Nope, I'll leave the pat downs to TSA. I suggest if the law is changed, she tag it with her buck tag or pay a "fee" if she doesn't have a current buck tag and only an antlerless tag.

Hunting will be much safer in general if everyone was forced to slow down and identify their targets better. And in no way, shape or form am I insinuating your wife was doing anything unsafely. That statement is meant for the "brown its down, blasting away at herds of deer busting out through the woods or fields" crowd.

Keep in mind, not every one is archery hunting where the deer are extemely close and, as in this case, even ideal conditions did not permit the deer to be identified as a BB.

What do suggest? Checking genitals?

I would suggest turning the scope up or glassing it first.
If you wanna check genitals...please no pics!
Ironhed

Not to criticize anyones wife,kids or who ever but yearling's are easily identified by the size of their head and nose.It's not a perfect world but passing on these young deer should be done if possible, in my opinion.

ORIGINAL: Outdoor Adventures

Not to criticize anyones wife,kids or who ever but yearling's are easily identified by the size of their head and nose.It's not a perfect world but passing on these young deer should be done if possible, in my opinion.

A large BB looks virtually the same as a small 1.5 doe. We laid them side by side on several occasions and there was no way to tell the difference except for the buttons.

The PGC ask hunters to pass on BB so they would shot adult doe in order to reduce the herd as quickly as possible. But harvesting 72K BB in 2000 still produced a buck harvest of 203K in 2001, but a BB harvest of only 51K in 2008 produced a buck harvest of 108K in 2009. Saving BB does nothing to increase the buck harvest unless the herd is allowed to increase to offset the additional BB that are saved.

BB that are saved one year, become legal antlerled buck in a year or two. Both the BB harvest and the antlered buck harvest declined from 2002 to 2009.

ORIGINAL: Outdoor Adventures

Not to criticize anyones wife,kids or who ever but yearling's are easily identified by the size of their head and nose.It's not a perfect world but passing on these young deer should be done if possible, in my opinion.

 
OA,
 
I made the call, not her.  I have hunted deer for 40 years.  As I wrote, it appeared to be a family group of a doe and her twins due to difference in size.  I couldn't tell the difference and I doubt that you could either.
 
As for passing on these young deer, the reason we were invited to hunt where we were is that the farm is over run with them and he wants them dead -- young, old, or indifferent.  But he wants it done legally by a very few freinds with the approproate license.  He could very easily shoot them for the crop damage they are doing and let them rot or have the PGC come pick them up.
 
Now go tie your high horse to the hitching post.

Every situation is different. If you guys were there to kill deer no matter what, then so be it. I said it was only my "opinion" to let the Bambi's walk.

ORIGINAL: DarDys

ORIGINAL: Outdoor Adventures

Not to criticize anyones wife,kids or who ever but yearling's are easily identified by the size of their head and nose.It's not a perfect world but passing on these young deer should be done if possible, in my opinion.

OA,

I made the call, not her.  I have hunted deer for 40 years.  As I wrote, it appeared to be a family group of a doe and her twins due to difference in size.  I couldn't tell the difference and I doubt that you could either.

As for passing on these young deer, the reason we were invited to hunt where we were is that the farm is over run with them and he wants them dead -- young, old, or indifferent.  But he wants it done legally by a very few freinds with the approproate license.  He could very easily shoot them for the crop damage they are doing and let them rot or have the PGC come pick them up.

Now go tie your high horse to the hitching post.

ORIGINAL: Outdoor Adventures

Not to criticize anyones wife,kids or who ever but yearling's are easily identified by the size of their head and nose.It's not a perfect world but passing on these young deer should be done if possible, in my opinion.

I agree. It is not hard to differentiate between a fawn and a 1.5YO deer. If you can't see the deer well enough to determine if its a fawn or not, well then you probably shouldn't be shooting at it anyways.

My point was that it is not hard to distinguish a fawn from a 1.5 or older deer. Just about every hunter I have seen shoot a BB makes a comment immediately after that kill in an attempt to justify shooting it. With that in mind let me rephrase my statement to if you are worried about shooting a BB and can't determine if the deer is a fawn or not, you should not be shooting. You are allowed to pass on deer sometimes I think?

For what its worth I am about as much of a fan of shooting 40# bears as I am shooting fawns(either sex). No biological implications here, I just don't agree with adult hunters doing so just to say they killed something.

