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Weird situation, any opinions??

tracker

tracker

Life Member
I know a guy that shot a nice buck during shotgun,probably the caliber he may never see again on property he hunts.Wasn't a kill shot but was leaving enough blood and injured enough it didn't want to cross fences.He's unexperienced in the tracking process so he gets his freind to help.They follow the deer's trail and keep hearing noises about 100 yards ahead of them, not seeing what the noise is but the blood trail would always lead to where they heard the noise.

Anyway, they end up pushing this deer onto someone else's property,they confront the landowner,tell them the situation,and obtain permission to pursue.Just so happens that there are people hunting on landowners ground but not where the deer enters the property.

So the hunters find out that this guy is going to walk onto the property and try to recover his deer,so they all block off different areas of the farm so there wouldn't be any escape of this buck.

My freind starts walking in, has good enough blood that they don't have any trouble following,gets a few hundred yards into the property, and and is welcomed to the sound of the civil war.He get's nervous,and I would too if someone was shooting around me, and heads back to where he can in to get his truck and talk to the guys shootin.

Well it just so happens that they kill this deer, that they had no clue was even around till he did the responible thing and notified the landowner.They proceeded to load it up and not even confront him that they took it.It now sits at the taxidermist with someone else's tag on it.

What are some of your opinions on who should have claimed the deer?

Does the first shooter not desreve the deer for following ethic's and asking permission.
Remember the hunting group would have not known which farm to block if he hadn't asked permission.

I know this is a wonderful deer, I spent many hours on it this year with my bow but could never get it close enough to shoot at.
It's a ten point,180's.
 
I hate to say it,But,I always hear that possession is 9tenths of the law when it come to this.If wrong,please correct me.

I hear this stuff every year during shotgun season.Its a shame the group did not contact your friend and invite him in the drive and then let him tag it after death.It would have made a festive time for the hole group.Now after the way it was gotten it will end up kind of a hollow harvest.

I have a friend that had a similar thing happen.The group finished the buck off and had my friend claim it.But the buck was not of that calibier.If he was things most likely would have turn a different way.
 
I dont know how the law works on something like this but I was always under the impression that whoever shot the deer first got the deer.Thats how it usually works out around here anyway.But like deerman said, usually not on that caliber of buck.I suppose if you got the law involved it would be their word against his and either the rack would get confiscated or the larger group would keep it since they are in possesion of it
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I have heard this same story over and over as long as I can remember during the Iowa shotgun season. It is bound to happen when there are so many people in the field at the same time. I feel sorry for this person, but it is just a deer.

No matter what happens, it is not worth getting into any scuffle over and if it was not hit bad enough to recover the animal immediatly, it becomes part of the hunting challenge. It sounds like things were handled properly from your side of the story.

Who of us can prove who's deer is whose when in the field. None of them have our names on them. I have heard of these situations working out good just based on someones word or claim. Unfortunately we have raised the price for big antlers so high good does not always come into the picture any more. Sounds like a learning experience to me.

I can only say for myself, that I do not consider a deer mine that I do not put down myself. If someone insisted on claiming something I was 100% sure I killed, they can have it or I might try to negotiate for the meat
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It needs to remain fun and we need to continue to share our values with our hunting partners.
 
I had a somewhat similar situation happen that I was involved with just this year, only it was with bows instead of the gun season. It is my wierdest hunting story ever (I'll share it some other time). Long story short, the DNR officer in that county said so long as we both agreed, it goes to the hunter we agree should have it. If there is any disagreement, the LAST person to shoot it gets it.
 
This is a tough one. Some guys go by whoever hits it first, others by whoever puts it down. Personally, I'm with the whoever puts it down for good.

Its one of the reasons I don't care much for gun season anymore. I don't see that there's much challenge in shooting a deer with a gun..let alone one that's already been wounded. Situations like this don't happen much during bow season.

However, this situation is somewhat different, as they took advantage of a situation where they knew the guy was tracking a deer and moved into position. I would say I think your buddy probably deserves the deer, although there's little that can be done about it.

I've been in this situation with does where I've finished off wounded ones I saw and gave them to the guys that initially shot them. But I only shot them because I saw they were wounded. They were deer I otherwise would not have taken.
 
...law...the first to tag the deer is the "owner" here in Iowa...

...ethically...it is often the first to fatally hit the deer...

...sad to hear about situations like this...
 
