trail came pics and big buck story need help

[mikeg44]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-19-12 AT 11:52PM (MST)[p]here is a couple of trail cam pics i got off my camera in august on my deer hunt ended up gettin my deer my biggest deer ever after i hit it it went about a mile. the next day i went back looking for my deer and was not able to find it. after 2 hours of looking for it. the owner of the property told me to get off and he said if he found it he would call me ( he never found it ) my buddys friend said he new a way to get around his property and ended up finding the deer the deers head have been cut off my dad said the buck was 6 inches past its ears but i think he was about 28 to 30 wide he was a inline 5x5 all in velvet if anybody knows of a deer like that that they picked up please let me know i have been sick to my stomach ever since and feel like quiting archery huntin the shot was behind the should it was a good shot and shot at 30 yards on that water hole i can garrenty who ever picked it up lives in kingman thats were i was unit 15

u hunt emm i stuff emm

 

[TOPGUN]

That's really too bad, but it's really not your deer until you find it and take possession. It must not have been a good double lung shot like you stated because no animal hit like that is going to go for over a mile. It would be nice if whoever found it reads this and let's you know, but at least you know the animal is dead and not out there suffering somewhere.

 

[DonMartin]

Did you report this to AZ G&F? If not you should of....

Don Martin
AWO
Kingman

 

[TOPGUN]

Don---What would he report? I presume you are saying that whoever took the antlers didn't have a tag and it's illegal to possess them without one. Maybe whoever did it did have a legal tag and the rack was such a nice one that they decided it was worth putting their tag on it. It's not something I would do, but there probably are a lot out there that would.

 

[mikeg44]

don no i didnt every one said to let it go since someone picked it up i no it was a good shot but dont no how the animal went that far i was using those brand new shwacker 2" broadheads and befor he hit the tree line about ( 800 yards ) his whole body was covered in blood it was not a pass threw i do no that u hunt emm i stuff emm

 

[TOPGUN]

I see a lot of people are really negative in regards to mechanical broadheads on elk and I'm wondering if it didn't open properly and why it wasn't a passthrough at 30 yards. You said there was lots of blood on it's side when you saw it at 800 yards and in the OP you said it went for over a mile. Did you run out of a blood trail after going that far and was it an immediate attempt to follow or did you give him some time to lie down?

 

[DonMartin]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-20-12 AT 01:24PM (MST)[p]In this case, where it was a trophy animal I definitely would contact G&F and report it. Under current state law it is illegal to pick up and possess antlers or horns from animals that don't die as a result of a natural event...wounding loss is NOT a natural event, so whoever took them is in violation. Plus the rightful owner was deprived of his animal!

See if he had reported it and G&F knew about it and saw a similar rack while at a local taxidermy shop, or hanging in a garage, they might be able to get em back for him.

As it is, they have no idea what happened, plus under AZ law you can't put your tag on an animal you didn't take.

Don Martin
Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

 

[mikeg44]

we gave him a hour to bleed out and then went looking for him at about a mile he did run out of blood little blood drops to none the wierdest thing is he went up hill a slant degree but he was also following his buddy and a doe so maybe thats why he went so far i dont know the blades looked to have opened on the deer i dont know what else to say but it sucks when you hitt the biggest deer of your life and it is tookin from out of ya

u hunt emm i stuff emm

 

[DonMartin]

Yes sir it does for sure! Tough to swallow for sure.

Put it behind you and get back out there and get ready for this August!

Don Martin
AWO

 

[mikeg44]

don pm sent

u hunt emm i stuff emm

 

[TOPGUN]

I'm really sorry you didn't find him to recover the rack and good meat! Just several more questions if you don't mind. How long after you shot him was he found, how far from where you shot him, and how far was he from where you lost the trail? Since the carcass was there, where was he hit and was the arrow still in it because you said it wasn't a passthrough? It also appears that from what Don has mentioned it would have been illegal for your friend to recover the rack if it had still been there and you would have had to be the one to go and recover/tag it yourself after he found it. I guess I didn't know that it is illegal to tag it if you didn't shoot it, even though it's during the season and you have a tag when it's apparent the meat was spoiled from the shooter not finding it in a timely manner. Again, I'm sorry the way things turned out.

 

[mikeg44]

he was found 2 weeks later and about a mile and a half the trail i dont know it was a ways up and over the hill the hole was right on/behind the shoulder the deer took 8 steps/leeps and the arrow kicked out it had 8 inches of penitration on it and my friend did not recover the rack he found the body with the head cut off already and the deer was spoiled if that answers any of your questions


u hunt emm i stuff emm

 

[sremim]

English 101.......

I'm just sayin!!!!