HUNTING ETHICS

[SCUMFROG]

I heard this story from my uncle Bob, and found it at least a little disturbing. Last November in Houston county Minnesota, Bob and his son Eddie found 2 large whitetail bucks with their antlers locked together during a fight. Both deer were quite healthy and went crazy when they got close to them, so it appeared that neither was in danger of dying or looked seriously wounded. Eddie already tagged a fork buck, but Bob hadn't filled his tag, so he decided to shoot one of these 2, and let one go by sawing off an antler. This is where it got weird, the 2 bucks were big, but it was a 12 point locked up with an eight point, and even though they both had big heavy racks, Bob wanted the 12 pointer. So the surprise came moments after he killed the 12 pointer, he sawed half the rack off the live 8 pointer so he wouldn't mess up the nice 12 point rack. How screwed up is that? Do you think that is "ethical"? Is it even legal?

[Stratosman]

Not sure on the legality of something like that. I don't think it would be illegal though. The ethics side of it might be a tad questionable, however, maybe killing one deer saved the others life, then would it be ethical? I think so.

I would be worried about getting jabbed by the live one while trying to saw off the antler.

[Mark Christianson]

I guess it doesnt bother me as far as ethics go.

He saved the life of that deer, and now that it was missing an antler, maybe someone would pass on him so he gets bigger next year.

Might be worth making a call to a CO before doing it, but ethically, not a big deal to me.

Be happy he stumbled upon them, rather then them both dying slow deaths, and going to waste.

[Eric Wettschreck]

The ethics don't bother me either. He saved a deer and harvested the other.

I don't know how willing I would be to saw off an antler of a live deer however. Awful gutsy.

[Log Hopper]

Cool story. He went after the live deer!?! Didn't see that coming. I don't think cutting on the live deer would have ever crossed my mind in that situation.

Ethical? They grow back every year, I wouldn't worry about it.

[harvey lee]

All I will say is my trophies are taken within the rules of Fair Chase. A real trophy is one that is taken in fair chase,not one shot and harvested by any O.K. means.

I dont know what Pope& Young and Boone & Crocketts rules say in regards to this,but I do know what my rules are-FAIR CHASE. Just my opinion.

It does not bother me if someone takes a deer this way,I think I would choose to pass.

[Lunker]

Sounds alright. Though I doubt I would have walked up to a live and fighting 8 pointer. I don't feel like a hoof print in the chest. Not overly smart.

[CodyDawg]

Here is the way I see it. All of us have certainly encountered what feels like a once-in-a-million shot of bad luck that prevents us from harvesting an animal. This was a completely natural event that he had nothing to do with. As long as he was hunting in an ethical manner when he found them, I feel that lady luck just smiled at him that particular day. Assumptions:

He didnt use any artificial means to harvest the animal he did (i.e. he wasn't shining deer).

He was ethical in the hunt leading up to that point.

He was on land he had permission to hunt, etc.

If all that is true, then it is weird, but it is ok in my book. Actually, I think there are a lot of unethical people out there that would have tried to figure out a way to harvest them both, because of the uniqueness of their situation. So I give the guy credit for abiding by the letter of the law and only harvesting one of the animals. After he harvested it, he legally had to free the other or he would be in possession of an illegal deer.

[riverrat56]

I don't see a problem with sawing the antler off the live deer, antlers really serve no purpose for living except to fend off other bucks, but if that deer would turn tail and run it would be ok for the rest of the season, also a chance with the 12 gone it was the dominate buck around....

Another twist though....what would everyone say if you called up a buddy who still had a buck tag and asked him to come out and harvest one of them to prevent bodily harm trying to serperate them?

I would feel like I wasted my hunting season as it would feel kind of like shooting a penned deer if I did not come on it myself and was called by a buddy, but I feel it is completly ethical and also even the better of the 2 choices to keep your self out of harms way.....

Final word...In my mind either choice would be completly legal and ethical as to prevent the deer dying a slow death and then having the meat wasted.

[BLACKJACK]

By harvesting one, he saved the other. Good for him. No way would you be able to saw them apart if they were both alive unless they were drugged or almost dead. And as BLB said, that 8 is hopefully around, bigger and badder, for this year.

[harvey lee]

I agree that he did the right thing in saving the animal buy shooting the other.

I dont know for sure what I would do if I came across 2 deer locked up and could only say for sure if this happenned.

[bigbucks]

I guess I look at it like this, what was he supposed to do, let them both die & go look for another buck? I'm pretty sure it wasn't necessarily how he wanted to fill his tag either, but since it needed to be done, why not get a nice deer out of it? Strange circumstances present themselves in the outdoors all the time, although certainly not your classic "How I got the big buck story", it's still a good story. I wouldn't have any problem with another friend with a tag having harvested the other buck either, if he wanted to. What he did was probably the best scenario.

I suppose if he didn't want to shoot either of them, in theory he could have had a dnr agent tranquilize them both & cut them apart, but I don't know that they'd have the equipment to do that. Not to mention, one or both may have died before that being able to be arranged anyway.

To me it sounds very ethical & like they made the best of an odd situation.

[almostthere!]

This is not an ethical issue at all. If he didn't take care of the situation, in one way or another, then it would involve ethics. It is safer to saw off antlers from the live one than the dead buck.

[MNDeerhunter]

Here is the footage of the two locked.

Deer Locked in Battle

Warning...it does show death and it does show blood, as it is a little graphic.

[harvey lee]

Pretty awesome footage of mother nature at work.It was good they sawed off the other antler as there would have been 2 dead deer.I dont know if I would have had the courage to try and cut those antlers off with a live deer.Serious injury sure could have been a result.