When a wounded deer comes by and you shoot it, is it yours? What if you are on your own land? What if you are on public land?

Doesn't matter who's land it is, first blood gets the deer, as long as someone actually follows and looks for it. I've had this happen twice, and both times the hunter followed up. One of them I had to finish off because it was gutshot, a nice 11 point. I waited for him, then even took a photo of him with the deer. I didn't need it.

I've often thought of this situation. I'd say it's yours. You put the animal down for good and saved potential hours of suffering for that animal with little chance the first Hunter would ever recover the animal. Now a different situation where perhaps in public land and hunting closer to another Hunter and the deer wanders over after a very fatal shot and I would happen to shoot it as well. I would very likely let the first Hunter take the animal. I think the fatality of the shot and chances of initial recovery should be factored in during this situation. Thankfully this has never happened to me. I'm very interested in knowing how everyone else feels or even what the laws say about this.

Traditionally, it's been the first to draw blood.

You guy's are real sportsmen! first blood claims the deer even if you finished it, as George said,"If he followed it up" A real sportsman (first blood) will share the deer with you and say thank you.

Bob

Right on, Bob.

JMO, this is one of those situations where the answer isn’t One Size Fits All… in some states, the law is very clear that the animal belongs to whoever reduces it to possession, so the idea is that if your shot knocks down a wounded animal, it’s yours… When I was in Wyo, the joke used to be that if you really wanted to fill your Elk tag, you were better off investing in a good pair of running shoes than in a fancy rifle…

When I took Hunter, Ed, the instructors were of the mind that the important thing was who made the killing shot. You know how some animals are dead on their feet and they just don’t know it yet, so the second hit might be decisive, even if it wasn’t necessary, and in that case, the first good hit should be recognized.

Then I recall reading more than one story in which a young hunter made a good shot on his, or her first deer, which turned out to be quite an impressive specimen, and then some snarly old guy shows up claiming that the deer was his because he gut-shot it and it was gonna die anyway. That always ends up with someone taking the bragging rights when in reality, they screwed up, and someone just starting out who did everything right end up feeling like they were in the wrong somehow… And that’s totally jacked up.

I always figured that if a mortally wounded animal were to come my way (on public land), I would do my best to put it out of its misery, and if someone were able to track it down before I had planned to quit for the day, they’d be welcome to it. On a poor hit, it might be more of a judgment call, probably coming down to whether I knew it was wounded when I shot it. I can’t imagine wanting to burn a tag on an animal which I never would’ve had a chance at if someone else hadn’t already hit it. That just seems contrary to the whole point of the exercise. Really comes down to the specifics of the situation…

Aromakr X2, although I've had two stolen in 54 years.

Interesting idea. I would say first killing shot claims the animal. The only exception I would make is for a young hunter.

I always heard it was who put the deer down for good. If the deer is still on its feet, it's fair game. But if it was a kid that shot the deer first, I'd give it to the kid. I've never been in that situation.

around here its who ever drops it gets it

but I would be more than happy to give it to the one following up on it or at least share

but here mostly hound hunters and thats what they go by- they don't realize a bowhunter has to follow up a lot of times

I shot one a few years back in the snow and after waiting a couple of minutes I tracked it down only to find two other hunters who were going to claim it. Neither had even taken a shot at it before it expired. Luckily, I had a quiver of matching arrows to the arrow in the dead deer.

There ain't a deer in the woods worth fighting over. That's an ego thing.

First good hit.. Exception to a young hunter following up.. I've had to dispatch more than a few wounded animals during gun season, Never followed up on.. A lot of folks still believe if it doesn't drop on the spot, they missed..

If I’m not mistaken in Illinois the law states whoever puts the deer down is who it belongs to. That’s what I’ve always gone by. I know there’s no retrieval rights giving for property without permission in this state. In 32 years of hunting I’ve never heard of a situation where there was an argument of who killed the deer. “First blood” doesn’t necessarily mean that deer was mortally wounded and may have never died. I wouldn’t feel comfortable claiming a deer from someone who finished what I had started. Just my .02…

George I think you are wrong. I don't see it as ego. I just don't believe in participation ribbons. If you want to take a animal learn to shoot. On the other side of this I wouldn't be able to claim a animal someone else killed.

