. He told us as long as your button buck kill wasn't more than 10% that you would be alright. I think a bigger problem, if you want big bucks, is shooting small 6s,7s, and 8s.

 

[kennethmandel62]

Well ..now I know i'm not the only one.

 

[Caspr21]

kennethmandel62 (12/2/2007)Or just a bow. Also, to caspr and rivergulf...if you "accidentally" shoot deer then I dont even want to hunt in the same state as you. Listen I might be new to hunting, but i'm not new to shooting! I'm sure through my military training I've looked through a sight and pulled a trigger as much as most of the people on here. One thing I do know is what I'm shooting at. There's no such thing as an "accidental shot". Tip to all...if you dont know what you're shooting at then...dont pull the trigger!

the word accident didn't imply to the fact that Oh shit my gun went off and I think I hit something. If you would get off your defensive high horse and think about what my post said, It was inferring to thefact of not taking time to judge the deer, and making a mistake by shooting a freaking yearling. I was nice in the first post and just tried to point out somethings to think about as you try to become an experienced bow hunter. I hid my true thoughts of how you were a freaking idiot to shoot that deer in the first place then post something on here bragging about a 45lb deer. And if you are shooting whatever is small and moving, then you are for damn sure that I don't want you hunting anywhere near my land.