Stolen? Would you take someone’s deer?!
Whitetail Deer
I was blessed enough to see a nice buck on Saturday @ 7:05AM it was cloudy day and early so I couldn’t see exactly how big he was but he was very nice wide deer. So I took a fairly easy shot at 13 yards but I had to lean out at a weird angle on my stand to get a shot and I ended up hitting a little further back than I was hoping. I think I hit a Guts / Liver / and 1 Lung, he took off like crazy and I saw him run for 150 yards or so in a loop. I sat a while and waited because I knew I didn’t have a double lung. I had fairly good blood for the first 100 yard but not heavy so I backed out to give it a few hours I left at 9:30AM. I came back at 11:00AM and I followed a long blood trail you could follow easily but this deer was like the energizer bunny and he ran 500 yard before he bedded down and he had 3 beds in a 20 foot area with lots of blood in the beds. When he got up the last time he started to double back from where he came in very straight and determined direction toward a thick area. I lost blood but after another 75 yards. I did a body search but the only thing I could find was hair and blood on some old train tracks where someone was dragging a deer, and this was a the exact direction my buck was headed. I ran into 2 rifle hunters that afternoon and they said their buddy shot nice buck that morning but I never heard a gunshot. I did a body search for this deer for over 10 hours and many miles on my boots and nothing but those drag marks.
Do you guys think my deer was taken? Do you guys think this happens much? Would you ever tag a deer you found in the woods?
During spring scouting I’ve taken a rack off a deer I found after a guy gunshot a small buck and only looked for it a few minutes and said he couldn’t find blood, all he had to do was walk about 200 yards from his box blind and he would have found it. I was fairly sure it was his buck but I did think he deserved so I kept it.
Sorry this was so long but wanted to vent, I’m just sick over this. I could be just a hack that’s unable to find my deer but everything points to that guy putting his tag on the deer I shot! It would have been my best in North Carolina. I just really hope he needed that meat more that I did.
Update:
I went out today Sunday 8 days later in the middle of the day to see if there were any turkey vultures or crows on a caucus and they were just on the fresh kill from yesterday. But here is was seals for me, I went back to the last bed I found and it has rained twice since last Sunday and I found hair and something new a cigarette butt, I must have over looked before with all the blood I’m very sure now someone took it, and I’ve been wasting my time looking for it.
Here my trophy photo of my best NC Buck! Man I still feel sick about this!
I have had two deer stole, One out of the back of my truck and one out of a field where I saw her fall. Guy just drove up and threw her in the back of his truck and drove off. I was hunting with a rifle and gave some hard thought but figured a deer wasn't worth shooting someone over.
yes he could have taken it. It happens all the time. Some people just dont care. I caught some guys tring to croos the river to get my hunting partners buck this year. You should have seen the look on there face when i popped out.PRICELESS.HUNT
I just realized something the last 75 yards of blood was smears of blood on the leaves and hair, I was thinking it was watery blood from the gut hit or something but now I think the guy took the deer out of his last bed in the strait line to the train tracks.
sorry to hear about this.........do you think the guy might have shot it in it's bed? you said you left at 930, and the rifle hunters said their buddy shot a nice buck that morning......... there's an hour and a half that someone may have stumbled on your deer while it was alive in its bed, or jumped it from it's bed...........just curious, might be a possiblility. but it may have been a lousy theft as well. i knew two guys from new hampshire hunting in maryland a number of years ago who stumbled upon a buck that a friend of mine had shot that morning. bill was not in good shape, overweight, so he tagged his buck and walked his stand and equipment back to his truck, at which time i met with him. i offered to help with the drag, and upon arriving back at the deer, these two out of state schmucks had found the buck, with the tag on it, and they used a 1" pocket knife to remove the head. not only did these two idiots steal the head off a legally tagged buck only 1 hour old, i also caught them in my treestands that morning as well. they were "friends of a friend" and made plans to sneak into my stands that morning because i had a permit to hunt another area that day. i lost my permit that morning, so i couldn't hunt the special reg area, so i decided to hunt my routine stand, only to find these two idiots in my stands. then i caught these two idiots hacking a buck off a tagged deer. then i get a call that evening from my "so called friend" and get my a$$ chewed out for giving these two idiots a piece of my mind when i caught them twice that morning. long story short, their names were both bernie, so i decided to check out this thread. some people do crazy things, so i hope someone did not actually steal your deer. if the guy did take it, i hope it was still alive and he shot it assuming it was simply a bedded bed and never realized it was wounded. i know of deer that had been shot with an arrow and soon afterwards been shot by another hunter.
I never could figure this one out. Why would they even want it??? Strange people, must be inbread.
1. Very possible
2. More often than it should. Once is too much.
3. Never. If I didn't shoot it, I don't want it.
Ty That's what I'm saying! I shot a buck Friday that was hit too far back and practically dead on his feet but I didn't hunt him, someone else did. I left him on the path and went and told the ranger where he was. He was about 145-150" 10 pointer, but he wasn't mine! Some people don't care, and they'll go home and say look what I killed! Why would you want someone elses deer?