If someone wounds an animal and it goes onto private property where that hunter does not have permission to enter then he has no right to enter just because he is trying to recover a wounded animal. He could be charged for trespassing or hunting w/o permission.

With a bow it's the first MORTAL blood gets it. With rifle, it's the person who downs it. This is based on how differently the two weapons kill things.

I would agree, the killing shot. I have been on very few tracking jobs where someone else wounded something. I mostly hunt by myself and on private land. Two I can recall were gut shot. The animal would have died either way. I just sped up the process.

My very first Buck taken on public land, I'm sure if Dad wasn't along, would have been taken from me if by myself. A group of guys were doing a push after my Dad and I got on separate sits. My Dad wasn't quite to where he wanted to go yet when shots rang out. Minutes later a big buck came out the side and right to me. I dropped him on the spot. When the 8-10 guys came out to look at the deer one guy said "I thot I hit him". He did, just nicking a lower back leg. My Dad stood up to them and told them that "My son killed him".

Fiirst blood. That's what I was told

I go with George, except I am not going to wait much over an hour or so to find someone who is tracking it before putting my tag on it

The one that actually kills the deer

Traditionally it was taught by the game commission it belongs to the person who reduced it to possession. I don't think it has changed.

I always heard whoever had administered the last lethal shot.

I know of 2 guys who experienced problems with this subject.

First one killed a huge buck that had been wounded the day before. He had the head mounted. The guy that wounded it the day before, found out about it and showed up at the taxidermist when it was finished, paid the bill and took it home. Never heard the end of that story.

Second guy, a friend of mine, wounded a big buck during a snowstorm in gun season.

Took him 2 days of tracking in deep snow before he was able to finish it off.

While he was tracking it, he bumped into another hunter who started screaming about that’s my deer, you get outa here he’s mine.

My buddy just told him, fine I’ll help you find him. Only took a couple of hours of wading through the snow, and the guy gave up. Said you can have him!

MP

In my state you can't even recover a deer on private property without permission. Not everybody around here will grant permission.

Every state is different. In Iowa if you wound game and it dies on someone else's land you have the right to go get it as long as you don't take your weapon with you.

Bowhunter ed years ago we taught the first lethal hit was the owner. Now adays property ownership has perhaps rendered that obsolete.

In Pa. Wardens are taught NOT to get involved.

First killing shot not first blood.

First to draw blood should get it if it a killing shot, not just a minor wound and if he is tracking the deer. If it is wounded by a shot in which the deer would obviously survive then I don't believe the first shooter is entitled to it. I once hunted at a camp where there were restrictions on what you could shoot and if you violated the rules you were fined. So many would shoot a deer they should not have and then claimed it was justified because it was wounded. They found non lethal wounds on the animal and then tried to claimed they were justified in killing it. The truth was they had killed a deer that violated the rules and were trying to get out of paying the fine.

I agree with George and aromakr. That's what I would do also. I really don't need a deer that bad.

When I was 16 my father called in a nice 300 class 6x6 bull elk to about 25 yards and I made a less than ideal shot on him with my bob lee recurve and zwickey tipped ash shafts. Classic liver hit/possible back of lung. After the shot the bull walked off slowly with steady blood coming out of entrance side and no exit wound. It was only about a half hour before dark and the night was supposed to be cold so we backed out and decided to take up the trail in the morning. The next morning we followed a steady blood trail from the shot site for about 250 yards to a quarterd out and skull capped elk carcass. The only thing we figured could have happened is the wounded bull walked within range of other hunters the previous evening, immediately following my shot, and they packed him out that night. Glad the bull didn't suffer or go to waste, but still a bit of a heart breaker. That's probably the shot I wish I could have back more than any other!

