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Sad story

Rackaddict

Rackaddict

Life Member
I suppose this happens all the time when we harvest does post rut but it was a first for me.

Saturday I was in the stand hoping to fill my last doe tag. I was fortunate enough to have a yearling doe give me a shot. After recovering the doe it was business as usual until I was all but finished and I notice in the gut pile that she was carrying a fawn. I opened the sack around the fetus and was shocked to see how developed it was. It was clearly a male fetus and my heart sank. I was so bummed out I all but swore off shooting does post rut. I kept the fetus and saved it in formaldehyde. I thought that at least I could have someone look at it that could tell me how many weeks old it was if for no other reason to get some idea of when she was bred.

I really hated to end my season on a low note. I know that statistically this happens all the time but it still bummed me out to see she was carrying a buck. I guess I'll have to suck it up and live with the fact that I harvested the smallest buck of my life!
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I know, it happens, but it still SUCKS!!!
 
I hear yah rack, that does suck, but i guess its just the course of nature. just think every doe you ever shot, at one time would of had one in it. i wouldnt worry about it too much, that buck would of had to make it three or four years to be a shooter, and if you hunt places like i do the chances of a small 8 pointer making it is slim
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We had the same thing a few years ago rack. One big farm we were hunting near Columbia MO had a ton of does that needed thinned. January doe season, we hammered them hard, I mean hard>20 does off 300 acres. All had fetuses inside that were as you described. The next fall, we saw as many deer as ever. I would not worry about it much
 
Ironwood,

Just shoot the ugliest doe that you see. Since bucks aren't beer drinkers, like humans, the ugly doe is less likely to have been bred!!
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Rackaddict, This happened to me about three seasons ago. I had not harvested a deer and was out till the last day of the extended season here . Went out that afternoon with a mission to shoot the first deer I saw as I was meat hunting by now. It was bitterly cold with about 6" of snow. I took out a doe with my shotgun that when I walked up on her the fetus had already been expelled. I also was amazed how realistic they look so small.
Don't beat yourself up to bad about it. That's nature.
 
sorry to hear that rackaddict. it's hard for me to hunt late season due to that.hang in there.
 
Don't mean to be non sensative but I'm surprised in some of your reactions. I came up on a car deer acident the end of Jan. a few years back and the doe was still alive her gut was split wide open and she was all broke up, I pulled the .270 Weatherby Mag out of the truck (uncased of course) and gave her some 110 gr. to end her misery. When I pulled her off the road I noticed she had triplets in her and all I could think of was how cool and was also facinated buy there near full development. Maby I have experienced so much life and death with animals that sadness is something I only experience when critters suffer. I'm a bit twisted, listen to my self! no wonder women hate me.
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Hunt on All4s
 
Not going to shoot does post rut?! That's when 98% of the does probably get taken. Almost all of them other than yearlings are probably pregnant too. Thank god the rest of us are still going to shoot 'em or we would be swimming in deer. You probably just saved someone's grill, hood, . . . Those fetuses are interesting to look at though.
 
That happened to me this past sunday also. I never seen that before. But that is why the DNR wants us to shoot these does. We shot 2 does this weekend and both had twins in her. Those 2 deer would have been 6 deer next year and we still saw over 40 deer total. All were does except one, I could tell for sure was a button buck. We bring our binoculars and get a good look at them befor we pull the trigger. Shooting one doe with twins in her=GOOD Shooting a button buck or shedded buck =BAD. The way I see it is that I had shot 3 deer with one shot! Pretty good huh? Im just glad that I didnt have to tag all 3 of them. I wouldnt worry about it! I agree with Kelcher.If you shoot a doe in November you could still be shooting 3 deer, its just a little harder to tell. Well talk to you later!!!!!!
 
That has never happened to me but I never really paid a whole lot of attention to those gut pile on the late doe season. I will definitely be checking them out now. Sorry to hear about that but we really do need to thin some of the population down. I wouldn't sweat it too much. You shot the doe ethically and that is all that counts. Sad story for ya but a good post!
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I dressed out a doe that had been road killed one April. She had two fairly well developed fetus'. The guy who wanted the venison was a non hunter and had never seen a deer field dressed, let alone seeing the fetus' that I pointed out to him. I think he felt a little different about wanting the deer at that point, but he did take it and have it processed. The circle of life is usually the hardest to accept.
 
I agree with all4's. Sure it's sad, but it can't be helped. The reason IA has bonus quotas for does is because harvesting a doe thins more than one deer. (you can't help that it was to be a buck).

One a side note, there's a place we hunt in MN that has some taxidermy of twin fawns that were found when the mother was hit by a vehicle. Very nice display.
 
Rack, think about it this way - if you had shot that doe pre-rut, you still would have been preventing a buck from being born. The only difference is that you know exactly what the doe carried. It is simply a numbers game. Killing does means preventing some bucks from being around. But if you don't shoot the does . . . well, you get it. It's a circular logic. Don't fret it - if it bothers you, just don't check next time. Keep hunting the does - you'll still have plenty of bucks around.
 
I'm sure I won't stop flinging arrows post rut at does but I may quit looking at gut piles as close so I don't see what's in there. I was just amazed at the development of the fetus at such an early phase. I guess it is true that it doesn't matter if you shoot a doe pre-rut or post rut you still eliminated the possibility of her dropping fawns in the spring. As often as this happens, it seems that the deer population continues to grow. Like I said, in the future, I'll just quit looking and be thankful for the harvest.
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