Not excusing any intentional theft, but I think you should also consider the strong possibility of a completely innocent other hunter taking the buck.
If you look at it from the standpoint of the gun hunter coming along, he sees a deer, alive in its bed. Probably already alert to his presence and head up. Maybe even standing or walking away. Of course he's going to shoot it, he can't tell from his position that it's seriously wounded. If the deer then expires quickly, maybe getting a few feet from that final bed, that's what he would expect it to do from his shot. Unless there was readily apparent bloodtrail noticable from his position when he approached the deer that continued past the bed where he shot it, he'd have no reason to suspect that he had just finished a wounded deer.
And even if he did find evidence that the deer had been wounded earlier, and found the earlier wound, it would appear that the deer had eluded the other hunter with a probably mortal wound. Good thing all around if he finished it and tagged it. No foul on his part if he had no way to know that you were coming back for it. He may have waited an hour for someone to come along trailing, or tried to backtrail and lost the bloodtrail somewhere along the line.
I see it as very likely that someone found it and acted blamelessly in taking it, with or without the knowledge that it was previously wounded.
You did the right thing in backing out and waiting for the wound to do the job, but in this case, it put the deer in someone else's freezer. Next best thing to finding it yourself. Beats all the other possibilities.
had one taken once, a "cowhorn" spike. never could figure it
Three Years ago my cousin Toby and I were hunting during the Maryland Muzzle loading season. I was using a bow and Toby was using a muzzle loader. We were both on my property but close to a public hunting area. I Double lunged a doe about an hour before dark. I knew it was hit good and could see my pass through arrow nock sticking in the leaves. I was in no hurry since I knew we could find it easy. Just before dark I heard Toby shoot his muzzle loader. I waited until dark for him to come out to our trucks. He said he had shot one but came out to get me to blood trail. We decided to go get mine first. We had a beautiful blood trail and she was blowing blood out both side. She went over 100 yards and there was a steaming gut pile. I had a plaastic bag and took the liver. We then went and got his deer. We know my deer was shot with a Jak-Hammer and the only gun shot that evening was Toby's. We took his to the butcher shop about 1 mile from where we were hunting. We told him what happened and he said well a guy just brought in a deer he said he got on the Public hunting area. The butcher said it had been hit with an expandable broadhead and had a huge entry and exit hole yet the guy said he shot it with a muzzle loader. I already had killed several deer and told the butcher not to worry about it, I had the liver. Toby and I agreed that if it had been a big buck there would have been trouble for him.
Russ, You may be right, but he didn’t gut the deer I would think you would always want to do that. The more I go over it in my mind it looks like he just grabbed buck and started dragging to make a speedy get away.
If someone tried to GIVE me a mounted 300" buck I would not want it. I just don't get. Why would you steal or even buy one? The rack is only on the wall to help relive a memmory. I guess you could cut it into rattling antlers or something???? If you are going to tag something you didn't shoot, call me, I'll pile them up for you.
I agree, I wouldn't do it for nothing. It always scares me to leave a buck behind in the woods. Sometimes I park far away and it may take awhile to get a fourwheeler into where the deer is. All I can think about while I'm gone is whether someone's going to stumble across it and take it.
Now, I would take a cool deer rack, mostly for rattling antlers. My rattling antlers now are a buck I killed in '98, and I would like to have them mounted someday. So I need a replacement, that is the only way or reason I would take a deer rack if someone offered one to me.
Bake
Quote:
"If someone tried to GIVE me a mounted 300" buck I would not want it. I just don't get"
Better take a look at the deer antler market on ebay and elsewhere before you say that. You could pay for several years worth of out-of-state hunts with the proceeds ;-)
I know; I've seen it......it's GAY. It should be agaist the law and probably is. How is that not market hunting? I found a dead bird in my yard yesterday. Does anyone want to buy it or steel it?
i'll pass on your offer for the dead bird.....taking it would be gay.
Could have been an honest mistake. I killed an axis buck once that had been gut shot by someone earlier. I saw him sneaking down a line of trees and brush in the late afternoon and slipped in front of him and he came right to me. I had no idea until I recovered him that he had been wounded. I never saw another person all day long. I tagged him, packed him out of the hellhole we were in (it was nearly midnight getting back to the truck) and ate him.
As far as "would you take someones's deer?" No I wouldn't. But I doubt anyone you asked that question to would answer any differntly.
Geez, there's folks that rob liquor stores, folks that steal money from children's charity funds, you name it. People are capable of pretty much anything and everything and prove it on a daily basis.
I hope Bigdan is out there checking this out. He's got some good stories about how his first 2 P&Y bulls were stolen, one right out of camp. No mistakes there. Yeah, it can and does happen.
