Who should get the deer? LONG POST!!!!

D

DoubleDuecer

Guest
So this last saturday a buddy and, I where hunting in Central Utah. We got up at first light and, headed out we got out on a ridge and, found a couple doe's while we where sitting there glassing we heard a deer running through the brush and, out came a little 4 point. My buddy pulle dup and shot but all that went off was his cap so i handed him my Omega and he shot it i watched and noticed he hit it low and, from an angle. The little 4 point ran down off the ridge and out of sight. We walked over to where it was standing and notice there was all it's food from it's stomach on the ground GUT SHOT !!! So we hiked down and never found blood. We figured it ran down the ridge in to the canyon and, on down the canyon. So my buddy ran and got his fourwheeler to run up the bottm of the canyon. My wife and I walked back and fallowed the trail of feed and gut's intell we FINALLY found blood. My wife and I fallowed the trail of blod and runy crap for about 30 yrd's then it just stopped. I could here a fourwheeler coming up the bottem of the canyon so i ran over to the edge of teh ridge to see if it was my friend. Nope it was some other feller on a fourwheeler so i went back to the last pile of runy crap and looked for more sign of the deer. I finaly found where the deer went and started to fallow the blod trail again. Then from teh bottem of the canyon i heard a shot i ran over to see if it was my friend shooting to let me know he was there. It wasen't him it was the guy that i saw on the fourwheeler and i yelle dto him if it was a little 4 point, he said i don't know! I yelled to my wife to come down and, meet me. As we where walking down tot eh guy to see if it was the deer my buddy shot we found the blood trail where the deer came off the ridge. The guy was on his radio the whole time telling his friend that there was a guy (ME) coming down. I asked the guy was it hit before you shot it he yelled back i don't know! I have never seen someone gut a deer so fast in my life. My wife found where the deer was beded down and there was ALOT of blood. I told the guy that my buddy shot it and, that i was fallowing the blodd trail. He didn't seem to care and, just said these deer are hard to come by here. So i asked where are you from, he said CA. I said i'm not going to fight you about the deer since it wasn't me that shot it and, he just sat there looking at me. So my wife and i went about 10 yrds away and sat waiting for my friend to show up. I asked him again is the deer shot twice all he would say is i laid him out man i just pill drove him. As we sat there the guy's friends calle dhim on teh radio and asked if i was still there he hurryed and turned down the radio and wispered (sp) to them that i was still there and was asking questions. The guy never finished gutting it and got a tag out and started to drag the deer to the bottom of the canyon. I never said anything else to them when his friends got there. I told my buddy about it and he was pissed the guy's came by us and a pretty fast speed while my buddy was there and just waved. So who do you think should have gotten the deer? I think who ever shot it first.

Sorry this is so long.
 
Depends on what you beleive and what type of hunter you are. In Wyoming it is the shot that kills the deer.
 
Myself, I'm kind if a mixed bag on this. On one side I'm thinking that as long as your buddy was attempting to harvest and track it he should get it. But on the other hand the guy that actually killed it probably should be the one. I've never been in that situation, sorry I'm not much help.

I will say this though. One year my cousin shot a nice cow elk with what would have eventually been a fatal shot. He trailed her about 1.5 miles and she eventually cut a road where a man and his wife shot and killed her. When he got up to them he asked if the cow had two bullet holes and the couple said yes. He just simply said congratulations to them and walked away. His interpretaion being that the person who puts it on the ground is the one who gets to tag it, even though he followed it for over a mile. If he hadn't come across the couple actually gutting it out and they had walked up on him standing over a dead elk. He might of had a different reaction since he trailed it to it's death. No matter what it's not a pretty situation.
 
I think in your case your friend should have been offered the first chance to tag it, since it had traveled not very far and he shot it so little time ago.....but without an officer there, not much you can do.
 