"First one killed a huge buck that had been wounded the day before. He had the head mounted. The guy that wounded it the day before, found out about it and showed up at the taxidermist when it was finished, paid the bill and took it home. Never heard the end of that story."

This is one of those stories I don't believe for one minute. First, how would he know when it was finished? The taxidermist would call the guy that brought it in. So the taxidermist just lets anyone that comes in pay for it and take it? Don't think so.

So how can you 1st hit believers determine the severity of the 1st hit? Asking for a friend.

Several years ago I was slug hunting when I shot a small 8 point buck that had been hit prior to my shot. I had just stood up to trail it down the hill I was on when two other hunters came trailing it. I wasn't going to fight over it as I knew one of them hit it first. Secondly, I'll never argue over a deer when the other guy(s) have a gun(s). You just don't know what people are capable of anymore.

Lots of opinions on this one. I was brought up with it would belong to the last person to shoot. People have gotten into fights and worse over this. I would never try to claim a deer I “finished off”. On the other hand, a deer with just a non vital hit would belong to the person that killed it. Either way ain’t no deer or other critters I’d be willing to fight over.

Only if it’s a mortal wound nothing else counts

I know several rifle elk hunters who have got in squabbles over "who killed the bull" when multiple hunters have shot at the same animal. I would be willing to guess that it is a more common problem with wlk than with deer, because all hunters within ear shot of a bugling bull are often trying to converge at the spot

My grandfather and an older friend were in a similar situation in a gun season long ago where one guy shot at a buck that ran to my grandfather who knocked it down. As he walked up to the deer it got up and ran to the friend who killed it. The first hunter came over, grabbed the deer and said it was his. They had a lengthy discussion and he took it. The friend talked with a game warden who told him he wouldn’t intervene unless the deer was tagged. That indicates possession.

The crazy thing is that later in the day the same hunter that took the deer came back to show some of his friends where he shot it. My grandfather was still hunting there. As they talked a small group of deer came past and my grandfather shot the last one - a decent seven-point, before the other hunters even lifted their guns. It fell on the spot and the guy that shot the first deer that morning helped drag it out for my grandfather.

I never worried about who gets a deer and I’ve not shot at some in bow season when I knew they were mortally wounded.

Clydebow, both hunters were from the same small town and at least knew about each other. They were also hunting on adjoining properties. When word of this deer got around, the kid who wounded it started claiming it as his deer. He found who the taxidermist was that had the deer.

As far as who paid for what and how the kid got the mounted head, I don’t know all the particulars. I do know that the story is true though. I saw pics of the deer in the back of a truck, and the guy who actually shot the deer is the brother of a guy I worked with for years.

MP

First blood is our rule & if it's not considered a killing shot the 1st blood hunter makes the choice.. IF they are following blood.

Non fatal hit deer it's the person that killed it who owns it. A fatal hit deer and someone else finishes it off then first blood.

Was just gonna day what Timex said

First killing shot should tag it.

Different states handle it differently. like George and Bob said, in Idaho it is the person who hit it first. I don’t know if that is case precedent or department policy, but two conservation officers I was friends with said the same in two cases when I was with them.

Most of the time it gets worked out and in some instances they split the meat and the first blood hunter tags it. The problems seem to arise on the big bucks and bulls, and often there is a nonresident hunter element involved on either side of the fence.

The state’s relatively new trespass law throws another kink in it and COs will tell you it can be messy. The law requires the hunter to retrieve their game or it is a wanton waste citation. But if the animal goes onto private property that is marked as such under the law, you have to have permission to enter. It the property owner refuses to grant it, or they cannot be located, the best working solution is to call a CO and explain the situation. In some cases he has talked with the landowner and gotten permission to retrieve or let the hunter get it. But not always, but at least a good faith effort was made by the sportsman and the department. Often it is successful and it may have been because of unharvested crops or such.

At the end of the day, common sense and some courtesy goes a long ways. Even offering the landowner some of the meat. It just might get you permission to hunt there in the future.

