Unethical Hunter episode????

Big Game Hunting > Elk Hunting

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Blacklab:

--- Quote from: Iceman on October 02, 2007, 08:49:29 PM ---Carry a banjo, that will scare them off.....if not, it should scare you off... :chuckle:

--- End quote ---

dueling bango's

sisu:
I am so glad I've never run into this situation. My good friend, Rick, from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was hunting with his 357 back in the 90s. He takes deer with bows, rifles, revolvers etc. Anyway he is in an area we call Bobcat blind when he sees a doe laying down behind a log and looking off in the other direction. He did not want a doe but was interested in why she was not more attentive. To make a long story short she was shot in the front upper leg which was dangling and useless.
After he sees this he shots her, she wanders off and dies. He then dresses her out but does not tag her right then and there. Instead he walks out to the road, does a 360 degree walk looking for vehicles, foot prints, camp sites etc. After about 40 minutes he goes back to the doe, tags her and proceeds to haul her out to his truck. As he neared his truck he runs into 4 guys. One of them yells hey, "He's got my deer"!!! The two youngest hunters are all venting with their friend that this is THEIR deer.
Rick does some questions and answers with with them. The shooter has told his buddies that he did a broad side shot and hit the doe right behind the front leg. Rick told the guy he was wrong that the shot broke the front leg and grazed the upper chest front front to rear indicating he shot her head on.
As this is going on one of the guys says where is your rifle and Rick replies, "Oh I used my S&W 357 which is right here." For some reason this got the three younger guys all quiet.
The older guy, about Rick's age, finally said to Rick, "I guess it's your deer if you did all this and used your tag". But Rick interjected and said, "No, if you want the deer I'll give it to you if you pay me for my new tag and I'll write you a release to keep the deer in you possession".
This situation usually does not happen in the UP but every now and then high weirdness happens. Mostly this area is hunted my families that have know one another for the past 150 years.

Now I don't know if this is totally ethical on Rick's part in regards to asking for payment of his tag, but I believe he did the correct thing. Besides this was in the good years of high deer numbers and he'd already taken one with his bow and another with a rifle(very large extended family that has always eaten off the land). You were allowed to harvest 4 deer in those days and in some areas a camp deer was allowed.

Moosehunt:
I had a situation last year on the Snake River breaks. I had been hunting the morning and got deep into the canyons. It seemed like every ridge had hunters orange on it. I was in a great position to not only see more deer but to harvest one as well. About 9am, I glass a bit of movement coming out a brushy draw halfway up a canyon....maybe 250-300 yards away. 4-5 Muley does and a nice 22" 4 point following behind. Got set, on rest, and let loose with a shot from my .30-06. Hit the Muley in the shoulder, just a bit forward of the boiler, but I figure an eventual kill shot none-the-less. Buck starts moving across the face of the canyon and enters another, all-the-while hobbling like it may crash at any moment. I did fire a few more shots, but did not finish him right where he was at. Couldn't keep shooting because of all the orange. Buck enter the other canyon, maybe 30yds in front of another hunter and I heard the crack of another rifle. Dead buck. I am now 500 yards from the buck and at the bottom of the canyon. I watched the other hunter and partner gut, quarter and pack out what should have been my buck.

After the buck went down, I just sat down and watched the other hunters. My brother had been in a similar situation with a good buck a few years earlier and backed down to a weekend warrior because it could have gotten dangerous. I figured I would just do the same thing. Didn't want to...I wanted to bust hump to the deer and claim my prize, but figured I would let it be as I didn't want a situation to go bad. I just knew myself well enough to know I would not have backed down and didn't need the trouble. Ended up with an un-notched tag for the year.

My brothers and I have a rule when hunting together. First to shoot and hit gets. Any shot after is just helping out....as long as it's between us. Can't say the same for anyone else though.

Palmer:
Six years ago near Newport My Dad shot a whitetail, 4 point. I came over to see within 10 minutes. My Dad tells me he went down 50 feet away. We go over there and find out he had gotten up again. Within minutes we hear a shot 200 yards away toward the road. We hear a tailgate drop, a couple voices and scurying, and then a vehicle peel out a bit as it takes off. It took us an hour though to put two and two together. We followed the trail toward the road and after two or three hours decided that the vehicle we heard must have taken out the deer. What can you do except take a better shot the next time.

Cougeyes:
How can you get a replacement tag once the season started? I thought that wasn't possible because if that were the case we could all be out there shooting our animals, notching our tags and then saying we lost our tag and shoot another one? Not that I would, but I'm just curious, always wondered about the replacement tag issue once the season started?

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