Sorry but I don't think stolen is the right word for something you never possessed. It's a bummer you never found the deer you didn't hit very well but I’ve been on too many “hit him just a little further back” type bloodtrails to know they don’t always end in you finding your trophy.
I have to wonder if there isn't another hunter out there who is complaining about all the wounding bowhunters cause?
I remember my very first day big game hunting with a rifle, about 20 years ago. Just as it’s starting to get light, Boom! Someone shoots a buck just up the mountain from me, hitting it right in the front elbow. Here comes the deer running three-legged straight at me, finally veering at about 15 yrds. A little bit later my dad comes over and asks why I didn’t shoot him. I told him someone else had already shot it. I’ve learned a little since then and today would have put that deer down, and either tagged it or offered it to the original shooter, even though he didn’t deserve it.
For guys who take deer that have already been tagged, that’s a completely different story.
Was this private or public ground? Private, I would have a problem with someone taking a deer, if that is what happened. Not much you can do on public.
Yttails, It was on public.
Dirty D, I didn’t make the best shot but it was definitely lethal, and I think he drug it from its last bed, I think you have to be a big jerk to take a deer like that.
Bernie,
You are making a lot of assumptions. You may be correct, but then you may not...
michael
Hunting with my buddy on Long Island he hit a large buck threw both lungs ,Went to get me ,I am only 150 yds away. We start following blood trail over a rise and we hear a car door slam . We come to top of rise and see a small black pick up driving away Go down to dirt road no gut pile NO DEER , JUST A NOTE WRIITEN IN DEER BLOOD on a large maple leaf saying ( THNK U ) never seen that truck again WE ARE still waiting .
Elk hunting (rifle) several years ago, we had someone in our party shoot a good bull elk dead within sight across a valley. Some other hunters came over the hill attracted by the shot (they couldn't have been very far), by the time our guy got up to it, the other hunters had already tagged it. In the ensuing arguement, one of the other hunters actually shot the already very dead elk to "claim" it. Our guy gave up at that point. Pretty sad and a little scary, I'm sure that elk is sitting over someone's fireplace with some elaborate story concocted by the "owner" that he tells at dinner parties.
I think it's so bizarre, but it happens a lot. If anything, I would do everything I could to find the rightful owner of a dead deer, no matter doe/buck.
A buddy of mine had a big 8-point stolen back in NJ, and he went through a lot to hide the deer. Someone must have been watching him the whole time.
I will never leave a big buck in the woods on public land unless I have to. I'd rather carry my gear 30 yards, drag deer 30 yards, carry gear 30 yards, drag deer 30 yards. That way I know he will make it to the truck.
There's a bunch of idiots out there who will do anything. I believe some lazy freaking slob intentionall took your deer. I've seen and heard of it too many times to think otherwise.
The worst instance of this was back in Vermont. I was driving down rout 100 north of Waitsfield. saw a buck come down off a steep hill onto the highway. Saw the guy following him raise his rifle and shoot while the deer was on the pavement(highly illegal). Deer went down in the breakdown lane. A pickup coming the other way slammed on their brakes, grabbed the still kicking buck and threw it in the back of their pickup and took off with tires squealing.
sad, but some day they will get what's coming to them.
For all you know the buck was alive IF someone else found it and, possibly, finished it.
The sad truth is...had you made a good shot it would be a moot point.
Sorry, but it's innocent until proven guilty in this country.
(Remind me of those things if the same every happens to me)
Last year we found a 140 class shed in north-central Idaho. We set our backpacks and an arrow I had just killed my elk with by the rack, and my buddy and I proceeded down the trail a couple hundred yards to see if he could get an elk we heard.
Twenty minutes later, we returned to find the shed and some of our belongings gone.
I hurried up the trail, took a shortcut and beat the guy back to his California licensed vehicle (sorry, I'm sure not all Californians would do this).
In the end, he refused to give us the rack back, but did return our other stuff.
So, I suppose people are capable of anything. Had I been a little larger in stature, I woulda got that rack back "I guarantee it" (in my best Roy D. Mercer voice).
"The sad truth is...had you made a good shot it would be a moot point."
Writer, I keep thinking that same thing, just a few inches further forward it could have been completely different. The part of what makes it tough is it was not a long shot it was 13 yards!! I guess it’s a good lesson there are never any freebees. I just had that one on my wall already after I saw good blood on the ground, I’m struggling with that a little.
I never heard Big Dan had his first two P&Y Elk stolen. Big Dan if you're reading this do tell.
crazy stuff! I've actually shot one wounded deer and backtrailed to the shooters and given them their deer
Good man Fuzzy
I would never take a deer for myself that was mortally wounded by another hunter.
Here’s another question for everyone. I know I killed that buck I’ve seen enough blood trails to be sure. That was my last buck tag for Central NC, do you still hunt for a buck?
Bernie. I would, but that's your decision.