The Buck was in a hayfield on a ridge. The Two hunters had rifles and shot from opposite sides of the field at the same time. There were two holes in the buck, both killing shots through the chest. The hunters couldn't resolve who would take the deer and called the CO. After listening to them argue for a few minutes the CO asked them to settle their dispute or he would. When they refused to settle he cut the buck in half with an axe and made both hunters tag their half which ended their seasons. This was 45 years ago, the CO would probably get fired today if he did this but I think it was a great lesson for the hunters involved and the rest of us who witnessed it. Good Day

Last arrow that puts it down. What if the first arrow is in the hindquarters? Runs by you without the arrow in and you put it through the lungs, it falls 40 yards away. Whose deer is it? Now, I'm not saying it shouldn't be worked out, but now let's say it's a 180 inch buck, whose deer is it? Maybe not an issue on private land between good neighbors or friends, but on public land , it's going to be a big deal. Just a tip for you public land guys when you knock a deer down. Before you leave it with your tag on it to go and get a cart or friends, cut a piece of tongue off and put it in your pocket. Because, when your walking back in and some guy is hauling your animal out with his tag you have evidence that he stole your deer. Call the DNR and let the guy talk about how he shot it etc... Then let him explain to the CPO how a piece of his deers tongue ended up in your pocket.

If the first shooter can't track it to where you shot it, it is obviously yours. Otherwise it would have been lost. If he successfully tracks it then who ever made the killing shot. If both shots are deemed to be fatal then the first shooter should have first claim. It most likely would not have come by you. If someone field dressed your deer without shooting at it, thank them & take your deer. If in the interest of time you field dressed their kill & they track it to you they obviously should thank you. What is right is right & two wrongs don't make a right. >>>----> Ken

In WV you can not go across someone's land to find a deer without the landowners permission. Having said that I would let someone come on my land to find their deer. In fact, I did it this year. I do not want a deer I did not hunt and shoot myself. Why let it lay. Now that is wasting a deer.

Have never had it happen to me bow hunting ~ gun is a different story I would say first killing shot ~ what I don’t care for are the people who won’t let you recover the deer you shot that crossed over to there land ~ I’m sorry but deer don’t know what fences lines are

i hunted adjacent farm to a fellow that would not follow up a blood trail when hunting. if he didn't see it go down, his attitude was "i'm not crawling around in that @#$% hunting a deer..." illegal to cross property line here to recover game as well. many never ask, unless owner lives on property. if there is a clear blood trail, they follow it up right then and see what the future brings. i have known of wardens here retrieving one for a hunter.

I'd say Blind Squirrel has it right. First killing shot...

I think in Ohio, it's who puts it down, I , for my one, don't want a deer someone else shot, even if I put the killing shot, I would make an effort to get it to the first shot person, unless impossible,. Every situation would have to be handled by the situation. I had a friend shoot a deer with a gun, deer went over a ridge, when he went to tag it, two hunters were tagging and gutting the deer. He just turned around, said no deer is worth an argument, but that's probably pretty rare.

"So how can you 1st hit believers determine the severity of the 1st hit? Asking for a friend."

Easy. When it either dies from the wound or someone else shoots it you both examine where the first hit was. It's very easy to tell if a wound is fatal or superficial. If it never dies it's a moot point.

BTW, arrows kill by hemorrhage which can take some time. That's the rationalization behind the first mortal wound rule.

You all just have to satisfy yourself as to what's fair and what isn't, or whatever works in your ethics code. How many of you unselfish guys would take a first deer from a young hunter just because his wound may not have been fatal in your opinion. Makes a body wonder. I'll stick by my first blood gets the deer, and I'll even help them get the damn thing out of the woods.

Kids are excused even if they think they hit I’ve already given it to them

Nonfatal hits don't kill and you don't get the deer. Age doesn't have anything to do with it.

Does it do a young one any good for their first to be a fake?.. a participation trophy? If you didnT kill it you learn from it and try to do better next time.

