James P. Reilly: Bambi killer

Remember James, If the Good Lord had not wanted us to eat deer, he would not have made them out of meat.

Yes, I kill Bambi. Mostly I try to kill Bambi’s aging grandfather, Bambi’s spinster aunts and his older sisters. However, if Bambi shows up on the wrong day, he may get it. The sad thing of it is that about 50% of the herd’s new cohort suffer mortality in the first year. Some of that is due to hunting, but there are a whole slew of other causes.

Bambi ( the antlerless bucks) and Bambi’s Mom (dominant females) are my least favorite targets. It’s fairly obvious why Bambi is not a good idea: you want the young bucks to survive long enough to grow into big bucks. In these parts, a big mature buck may go 300 lbs live weight and yield 90 lbs of venison. Little Bambi might only yield 20 lbs. Sadly, It is hard to tell Bambi from a young doe, especially at a distance and especially in low light. There are behavioral cues, but sometimes. . . well, sometimes things don’t go as planned. The good news is that Bambi tastes about as good as you’re going to get.

Bambi’s Mom is another story. Deer are very matriarchal . The does have a hierarchy. The older does have a lot of experience in rearing young and keeping the doe herd safe and well fed. You’ll see doe in little herds of 3-7 individuals, and these are usually a mature doe, her daughters and their fawns. Taking out the lead doe in one of these herds leads to considerable stress and confusion in the group. The better tactic is to shoot for the second doe in a group, or one in the middle. The trailers are often times buck fawns (Bambi).

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