LAST EDITED ON Aug-30-11 AT 08:57AM (MST)[p]208JBB your story sounds very similar to an encounter I had when I was 17. I was standing on a canyon watching the sun rise, heard shots and some yelling and saw a barely legal 3 pt. (this was a 3 pt. or better area)run down in the canyon from the other side with its guts hanging out and a hunter running hell bent for leather following right behind. Now, I had a legal tag for the area and I could see the buck was legal and it was coming right to me. I yelled to the hunter and asked if he wanted me to finish him off - "Yes - please!" was the response. So I got a good 75 yard broadside shot and hit the buck behind the shoulder, right in the vitals, took out both lungs and several arteries. The buck was half - trotting when I took the shot and had been running so he continued do so for about another 350 yards through a side wash. Well the guy came up the canyon and met me about where I had hit the buck. He said - "Thanks for helping me get my buck - I really appreciate it" - "No problem" I said, "glad to help you out with your buck." It was clear in my mind and in his that the buck was his.
I had a good blood trail so I told him that I would follow the blood while he went down the bottom of the wash as I was likely to push the buck down to him so he could finish it off. So we split up, I followed the blood and he went down the bottom. About that time I heard someone yelling from the other side of the canyon (where he had came from) "Russell!" - must have been his name. So sure enough I tracked the buck right to where I told him he would go but when I get there, there was no Russell. I didn't know where he had went to tell you the truth but kept expecting him to come back any second. Looking back, what I think happened was he saw the buck, was concerned about its legality (it was 2 pt. with a little 1 1/2 inch devil tine coming out of the fork which I could see shining in the sun as he came across the canyon - so just barely barely legal)and decided to get the hell out of there and let me deal with it. In my naivety however, I didn't realize that at the time. As far as I was concerned, I was still helping him out. We had agreed it was "his" buck.
So I yelled "Here he is - come and get your buck" and waited for him to show up. While waiting for him, I cleaned the buck out - the gut shot wasn't all that messy - I was able to put a stick in the hole so it didn't get worse and cut the skin around it and it actually cleaned out pretty nicely - though it certainly would have been fatal. I then decided that "Russell" had just went back across the canyon to get the rest of his party to help him pack the buck out. So I left the buck in a tree and by then my dad had made it over to me. I told him the story and he told me to leave it there and that we would find "Russell" so he could tag his buck. We looked and looked, and didn't find him but we did find a game warden, told him the story and where the buck was hanging. He told me that I could have tagged it if I wanted to but that he would make sure "Russell" did. I think he was sympathetic because "Russell" had taken advantage of a 17 year old hunter like that. He surely could have made me tag it, and by all rights, ethically and legally I should have, but he let me off the hook.
He never found "Russell" either and if "Russell" is out there reading this and recognizes this story, shoot me a PM - I can still direct you to the tree where "your" buck is still hanging.
HOOK 'EM!