Bernie,
In my state and many others out east, last blood claims the deer. So if for instance, you shoot the deer but it runs to another hunter and they shoot it again and put it down, they have rights to the animal not you. I am not disagreeing with you in any way but gun hunters are a different breed.
My dad shot a doe in VT and it ran towards the road, after waiting an hour and climbing down to retrieve his deer, two guys were already over it and trying to drag the deer to their waiting vehicle. After a quick scolding and argument with my dad, the road hunters who were trying to claim the deer relented and rightfully gave my dad his deer. Its probably a good thing I wasn't with my dad that day.
XMan
I believe the Nat'l Bowhunter Education course teaches that the 1st lethal hit claims the deer,
anyway it happens quite often here in Montana only with elk. I have a friend that it has happened to twice in the past 10 years and another friend that it happened to once, It takes a pretty low bowhunter to claim something that wasn't his or hers
Bernie....go shoot another deer!
What exactly did this guy do wrong? Even if he shot a deer he knew was wounded. Ethically he should shoot it, not seeing someone tracking it he takes it, still the right thing to do.
Where did he go wrong? Are you telling me you wouldn't shoot a wounded deer?
I don't know where some of you are coming from but with what we know he did the RIGHT thing.
"In my state and many others out east, last blood claims the deer."
Xman,
Really? In Michigan its gospel first blood takes the deer. It gets a little fuzzy if it wasn’t a lethal hit though.
bow27,
This was a mortally wounded deer, and if I saw a hit like that on a deer I would wait for the hunter to be tracking it, or I would back track the blood to find the hunter.
I really think now it was dragged from it last bed. I never heard a gunshot, I never saw another big pile of blood where this hunter finished my deer.
You don't know if it was mortally wounded, you THINK it was.
Just because you didn't hear a shoot doesn't mean someone didn't shoot. How long would you expect the hunter to stay there after shooting the deer? He theoretically could have waited for hours and not seen someone and left.
Like Dirty D stated their might be a hunter out there saying things about bowhunters wounding deer.
I just don't see where this hunter "STOLE" your deer.
I gotta believe when you were trailing the deer and you saw that he doubled back that that was when the other hunter probably jumped the deer and took it. He may have shot it and you didnt hear the shot or maybe he was using a bow also. JMO
"You don't know if it was mortally wounded, you THINK it was."
I do know! I saw the blood you did not, that was a dead deer.
we had the same situation happen to use only we were elk hunting. My buddy shot a NICE bull 6 by 3 on the right side a huge drop club. He got a low and a little bit back on his shot so we gps last blood and decided to give it until the next day hoping he would lay up and expire.The next day went out and started gridding the area after a hour or so we found the carcass all cut up for a shoulder mount and the meat gone . The bull was 80 yards from were we lost the blood trial. They used horeses to pack out Im sure if we stayed in the are we would have heard them. Is it our fault I don't know. I well let you be the judge on that. But I hope the ****er chokes on a steak
You say you shot the buck at 7:05 and didn't come back till 11:00. Now what if this other guy found your deer at 7:30 , and waited a few hours as well, and when no one came looking for it, he decided to take it home rather than let it go to waste. He may be telling a story on some other site about how someone shot a deer and abandoned it. When I hunt public land, there's no such thing as leaving the area and coming back later to look for a deer. I'll wait to track if neccessary, but never leave. If you leave your animal in the woods in a public area, that's a chance you take.
I personally would not take someones deer on purpose, but if I ran into a deer out in the woods and there wasn't anyone there to claim it then what? Do you just leave it and hope the guy finds it? I would wait a bit or make an attempt to finding the shooter because I would hate to see it go to waste. But I think after a honest effort is made to find the person you have to eventually make a decision. I really wouldn't want someone elses deer considering out here you get one deer tag a year. Part of the joy for me is the harvest and knowing I did it on my own. Taking anothers deer would take that from me, plus end my hunt.
Maybe like mbbushman said the guy found it not long after you shot it and waited for you to come find it, an hour or two later and he decided you weren't coming and decided it was best to take it rather than see it get wasted. Also, like someone said, maybe the guy shot it with his bow and figured he had finished him off, then when you never came looking for it he decided to take it. It is all speculation at this point, but to say that he intentionally took it might be jumping to conclusions, although as you can see from the stories it is possible. I would just move on and go after another since there really isn't anything you can do about it at this point.
One more thing, I am curious why you waited so long to go looking for it if you knew the shot was fatal? I can understand an hour, maybe two, but four hours later seems way too long to me.
This happened in Utah yrs. ago in bow season. we were hunting out of state (wa.) I hunted a large area across from a meadow next to forest service rd.
I came across a bedded forked horn muley at 15 yrd that appeared in distress ,toungh out and breathing hard. I shot it and gutted hung head up in tree to cool and drain.