I know an uncle and nephew who haven`t spoken in over 10 years because of a situation like this on a 189" buck. It`s hard to believe what a trophy buck will make some people do. I`m guessing your friend will just have to write this off as a learning experience, and next time just back out and give the deer time to expire. Unfortunate as it may be, occurances like this are where the phrase "nice guys finish last" came from.
 
Tracker, I hunt around the Wellman area and haven't heard much about your situation. Were you hunting near Wellman? What taxidermist has this buck? I am sorry to hear about your situation!! I know how much big bucks cause hard feelings!! I know that around the area there are several people that take things a little extreme. I don't know much about the process but if your friend is dead set on having this buck on the wall maybe he could get a replica made with the permission of the individual who harvested the buck. Later T$
 
To go along with hershey
The deer belongs to whoever made the kill shot on it.
Also i hear this all the time during shotgun as well, its sad that you have to do it this way. I do believe that is right that the deer belongs to who killed the deer. I do think they should have let you try and get a shot though or something
 
I've had the same instance. I believe he who shoots the deer first should claim the deer. If you think about it. How many times have people not claimed a small buck that was wounded by others only to turn it over to the person who shot it first???? It only makes sense. If one were to shot a buck with a bow, and then some one muzzle loading in the same area shoots the deer before, it's able to decease, would be a shame. I think it should apply the same at all instances. That way there are no controverseys...
 
I go along with everyone who says the guy who puts it down for good gets the deer. From the sound of this situation, the guy screwed up by pushing it too hard instead of backing off and waiting, particularly if they found blood where they heard the thing moving ahead of them. If it was hit fatally, it would never have left the property.

He can chock up the lost deer to poor shooting, a lack of patience, and bad luck but the deer belongs to the other guy.

Whether or not that guy keeps him is a matter of conscience for the one placing the final shot. Personally, I wouldn't keep a deer under such circumstances.

Three Beards
 
I think there is legal and ethical ways of looking at this kind of sistuation. Legally I would have to say the guy who finally killed and taged the deer is the owner. However ethically I think that as long as the first guy was making an honest effort to recover the deer, he should be given the opprotunity to do so. I know that I could never claim a deer someone else had shot and was tracking. I might kill a wounded animal but would let the other hunter to claim it. How could a real hunter mount a head like that and be proud to tell others how he had gotten it. What ever happened to the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
 
I agree with bowmaker,I could never put my tag on a deer that was harvested that way and be able to have any sense of pride about it.It's to bad there are people out there that feel they were in the right in a situation like that.How could the person that took that deer ever feel pride in a deer taken that way.I relize the buck needed to be put down but there is no way I could wrap my tag around him and leave without so much as showing the guy who had originally shot him,by loading the deer and immediatlly leaving the area tell's me that they new what they were doing was not right!
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I always go by the first fatal shot gets to tag the deer. If your friend had only superficially wounded the deer, then it would most likely would not have died without someone else putting in the final shot. Sounds like the other party that finished off the deer has some pretty poor ethics, or none at all, if they knew you were trailing a wounded deer and then finished it off, tagged it, and ran off without saying anything to you. A complete lack of class on their part.
 
There should be a common law that states certain circumstances. To elaborate on this a little more, My brother shot a really nice buch about 5 years ago, nearly faitally wounding the deer, in fact time would have killed the deer, The day after we knew where the buck had bedded and gained permission for the group to walk the grounds and put a kill shot on the deer. Well turns out a member of that group who was helping claim the deer and end the suffering shot the deer and claimed the nice buck. turns out the buck could barely walk and was on it's last leg of it's life. We even set my brother up to make the kill shot. But the fella gave the cold shoulder and took the deer. I was pissed as he%$#$#. Bottom line is the if the deer would have been healthy there would not even be a controversey so go figure...

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I think legally your friend is in a bad spot. I just hope the clowns that kept the deer have a hard time sleeping a night. I have finished numerous deer over the years and it is usually pretty obvious by the blood trail and where the deer was hit whether or not he was going anywhere. I could not look up at the wall at a deer I knew was not honestly mine...
 
I shot a nice buck up in Northern Mn and it ran 100 or so yards. It was hit well but I heard another shot. As I tracked the deer I ran into a young hunter with a big smile on his face. He said it was his first buck ever. I didn't have the heart to say anything to him. His father walked over and we talked and I was on my way. I was brought up first blood. But there is always somthing to change your mind.
 
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