Antlerless Hunting - Cows w/ calves, Does w/ fawns...

[wytx]

With unlimited cow/calf tags this year we may take a more than 1 calf, and some cows too. Fawns just don't have enough meat from antelope and deer. Calf elk are great eating, just not very big.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

I will not on "purpose" harvest a doe/cow with calf/fawn in tow.
To each their own

 

[MNGrouser]

I shot a white-tailed doe in the WI rifle season (Late Nov) back when I was in high school. The fawn came out of the brush after mom was down. I felt kind of bad then. I started gutting the doe and saw that she still had milk. That is when I started feeling terrible.

I won't shoot a doe again unless I watch her long enough to feel confident there isn't a little one nearby.

 

[rharbaugh]

Cattle won’t touch another cows calf. We used to skin a calf if it died and tie the “hide” on the orphan. That usually did the trick. I’m surprised to hear an elk cow will pick up an orphan calf.

Never heard of that one. I’ve had a couple ranchers/farmers tell me that they’d run the cow through the chute, collect her urine, and then dump it on the orphan calf.


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[Trimbandit]

The virtue signaling here is interesting.
Personally I try not to shoot a cow with a calf but if it comes to putting meat in the freezer or not I will take care of my own.
Easy for me to say when I am hunting Dec/Jan when the little ones aren't really dependent on mama.
I also think the remorse/second thought on that decision is important. That's what makes us human and separates us from animals.

 

[KsRancher]

I have no problems shooting a doe with a fawn in Ks. But the time we are interested in shooting a doe for some meat the fawns are plenty big enough to make it on their own. Usually the fawns are grouped up together after the rut without mom.

 

[nwcomechanic]

This comes down to personal ethics, for me the answer is a No but to each his/her own.

 

[highcountrymuley]

Shot a whitetail doe a long time ago that had a fawn with her I did not see... as others have shared it was awful having that thing hanging around bleating while I cut up mama. I would make sure there is no baby around if I take a female again. Shot a calf elk- it was delicious and I would do it again.

 

[SaltySailor]

I've had an antlerless moose tag but shooting cows with calves was illegal. You could, however, shoot the calf. A two year old moose calf is almost the size of a cow so we took one a few years ago, every cut was so tender! We always hope if we get two antlerless tags in our family and come across a cow with a single calf, one shoots the calf first then the other drops the cow. I have no qualms with that.

 

[roadrunner]

Have never killed a cow in Sept with a calf. It's either been the calf, a yearling cow, or a dry cow.

 

[Headwaters]

What do you look for to determine if the cow elk is dry besides not having a calf by her side?

 

[MuleyFever]

What I will NEVER do is shoot a fawn or a calf. I find that to be ridiculously ststupid.

How is it "ridiculously stupid"? What's your reasoning there? Or is it just emotional?

 

[jmez]

I will shoot them if they have a calf/fawn with them. Doesn't bother me.

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[Kimber7man]

Considering the cost, time and effort spent in hunting as a NR in Wyoming, I will not hesitate to use my cow/calf tag on a cow or calf that's in a herd. Usually they are not alone and getting a good clear shot with no animals behind is primary importance. The landowner wants the total number reduced.

 

[huntsman22]

What do you look for to determine if the cow elk is dry besides not having a calf by her side?

Color. The dry cows will be a slightly different tint. A bit 'gray-er/blue-er' than the wet ones. It gets easier to tell by color, if the sun is direct on them. The bulls will look almost white, the cows more tan/brown. Even bull calves are easy to tell from heifer calves, if you can see them all together, to compare....

 

[Lowg08]

I just can’t bring myself to kill a doe with fawn. Just me though.

 

[justin davis]

Personal preference is try to avoid. With that said if you do kill one. I think the calf is gonna survive. Come fall they are big enough I’d imagine they survive and live on with the herd. They aren’t drinking milk

Also the guys that say it’s bad early
On but ok later in the winter. Come January when you kill a female it is pregnant. So technically you’re killing a cow and calf right there. Had a buddy kill a cow in January and when he was gutting her there was a fetus inside.

With that said biologist consider that when they develope the management plans.

 

[MuleyFever]

I was pretty surprised by my wife last fall. She hunts with me but she is very casual and likes animals in general. She had a CMWU antlerless tag in late November. The operator went out with us and we found a group of does. He wanted her to shoot the biggest one. So the doe was identified and we were waiting for a shot when her fawn came up to her and was doing fawn things. The doe started licking the fawns face and my wife was all awwww, look. Then she shot the doe.

My first cow elk had a calf with her. The calf didn't want to leave at first and that kinda sucked.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Here where I deer hunt in Texas there's almost no natural predators so I'll kill a big doe with a large healthy looking fawn, sometimes they're tiny though and I'll always pass on them.

My very first antelope hunt years ago, the guy that invited me shot a doe with a fawn trying to nurse (she was kicking him away). I tried to talk him out of it but he did it anyway. Even though they were in a herd that fawn stood 50 yards away watching us quarter up it's mom and paralleled us 50 yards downwind carrying the game bags 1/2 mile back to the truck and watched us drive away. That experience really left a bad taste and I'd rather not ever be party to it again.

Last year my wife shot a big fat cow elk, she was in a herd with a bunch of others so couldn't tell what's what. After the cow went down the wife was on the phone with me as she was walking towards the dead cow and said another elk ran out of the brush and smelled the cow and stood by her for a bit until the wife got a little closer then ran off. Of course my dumb ass immediately blurts out "oh damn that was probably her baby calf" to which the wife instantly teared up of course. She talked about never going cow hunting again for months.

 

[Stalker69]

I don't shoot does, fawns, cows or calves any more. Now if I was starving and appsalutley needed the meat I would. But that ain't been an issue yet. Now, if this Bidenomics continues, I just may have to resort to it though.