Shooting someone else's injured buck - etiquette question

[pianoman9701]

People who shoot a deer that has already been shot by another hunter then claim it for themselves are not morally correct in my opinion. Whatever happened to helping out another hunter and having some morals?

If someone else shoots a deer and you decide to "put it down" before they can deliver the final blow or just wait for the first shot to do its work just doesn't sit right with me. Legal? Yes. But in my opinion it's chicken $hit.

I know there's a million different situations but what I'm saying if the original shooter was on his tail and has a chance to kill it then it's their animal.

I've seen and heard of a ton of different instances where people's bucks have been "stolen". It's happened to me ON A QUALITY DRAW TAG! It happened to my boss last season, it happened to my bosses son this year.

Every situation is different I get that, but I'm saying where the original shooter knows where the animal is and has already put one in him... that's his deer.

 

But the original shooter gave up and left, with the animal wounded. Not putting it out of its misery would've been "Chicken chit". The OP did exactly the right thing. And I bet if the original shooter had shown up, he'd have let him have the animal, too. That's the kind of ethics he showed in the first place by putting a suffering animal down.

[EnglishSetter]

If possible, I'd try and help the other hunter locate the shot deer so he can finish it.  But, if I am not able, I would do this as well. Better than letting the deer suffer and possibly be wasted.  Wouldn't feel great about it - but would put meat in the freezer and would be grateful for that.

That's where I stand.

[dilleytech]

This situation can play out so many ways it’s hard to say what I would do morally but if I shoot an injured deer and my tags notched and attached it’s going home with me. Which legally is correct.

[HereDuckyDucky]

If possible, I'd try and help the other hunter locate the shot deer so he can finish it.  But, if I am not able, I would do this as well. Better than letting the deer suffer and possibly be wasted.  Wouldn't feel great about it - but would put meat in the freezer and would be grateful for that.

That's where I stand.

Me too.

RW

[Fidelk]

This situation can play out so many ways it’s hard to say what I would do morally but if I shoot an injured deer and my tags notched and attached it’s going home with me. Which legally is correct.

IMHO, putting a wounded animal out of its misery is the only moral issue here. Beyond that, the regulations apply. Shoot it and tag it....or give it to the hunter who wounded it, if you want. I see the occasional injured deer with broken or missing parts of a leg limp through my yard. My moral choice should be to kill it......but the law forbids me to do so.

[Tinmaniac]

So the hunters that shot this deer came looking for it,OP saw where the deer went and didn't point the shooter at least in the right direction?Then,when shooter leaves puts a tag on it?Not much of a hunt and even less of a sportsman in my opinion.

[dilleytech]

This situation can play out so many ways it’s hard to say what I would do morally but if I shoot an injured deer and my tags notched and attached it’s going home with me. Which legally is correct.

IMHO, putting a wounded animal out of its misery is the only moral issue here. Beyond that, the regulations apply. Shoot it and tag it....or give it to the hunter who wounded it, if you want. I see the occasional injured deer with broken or missing parts of a leg limp through my yard. My moral choice should be to kill it......but the law forbids me to do so.

I have killed numerous animals with bad wounds that survived. You can’t just assume a knee shot deer is going to die regardless. The moral question comes when what do you do when you realize another hunter was right on its trail and very well could have caught up to it and killed it. Specially rifle hunting. A lot goes into what right or wrong there but what’s legal is the last person to shoot it has the legal right to it. If I wound an animal and someone else puts it down I don’t think I would try to claim it unless the person insisted. Depending on how it’s wounded of course.

[ghosthunter]

If possible, I'd try and help the other hunter locate the shot deer so he can finish it.  But, if I am not able, I would do this as well. Better than letting the deer suffer and possibly be wasted.  Wouldn't feel great about it - but would put meat in the freezer and would be grateful for that.

That's where I stand.

Me too.

RW

 

[EnglishSetter]

Until one has "hands on" the deer it can be hard to determine if the injury was mortal or not.  Wouldn't be the first time an animal covered significant ground despite being mortally wounded.

I've only killed one injured deer.  He'd been injured (best guess) that morning and it was afternoon.  He had a 38 cal pistol round (perhaps PCC) wound in the broiler room, had eluded the shooter and found himself a tree to lie under while he slowly expired.  Didn't know for sure he was injured, just didn't act alert.  Yes I tagged him and didn't make a poll of who may have shot an unrecovered deer with a pistol round.

I determined that day I would always use more gun than a pistol/PCC for a broiler room shot.

[Magnum_Willys]

1st lead in the animal owns it.  If you can’t locate the shooter to help  him recover the animal then no choice but to tag it to avoid waste at risk of original shooter showing up with buddies to search for it and claim it. 

You likely did the right thing. 

[hunter399]

So the hunters that shot this deer came looking for it,OP saw where the deer went and didn't point the shooter at least in the right direction?Then,when shooter leaves puts a tag on it?Not much of a hunt and even less of a sportsman in my opinion.

That's kinda what I was thinking,you sit there silently and wait for the guy to leave.
Then your hero for putting the animal down.
If your waving at the guy, pointing into the draw,guy turns and leaves.
Then I guess you did the right thing.
Maybe he didn't want to ruin your hunt,was unsure the buck went down there.

I also agree ,only solid good is the deer was not wasted or suffering.


It reminds me of a story about a Hunter who shot a buck in the throat.
Then the buck got it's throat silt by another hunter and tagged.

[GeoSwan]

So the hunters that shot this deer came looking for it,OP saw where the deer went and didn't point the shooter at least in the right direction?Then,when shooter leaves puts a tag on it?Not much of a hunt and even less of a sportsman in my opinion.

No, trying to communicate with the hunters would have been a long shot at best. I'm not going to stand up and wave around like an idiot. I don't think they even saw us.
They tracked the deer on a plateau, and didn't have the desire or ability to walk down a shallow divet that was the top of a short ravine. The buck then ran from that shallow ravine several hundred yards totaling around a 400 foot elevation drop. If they were too lazy to drop into that upper ravine 100 yards from them where the buck originally was, there was no way they were going to actually recover and finish this buck. The buck was mobile as deer are on 3 legs. There was still fair chase, but the buck parked in a spot that also happened to be easy for us to sneak.

[blackveltbowhunter]

A deer didn't go to waste that otherwise may have. You did a good thing. Right is subjective. Could you have flopped around, twirled your orange and banged off 6 rounds to get the attention of the other shooter? Sure. Could the other shooter have been giving the buck time to expire. Maybe. You can only use the data you have on hand  to determine your actions.

I have been in a few scenarios where I was able to help another hunter get an animal down. I cant remember any negative outcomes. I did have one scenario that left me in a quandary several years ago, and I walked away from an injured animals for several hours, with no intent to tag it. Even wrestling with that decision heavily as i knew it was siuffering. I searched hard  ( drove to a completely different area ) to locate the original shooter, and  (luckily) found them  and helped them get it killed. If I hadn't found them, I would have contacted a game warden to avoid waste, even though it possibly would have ended poorly for me. However, I  had significantly more info than this situation described.  Congrats on the buck BTW!