Not an arrow but I shot a big doe with a shotgun. It ran 100 yards and stood directly in front of my friend who raised his shotgun only to watch it fall over dead. Had he shot, it would have been his deer. The rifle and gun rule in these parts is the shot that brings it down gets the deer. Totally the opposite had I hit it with an arrow. Then it would have been my deer.

I've had that experience twice. First time was my first deer on Thanksgiving day, 1974. Prior shooter knicked it in the brisket and only had enough blood to track on fresh snow. That deer came to me.

Second time, I shot a deer dead in its tracks. Fellow came to me and said he'd shot the deer with a muzzleloader straight on the chest below the neck as the deer faced him. That was his deer that I finished for him.

If you're not a greedy person, and you have common sense, you know what deer had a killing shot and by whom. And, if not, give it to the youngen so he can get back to school and you can get back to hunting.

Asking for my friend the game warden. Is it legal to have another person tag a deer you killed ?

Absolutely not.

“Is it legal to have another person tag a deer you killed ?”

Depends. Up in MN, Party Hunting is permitted (or at least it was at the time… I’d ask Frisky, but what does he know about filling tags?) so we usually ended up with at least one doe tag in camp and if anyone got a doe down, he’d hustle over and we’d get word out so that no extras would be taken without a tag.

Funny thing… I had composed a fairly lengthy response to this one yesterday, and my phone decided that I didn’t need to say all that, so it just backed up and erased every last word… LOL- must be the gods telling me something….

Anyway, my thought was that - based on the shooting and tracking skills I saw on display in my first-ever experience with Elk hunting (Rifle), I decided that I would follow any blood that I found, because I had seen enough to be willing to believe that nobody else would do it. But I ended up just feeling…. Dirty. Befouled be the whole thing. That was 1989 and I haven’t done it since. All archery & ML after that.

I wouldn’t want to claim an animal that only came my way because it was already wounded, and I would REALLY not care to kill an animal if I didn’t have a valid tag for it. Even though that could be hard to swallow in some cases. But imagine if you were hunting on a cow-only tag and a nice bull staggered by. That’s not a story that I would be eager to try to sell at the game check station.

Way more what-ifs than easy answers.

But a deer out here on public land, plenty of either-sex tags, sure. Put down the cripple, gut it and leave it with a note that says “You’re welcome. Next time, shoot gooder.” If it’s still there on your way out, then tag it & drag it.

With my luck, the knucklehead who made the bad shot would be waiting for me in the parking area, ready to claim “his” deer.

Missouribreaks nailed it. You kill it, you tag it.

Whoever is hungier

Who determines what is a lethal shot? A gut shot deer could run by a guy be shot but the gut shot deer would eventually die making it a lethal shot.

I guess it depends on the character of the parties involved.

“Missouribreaks nailed it. You kill it, you tag it.”

That sounds right. So if you don’t have the right tag, you CANNOT legally kill it, and you don’t want to kill it unless you’re willing to burn what may be your only tag.

Here in WV those tags doe mean anything. Lots of the good ole boys don’t buy em. Those are the ones that would trail a wounded deer across private land they don’t have permission to hunt on and them fight you for the deer. I’d just let em have it then have them arrested for trespassing and not having a tag lol

Doing drives with Muzzle Loaders. Nice buck runs up to me around 30 yards facing me at an angle. My 50 cal Hawkens puts a round just off center heart high on the buck. He falls back, gets up runs about 40 yards and is standing there blood pumping out, wobbling. Another in the party 80 yards down sees it and fires. The buck falls. Who's buck is it? This particular happening had some sour comments on how I stole my buddys buck. Others said, the buck was about done when the other person fired. Kind of ended my doing drives with groups.

around these parts the deer belongs to the hunter who had the killing shot.

Ask your local CO if you shoot and kill a wounded deer if someone else can put their tag on it.

I'm with Jed!

I'll just say - depends on the circumstances (all of them).

