Expert: Keith Patton - 5/6/2009

Question
How does shooting a fawn effect the ecosystem?

Answer
Corey:

In a healthy breeding population the effect is negligable.  Around 60% of female fawns breed.  Only a small portion of male fawns mate.
Whitetails breed pretty rapidly.

Nearly 140 fawns are born for every 100 does in a population. Generally 94 percent of does become pregnant as yearlings.  79% bear twins or triplets.

The fact that most states with healthy populations issue doe and fawn tags indicates that the deer reproduce faster than hunters can shoot them.

The truth is, most hunters are unsuccessful, which is good for those of us who know what they are doing.  They are subsidizing the rest of us with their taxes on licenses, ammunition etc.  If every hunter actually shot a deer, you would see the bag limits severely resticted in a short time.

Keith