JJ
I agree with Greg, as a small farmer;
Wednesday, December 30, 2020, 05:58

I see the calves and kids that are dam raised will bed near or with their mother for life and the bottle fed babies which were removed from the dam will not recognize her and will bed with other yearlings within their grouping. I believe that I see this reflected in deer bedding areas which is easily recognized when snow in play to highlight the bedding tendencies.

Years ago while bow hunting, two deer came in and as I drew back on the larger doe the second deer ran a few steps to the first and tried to nurse. I let the bow down as I felt that it was not my position to wean the yearling. My hunting buddies did bust on me for my inaction with one stating that he "Would have stuck the baby to the ground with an arrow and then killed mom".

Your choice is well reasoned and your future hunting opportunities with benefit as Greg stated. I like his observation of the distaste while eating the meal. Likewise, I often wonder how guys that illegally take an animal and have it mounted can ever look at it on the wall and not think about their unethical actions.