would you ever????

[whiteoakbuck]

would you ever or have you ever taken a buck from someone else just got done reading a D&DH article about hunters who have shot big bucks and trailed it up just to find someone else with there tag on it myself personally could never do that to someone if i put the finishing shot a that deer i don't think it makes it mine i would let the other hunter tag his deer and go one with my hunting how many of you have had this happen to you or maybe a friend and what did you do in that situation? this a a huge growing problem on public land and even private land also  so what are you thoughts on this ?

[HUNTER2]

I had this happen to me up north on some public land. I shot a nice 9 pointer and was tracking it and I heard a shot about 150 yards away and followed the blood right up to it. There was a 16 year old standing by it with a big grin. I said nice deer and then his dad came over. I'm sure he realized what happened. I just walked away.

[beeker]

our group always does "first blood".. who ever drew it, gets it... regardless of the quality of shot.. this only ever came into issue one time, but those parties have since ceased to hunt with us.. the current group tends to hold their pud for the big buck and let the kids fill the doe tags.

 I had a buddy in wisconsin who had a nice ten taken from him.. he was out numbered and they were escalating the dispute so he walked away. he had the kill shot.. they had shot but they couldn't find the hole to show him, he had a blood trail right too it. that was over 10 years ago and that was the last big un to wander in front of him.

[22lex]

Personally, if I put a shot gun/bow on an animal and it goes 100 yards or more, it's my own damned fault for not making a good shot and putting it down. I have never had a deer go more than 100 yards before, except for a couple bad bow shots in the past which I never recovered because I believe they survived. I'm not gonna get mad if someone shoots a deer I shot and let get away a 1/4 mile away or more, because that is what happens. Granted I mostly bowhunt, and live in areas where there aren't miles and miles of public land for all to hunt....so my circumstances are a little different.

Most of the stories I have heard from my friends about this scenario, always end up with a "I put a good shot on a deer, and someone stole it from me". I have a hard time believing that this many people put that many good shots on deer, and tracked them for miles only to find a person finishing it off and stealing it from them. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I feel they (as in my friends) are embellishing their stories, and should practice their shots and/or give the deer time to expire and stop chasing it all over the countryside.

If an animal were to come by me obviously limping and spitting blood, I would knock it down the best I could with whatever weapon I had, and wait for the person trailing it to come claim it. That's the type of person I am.

[Go Big Red!]

Depends.

If the deer is shot and no one tracks it (this was the case this past deer season), I'll take it.  But if I finish it and someone else shot it, I'd give it up.

[FireRanger]

Two years ago, the father in law had a 4 walk in about 150yds and shot. He had a good hit on it and followed it into the swamp. The buck jumped out of the slough and headed across the field and died. He was walking up to it and had another fellow come out of the woods and approach him. Once at the deer it was realized that the other man had made a poor bow shot and had sliced the bely open with fat and blood running out. My father in law couldn't tell from his distance and had made a kill shot on it. The discussed the fact that the bow shot was poor and the deer was wounded and would have lived and that the gun shot was good. My father in law offered the deer to him saying that he had 'slowed it down' for him. The gentlemen said he cold have it. I'm sure the bowhunter had realized his folly and that it was also a small buck. We were after meat and were glad to have it. This happened on private land that we were hunting with the buck and bowhunter coming from an adjacent parcel of private land.

[deadeye]

Over the last several years we have killed 5 deer that were previously shot by another hunter.  Three of cases no one showed up (even though in a couple cases you could back track the trail). One case we could see the other hunters (they were on our property) tracking a deer.  The deer came by us and was killed.  We would have gladly given them the deer but they never came over to see what happened.  One case the hunter (it was a girl) came following a blood trail.  She eventually lost the trail and returned to her land.  That afternoon two of my brother in laws took up the trail.  They spent several hours picking their way and eventually jumped the deer and killed it.  They then gutted it and dragged it back to the girls stand (about 1/2 mile away).  She was happy.  I don't know if they would have done the same if it was a guy hunter. 
In general, we use the kill shot method.  Unless of course someone is trailing a wounded deer then the trailers usually get the deer. 

 

[kenhuntin]

I believe a deer belongs to whoever delivers the kill shot. It is not fair to an animal to suffer from a wound and it is not fair to reward someone that wounds deer.  If someone cannot kill it then tough bounce. Hopefully the deer wounder will be a better next time.