If you don't want to kill buttons

[RUGER]

Hunting with ROB and he likes for does to be killed on his place.
He said, however, don't shoot any single (alone) antlerless deer.
He said most times they will be a button.

Since then I have paid much more attention to single deer and sure enough every one I have seen has been a button.

Pretty quick way to insure the buttons get a pass,,,, if you are so inclined.

 

[eightpointer]

Good info.

 

[LA man]

that is true most of the time. and i dont shoot young/yearling deer anyway

 

[pressfit]

I shot a small lone doe 3-4 days ago.. it was a button.. good post!

 

[RUGER]

that is true most of the time. and i dont shoot young/yearling deer anyway

Another benefit is sometimes a single deer is hard to age.
When there are more than one you are much less likely to shoot a yearling doe... or button.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

Happened to me twice this year. Very good post.

 

[Football Hunter]

yep

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

makes sense

 

[Baxter83]

Never thought of that..good advice

 

[megalomaniac]

I tell everyone who hunts my place not to shoot buttons, but if they have an accident after going through a reasonable thought process, it's no big deal.

However, I do consider and remind folks that part of the reasonable thought process to avoid killing buttons is not to be so bloodthirsty that they ever shoot a single 'doe'... more often than not, it ends up being a button.

IMO, shooting a single 'doe' and finding out after the fact it is a button is careless.

I can live with the occasional mistake of, "two deer came out and I shot the larger of the two" and it ended up being a button with his twin fawn sister that were the two deer that came out.

 

[BSK]

Rules to help reduce button buck kills:

1) Don't shoot solitary antlerless deer. You have nothing to compare size against.

2) Don't shoot the first antlerless deer that steps into an opening. Button bucks are the least wary deer and often enter openings first.

3) Try to do as much doe killing as possible early in the season, when the size difference between fawn and adult doe is greatest.

4) Learn the identifying body characteristics of a fawn: short square body, short neck, rounded ears, short face (distance from earhole to center of the eye is about the same distance as from the center of the eye to the tip of the nose--adult does will often have an eye to nose distance twice that of eye to earhole).

 

[landman]

Friday I shot 2 single deer, and have to say 1 was a button.

Just didn't see any deer in a group, one reason I would like to see twra go back to the break of gun season, holds pressure off some. But I'm the one who pulled the trigger

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Great post. Way to many buttons get whacked.

 

[wsm]

Long time ago i found this out the hard way,i did it ,now only try for bigger doe or a good buck.

 

[richmanbarbeque]

During gun season a good pair of binos is helpfull. Every button I accidentally killed was during gun/mz season. Thankfully I have only killed a few but it happens. I use to get really bummed but now realize if you like killing does its going to happen. I will say the only time I really get overly concerned with the single doe syndrome is during breeding season.

 

[TheLBLman]

Rules to help reduce button buck kills:
. . . . . . .
4) Learn the identifying body characteristics of a fawn: . . . . . . .

IMO, this is the single best way to avoid accidentally killing a button. Simply don't shoot ANY deer that appear less than 1 1/2 yrs old. If you want to take this a step farther, making your chance of ever accidentally killing a button near zero, avoid killing any "antlerless" deer that appear less than 2 1/2. Focus on killing mainly the does that have "long" serpentine necks relative to their bodies.

About the only risk is becoming over-confident there's no way you'll ever kill a button (by not shooting fawns), then you end up mistaking a spike buck for a doe. I "almost" killed a spike buck a few days ago, short opportunity, definately not a fawn, then saw approximately 3" long spikes right before shooting.

Another thing that can happen (which is many times worse than accidently killing a button) is killing an older buck that has already shed its antlers. Perhaps this will be happening a little less now that some January gun days have been moved up to December. Many have made the mistake of shooting the "biggest doe" only to find out it was an older buck which had shed it's antlers.

 

[buckhorn40]

 

[landman]

Friday I shot 2 single deer, and have to say 1 was a button.

Just didn't see any deer in a group, one reason I would like to see twra go back to the break of gun season, holds pressure off some. But I'm the one who pulled the trigger

But I have to say it....whats the difference in a button and a 1.5 yr old Buck? We see many on this site, and I'm not talking about kids...

 

[JohnnyDollar]

Very good post there Ruger!

 

[RUGER]

But I have to say it....whats the difference in a button and a 1.5 yr old Buck? .

About a year.

 

[Asaltwpn1]

Great advice

 

[Phil1979]

Good info

 

[Mike Belt]

BSK hit the nail on the head particularly with his #4 reason and particularly at a distance. Many times I see 1 deer by itself with no visible antlers. When the distance between the earholes and eyes is equal to the distance from the eyes to the nose it's a dead give away you're looking at a fawn whether it be a doe fawn or a button buck.

 

[stik]

i must be the exception. i have shot a few buttons over the years and only one was alone, however i have killed many does that were alone.

 

[TheLBLman]

But I have to say it....whats the difference in a button and a 1.5 yr old Buck? .

About a year.

Since we commonly seem to have confusion regarding fawns and yearlings, here's a little "refresher":

Deer less than a year old are FAWNS.
Male fawns are also referred to as BUTTONS.
Deer less than 2 years old but over 1 year old are YEARLINGS.
A 1 1/2-yr-old buck (sporting his first set of antlers beyond "buttons") is also known as a "yearling buck". In a healthy deer herd, it is not uncommon for yearling bucks to have 6 to 8-point racks, albeit relatively small-sized antlers compared to "older" bucks.

Key: A fawn and a yearling are two different things.

Opinions seem to vary on what constitutes "adult, older, mature, etc", but for me, a deer reaches adulthood at 2 years of age. Never mind that even female fawns can come into estrous, and end up having their own fawn when they are themselves only a yearling female. In fact, in very healthy deer herds, it is common for female fawns to come into their first estrous, although typically a month or two after the "rut peak" has passed. This may account for some of the late season rutting activity that some call "the 2nd rut".

 

[Boone 58]

Hunting with ROB and he likes for does to be killed on his place.
He said, however, don't shoot any single (alone) antlerless deer.
He said most times they will be a button.

Since then I have paid much more attention to single deer and sure enough every one I have seen has been a button.

Pretty quick way to insure the buttons get a pass,,,, if you are so inclined.

I have been following this rule for years and i have noticed what bsk says about the buttons being so willing to pop out on the fields early and often. I watch really carefully and never .....never shoot until after the deer have been on a green field for at least 10 to 15 minutes and sometimes wait until just before legal light ends. This does another thing. if deer get to feed a while before you start shooting they dont deem the field as dangerous as when they step out there and get shot at immediately......give them a while to feed and relax and then shoot and it changes the dynamics of their fear of feeding on the field...........practice this and see if you dont see different results.

 

[stryker]

Good post Ruger. I heard the same thing a few years ago and started paying attention and most of the time it is.

 

[HOOK]

I avoid it all together by choosing just not to shoot small deer.....