Went to meadow,( 100 ft . or so) and walked across to buddy waiting for me. Told him the story and he said I watched a truck with 3 guys stop and shoot several arrows at a buck like you described . About then the truck cam back and we flagged it down. (they gut shot the deer)
They denied shooting until we said he got license number . I then told them and showed them where to enter woods to recover deer and it was hanging in tree.
They said they would take care of it!
I told them it better be gone by tomorow or we will call wardens. It was and I would do the same for anyone. Milt
"Do you guys think my deer was taken? Do you guys think this happens much? Would you ever tag a deer you found in the woods"? "I do know! I saw the blood you did not, that was a dead deer".
OK-relax and take a chill pill, you dont know if it was mortally wounded or not either. I have seen a lot of blood on animals that were not spotted till the next week, walking around fine. If you have all the "facts" then why ask for opinions?
"One more thing, I am curious why you waited so long to go looking for it if you knew the shot was fatal? I can understand an hour, maybe two, but four hours later seems way too long to me."
Dead is dead,I never thought waiting hurts unless you see the deer fall.
Mulehorn, I'm all chilled out haha! And I’m just stating what I know.
Cool Bernie. JMO ya know, hope you can still go out and fill your tag. Good luck.
Bernie1,
Sorry to hear it happened to you, but like everyone else has said. It happens. I've seen it with does as well as one P&Y class buck.
Take it as a learning experience, let the rest of us learn from your loss, and then you should go get another one.
Good luck and thanks for sharing.
Hunter Ethics, Its what you do when no one is watching. Its really a shame that some people will go to any extrem to bring a animal home. I have had this happen to me once. I figured the person that took the deer needed it more then me.
Determined archer, I don't get your point. If you're saying that I see a wounded deer and shoot it. Wait to see if anyone is tracking it and no one shows up for a couple hours and then I tag it and take it Yes I'm doing this and I absolutely believe it's the ethical thing to do.
You?
Do we know that this didn't happen?
Bernie1, Your just stating what you know. What's that? You made a bad shot on a deer and someone else shot a deer the same morning you shot yours. You don't even know if it was the same deer! Now you think it was dragged, you don't know though. And you're basically accusing someone of stealing you're deer.
bow27,
“Determined archer, I don't get your point. If you're saying that I see a wounded deer and shoot it. Wait to see if anyone is tracking it and no one shows up for a couple hours and then I tag it and take it Yes I'm doing this and I absolutely believe it's the ethical thing to do.”
Yes that is unethical, you should at least wait 24 hours minimum! Gut the thing and let it hang in the woods. And I've said from the start that I could be wrong, but I have tried to state what I know. I never said it was the gospel truth.
I shoot a wounded deer and you want me to hang it in the woods and come back the next day (or longer)to see if anyone came by to claim it. When are you going to tag it or aren't you? Are you still going hunting with that tag? What about weather, coyotes, bears? What if I can't get back the next day?
That is just ridiculous!
Bernie,
Yes, here out east the person that puts the deer down tags it. Its exactly due to the reason you stated, how do you know the first shot was lethal or the animal would get recovered, its grey. If the second guy puts down the animal, its not grey, they killed it.
XMan
bow27,
All those factors apply, but you use your best judgment to respect other hunters and the game.
Xman,
I have never heard of that I guess its ok. Question though does this always apply? A quick example, I’ve always hated guides the make follow up shots for their clients, to me its cheating them out of the kill. For instance on a brown bear, when I killed my brown bear if my guide would have shot and my life was not threatened I would be one mad dude. It seems like bear guides like to do this, with that logic a lot of bear hunters didn’t kill their bears. This has never happen to me I’ve only been on 2 guided hunts ever, just saying.
I have family members that used to hunt public land and they had to go through the same hardship. It didn't matter if it was a buck or a doe. I think it was partly from others inability to actually harvest a deer. I have thought about going to surrounding properties to ask property owners to call if they find a dead deer. I would in return do the same for them. I feel the same as many others, if I didn't kill it, I don't want to keep it. But, I have a hunting partner stay with a deer while I take out gear and retrieve my field dressing bag. After the recovery of my buck this year, we went to retrieve our climbers and my buddy saw someone walking around in camo. He thought it was me. So, we may have come close to losing our stands. I went looking for the guy, but I guess the coward thought it best he leave the area.
if you shoot a gay buck, do you need a "special" tag for it? you know, not just a regular tag, but a special tag:)
Gun hunting this year my brother shot a buck that had been gut shot. We gutted it and waited until late afternoon it was cool enough and he would have had no problems giving it to the guy if he came looking and no one ever came looking for it so he tagged it.
Last year opening day of gun here in Michigan I had a nice eight point come through with a basketball size clump of guts hanging out his side. I shot and dropped him (9ish in the morning). I waited in the stand for about an hour and along comes a guy (now trespassing) blood trailing his deer. He had been pushing that deer since first light. I got down and escorted him to the deer, helped him field dress it, then helped drag it to his truck. He repeatedly thanked me for ending his quest as the deer was obviously not stopping anytime soon. Even though I had every right to keep that deer it never crossed my mind.
