What would you do?

[ACPOSSETIM]

OK, here's the story. I have a friend of mine that is hunting public ground right now. He was hunting tonight and had a good buck run in front of him, before he shot he saw an arrow sticking out of the shoulder but shot anyway. The guy that originally shot it tracked it to my buddies stand, my buddy had already taken up the track from his stand. My buddy wasn't able to find it tonight, and is going to look for it in the morning. Both of them talked tonight and they are both going to look in the morning, but it hasn't been decided who will claim the buck if found dead tomorrow. I wasn't there so I can't vouch for the lethality of either hit and I'm not sure how I would handle it. I guess I'm not sure what I would do? I don't know if I'd shoot or not, and if I did shoot, I don't know how I would handle the recovery? I guess I can see it both ways, if I had mortally wounded a deer and someone else could shoot it again to put it down sooner so it could be recovered I'm all for it. On the other hand if it's a good buck (like in this case) I might be a little ticked off if someone did the same thing ( I know my thinking may be flawed just because it's a buck). Now if I was the second shooter, I would be happy to put a wounded deer down for someone else, but how would you know if they wanted you to? As far as possession if the first shot was lethal it's theirs, but if it's a poor shot (bleeding but not necessarily lethal) I might be more inclined to tag it myself. But how do you convince the first shooter their hit wouldn't have killed the animal? I guess that's the hard part of hunting public ground...and even some of the over crowded private ground that I hunt. I ask all of you, what would you do?

[HuntnMa]

I'd explain to him that it was still alive when I released my arrow or i wouldn't of released it and then I'd share the meat with him if he was insistant that his shot would of killed him ,but I would take the rack no matter what if I knew my shot was the shot that killed him.this is toughy......

[ladybowhntr]

Why not when the buck is found by both shooters tracking, split the meat, and split the rack and have the other side made as a replica. One shooter gets left side and replicates the right and vice-versa. Even steven. Both get meat and both get a rack. A maybe a new friend and hunting bud.

[Monie]

That's a tough one.

To the nuts and bolts of it, whoever made the fatal shot gets the deer. If that can't be determined, get DNR to make a judgement call and stick to it.

Now, my opinion: If a deer runs by me with an arrow in it's shoulder, I will not shoot. If I see a deer run by with an arrow sticking out of it's gut, then I'll shoot to put it down.

Again, my opinion: if you shoot a deer that's got an arrow in it's shoulder (a hit in the vitals) you're just being greedy and hoping that you can get the deer before the original shooter does.

[TBow]

I wouldn't have given it a second thought as to whether I should shoot or not at a wounded animal. If it's made it that far from the original shooter, then I would think any hunter would be happy that someone aided them in dispatching the animal when there was a possibility of loosing it.

Who gets the meat, hide and horns? If my family depended on the meat for sustainance, then I'd be a little more adamant about divying up the spoils, but they don't because we surely won't starve if I don't bring home the bacon from my hunting expeditions. I hunt because I enjoy being in the woods. If I can bring home a little meat as a result, then that's just a bonus in my books, but I won't be devastated if I come home empty handed.

I think in this instance, I'd take the high road and let the original shooter make the first move to suggest where the spoils should go. If he/she was insistant upon taking everything, then so be it. There is no way I would ever enter into a heated debate or argument over who was to get it. I've heard way too many horror stories about hunters screaming at each other, physically fighting and even threats over just such instances where both parties were insistant upon claiming the animal. I make excursions afield to get away from just that type of lunacy in my life. I want hunting to be a mentally relaxing experience.

If this turned out to be just such a case, then I'd walk away empty handed believeing I was the better person. I would however, be more inclined to think that the other hunter in this case would offer to share. A far more amiable settlement in my opinion.

If the other shooter made any comments or actions that I believed to be confrontational, then I would, as others have mentioned, make an effort to contact the applicable authorities be it the DNR or police. If that was required, then having some method of identification of the other shooter would be helpful.

I hope your friend came to a mutually acceptable resolution to his dilema.

TBow

[Bow Drawn]

For one you have to let us know how this turned out with these two.

Like Tbow said taking the high road would be the way to avoid trouble and mutually decide the out come. Once the second shooter made the decision to shoot he couldn't back out, he should make the effort to find the deer. Once found then personalities come into play on who's claiming the whole or part of the prize.

[Va Hunter]

The correct thing, for me, would be to help the first guy recover his deer. I've been in this situation before and it's a hard one to swallow. 2 of the cases involved rather nice bucks, the other two were dealing with does. None of the first shots would have killed the deer without a lot of suffering. I put them out of their miseries and helped the original shooters get them in their trucks. One was a doe that the youngun swore he'd missed three times. She was shot from stem to stern and laying within 100yds of him. We tried to get him to come help find his deer but he still insisted on his misses. Later that day he had to gall to say something about it to his Granddaddy. The ole man liked to have knocked that younguns head off! "You didn't go look, they did. They drug it out not you, now shut the heck up". Then he cuffed him again!
The fact that the second hunter admitted to seeing the other arrow before shooting, means he was questioning this already. I hope it all turns out right...

[ACPOSSETIM]

Well I guess this quetions doesn't matter, I finally spoke to him this afternoon and they never found the deer. I guess they had 4 hunters and 2 wardens look for it for several hundred yards and over 3 hours (I'm supposed to be hunting this area too, but with all that commotion I don't know how much luck I'll have ). All I can say is that I think both shooters might need to do a little more practicing. I guess the first shot (I don't know this guy) was @ 40 yards, and that's the one that hit the shoulder and got very little penetration, then my buddy shoots it @ less than 20 with a crossbow (red dot scope) and got a pass through (he claims he "drilled him") and they weren't able to locate the deer? I know stuff happens, and I've lost deer that I thought were hit good but 2 hits and the deer is unrecovered? If all the deer are like that over there I might want to borrow some of Rambo's exploding arrow heads.....might find it then? Good luck to everyone....if any new developments I'll let you know!

[Va Hunter]

Tim, this question does matter because yo ugot a lot of folks thinking. It may not happen tomorrow or the next day, but it could happen. Let's hope that we, as hunters, can do what's right if it does show up again.

Too bad they didn't find it. The buzzards will start circling within a few days...

[pbg40g]

Originally Posted by Va Hunter

The correct thing, for me, would be to help the first guy recover his deer. I've been in this situation before and it's a hard one to swallow. 2 of the cases involved rather nice bucks, the other two were dealing with does. None of the first shots would have killed the deer without a lot of suffering. I put them out of their miseries and helped the original shooters get them in their trucks. One was a doe that the youngun swore he'd missed three times. She was shot from stem to stern and laying within 100yds of him. We tried to get him to come help find his deer but he still insisted on his misses. Later that day he had to gall to say something about it to his Granddaddy. The ole man liked to have knocked that younguns head off! "You didn't go look, they did. They drug it out not you, now shut the heck up". Then he cuffed him again!
The fact that the second hunter admitted to seeing the other arrow before shooting, means he was questioning this already. I hope it all turns out right...

I was watching a show on the Pursuit channel today where this sort of came into play. One of the show hosts shot a nice buck, and it ran across a field and into the edge of the woods. As the hunter crossed the field and approached the area where the deer went into the woods, another hunter was there and said he almost shot the buck again. He didn't though, when the buck turned and he could see the blood pouring out of the shot wound. The guy said the buck ran up, stopped, turned and fell, and when he saw the blood, he knew someone else had shot it. The guy led the show host to where the deer fell, and that was that. They didn't show if the host offered some of the meat or hide or anything to the other hunter for his help, but at least the second guy was honest and didn't try to take it.