Rick

If you come upon this situation, It's the Bear's deer. "LOL"

Missouri says that the person that tags the deer is the Owner and personally if some fool wounds a deer and I kill it it's MINE ! I think that if you make that poor of a shot you don't deserve it anyways. Chasing a wounded animal on to someones property without permission is Trespassing and thats against the law and on my land I won't run you off but I will have your ride towed and call the cops and have you fined.

Not here in WV Nemo. The good ole boys would kill the bear too lol

I'd shoot the bear and eat em both... if I had the tags.

Live2Hunt, you sound biased and perhaps making assumptions... which is natural i suppose. Where did hunter number 2's shot hit exactly? That's a factor. If it was truly stopped, wobbling with blood pumping out it may have been about to drop, but who witnessed the specific details you described? You? Him at 80 yards? Lots of questions remain.

I've had some things like this happen, some deer I took home and some I didn't. Each incident must be evaluated on a case by case basis, sometimes with some forensics envolved, it can get dicey even between lifelong friends. We keep it as fair and friendly as possible. Work it out. Objectivity and honesty rules the day... as it should.

It depends how big the other hunter is! Other hunter big, his. Other hunter small , mine.

I never had it come up bowhunting. However, gunhunting in my local, it's usually the fellow that actually anchors the deer that takes him home. Sometimes they will split the meat. Heck, it doesn't matter to me, much, I have given deer away, just for the asking, before.

I remember once, way back when we had to physically check our deer in, instead of doing it online, I had killed this nice doe late in the evening and after field Dressing it, I hauled it into the nearest Walmart because it was a check station and after I checked it in, a woman I didn't know, was admiring my deer and commented something to the fact that she wished they had a deer to eat. So, I just gave it to her, and went and bagged another the next day, since I still had open tags.

I have killed enough deer in my life, that I have no problem giving one to anybody, if they want it and are not being a jerk about it or something.

Another time, I made a really long shot with a muzzleloader, and hit a nice buck in the neck, not on purpose. It ran and I started trailing it up. At first, I had a lot of blood, and at that time, I had never shot a deer that left that much blood on the ground, that I didn't find right away.

But, the blood eventually dropped off to practically nothing, and after slowly trailing it for probably an hour, I heard my buddy shoot, and after a while he found me, and told me he shot a deer that had been shot in the neck but was just walking along. It was the best rack either one of us had killed at that time in our lives, but I let him have the rack and we split the meat.

I guess that depends where you are. Giving a deer to someone who hasn’t bought a tag is not necessarily legal in all 50 states….

I know in CO if two guys decide to split a kill, BOTH are required to punch their tags. Or that was the rule at one point. I think I recall that you need a tag if you’re in possession of one quarter or more, but don’t quote me on that.

One thing I am quite sure of, though, is that Jon Stewart is a patient and gentlemanly sort and he seems to be putting a pretty fine point on this one. I think if I lived in his neck of the woods, I would be doing some homework…. Because it does seem improbable that it’s legal to kill an animal, let someone else tag it, and keep on hunting. I had never really thought about that out here where the state seems to want as many killed off as possible, but in a one-tag state where the game commission is interested in preventing over-harvest….

Just another instance in which laws are written to keep dishonest people in check.

Another story, from the 70's. At that time people ran deer with dogs a lot, and while we were not part of the hunting party with the dogs, dog hunters often expected at least a hindquarter of a deer if you killed it in front of their dogs. It didn't matter if they screwed your hunt up or not, they expected a meat share if you killed a deer.

Well, that morning my grandfather and me were watching a creek bottom when we saw a coyote running by, and I killed it with my .270 Remington 700. I threw it in back of the truck, since I knew I could get money for the hide. Well, it's not long, until a dog hunter drives up on us and demands to see the deer. Actually, he demanded "where's the meat boys?"

My grandfather told him to look in the back of the pickup and cut him off a piece if he wanted it. You never seen such a pissed off look on that guy's face. We laughed about it for the rest of the day. I got $15 dollars for the hide, that was 2 boxes of shells back them.