Thats the bad thing about hunting today, with so many hunters people dont even get a chance to track their animals before it gets shot by somebody else. You have to have time to track an animal. If I were the other guy I wouldnt of wanted to tag a gut shot deer in the first place.
 
I guess my friend wasn't really bent out of shape over it but it was just weird i guess. I've never had that happen to me before.
 
While Mulley hunting a few years back, I ran into a friend who was driving down the road with a great cactus buck in the bed of the truck. I had never seen a deer with so many unusual points and it was really wide. With much excitment, he gave me a brief description of the events that lead up to the kill. Basically, he said he was walking along a road and the buck jumped out in front of him and he shot it. A couple of hours later, I ran into a lone hunter who did not look too happy. He told me that he had been stalking a deer for over three miles through about six inches of crunchy snow. He said he was nearly on him, when he heard a shot. When he came around the bend in the road, he saw four guys slapping eachother on the back. Yeup! It was my friend who had shot the cactus buck. I guess the morale of the story is, the person who KILLED the animal should tag it.

In your case, I guess the person who tagged the animal is the one with the lowest hunting ethics and the person who deserves it the least. I also agree that gut shot deer meat does not sound too savory.
 
Well my friend sucked on that shot. I shot the gun the next day to make sure it was still on, It was dead on he just hit low i guess. I got to look at the deer just before he drug it off and it hit just behind the shoulder and went back in to it's gut's since the deer was kind of on an angle facing him. The guy that killed it shot it on the other side and high.
 
A couple of years ago on opening day of hunting season. My friend shot a five point bull. The bull didn't go down right away and he was tracking it slowly when he heard a shot nearby, he kept going in that direction and a hunter walked out and said "your bull is laying right down the hill". He had heard Dillon shoot and walked up on the bull who was about to fall over dead and put him down and was looking for the hunter. That was pretty great of the guy considering it was my friendf first bull that he had ever killed. Just a nice 5 point. Dillon asked if the guy wanted any of it and he just said to drop some backstrap off at his camp and that would be fine. Which we did.With all the crap that happens anymore over who tags what its nice to know there are still some people out there with some respect.
 
That same thing happened to me...I came upon a spike elk that was on its last leg and leaving heavy blood...I put the animal down and waited about 5 minutes until the guy caught up...He offered to split it with me but I declined...He made a good shot on the bull it just ran a bit...I just happened to be there at the right time...He was very appreciative.
 
I think the lethal shot deserves the deer. I've tracked deer that were not hit right & lost them. It's a sickening feeling. I would trade my experience of losing a buck to your experience of someone finishing it off down the line. Consider yourself lucky that the other guy took the gut shot meat.
 
My friends dang lucky the guy got it. After a while he said he was glad that someone got it and, it didn't go to waist.
 
The way I see it... if it would have gone down on the first shot it would have been your buddys. If it gets away then it is fair game for other hunters. How did this guy from the liberal state of Kalifornia know your deer was being hunted or tracked by someone else? He didn't. Are you going to go around announcing it with a bull horn after you shoot an one gets away wounded? I can just see it,"okay I just shot a deer and it's wounded...please don't shoot it if it comes your way!!!"
If I shoot an animal and it gets away into the hands of another hunter on the next ridge over and he shoots and kills it, it is his.Period. I would be more pissed at myself for not dropping it on the first shot than letting it get away and dying and never being recovered. Fact.

Here's a good story.
A few years back I came across a dead buck muley while elk hunting. It had been shot the weekend before and deer season closed after that so the buck had a week to lay there and stink before I stumbled across it. All I could think of was what a waste. The meat was no good so I cut the head off and packed it out. I later found out who may have...let me reiterate "may have" shot this buck but because of a not so well placed shot it got away. There is no way to confirm this was the buck he shot but it was the same area within hundreds of yards of where it was shot and where I found it. Did I offer to give it back to the hunter who shot it and let it get away? Not hardly. And this 187 3/8 typical now hangs on my wall.

