I don't shoot does with fawns
I did once and regretted it.
That's just me-I say kill what you want as long as you're utilizing the meat..
On my little piece of dirt I don't shoot does but in Virginia I'll shoot a couple but again I don't kill any with fawns
I am all for each doing what he feels is right within the law, but on 2 places I helped cull does that a biologist was involved, the guys that said they would not shoot a momma doe with little ones, they got sent home. At least on land in KY in TN, according to the biologists I have been associated with, when there are for sure to many does, the only doe you shoot is a momma doe with little ones, leaving the the little ones alone. And shooting fawns or yearlings, especially the later it is in the season, you are for sure taking a huge chance on killing a young male deer, button bucks get pushed away that time of year and are loners and pretty much curious and ignorant when it comes to being scared of hunters. All bucks, were young deer at one time. I have no care what anyone kills legally, but I personally have no care to kill a young buck of any kind.
Yes I you can still make mistakes, but in many, many years of killing does (for all those years I only shoot momma does) I have only killed 3 button bucks. On the first farm we tried the "kill all the momma does", and that is all we wanted to kill and we did for a couple years. Every single momma doe that had little ones we saw on one farm, we did our best to kill. We had the absolute best ruts I have ever seen for many years and killed one or 2 nice bucks every year until the farm sold and was developed, all in Middle Tennessee.
I know one of my better and most memorable bucks came opening morning of gun season. Right after daylight I shot a momma doe. I got a call from a guy that hunted on a farm not far from the one we hunted. He had the same problem we did just a couple years before, way to many does. He asked me how big a buck I killed, I told him it was a momma doe. He gave me a hard time, we had already killed a pile of momma does. I told him to give me just a second, and I killed another momma doe. He gave me a harder time and said well your day is done, I said nope, I still had at least one if not 2 buck tags. It was a good cold morning. There were 5 young deer with the 2 mommas I killed, I watched 6 different bucks chase on of the little ones all over the field. About 9:30, another tiny doe came running by me, I heard a buck grunting. He came out chasing that tiny doe, and I killed him. He called and I told him I had killed another doe and needed him to check it in. He was giving me a hard time, telling me he was going to turn me in, afterwards he said he should have known better because my brother and myself never killed over the limit, but he said ok, I will come by and check her in. When he showed up we put the first 2 in my truck and when we rounded the tree line to pick up the third, he yelled "what is that!". I said that is "doe" number 3, this was a few years into killing only momma does when we shot does. He was only a 7 pointer, 12" G2's, 18-1/2" inside, 22" main beams, over 4" bases and dressed 172 lbs. One brow tine just never grew, and not a giant but a really nice buck. My friend said I don't understand, you are killing all your does (I reminded him only momma does) and your brother and you keep killing great bucks and all we see are does and little bucks, I told him to start shooting the mommas. He said I am not doing that. He finally killed one buck (he said it was an okay buck, by his standards) off the farm he hunted and then it sold and was divided. If needed, IMO, killing only momma does (when does are killed) is one of the best things that can be done to help an overpopulated herd. I also believe, not always but an older, mature doe, when she goes into heat, not always, but a lot of the time, she goes into hiding when she goes into heat. A younger doe in heat, on the right day, may have several different bucks chasing her, not at the same time, but show up more than once if not several times in a day with a different buck behind her. They haven't been hunted like an older doe and they are just running from the buck where ever they go.
With that said, I will abide by whatever the landowner wants, if he says no does, I don't shoot them. I actually hunted one farm in Clarksville, the landowner raised cattle, but he told us to NEVER shoot a coyote. He hated the deer so much, he wanted the coyotes to kill the deer. I killed 2 coyotes and a doe the first day I hunted it with a percussion muzzleloader. That is when I found out he did not want the coyotes killed. He told me if I hadn't killed the doe I would not have been allowed to come back. I said yes sir, and his farm was covered up with coyotes, but there was a pile of deer also and we killed a bunch of deer on that farm and saw coyotes almost every time we hunted, but could not shoot them.