First Blood? Who's is it?

[TimeOnTarget]

A mortally hit animal in my mind is usually going to tip over within seconds and a matter of a few hundred yards spewing blood the entire way.(or at least into the chest cavity)

 

[TheJason]

A mortally hit animal in my mind is usually going to tip over within seconds and a matter of a few hundred yards spewing blood the entire way.(or at least into the chest cavity)

Nope.

I experienced this first hand last year. I shot a muley buck, double lung but high and a little back in the lobes. Good blood, the buck bedded within seconds of being hit. An hour later (I could see everything) he got up and walked/ran across the drainage. My spotting scope was my best ally, and I watched him travel 800 yards before finally falling over. It was almost two hours from the shot to the final collapse.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

Nope.

I experienced this first hand last year. I shot a muley buck, double lung but high and a little back in the lobes. Good blood, the buck bedded within seconds of being hit. An hour later (I could see everything) he got up and walked/ran across the drainage. My spotting scope was my best ally, and I watched him travel 800 yards before finally falling over. It was almost two hours from the shot to the final collapse.

That's why i used the word usually, There's always an exception.

Certainly not the 3+ days spoke of in the post in question.

 

[Elkmagnet]

I have always gone by the rule of
"whoever draws first blood from the vitals"

If it's alive 24hr later its not yours. If somebody else shoots said animal days later give him a congratulatory pat on the back and thank him for fixing your mistake.

 

[dustinf]

I don't know what to say, but the entire situation makes me cringe...

On many levels.

 

[noharleyyet]

If somebody else shoots said animal days later give him a congratulatory pat on the back and thank him for fixing your mistake

..there it is.

 

[Reeltime]

The way I read it, and I may be wrong but it wasn't even the same day as the initial hit that he was asking for space to go after a ram he wasn't even certain was the one he hit.
NHY hit the nail....

Yep, this guy screwed up, it happens to everyone, then acted very selfishly and inappropriate.
He woke the guys up and told them about the sheep. Then yelled at them for trying to go kill one when the sheep he wounded wasn't even there. He kept refering to it as "my sheep". It was never his sheep. After the initial shot it was still fair game because he made a bad shot, evidenced by 2 days of tracking and no critter.
Yes it sucks, but it's hunting and it happens. Especially when you shoot at unknown ranges and guess wrong......

 

[belly-deep]

Nope.

I experienced this first hand last year. I shot a muley buck, double lung but high and a little back in the lobes. Good blood, the buck bedded within seconds of being hit. An hour later (I could see everything) he got up and walked/ran across the drainage. My spotting scope was my best ally, and I watched him travel 800 yards before finally falling over. It was almost two hours from the shot to the final collapse.

Was that an archery or rifle kill?

 

[TheJason]

Was that an archery or rifle kill?

archery

 

[Devil Diver Down]

I have always gone by the rule of
"whoever draws first blood from the vitals"

If it's alive 24hr later its not yours. If somebody else shoots said animal days later give him a congratulatory pat on the back and thank him for fixing your mistake.

Yep. Bad hits are going to happen - archery and rifle - but you don't have a claim on an animal just because you drew blood. If that animal is still breathing the next morning, you didn't kill him.

The mule deer I killed last year was limping pretty bad after someone shot him in his back leg the day before (it was right after first light the second morning when I saw him). It was a decent buck but not quite the class of buck I had in mind, but I wasn't going to leave him suffering so I fixed someone else's mistake. I won't bother with bowsite anymore but 3-7 days later is a joke.

 

[Rooster52]

When rifle hunting on public land ,I always try for the high shoulder shot. Drops them right there ,no tracking.
Archery can be completely different,a double lung shot and an animal can travel several 100 yards.Tuff call.

 

[Gerald Martin]

And once he found out it wasn't his ram he helped the "bowsiter" head off the guy who was stalking it. Not cool at all. I also think it is unreasonable to expect someone else to stop hunting because you screwed up and aren't even sure if the animal on the hill is the one you wounded. However, I can understand the frustration *notag felt and might have said the same thing... but not if I had thought much about it in advance.

I'd say the original shooter of the ram was well within his rights to help someone else get in front of the guy that snaked in front of him to stalk a ram that he was watching and pointed out to them. First come, first served right?
I'd be pretty ticked of too if I was watching a ram that I thought might be one I had hit days previously and someone that I showed the ram to, tried to cut in front of me. It's not a matter of legality, it's a matter of decency.

Would it make any difference in how you viewed the situation if you found out the guy who was cutting in front of you was a convicted serial poacher?

 

[RobG]

I'd say the original shooter of the ram was well within his rights to help someone else get in front of the guy that snaked in front of him to stalk a ram that he was watching and pointed out to them. First come, first served right?
I'd be pretty ticked of too if I was watching a ram that I thought might be one I had hit days previously and someone that I showed the ram to, tried to cut in front of me. It's not a matter of legality, it's a matter of decency.

Would it make any difference in how you viewed the situation if you found out the guy who was cutting in front of you was a convicted serial poacher?

He was within his rights, but it put him on the same level as the other guys. I guess I might have done the same thing if someone jumped in front of me. I just try not to get myself in that situation.

Was it the poacher-dude that cut in front of him? I thought he was just being a troll.

 

[Gerald Martin]

He was within his rights, but it put him on the same level as the other guys. I guess I might have done the same thing if someone jumped in front of me. I just try not to get myself in that situation.

Was it the poacher-dude that cut in front of him? I thought he was just being a troll.

That's the way I read it.


I agree with your assessment. I think the original shooter realized that he was acting out of anger and frustration and didn't represent himself as well as he could have in that situation.

Glad I'm not part of the entire scene.

 

[belly-deep]

I guess that's the beauty of hunting where others don't. Most of the time I never see another hunter, let alone near kill sites.

 

[Elkmagnet]

What a frustrating situation. A little decency goes a long way.

 

[TheJason]

A little decency goes a long way.

Bottom line right there.

 

[1_pointer]

Devils advocate here because I have seen double lung deer go 400 plus yards.

If I double lung a deer and it runs 50 yards over a ridge and another guy shoots it do you really think he deserves it?

I have hunted some public lands in WI that are just like this. When I shoot one I typically keep firing until it is down when I hunt there for this very reason.

Deserves it, no. Is it his legally, IMO, yes. He killed it, no? Yours may have have been fatal, but one can't prove that it someone finishes it off before your shot does.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I had an experience a few years ago with a bull elk. I shot an animal, killed it, watched it drop after the last shot. Walking up to it a guy walks up with his son saying he is looking for his bull. I told him mine was laying right here, he walks up and says its his. He was at least a good 600 yards away from where it was when he says he shot it. At first the anger in me came up and I said "Well lets dig out the bullets (mine were a pretty distinctive blue color at the time). But then I looked at his son, looked at the bull, looked at my truck which I could see about 2 miles away and told him, you can have it. Of course I was pissed on the walk out, headed back to my truck.

But...as karma would have it, I got back to my truck and on the drive out shot a bigger bull from the road.

Most states have actual laws on this topic, but I don't think in the field they are necessarily followed.

 

[JEL]

When I was young (first hunt without my Dad) I shot a fork horn muley. By the time I got to it someone else was there. They claimed they had a bullet in the deer. I had no idea if they did or didn't. I had not heard a shot besides mine. I just walked away and let them have it. Same thing happened once with an elk. I honestly am just not going to argue with someone over a dead critter. If it is that important to someone then take it. I will go find another.