Bernie1, it sounds like the guy probably did tag the deer you shot. I would shrug it off and give him the benefit of the doubt that he shot it in its bed and decided to keep it. Keep hunting.
My neighbor was just telling me this morning that he had shot a doe but it crossed a stream and made it to a piece of property some Amish hunters had rented. He figured it was a lost deer. Then an Amish guy shows up with a field dressed doe in the back of a pickup. He said he knew my neighbor had shot it so he finished it off and brought it to it's rightful owner. My neighbor thanked him and told him that he could keep the deer and he really appreciated the gesture. The Amish guy told my neighbor not to worry if he was blood trailing to come on over and find the deer, not need to call and ask. There are some decent peple out there.
"Gut the thing and let it hang in the woods."
Where I'm from you better have a tag on it before you do that! That's considered taking possesion. Better to report it to a CO and let him deal with it. Otherwise you risk a couple hundred dollars in fines and possible loss of license.
a few years ago on a gun quota hunt here in kentucky on the fort knox military reservation i was hunting with my dad. you have an area designated to you and an area guide, but he doesnt guide you in the sinceo of being with you when you hunt, he is there to escort the people on and off the base and you are to check out with him when you leave or kill a deer. anyway my dad had killed a deer that morning and i wasnt having any luck, well around 4:15 or so i decided to start heading towards the truck because you have to check out by 5pm. i came across a 6 point buck bedded in a dead fall, his head was up and looking the other direction. i was about 50 yards from him so counting my good fortune i amdiring my skills to walk quitely thru the woods i raised my gun and shot it right in the neck and he just fell over. when i got to him i noticed he had been gut shot and was laying in a small pool of blood but my shot was the one that killed him. i got to thinking about it was wondering if he was watching his trail because someone may have been tracking him and pushing him. so instead of doing anything with the deer i went on to the truck got and we got the area guide and told him what had happened. he said no one in our area that had checked out already without a deer had mentioned hitting one and not finding it so he then had me go back to the deer and hang out to see if someone showed up tracking it and that he would go find the area guide for the area next to ours and see if anyone had mentioned it. he came back a little bit later stating no one in the next area had mentioned it. by this time its time for use to be leaving the base so he radios an MP and lets them know that i will be late getting out and why and tells me to take the deer im now the rightful owner so i do. but if the other person who had shot it and couldnt find it or was still looking for it i would have been more than happy to give it to that person.
The first deer I ever shot was a small basket racked 8 pnter in MN. I was sitting near a swamp over a beaver dam. I saw this deer coming from a ways off. He was moving slowly but I was so excited he was coming my way and didn't think about why. Finally he got right next to my stand and I put my scope on him. I noticed red on his leg but I shot him thru the heart anyway. I was really excited of course. I climbed down and found him and realized someone had shot him thru the front leg below the knee. My shot went thru his heart. I figured he was mine. About a half hour later this big guy comes walking thru the woods. He told me about the "big buck" he had just shot and was tracking. I showed him the deer and he said that it was the one. I then showed him where he had hit it, and then were I had hit it. I told him it was mine. I killed it and he would have never caught up with that deer. I was also not wanting to give up my first deer. Finally he convinced me to flip a coin for it, and we did. I won. He then started crying about the antlers, how he would really like them and maybe I could cut them off and give him to him. They were small and I really wanted the meat anyway. I took them home and ended up mailing them to him months later. My friends thought I was crazy to send him the antlers off "my" deer. The next year I shot a big, wide, thick ten pointer, so I was not too worried about the little basket rack. And he tasted good anyway. I never thought I was wrong about believeing that deer was mine until reading some of the posts on this thread. Here I always thought I was being a saint for giving up the antlers, but maybe that guy was being nice by letting us flip a coin for the deer in the first place.
determined archer,
You shoot a deer that already has a wound. You leave it there? You don't tag a deer you shot? You keep hunting with that tag?
You wait and make an effort to back track but leaving a deer in the woods is wrong, unethically and illegal plain and simple!
Hey Bernie1, sorry to hear about it dude. thats a real bummer. Regardless of whether it was taken with ill intention or not, its still got to be dissapointing. BTW You sure got the sparks flying with this one! LOL
It seems like I get everyone fired up once in a while, and then I’m quite as a mouse for a few months.
Bernie,
Good question, I would guess that on a life/death situation and a bear was charging, shoot and ask questions later :) LOL
A friend of mine shot a deer in NY, he tracked it over a mile to another hill where a second hunter shot the deer and put it down. He was accepting of the fact it was the other guys deer as he didn't make a good shot.
Fact is, deer are pretty darn tough, what we think are lethal shots end up being otherwise. Not saying this is the case for you Bernie, but I have shot deer over the years that I thought I killed only to see a week later and looking strong. I am sure there are many scenarios we can come up with on this, hopefully the two hunters involved are ethical.
