I may have asked this before but how does one mistakenly shoot a button buck for a doe

[j_seph]

I have heard members in an older club get all frustrated that they shot a button buck because they thought it was a doe. I believe the key word here is "Thought" to me meaning that they never actually confirmed their target to be a doe to start with. Seems if they were worried about shooting a buttonhead they would be 100% that it wasn't before shooting. I have shot two buttons since I have been hunting. It was not a mistake as one was with a bow and the other with a rifle. I just knew there was no horns and they were legal so I shot. Since those times I refrain from doing that. I mean am I the only one that can look at a deer in a scope and beyond a shadow of a doubt say that is a yearling?

 

[Nicodemus]

Inexperience. Time spent in the woods studying deer will help.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Ever hunt with open sights? Whole lot of people do. I've shot a whole lot more deer without a scope than I have with a scope over the years, including a couple button bucks that I thought were small does. Didn't really matter to me at the time, as they're delicious.

 

[j_seph]

Ever hunt with open sights? I've shot a whole lot more deer without a scope than I have with a scope over the years.

In that case then you would say it did not have horns so I shot it. Not beat yourself up cause you thought it was a doe.

 

[NCHillbilly]

In that case then you would say it did not have horns so I shot it. Not beat yourself up cause you thought it was a doe.

Yep, pretty much. I don't go around targeting button bucks, but I don't see it as a horrible thing if somebody kills one. A lot better to me than shooting a doe in many places.

 

[ryanh487]

If you can look at a deers head at 100 yards at first or last light and tell me if it's a button or not, when you don't care how small a doe you shoot is, your eyes are better than mine. Or tell out past 50 yards while hunting with open sites.

Some of them buttons are nothing more than a swirl of hair on their head, too, and you wouldn't even think they were a button until you lift a leg and see they have different parts than expected.

If you don't want to kill buttons, don't kill little deer. But if you're not hesitant to kill a young deer, the odds of killing a button by accident are fairly high.

 

[Lilly001]

Yep. I shoot buttons so

In that case then you would say it did not have horns so I shot it. Not beat yourself up cause you thought it was a doe.

Yep.
I sometimes shoot buttons on purpose.
Other times I shoot them just because they don’t have antlers.
Other times I’ve shot them because they are deer.
It all depends on the situation.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

10-der

 

[BeerThirty]

I cannot tell the difference between a button buck and a doe many of times. Some of my shots are 150+ yards, and other times they are through thick cover in low light conditions at dawn or dusk. Many times deer are moving and you have a brief window to make a clean shot and so you have to think fast to draw a conclusion. It's easy to make this mistake. Where I hunt if the horns are less than 3-inches you can use your doe tag on them anyway..

 

[Milkman]

IMO shooting a button buck is better than shooting a doe.
B buck = 1 deer removed
Doe = many deer removed

 

[Nicodemus]

At any distance other than close up, the way my eyes are now, it`s hard for me to tell the difference between a button buck and his sister, but it`s not hard to tell the difference between them and a mature doe. Even if she is not with them. Yearlings are built different from mature deer.

 

[4HAND]

Several years ago I killed a button buck by mistake. Low light, long shot, biggest of 2 deer in the food plot. I assumed I was killing a doe. It happens.

 

[j_seph]

How to Distinguish Adult White-Tailed Deer From Fawns*
Fawns

Short, square bodies (look like a briefcase from a distance)
Short necks and less muscle development
Rarely have swaying backs or sagging bellies
Ears appear large in comparison to head

Adults

Larger, rectangular-shaped bodies (look like a suitcase from a distance)
Long necks

How to Identify Buck Fawns*

Presence of developing antlers
Head appears more flat and less rounded between ears

How to Identify Doe Fawns*

No developing antlers
Head appears slightly rounded between ears

 

[Jim Thompson]

Twice in my life...

Once back in about 2005 (after telling...ok bragging.. bubba and may that it had never happened the night before over cold adult beverages at camp :bouce . I shot a doe in some high grass. When I walked up on her she jumped up out of the grass and I shouldered and shot again...yep now I had momma and button laying in the grass. Next day we had button straps on the grill!

2nd time was last december with my bow in MO. I had made up my mind to shoot a doe and 2 came through the woodlot at 20 yards right at dark and I shot the 2nd one. If I would have waited until they got in the field I probably would have looked closer, but I rushed the shot because the beans were gone on the edge of the field and all the deer were moving out around 50 or 75 out so I knew they were headed that way. Walked up and yep it was a button. He was the deer I shot on LFTT that had rotten hams but no visible injury and I didnt get to enjoy the buttonstraps

 

[Throwback]

Button bucks eat better

 

[Jim Boyd]

J Seph said it perfectly.

Also, all fawns present a “square” box when viewed from legs to back to other legs.

Yearling deer (generally 1.5 yo during season) - the bodies have begun to lengthen and they present more of a rectangle.

If you just wait and look at them when there are 4-5 in view, the difference is plain.

Problems arise when you are looking at one deer - in most cases.

Another thing to remember - it is pretty unusual to see female fawns by themselves.

A single fawn, by itself, is almost always male.


Best of luck.

 

[kmckinnie]

I tell by feeling on top of their head.

 

[kmckinnie]

It looks like a doe. ?

 

[Mako22]

I have done it more than once and have zero shame about it. Those small hams are pretty good in a Dutch oven or crockpot. Sometimes I cut them into steaks and grill them.

 

[kmckinnie]

I have done it more than once and have zero shame about it. Those small hams are pretty good in a Dutch oven or crockpot. Sometimes I cut them into steaks and grill them.

We grill the steaks all the time.
I will shoot a yearling every year.
I get 10 tags. Nothing says full grown doe only. ?