Who will get family pet/trophy buck

[JDM]

I feel bad for the guy who shot this deer because now he may have to pay some lawyer $200 per hour to defend himself against the owner of the deer farm. The hunter did nothing wrong. If this guy does get sued, someone should set up a fund to help this guy out. Legal hours add up fast.

[stmichael]

Chucker34, I have no hard feelings towards you or anyone else on this site. It's all good!!

If we ever meet up on the ice, you will have to let me buy you a beer!

[almostthere!]

The deer is property of the hunter. The farmer lost title to this deer when it escaped the pen.

I would shoot any deer I deemed tasty. However, I would go out of my ways to shoot one with a tag, legally ofcourse. The way I see it is this: we do not know where this deer came from and what diseases it may carry. In these days of rampant CWD, any deer out in legal hunting ground with a tag in it's ear is a dead deer.

[luckey]

I think the deer should go back to it's owner. Look at it this way. Your dog (with or with out tag) escapes from your yard. Does this give anyone who finds it the right to keep it? I don't think so. If the rightfull owner can prove it belongs to him, no one else can claim it just because they found it.

[Black_Bay]

Quote:

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I think the deer should go back to it's owner. Look at it this way. Your dog (with or with out tag) escapes from your yard. Does this give anyone who finds it the right to keep it? I don't think so. If the rightfull owner can prove it belongs to him, no one else can claim it just because they found it.

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Dogs are not considered wild animals and do not have a hunting season on them. Apples and oranges.

[chucker34]

St. Michael, and I would return the gesture. Plus it would mean we'd get to drink two beers instead of one.

Comparing the deer to a dog or pet or even barnyard animal is apples to oranges.

You can argue this back and forth all day but the fact remains he did nothing wrong according to the DNR. Given that very fact, per what one poster said (can't remember who), he should have just kept quiet instead of trying to let the farmer (and once owner) know as a courtesy. Again, it's not hiding anything or covering any wrong doing. It's just not opening yourself up to a legal battle that would likely prove nothing in the end anyway.

[ChuckN]

Common sense tells me the hunter gets the deer. Finders keepers. The people with the "pet" should have kept it penned properly. They are trying to call it "livestock" in order to make claim to it under a 2003 state law on livestock, but I'm not a farmer of any kind, so I honestly don't know the true meaning of what livestock can be...

But, I will comment that the people who raised this deer claimed a bear ripped the fence open around November 4th. It was an unseasonable cold fall...lows were in the teens, even single digits around this time period...how many bears are roaming around on deer opener? I've hunted that area for 20 years, never seen one, and they are usually hibernating for awhile by then in my opinion.

Excuses come to mind...

[almostthere!]

Quote:

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I think the deer should go back to it's owner. Look at it this way. Your dog (with or with out tag) escapes from your yard. Does this give anyone who finds it the right to keep it? I don't think so. If the rightfull owner can prove it belongs to him, no one else can claim it just because they found it.

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Back in 'Nam, we like dogs with hot sauce.

Sorry, mate, finders keepers.

[BLACKJACK]

This whole episode of a deer escaping from a game farm demonstates why their should be tougher regulations on game farms, mainly a double fence requirement, so that CWD isn't transmitted to the wild deer population. Nearly every episode of CWD east of the Mississippi has been tracked back to game farms.

Once we get CWD in the wild herd here in MN, watch deer hunting, and all the associated revenue from hunters, drop!!

[luckey]

My guess is if this goes to court, the deer will be given to it's original owner. Just because you lose something doesn't give the finder the right to keep it. If the rightfull owner can be established (I don't think there is any doubt here), it should be returned to him.

[McGurk]

Quote:

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My guess is if this goes to court, the deer will be given to it's original owner. Just because you lose something doesn't give the finder the right to keep it. If the rightfull owner can be established (I don't think there is any doubt here), it should be returned to him.

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Refer to the Oklahoma case back in 1963: F Keepers vs. L Weepers.

[chucker34]

Establishing rightful ownership may be harder to prove than you think. First off, the DNR confirmed he did nothing wrong in taking and keeping the deer. Second of all, the deer is not a dog or cow or barnyard animal, even if it was on a farm. The owner let it escape, even if it was an accident, because there was no double fence, etc. If there is no precedent and I bet there are few related cases, you'd better believe most judges won't see it so black and white and I'd bet there'd be a good chance the hunter could keep the deer.

[NAPAFISH]

With the rotten activist judges we have, I would bet that the owner gets the deer back. This will get turned around by the media. Giving hunters a black eye. Imagine the headlines "Hunter kills tame deer" PETA is going to have a field day with this.

[luckey]

I agree the hunter did nothing wrong. He even went out of his way to contact the DNR and eventually the deers owner. But I think he should have put the deer head on ice prior to getting it mounted. Yes, possesion is nine tenths of the law but, that is for items that ownership cannot be readly identified. In this case there appears to be no doubt regarding ownership. I probably wouldn't want to have the mounted deer on my wall. Even though he (and rightfully so) thought it was a free roaming deer, he now knows differently. How do you tell your friends about your great hunting adventure shooting a tame deer.

[Harmonica Bear]

Ah, yes, the ol' Oklahoma case back in 1963: F Keepers vs. L Weepers. THAT IS AWESOME! I beleive that sets the presedence...

[McGurk]

4 post before someone got it??? I'm a little disappointed.

[luckey]

AHHH come on McGurk, give me a little credit. Finders/keepers was what I was referring to when I made the comments about possession being 9/10 of the law. I agree if you find a $100 bill on the street, it would be very hard to establish the owner so "finders keepers" and possession would come into play. However, if the rightfull owner (the money is in a Wells Fargo Bank bag) can be identified, it should be returned.

[chucker34]

Whatever happened to this? Did the guy keep his buck?

[BFT]

I look at it as , who would want to have someones pet on the wall to brag about , its a pet he shot , I would'nt be proud!!! Maybe he should have dangled a carrot , and the deer would of come home with him !!

BFT

[hartner62]

Just because it was in a cage does not mean it was tame. If I shot it, it would be on the wall.

[Gissert]

The deer was shot 3.5 miles from the farm it escaped from. The tag in it's ear was on the opposite side of the animal from the hunter.

As far as the hunter was concerned, it acted like a wild deer, and was shot in a fair chase manner.

[Nate McVey]

What if you catch a giant large mouth off someones dock that was fed pellets everyday and was treated like a "pet", would that make you not want to put it on the wall? The guy didn't do anything wrong or unethical, he should be proud to display it on his wall.

[Gissert]

shiner -

Exactly! That what I was trying to say.

[SSSTaxidermy]

Chucker,

I was wondering the same thing. I forwarded the story on to my little brother once it first popped into the news and he just asked me just the other week if I heard anything...So doesn anyone know?

[chucker34]

We beat the hell out of this dead horse last year. I was just wondering if anyone had an update. I e-mailed the writer but never heard back. He was probably let go like the rest of the newsroom employees at the Strib and Ppress. I read an article the other day that some newspapers are seriously starting to farm writing jobs out to India. Especially web sites. The writers, working for wages well below the U.S. minimum read press releases and alter them a little, slap their names at the top and voila, news story for a few bucks.

Anywhoo, I think I affirmed my stance on this last year. Pet? People get rid of tame dogs and cats by releasing them into the country where I live. The dogs run in packs and turn "wild" real quick. If I see one, it is done for. So don't tell me an animal can't turn feral quickly. Especially if it is meant to be. BTW, I would keep the tag in the ear too if mounted. Would make a hell of a story, one I would be proud to tell.