XMan
I've lost 3 deer to other "hunters" 2 at one time. On the double lost deer we were driving a large woodlot private ground of course. I was standing near a county road when a large group of antler less came toward me and I shot the 4 largest in the group all lung shots. some of those deer made it to the road, one died in the ditch and was thrown into a pickup and gone. The other made the far bank died and rolled into the ditch a car with 3 people raced me to her they won and had her tagged. They kept saying she just ran across the road and fell dead. I let them have her as they were kids and were so excited about it, but the dad never left the car. The other was a good buck I broke both his shoulders but he made it back into a muzzle loader area(I was shooting a pistol).He got shot at 3 times by the same MZ shooter, not hit of course. Got his hind legs under him finally, Made it down a very steep and hill to the fence stepped through and promptly got gut shot at the amazing range of 3 feet by another shooter fell down couldn't get up. I let those two yahoos fight over him.
I don't quite know what to say about that there! I did hit a doe when I was a youngster with my old savage 20 gage and she made it just over a rise to be two barreled by an elmer wit a twice gun and buck shot. I took one look and told him nice shot. Peace.
maybe we need a coroner to determine when a deer is dead, that way no one gets accused of wrongdoing when they shoot a deer that actually is still alive. or maybe we need a rule in the books that non lethal kills belong to the first shooter, even if it is 1000 yards back. its really simple, dead deer have a hunter standing over them, live deer don't, and no one shoots a deer with a hunter standing over it.
Just to give you and update I went walking this afternoon try to find those guys again. And I found a fresh deer this time along the train tracks gut shot with a rifle and the head cut off and the rest left there to rot. I didn’t find anyone though. It reveals the kind of hunters that are running around that area.
Lots of variables to consider when putting a deer down. 1. You gut the deer you tag it, no questions. 2. You cannot tell if a deer thats hit will make it or die later and never be found, you kill it, tag it and take it home. IF you see that the wound was terminal and someont 3. No animal is worth a persons life. There are some good people out there but they are far outnumbered by the others. Heard this story long ago. A fellow was hunting and shoots a nice deer. He guts it but cannot get the deer back to the truck so he goes and gets help. Comes back and the deer is gone. Goes to local store to see hunters checking in his deer. Ask where they got it and they say they shot it miles from here. He asks the checking station attendant to look in its mouth. The checking station opens its mouth and sees that the deer has no tongue. He then pulls out a plastic bag with the deers tongue. He gets his deer back.
In my opinion there's not much difference between a poacher and a thief. As a matter of fact they are one in the same.
The thing that keeps going through my mind as I read this scenario is: Where is the gut pile?? I don't know of anyone who'd kill a deer, then drag it w/out field dressing it first.
It just doesn't make sense. Something here doesn't add up...
iowaPete
iowaPete,
The deer are not very big down here, I shot 3 ½ year old 8 point this year and he was not much over 100 lbs. and for some stupid reason some southerners don’t gut their deer until they get it out of the woods. They might have gutted the deer just away from where it died.
Bernie - that makes a bit more sense.
Forgot to add that this issue comes up a lot with shotgunners in my area. Who draws "first blood" vs. "killshot." The group has come to a consensus, but it's never the same from one group to another, and can be a bone of contention when a member of group A wounds a deer that runs to a member of group B who manages to drop it.
Which is the "proper" approach??
I honestly don't know...
iowaPete
We have always used the "first lethal shot" criteria. If there is doubt it goes to the final shooter. I hunt with the same guys all the time. Never had a problem, or seen one in this regard.
Jeff
Alright last update I went out today Sunday 8 days later in the middle of the day to see if there were any turkey vultures or crows on a caucus and they were just on the fresh kill from yesterday. But here is was seals for me, I went back to the last bed I found and it has rained twice since last Sunday and I found hair and something new a cigarette butt, I must have over looked before with all the blood I’m very sure now someone took it, and I’ve been wasting my time looking for it.
"For one, who wants a gut pile in the area they hunt."
I've watch deer sniff the gut pile of a deer that was killed 24 hours prior. Didn't faze them in the least.
Jeff
we don't gut our deer in the woods either. all deer are hauled out and gutted by the vehicles. that's a rule before we even get into the stands. it makes no sense leaving a gutpile anywhere near your stand. there's probably a couple rifle hunters on gunsite.com that have a thread about a bowhunter who killed a nice buck and just left it lay there to rot, so they took it home...........?? is the investigation still going on? they can swab for dna from a cig butt ya know.
