Doing the right thing

[bjochem]

What would you do? Hunting unit 113 in WY, day 3 of a 7 day hunt with goats all around. As you make your way through a narrow piece of public the neighboring rancher calls you over and asks if you hit an antelope buck. He saw one over the ridge dragging a back leg. You didn't hit it originally. I am proud to say that my girlfriend told the rancher that she would try to find it and take care of it. We hiked over the ridge and found the young buck high in the mud, badly hurt. She willingly laid down and punched her tag on that yearling buck on a hunt she had looked forward to for almost 2 years, I couldn't be more proud. It would have been easy to just say not my problem and just move on to find a bigger buck.

 

[bjochem]

 

[406LIFE]

High ethics like that are becoming more rare. I think many of us on here could relate a story when we took a wounded animal like that.

 

[duckhunt]

Good for her and also the rancher.

 

[Bhill552]

Great choice. Never let an animal suffer.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Good for her. Hard to say what events transpired to get to that situation, but I think any true sportsperson values the wellbeing of the animal over potential trophies.

I’ve had to do the same, unfortunately. Yearling buck a guy shot the front leg off of, then didn’t go after. Not how I envisioned my hunt going, but at least I didn’t leave a suffering animal out there. Sure, trophies are nice but there’s also a lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing you did the right thing.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I'm glad to hear some people still choose to do the right thing.

 

[TheJason]

Sure, trophies are nice but there’s also a lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing you did the right thing.

Always. Good for her.

 

[sluggo6850]

You have a wife to be proud of. It's not always easy to do the right thing, but she made a good choice. Congtats!!

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

I did the same thing with a doe in that same unit 10 years ago.

 

[VikingsGuy]

As they say, it's always the right time to do the right thing. Well done.

 

[SFC B]

Doing the right thing for animals should feel better than a big trophy. Still filling the freezer and stopping suffering. Congratulations to her for being one of the good ones!!!

 

[LCH]

Made the right decision!

 

[ol_spark]

Good for her. I assume you were already tagged out or without a tag since she made the choice.

 

[recon6036]

No doubt the right thing

 

[Doublecluck]

Made the right choice and good karma will come your way. My daughter and I have done this on more than one occasion with lope and elk. I shot a wounded cow on my general tag a few years back and the next year I got a nice bull. Two years ago my daughter came across a wounded yearling buck during a stock on a trophy lope. She made the decision to finish off the smaller buck. Last year she was rewarded with a b&c lope. Good things coming your way.

 

[JonathonJEB]

good job. congrats

 

[wytex]

Great job and I hope the meat is ok.

 

[bobbydean]

Lady looks very happy in that picture. Always feel good about doing the right thing. She is feeling pretty good!

 

[bjochem]

I actually didn't have a tag. We had 4 people with tags and I wasn't terribly interested in shooting a goat with a gun. Now watching 2 of those 4 tags get filled I wanna give it a try. Already told her we will do it again to get her a better goat. So far the heart and tenderloins were tasty. Rest should be good too.