Are you a true sportsman? How would you handle this situation?

[beginnerhunter]

Sounds crowded.

I'd probably try to find them and show them where it is, or what u did. If I couldn't find them I'd call game warden and explain what happened to see if it could be donated. I wouldn't ask for the antlers since they may think I shot it and came up with a story to save a tag.

But u have to be careful around a recently shot animal that isn't yours. Possession is 9/10 of the law or something.

 

[2Tracks]

I do believe hunting sets up apart from most, its like driving down a country rd or through a Small town and people still wave! Not because they have to but its just the right thing to do.

 

[Cody_Frankum]

2Tracks, I don't know if it was the right thing but what you did was definitely the admirable thing to do, good on you man. Glad there are some good people out there like you. I don't know if I would have quartered and packed out with worry that I wouldn't be able to find the kid but I would have looked for them.

Muskeez, that is a downright rotten story, I can tell you this if my dad was there and that happened to me, or if I had a son and that happened to him I can tell you this, that buck would be coming home with us.

I hope you had this opportunity 2Tracks and it all ended happily for everyone. I would say that the vast majority of sportsmen would go above and beyond to get that buck in the hands of the youngster that drew first blood. I know I would. I had the same thing happen to me as a 14 yr old muzzleloader hunter, I shot a big buck and another guy finished it off over the next hill even though it was pouring a stream of blood in the snow and then claimed it as his own. I took one picture of it before helping him drag it out in hopes of him letting me have it,.. that didn't happen.

 

[Muskeez]

Well Cody, we drove to town and called the warden and the law is whoever puts the deer down for good gets the deer, not the one that drew first blood. Just the way it is, it sucked, but life isn't always fair and it taught me a few things about people. The thing is I could have finished the deer off myself, but I left my ML on the public side of the fence as I went to recover the deer which is the legal way to do it in Iowa. as it walked over the next little hill of private it got blasted 4 times, jaw was even hanging down, sickening sight. Lesson = make a better shot the first time.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Lesson = make a better shot the first time.

Which is why I had less compassion for the kid than others. My dad who taught me and my brother to hunt wouldn't let either of us to go hunting until we were good shots. Then he drove into us to only take good safe shots at game. If we ever made a bad shot on game he would have knocked us out. Being a pro boxer it was his way of dealing with punishment.

 

[2Tracks]

Lesson make a better shot is true, but compassion comes into play when the fact at hand is we have all made a less than perfect shot one time or another... Or maybe just I have.? I might be wrong here but we are not talking about a kid who got caught ditching school, save the tough love for situations that need it. the mistake was made and I'm sure he didn't try to make a bad shot.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

What lesson is taught if you make a bad shot and still get the deer? Like I said. I'd tell them where the deer is if I ran into them again. I'd be concerned that I found the deer and they didn't.

It's all hypothetical for me anyway. I don't hunt where other hunters are around. The minute I heard the shot i'd go to a new spot.

Maybe i'd have more compassion if it really happen to me. I'm getting softer in my old age.

 

[2Tracks]

Soft is right I guess lol, I probably would have done something entirely different a few years ago as well..

 

[duckhunt]

It depends on the situation, but if I thought I had half a chance of finding the kid, I'd look pretty dang hard.

This

 

[Walkathon]

I wouldn't have gutted it because the deer wouldn't have my tag on it and I'm not sure how it would look to a game warden if one walked up while gutting it. I'd have tried to find the kid and dad who shot the deer and showed them where it was due to the fact that they did look for the animal. The rack on the deer wouldn't really mean anything to me since I didn't shoot it. Tough situation because if you don't find the kid/dad the meat is going to go to waste if you don't tag the deer and take it.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

It wouldn't go to waste. The predators would eat it. That's no different than us eating it.

 

[James Riley]

It wouldn't go to waste. The predators would eat it. That's no different than us eating it.

This ^^^^.

And, if you are lucky, next spring you have a nice dead head for the barn wall. I like a nice rack whether I killed or not. I would look around for the people who shot it but I would not make Herculean efforts to find them.

 

[Tom]

I had a friend with something like that. He drove into a ranch, closed the gate and up runs a buck and dies. He put it in the back of his pickup and sat in the truck waiting, drinking his coffee. No one showed for a long while, so he tagged it and took it home.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I think I would have done exactly what you did.

Two different times when I was hunting some heavily hunted chunks of BLM in WY, I found myself in the situation to apply some "peer" pressure on other hunters that they should spend a little more time trying to find a deer or elk they hit, but quickly wrote off. Both times I helped and we found them. I hate to think how many deer/pronghorn/elk go effectively untracked....

 

[C17loadclear]

It is interesting what happens when we are faced with these situations. On my very first deer hunt (second day) I hit a blacktail low and front and broke both its front legs. This was after getting a bad case of buck fever and missing it on my first shot. So the deer is trying to get up and the adult that I was with (I was 14) shoots it before I could shoot it again and then wants to claim it. Being a kid, I say that my dad (who was back at the house with a bad back) will fix it as the rule we had was first blood owns it....Well when he heard the story he made it right by telling the guy where he could go. I could only imagine if my dad had not been there to back me up. I still have that rack on the wall 35 years later and the memories to go with it.

 

[2Tracks]

I think for most of us this is what sets us apart, we don't easily turn away and say oh well not my problem. We are among a breed that is not common and we often view things differently when it comes to helping a fellow hunter. I don't have any regrets about what I did, and I can bet that kid tells the story about what he thought was lost and if it weren't for a fellow hunter it probably would have been. Not hunting related but I left my wallet on top of a king soopers gas pump made it home before I realized, raced back and of course it was not there. The fuel station was closed so I called the store to leave a message for the following day, they told me someone had brought it in to the store, I went to pick it up not a single thing had been touched! So yes I will go out of my way to try and help a stranger.