Some strange things can happen in the deer woods such as, years ago I arrowed a nice buck. He was hit really good and I decided to stay in the stand for a while. When I started tracking him, it was a good trail and he went onto the neighbor's farm that I also had permission to hunt. The trail took me past someone elses stand and then I walked up on a gut pile. I was furious. I went up to the famer and he said that the other hunter just left with a buck. I got his number and called him and he said that he shot the buck and it wasn't wounded at all. I knew this guy had a reputation as a shady character, although I didn't know him personally, We argued over it and I argued with the farmer to kick this guy off of the farm. He got mad and said that if we couldn't resolve it that we would both get kicked off of the place. I wasn't getting anywhere with him and so I got mad and dumped deisel fuel on his homemade stand and burnt it and the tree to the ground. Only to later walk the area and find my rotten buck just yards past where he had shot his buck earlier. It appeared that my buck went down the same blood trail as his done earlier. As it turns out we both shot nearly identical 8 points the same morning, He recovered his and left before mine came past his stand. What's the odds? I lost a buck, lost respect from a fellow hunter, lost hunting permission and felt like a real fool for not looking past the gut pile for my buck. That was 20 some years ago when I was a young, mean fool. I am still very ashamed of that story and hope others learn from it, I sure have and have tried for years to be a better sportsman. So remember , strange things can happen. Oh yea, that was when I lived in Michigan too!
Wow Boone! You never told me that story, now I am having second thoughts about hunting with you LOL. Remind me never to piss this guy off.....
Same reason why some will steal a tree stand, blind, trailcam, etc. Why not just break into someone's car or house?
The deterioration of ethics continues to erode yearly...
"The deterioration of ethics continues to erode yearly"
I 2nd that whole heartedly! This little situation with my deer is small potatoes compared to the overall moral decline of this country, just watch our leaders and to see what they are advocating for is sickening, and we wonder why our young people take the next step down then morally bankrupt road.
Had two does taken in wi (earn a buck area)Some peope!
If one comes by me that is already hit I will shoot it and either wait for the person who shot it to come by tracking it or backtrack it to find them. The way I see it it is their Deer and I just get to shoot one (to finish it off) without the need to tag it.
A few years ago I was heading into my stand, in the dark, still half asleep and I came across a deer bedded in my trail. We both jumped and then I realized she was badly hurt. I didnt want to shoot her in the dark and she bedded within yards, so I went on to hunt thinking she would surely be dead by the time I came out. I was dreading having to butcher another deer, one I did not shoot, but had resolved myself to doing it. When I came back out several hours later the doe was still alive. I felt horrible for letting her suffer and quickly ended it. She had been shot through both front legs but not wounded mortally. After I shot I went to the house to lose some clothes and found a note from my wife. A neighbor had called to ask permission to look for a doe they wounded at dusk the previous evening...
I called and they were there in minutes to claim their prize. We both were happy and the poor thing did not get eaten alive by the coyotes.
I often see wounded deer that the shooter is not following. I will shoot these animals on the spot to end their suffering. So far they have been does and/or small bucks and I take zero pleasure in shooting them. I do feel it is the right thing to do so will continue the practice.
There is NO WAY I'd leave a deer I have shot, 'hanging in a tree for 24 hours', waiting for someone that had wounded it to MAYBE show up.
I believe the hunter that knocks the deer down is the hunter that 'owns' the deer. That being said, I'd defer to a hunter that followed up a good blood trail to the deer.
this goes to show how much pressure is put on by some to get a buck, at any cost, with out the enjoyment of the thrill of the outdoors. before i was born my dad took my grandpa on his first hunt. it was on public land in northern michigan. grandpa shot a buck and waited for my dad to come before tracking it. they followed the trail to where the deer fell, and then followed the boot prints and drag marks in the snow to where a car had been parked. the car was right next to my dad's car. they did not even gut it. what a great first hunt for grandpa.
This happened to my dad's wall hanger. Followed the blood trail for 9 hrs and never found the deer. The next morning we saw a big puddle of blood next to the road, where we never thought to look cause we lost the blood trail, and he was devistated. Takes a long time to get over someone taking your deer especially if its a wall hanger.
my wife shot a buck last week, but after looking in the dark after the shot, she was convinced she did not hit it. 3 days later she came across a dead buck lying in the woods only a couple hundred yards from her stand............at that point she realized she did indeed hit the deer and did kill it. unfortunately another hunter(he was trespassing as this ground is heavily posted) found the buck and cut off the antlers. i wished he would have taken the deer as well, at least it would have been consumed. it is feeding the coyotes now at least
Jeff270, I got ya beat ont he gut pile thing. I once shot a (mature)doe in a "high gap" in the Southern Appalachians of VA. Rifle kil, dropped her with one shot, at 50 yards in a sleet storm. Walked up, leaned rifle against a tree and dressed her right away (<10 minutes from shot to end of dressing chore). Drug her 8 to 10 feet from the gutpile, leaned down and grabbed a handful of snow and slett and was "washing" my hands with it. A second mature doe trotted up into the notch, right up to the steaming gut pile and sniffed it. Startled me, (10 feet away) and she was prasctically touching my rifle leaning against the tree. She looked me in the eye and literally swan-dived back off the mountain the way she came up! Funny! :-)
