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Tagging

Joined Jun 2009
74 Posts | 0+
Atlanta, Texas
Being new to raising Whitetails I need help (actually lots of help!)

One fawn is 5 days old and I want to place an ear tag on it.



I've never done this before, but have the tools. Just don't want to do it wrong.



any suggestions?
 
I always put a towl over his/her eyes to calm them, place the tag in the center of the ear , if you put it towards any edges they will eventually get ripped out. Watch for vains, there pretty easy to see being that the fawn has short hair. Make sure to dip the tag, both male and female ends of tag, in alchol, then coat them in neosporin then quickly squeeze the tag on, If you go to slow they may struggle and rip their ears. Good luck
 
Just make sure you keep the hole between the cartlage. If you hit the line of cartlage their ear will flop down and maybe never go back up again, it will just flop around. Is it bottle fed ? If not you may have your hands full at 5 days old.
 
here is a pic that shows placement of tags

I don't like to place the # tags that far back in the ear but the RFID tags work fine like they show
 

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Yes the baby is being bottle fed and doing quite well.

I really appreciate the info. Just wanted to make sure that I did not do something wrong.

Thank all of you for responding - the photos were a real plus - all the info was great!!!
 
If your worried about hitting a vein, use a flashlight pressed tight to the back of the ear and it will show where the veins are.
 
Here at Apple Creek we use small tags that are about 1 3\4 in. long and then replace them when larger tags when they get older. We use small tags when they are young so that the ears do not bend down. They work great. We also use different colors for bucks and does so we can tell them apart quickly!!!
 
When we tag our fawns we spray the tagger in alcohol, dip the male end of the tag in fura-zone (you can get that at any TSC). We spray the back of the fawns ear and place it b/t the two pieces of cartlage. We have not had one infected ear doing it that way.
 
I used to tag with a sheep tag so it would be small and not ruin the look of the deer but they were so hard to read and sometimes got covered in the hair so much or got dirty and could not be read without darting. Now I use a larger tag and even though they are a burden to some of the real small fawns, I like to be able to read them and keep track who's who's in the zoo , who is which babies mamma , and if I don't see a certain number I can look for it and know if it is present somewhere in the pen . Jim
 
We use small ear tags on the fawns as well, but we also use microchips. We replace the small tags with larger ones in the fall when we separate the fawns out.
 
we also use the small ear tags supplied by our consevation dept. and tag girls in left ear and boys in the right when i started i asked my amish friend why this way he was quick to repliy :pBECAUSE THE BUCKS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!