With that in mind let me rephrase my statement to if you are worried about shooting a BB and can't determine if the deer is a fawn or not, you should not be shooting.

But there is no logical reason why anyone should be worried about shooting a BB or a fawns,except for the fact that they may not get as much venison. The buck harvest in PA increased to a record 203K in 2000 and 2001 with no restrictions on harvesting BB or fawns. the buck harvest then decreased to 108K in 2009 after the PGC had been encouraging hunters to pass on BB since 2002.

Why anyone shoot a BB,fawn,or a 40# bear? Is it just to say that they got one ???

ORIGINAL: deerfly

With that in mind let me rephrase my statement to if you are worried about shooting a BB and can't determine if the deer is a fawn or not, you should not be shooting.

But there is no logical reason why anyone should be worried about shooting a BB or a fawns,except for the fact that they may not get as much venison. The buck harvest in PA increased to a record 203K in 2000 and 2001 with no restrictions on harvesting BB or fawns. the buck harvest then decreased to 108K in 2009 after the PGC had been encouraging hunters to pass on BB since 2002.

As usual, your dwindling reading comprehension has surfaced. Did you happen to see where I said "no biological implications?"

At any rate, being a logical hunter who spends the majority of my hunting time on a number of properties that all lie within a 10 mile or so radius, I understand that killing a BB on any of these properties will eliminate the chance of him becoming a legal antlered buck or better yet 3.5+YO inhabiting one of the properties I hunt. It is a pretty simple theory, if you kill a bb, he has no chance of ever being a legal buck, that I can guarantee you.

I will reiterate that my reasons against shooting fawns are primarily personal. If I am craving backstraps that bad I will find a doe.

People are gonna shoot button bucks.  They don't care if it's a button buck.  They want to walk into the woods and shoot a deer and go home.   I have no issue with that. 
 
However, when someone yaps about not seeing bucks, or enough, and shoots a button buck, then I like to ask questions. 

ORIGINAL: Esox_Hunter

ORIGINAL: deerfly

With that in mind let me rephrase my statement to if you are worried about shooting a BB and can't determine if the deer is a fawn or not, you should not be shooting.

But there is no logical reason why anyone should be worried about shooting a BB or a fawns,except for the fact that they may not get as much venison. The buck harvest in PA increased to a record 203K in 2000 and 2001 with no restrictions on harvesting BB or fawns. the buck harvest then decreased to 108K in 2009 after the PGC had been encouraging hunters to pass on BB since 2002.

As usual, your dwindling reading comprehension has surfaced. Did you happen to see where I said "no biological implications?"

At any rate, being a logical hunter who spends the majority of my hunting time on a number of properties that all lie within a 10 mile or so radius, I understand that killing a BB on any of these properties will eliminate the chance of him becoming a legal antlered buck or better yet 3.5+YO inhabiting one of the properties I hunt. It is a pretty simple theory, if you kill a bb, he has no chance of ever being a legal buck, that I can guarantee you.

I will reiterate that my reasons against shooting fawns are primarily personal. If I am craving backstraps that bad I will find a doe.

I said nothing about the biological implications for not shooting Bb, I ask for a logical explanation. Your explanation is logical for a specific area ,but it is not logical based on the long term implications of a statewide deer management plan. You are debating the issue based on your personal preferences and I am debating the issue based on what it takes to manage the herd statewide.

ORIGINAL: wayne c

I have no problems in telling a bb from a doe fawn or 1.5 doe. A does skull cap is much "rounder" and i can easily see buttons with any optics and often without depending on distance. Course i have pretty good vision, and watch alot of deer i have no intentions of shooting while archery hunting.

Could see how some of the older guys with lesser eyesight, hunters with subpar optics shooting at a distance, or excited lesser experienced hunters could have a problem though.

 
I'm not that old, I don't consider Nikon subpar optics, and I wouldn't consider nearly 40 years of deer hunting as excitable and lesser experienced.
 
I would tend to think that the reason that I could not see buttons on that deer or tell a BB from a doe fawn or a 1.5 doe is that I am a lowly rifle hunter and not an archery god like yourself that has zen like powers over the whitetail deer that I can only hope to gain once I harvest two more and get my total above 70.  Until then, I will humbly bow to your superiority.