Okay I'm done ranting now.
 
my take is that whoever had the first killing shot tags it. something similair happened to me. my first year of hunting about 10 years ago i had a cow tag for central wa. and so did a buddy of mine, and my dad and i were in a spot about 100 yards away from my buddy and his dad. a cow and a bull ran by and stopped at 80 yards and i hit her in the lungs, she stumbled and then took off, i missed the next two shots. my buddy and his dad heard the shot, came our way to see what was goin on, and the cow ran by him, he shot, broke her spine, and that was that. when we told them what was goin on, we decided that whoever had a killing shot first tags her, and when we gutted her, we found my hole, and i tagged her. no problems ever arised, and we tried for a couple more days to get him an animal, but the opportunity never arised. so i would say whoever had the killing shot, but thats just my 2 cents....
 
I agree with StinkyBuck. :)

A few years ago, I hit a buck low, and it ran around the ridge. I knew he was hit due to his reaction and how he was running, but I never could get a good follow up shot. Another hunter around the ridge finished the buck off, and my reaction was gratitude that the animal was harvested so it didn't go to waste. Would I have liked to have tagged the buck? Sure, but it may have gotten away had this other hunter not put it down for good. So logically it was his buck to tag.

My cousin hunts with a friend of his. In their family they have always gone by "whoever draws first blood." That's fine and dandy if it's understood between family members. But what if you hit an animal that manages to get away? The alternative IMO "whoever puts the buck down for good (ie at least so he's immobilized and not going anywhere) makes more sense. If you hit an animal in the leg, it is far from dead. It's definitely the lethal shot that should allow for claim to be made on the animal.

EG


campfire2.gif
"A man can be hard to find in the mountains, but you're welcome at my fire anytime."
 
definetly the killer shot, but of course some situations could arise that allow the first shot to tag the animal. If the hunter saw the commotion and saw the shot happen then it would be only fitting that he leave it alone. Now as for you hanging over the top of him, you're lucky he didn't feel threatened and give you a warning shot to get the hell out of there. You can be prosecuted by law in Utah for hunter harrassment(which is what you did from what you said).
 
>Here's a good story.
>A few years back I came
>across a dead buck muley
>while elk hunting. It had
>been shot the weekend before
>and deer season closed after
>that so the buck had
>a week to lay there
>and stink before I stumbled
>across it. All I could
>think of was what a
>waste. The meat was no
>good so I cut the
>head off and packed it
>out. I later found out

>get away? Not hardly. And
>this 187 3/8 typical now
>hangs on my wall.


Wow what state were you hunting in? Thats illegal as hell in Utah.


-DallanC
 
>>get away? Not hardly. And
>>this 187 3/8 typical now
>>hangs on my wall.
>
>
>Wow what state were you hunting
>in? Thats illegal as hell
>in Utah.
>
>
>-DallanC


I took pictures of the site where I found the buck and then after bringing it off the mountain I took it to a Game&Fish biologist in that area and signed an affidavit stating it was picked up. Cost me $7 for the affidavit. There were two witnesses who also took pictures and one was sent to the biologist after they were developed. I then brought it through the check station east of Dubois.
Wyoming Game&Fish can decide if they will let you keep a picked up animal or not. It was all completely legal.
 
A gut shot is a fatal shot and therefore your buddy should have got the deer. In contrast, my younger brother shot and killed a deer that another hunter had shot at and just clipped the rump prior to my brothers fatal shot. We ended up losing a coin toss and lost a "trophy buck" as a result. I will never let that happen again. There never should have been a coin toss.

Mike
 
I use to be of the old school first blood, But I think the second hunter should of tag it, just because he had no idea that is was wounded or that any-one was trailing this deer.It would be different if he said (icould see he was hurt pretty bad before I shot).
Several years ago I killed a buck that was acrossing the road with alot of blood on his side I shot him just before he started to head in to some black timber, 15 minutes later a hunter comes up and starts hollering that's my deer, I just said your right it is your deer, I just didn't want you to lose him in that black timber.He offered to give me some meat, but I just said NO thanks I will get some later, (Ended up with tag soup).
 
