Ethical.... Part Duce !!!

[Moosie]

So the shooting of a wounded deer got me thinking.

Senario: You drew a "Trophy" deer tag and have high expectations on shooting a 180" deer. You are walking on the east side of a Ridge line and on the West side you hear a gun shot go off. Then you hear a few more shots. You look over and after a couple mins and see a buck. For this example picture a 2x3 Mule deer 21" wide let's say, limping with 2 bad placed shots in it but still moving and it's hobbling 50 yards in front of you. As it passes in front, you look further in that direction and see a vast forest that a Buck can hide and disapear never to be found.

Question :

1. Do you shoot the buck expecting the person that initially shot it will be happy you finished off their buck ?

2. Do you watch it go by because you didn't want to tag it and are afraid that the peopel that shot it won't come over the hill looking for it and there is no way you're tagging a little buck ?

3. Do you shoot it and Tag it because legally (In Idaho at least) You put the finishing shot in it and who ever finishes the animal is the rightfull tag owner ?

4. What if you see them shoot at it, know they are looking for it and you see them tracking it but the buck that was bedded sneaks out towards you and now they are going the wrong direction and looking confused and they didn't see the deer sneak out?

5. Would your Answer change if it was a 30" ~ 200" Caliber type deer ?

 

[Moosie]

I'll start out with my thoughts. Right or wrong I've been in situations that I've shot an animal, and spent time tracking it and crossed another hunter that saw the animal and didn't shoot it. I personally have 0 issue and would rather that if I hit a Critter and it went Mobil on me that if someone had an opportunity to put it down for me to do just that. On the flip side, I'd have a hard time pulling the trigger for someone else unless it wass a Hunting buddy and they gave me the OK to do so.

If the Animal was HUGE, I'd shoot it and play it out what happens. I figure if the person comes over looking for it I'd let them have it, but if they never came over I'd tag it and wouldn't feel bad.

What would you do ?!?!

 

[elk_hunter]

Option #5. Let the hunters shooting at the buck track it and continue in search of that 180 class buck you're after.

 

[justdada]

Option #6 Leave the area immediately, before the guy asks you to help him pack it out...

 

[mdhunter]

Two years ago my hunting partner wounded a 320 class elk in New Mexico. The next day we ran into a hunter who said he had seen the elk the day before but didn't shoot it as he wanted a "monster". My buddy ate his tag and we never found the elk. I guess that hunter would have shot and tagged the elk had it met his expectations.

 

[highmountian]

Moosie, good question. I think as a hunter you shoot it, because you know if someone else was shooting at it they wanted it. 99.9% of the time the hunters that shot at it would tag it. Plus you had the fun of putting it down and you also still get to keep hunting. If it was a huge deer same senerio applies. If you shoot it, they should get it. I quess it would be a bonus if they didn't come looking for it! .

 

[belly-deep]

I don't see how the answers to this question would be much different from the last, other than a few of the people who would have burned a tag on him might let him walk now. I said I'd let him walk in the first scenario, and I'd do it here too.

 

[elk_hunter]

Option #6 Leave the area immediately, before the guy asks you to help him pack it out...

LOL, totally!

BTW, after re-reading this thread, I guess I'm retarded and can't count...I should have started off with #6 considering Moosie already had 5.

 

[oleefish2]

I hang around for a little time and if they show up looking for the buck I try and head them in the right direction and go on my way.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Blast away. Put it down and then sort it out.

 

[Silent But Deadly]

Had this scenario happen a few years back and went option number #1. Only the deer was a much better deer, and he was bleeding out of his mouth when he ran by me after the shooting. Interestingly enough, he was bleeding from the mouth because the hunter shot him in the snout. When the hunter came up to look at him, he said "Yeah! I Got Him!" I let him have the deer, and didn't tell him that his only hit was right in the snout. Got to admit, if the deer was 180ish instead of 150ish, I would probably have told him to take a hike.

 

[Goldtip]

I'd put the deer down and backtrack the deer looking for the hunters who shot him and let them know where he now layed. Then get on with my hunt.

 

[elkfarmer]

A small 2x3 I would shoot and go get the guys that were shooting.

A 30" 200", I would shoot him and still go get the guys, but this time I would say, I missed him for you but he ran that way.....

Either way i think that deer might be going down, big one I am shooting anyways and if its a little guy he better be in bad shape.

 

[sweetnectar]

Shoot the deer, When the other hunter comes up congratulate him. If he asks you if you shot it, tell him how bad a shot you are and how you missed by like 10 feet. If no one shows up then I'd follow the same stratagy used for wolves.

 

[Horn Seeker]

Thats a tough question... I have to say... I think I'd shoot the deer, especially if I could tell 100% sure that it was wounded... and I would try and back track a bit to make sure the original shooter was coming over to get him! Also...you have to remember...in some cases, especially with a little buck, the hunter may just turn and walk the other way when he hears the shot, not wanting to get in some sort of confrontation about whose deer it is...??

How bout this... you are hunting with a bud... you are together... a buck steps out and he fires... the buck bolts 10 yds...stops... he fires again and the buck disappears into some trees... you catch movement out the other side, your buddy cant see it... He says, "put him down, get another one in him"... you fire and the buck drops...

You go up and he's got ONE bullet hole in him. He's a dink 3 point and you were planning on holding out for a mature buck....

Your buddy says, "well...looks like you've got a buck".... Or...does your buddy say, "ahh, dont sweat it, I'll tag him"...

I know whats legal....

 

[1_pointer]

"Buddy's" answer would determine if I'd be hunting with him again...

 

[----]

"Buddy's" answer would determine if I'd be hunting with him again...

Absolutely!

 

[NM50CAL]

Ethically speaking, shoot it. Don’t let the wounded animal go off to die and not be recovered. If the original shooter(s) claim it then great, if not then you have acted with a measure of responsibility. Albeit it’s not what you wanted but what you needed/had to do.

 

[MaineBowHunter]

I would drop it if at all possible with the full expectation that the original shooter would tag it. I can't see myself letting a wounded animal walk knowing i could end it right then and there.
A buddy was hunting with his cousin in MT this past fall and the cousin shot a buck that ran right up to my buddies tree stand and stopped. He saw the buck was wounded and thought it looked like a well placed shot. I would think that well short of the 10 minutes that he watched it would have told him that the shot was not good and he would have put another one it it. But he didn't. The buck eventually took off and they never recovered it. I say, finish it off whenever possible.

 

[ogro]

The law is "Whoever dispatchs (applys the final shot) the animal is his and he will tag it. Anything else is party hunting and is illegal. I have had situations where more than one person has shot a "trophy" animal and the game warden &sheriff were called in to settle the matter. They said "Whoever dispatched the animal is his" In this case the second hunter found the wounded animal while the first hunter was tracking him. I was the first hunter and made a good shot thru the lungs and it was a 300 class bull elk. He had gone about two hundred yards and was bedded down. I didn't even know the other hunter was there. The Law supercedes Ethics in most cases.