Who's deer?

[Craig_S]

The rule at my camp, and the one I will teach my son, is that he who stops it killed the deer. No autopsy needed. Not that there's a qualified Coroner around anyway. Hence the rule.

However, there are always circumstances to consider. And any decent sportsmen will be able to come to agreement in about two minutes. If not, the final shooter gets the deer.

I've deer hunted for about 30 years, killed dozens of deer, and never had this happen. It's never even happened in my party. But it certainly could.

I'd suggest if this is happening often, somebody should ask "why?". Could be property issues, could be a poor shooter, could be overcrowding. Either way, I'd try and fix something.

Craig

[dogs]

I have always believed in the first blood rule as long as the guy who shot the deer comes on the blood trail. Have shot possibly 25 deer that were shot by others in our party making drives and someone tracking on to were i was standing. Then only one I ever argued over was when someone came to the sound of my shot and then claimed the were tracking a buck that the had not a piece of antler off.( and they could not find hair and blood from the buck after I put 4 in him with a 30-06 and they were not a friend of mine nor were they anyone's friend but each other) But I hunt around a lot of people I know and like to have my buck tag up until the last day the argument is usally who has to tag the deer.

[soldoncass]

There are too many variables for the dnr to get involved in it.

My son shot a young buck one year and dropped it. He could tell it was wounded, and a hunter was moving through the woods on the same track as the buck. After getting to the buck, my son noticed that it had been bleeding heavily. When I got there ,my son asked me what we were going to do if the hunter came over there. I just told him , we would see what happened, but we knew the hunter was following a good blood trail and if he kept at it he would probably have gotten it himself. What eventually happened was ; the hunter got close, asked Kent if he got it, he said yes, hunter asked if it was a 6 or 8 point, Kent said with a chuckle "two", with that the hunter turned and went back where he came from. No arguements. Hunter could have taken it,we would have given it up because of the heavy blood trail, but it's hard to do that to a 14 year old kid. If you drop it , it should be yours most of the time.

[The Grebe]

I was talking to a couple of guys that were fishing with me yesterday, about this post.

They were both of the assumption that whoever anchored it, it was their deer.

What if someone wasn't sure they hit it and didn't come after it...yes, it does happen. What if someone was a chitty tracker and gave up on the trail, or just plain lost it? How about if it's hit a mortal wound, but not something that is going to kill it right away?

Lots of variables. One of the guys that was fishing with us yesterday, put a .30 .30 bullet right through a 6 pointers heart and knocked it down. The deer thrashed around and got to it's feet, pumping a stream of blood and another guy drilled it right on the spot with 2 rounds from his 270 and swore up and down it was his deer. My pard won that dispute.

[c&amagn]

Wow, the 30-30 guy and the .270 guy are pretty close to each other to do that on the same deer in one spot. Don't think I'd be hunting anywhere near that area.

[Froggy4371]

I just want to reply to 4 eyes wandering that just because u put a good shot on them does not mean that they will not go along ways. My brother shot a 150 class 8 point with a drop last year. He had one shot made it count and I told him to let it set for 1 hour and I would come and help him get it. We did not want to take any chance and push the deer cause we knew it was big and we were on private land and nowone would bother it. We came back and got on great blood right away and we ended up tracking it about a mile and a half. We found the deer dead and when I gutted it he had drilled one lung and knicked the other. Now on a deer with only one lung and a great blood trail that went along ways.

Froggy

[The Donk]

Agreed. I started hunting with a .243, and a good shot on a deer would bust though one rib, do a pinball routine inside, and usually not leave an exit hole. made for tough tracking, and the deer would sometimes go 1/4 to 1/2 mile before laying down. gutting said deer was a horror show experience, the cavity was plum full. Now I like a gun with some knockdown and through-and-through power!

[HuskerBen]

Yeah, a deer's adrenaline can keep them moving for quite a while. My dad shot one a few years ago with a 7mm magnum. Took out the heart and one lung. We trailed it for over 300 yards before we finally found it.

[Scott K]

I too have shot a deer, through the heart, it shatterd about a quarter of it, we tracked it up a really steep hill, then it ran another 300-500 yards. I do know that just because you hit it good doesnt mean that it will drop. But if it doesnt drop and it runs to someone else, I wouldnt go crying to them saying it was my deer! I am not saying that there isnt any exceptions to this, but if there is any bit of an arguement about it, it goes to the person that dropped it.

[The Grebe]

From what I have seen, crowding is pretty much a fact of life if you hunt a public hunting area during the deer season...there seems to be a blaze orange suit about every 30 yards. Unless a person is hunting private property... and a pretty sizable tract at that, the thing about having a hunting area to yourself is pretty much wishfull thinking!

[bigbucks]

Agreed poor wording, symantics, pretty hard is what I meant. Not a flesh wound, going to kill it. Obviously I didn't hit it right where I wanted to, also it may not have been a 1/2 mile it may have been 300-400 yards, it was thick cover I'm not sure & it was a long time ago.

A buddy just shot a doe through both lungs this weekend & she went 300 yards. Some deer simply go farther than others.