Its Whoever Draws First Blood Here where I Live In South Dakota- is Who Gets to Tag the Animal
 
>I took pictures of the site
>where I found the buck
>and then after bringing it
>off the mountain I took
>it to a Game&Fish biologist
>in that area and signed
>an affidavit stating it was
>picked up. Cost me $7
>for the affidavit. There were
>two witnesses who also took
>pictures and one was sent
>to the biologist after they
>were developed. I then brought
>it through the check station
>east of Dubois.
>Wyoming Game&Fish can decide if they
>will let you keep a
>picked up animal or not.
>It was all completely legal.

Thats awsome then! I know some guys in Utah who filmed a bear killing a big bull elk. They wanted to get the head after but were told "no ... you cant take it, its concidered poaching".

Sorry I didnt mean to imply you did anything illegal


-DallanC
 
I can appreciate everyone's points, but I disagree with simply saying it's whoever drew first blood. If I'm fishing and catch a fish with another hook in it am I supposed to give it to the person who lost that fish?? Every situation is unique. Good topic and discussion.
 
Obviously the feelings vary on who actually gets to tag the animal. The the part that stinks to me is how the hunter that finished the animal made absolutely no effort to come to an AGREEABLE conclusion. I didn't get the impression that this hunter was being harrassed, DoubleDuecer was just trying to get this guy to realize that his friend had a serious interest in this buck. From what was posted this guy was being pretty selfish!

I have dealt with this type of issue with a spike elk and a stranger AND a 3 point Buck and an uncle. I was fortunate enough to finish both animals. In both situations the events were reveiwed I tagged the spike elk and my uncle tagged the buck and everyone involved was satisfied in the end.

IMO the guys I like sharing the mountain with will always sit down and talk with you in a situation like this no matter the outcome.
 
I guess I'm in the minority for the most part here. I think that if your buddy had just shot the deer, and he was actively trying to find it, he should have been able to tag it. Of course that's my opinion only because I wouldn't feel a great sense of accomplishment if I capped a wounded buck. At the very least, as someone stated earlier, the guy should have had a conversation about it.

In the guy from California's defense, you do hear horror stories about people getting in arguments and getting shot over who's deer it is, so he might have just been scared. Anyway, at least the deer didn't become Coyote food.

WH
 
i can only speak for myself ,,, not sure how i would handle that but if everyone was being reasonable maybe you coulda talked about splitting it , but that raises who's tag gets used ect ect ,,, i can see both sides , but if you were the one who fired a killing shot and were trying like hec to find him , i think i'd have taken an "assist" and hopefully you would have given me a shoulder or a hind leg ,,, (not sure if i'd give me a piece of backstrap) :) but if we saw you had hit him in the eyelash or something ,,, no dice :) and by the way i'm from calif and i hunt utah every year i can ,,,
 
This has happened to me before. I walked up as a young kid was gutting my deer. I told him he made a nice shot. Looked at the deer, and left. The way I see it. I just get to hunt longer.
 
admittedly, i look at things a little different than most folks. here's what i see. you friend did a crap job of loading his gun and it misfired. then he borrowed your gun and gutshot the deer. another guy came along and dumped it. ending the deer's suffering and keeping it from possibly spoiling and being lost to all except the buzzards. to me, the guy that did the good job shooting deserves the deer and your pal needs to spend some time learning how to load a muzzleloader so that it will go off correctly everytime. and maybe spend a little more time practicing. there are always extenuating circumstances, but the hingepin to the whole deal is that if your pal woulda loaded his gun right, none of the rest of it woulda happened. too bad and i'm sure your pal feels bad. learn from it and go from there. main thing is that the deer didn't wander off to die miserably in the brush.
 

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