Shooting someone else's injured buck - etiquette question

[Bullkllr]

I know this topic had me looking for an injured animal today.
Found some blood,while taking my wife hunting.
Couldn't figure it out , anybody ever find blood from a doe in heat.
It was strange, hopefully not the buck my wife has been looking for.

So I'm saying this topic sucks.,sure hope I'm not finding one .

I killed a buck by following a blood trail I found in the snow. Blood was from a fresh muzzle-loader ball in the hindquarter. No other hunters in the area.

Can't imagine a doe in heat leaving a trail.

[fishngamereaper]

No right or wrong answer necessarily....

But this thread reinforces why I avoid general season public land hunts....

[OutHouse]

This is a really interesting and thought provoking thread!

It really is, good learning opportunity. I learned a lot from another recent thread that discussed having a loaded magazine in a vehicle (but not inserted into the rifle) and whether that was a violation. A few weeks later that came up as a buddy and I were driving up to where we hunt elk.

Exactly. I read that one as well and had to re-think some things. The best threads are ones where upon first read you have to contemplate the issues and consider competing sides/arguments to formulate your own opinion. I love this site!

[Tball77]

If an animal was shot in the kneecap or thru an area that would only cause it pain and suffering that would not “piss on it” and mark it theirs.  Vital shot means toast inside of 100 yards.  If it’s outside that perimeter and still moving good it’s not your animal.  We as hunters don’t mark our game by putting holes in them.  We mark are game by not letting them run

[EnglishSetter]

Just for consideration, some Alaska rules require you to fill out (void) your tag if you wound a big game animal and don't recover it.

[Goshawk]

You did right by the law, and more importantly, by the animal that was wounded and left. Enjoy your harvest.

[Pathfinder101]

 

[hunter399]

I know this topic had me looking for an injured animal today.
Found some blood,while taking my wife hunting.
Couldn't figure it out , anybody ever find blood from a doe in heat.
It was strange, hopefully not the buck my wife has been looking for.

So I'm saying this topic sucks.,sure hope I'm not finding one .

I killed a buck by following a blood trail I found in the snow. Blood was from a fresh muzzle-loader ball in the hindquarter. No other hunters in the area.

Can't imagine a doe in heat leaving a trail.

Never did find what animal left the blood.
Maybe another hunter got some kind of small game or something.
The buck my wife was after ,did make it through modern firearm.
No clue if that buck has survived bow season.
She did notch her tag on a small buck ,forky WT.
The bigger one ,I rattled him in once,she kinda dropped the ball.
Couldn't rattle him again to save my life, the forky came in ,got some lead.

I asked few other hunters in my circle,they said .....
Never seen blood from a doe in heat.

Back on topic.....
I do agree a wasted animal is not acceptable.
I also would never let a hunter walk away from there injured animal,if I can help it.

Short seasons and over crowded public lands.
Injured deer is pretty common.

[Fidelk]

Short seasons and over crowded public lands.
Injured deer is pretty common.

I was watching a nice buck walk through my backyard and then as he was leaving saw an arrow sticking out of his rear end. Both a buddy and myself have shot deer that turned out to have been hit by vehicles......one with a messed up front shoulder (Kelly Hill, Kettle Falls) and one with a messed up rear hip (Port Angeles).

[CaNINE]

If you don’t kill or incapacitate an animal it ain’t yours.  If I made a sloppy first shot a blew a deers knee off shame on me. I realize it happens but really it shouldn’t. It ultimately means I wasn’t in control of the shot.  You don’t get to call dibs on an animal by tagging it with a sloppy shot.

[no.cen.wa]

  This thread brings back memories of a buck I had shot years ago. I was hunting a large canyon and going to cross the bottom to go up the other side. I glassed the other side and spotted a buck bedded down. It was 250 yards or so and I was stuck in a spot with no cover. Only angle I could get with a rest was on my back and put rifle on a old rotten downfall. I let lose a round and the buck rolled down the hill, He raised his head but then it dropped and he was out of sight. "Oh man I got him!' I could see one side of his horns and appeared to be a 4 point. I then went down though the bottom and started clawing my way up the other side. As I got closer, hanging on to brush because it was so steep and I saw him get up an disappear out my sight. I got to where he was laying and there was a pretty good pool of and a blood trail I could easily follow. I jumped him twice in a thicket when he would lay down following his blood. Then I heard a shot I followed the trail to a man and his young son reaching the buck just before me. He had shot it and it was dead. Oh, a very nice 4 point. I was bummed for sure, but he ended it's life right there. My shot was low but from a lower angle so hit guts and bled allot.
   What do you do? WALK AWAY.

[HntnFsh]

That was the right thing to do!

[freezerfull]

If you don’t kill or incapacitate an animal it ain’t yours.  If I made a sloppy first shot a blew a deers knee off shame on me. I realize it happens but really it shouldn’t. It ultimately means I wasn’t in control of the shot.  You don’t get to call dibs on an animal by tagging it with a sloppy shot.

Spot on. It’s one thing to knowingly sneak in to put down an incapacitated animal that was wounded by someone else who is still in pursuit (stealing from someone), it’s a completely different thing to kill a wounded animal that was hit poorly by someone who no longer has a chance of ever finding it again (that’s your animal).

[Scruffy]

In this situation as described I think the OP did the right thing however, we don't know the other hunters side of it.  Was he going for help or did he give up, was he giving the deer time to expire? 

There are so many variables when this type of situation comes up that one could only hope both parties are reasonable about what happened and who gets the animal.   Although with the way hunting is going now days with less deer and elk I think we will see more "stealing" of animals by putting a finishing shot in them before the original shooter gets to the animal.

We know what the law says but every situation is slightly different that I don't think there can be a rule that is the final say for every scenario.

I think the law is written the way it is, Whoever kills the animal tags it, is because it is technically considered poaching if you kill an animal and don't tag it.  Just like you can't shoot an animal for someone else and have them tag it. Again depends on the situation If I seen a wounded deer and put it down and the hunter showed up and gave it to the hunter I think that is the right thing to do.  But to shoot animals and have a friend or family member tag it so you can keep hunting that is wrong.