Letting somebody else tag a deer that you killed would seem to be what my state calls "party hunting" and it isn't legal here.

I don't know of any law against giving meat away but it takes a tag to possess it in the field.

"Doesn't matter who's land it is, first blood gets the deer, as long as someone actually follows and looks for it."

even if the first blood is coming from an obviously non lethal hit?

I give a lot of deer away

I think first lethal shot. If a guy who wounds a deer with a flesh wound and you kill it, it's yours. Your option, let's say. The guy would have never caught up and got a kill shot if he skips and arrow off it's rump and draws blood, why should the deer be his? On the same situation, a kid needs to learn a hard lesson, and it isn't the kids deer either.

My buddy shot and hit a black bear hard. It collapsed rolled down the mtn side until it was stopped by a log. Bear got up and started running. My friend tracked it. Blood everywhere on the snow. Boom, another hunter shot it. Said it was his. Still moving. My friend didn’t see him shoot and the bear just heard the shot.

I didn’t continue The second hunter claimed the bear. Said it was on its feet when he shot it.

So is it fair to say that on a gun hunt, if you hear a shot and then an animal comes your way from that general direction, the smart and Sporting thing to do is to stop and think before you get on the trigger, or is that too much to ask?

Not for nothin’, but if an animal is moving too fast for me to determine whether it has been hit already or not, I’m not shooting…. Simply because I know that MY chances of making a clean kill with a rifle on a fast-mover are not good enough for me to chance it. My limitations, so I get to make my own rules. If that offends you, that’s clearly a You Problem.

OTOH…. If it is moving slowly enough to shoot at, I think I know animals well enough to be able to spot a cripple even if I can’t see blood.

I also know animals well enough to be able to tell when an animal is more concerned about what’s behind it than what might be ahead of it… So there’s that. Might come into play more for Bowhunting…

But I can’t shake the thought that if an animal is acting Hit, you would know, and if it isn’t, it is probably well on its way to becoming an unrecoverable bad hit.

Tempest, under the unwritten rule of rifle hunting it was the other hunter's bear. But I think I would have followed up and done a post mortem to make sure the bear had two entry holes in it.

Legally, in Texas, a person can not cross onto private property to retrieve an animal. Ever! Also, the game warden also can not get your deer for you.

In Arkansas, if you kill it you must tag it with your tag, to be legal, but you can give away deer meat after you tag it, however, the recipient needs something in writing from the one who tagged it.

Customs vary, but in my local, first blood don't mean much, it's who finally drops it that has first dibs. Plainly, if it's a lethal shot without question, then that might be different, a lung or heart shot for instance, gut shots, not so much.

I had a wounded doe come by me and I promptly put it down. I waited in the stand after watching it die. A short time later I had an older gentleman tracking the deer ask me if I saw it. I answered yes and she's down over there. He Thanked me and turned to walk away. I said to him "Sir that's your deer if you still want it" He stopped and said to me "Are you serious?" with a puzzled look. I got out of my tree walked over and introduced myself and shook his hand.

After he field dressed the deer I offered to help him drag it to his truck. Since he was elderly I actually drug the deer out for him. To this day we still see each other in the area and I only know his name is Wayne BUT we are friends. Keeping that deer would have felt wrong to me. He shot it and was following up the trail hoping to finish the job All I did was help him get it done.

Well that makes the most sense i have heard yet. Things happen one cannot always say what you would do in every situation until you are faced with the moment.From what i have heard so far it was more of the legal side of the whole situation.Now all states have different laws etc but i have helped people out and most of the time guys appreciated it Like wise most good deeds do not go un noticed .

on my property I wait til the other hunter comes to get his animal then have him arrested. LOL.

4406,

All people are not like you were in that situation, but it would be nice if they could be.

Great story 4406. Nicely done.

Good on you, Ron. You did a nice thing.

when I was a kid it was the arrow closest to the heart

It was a nice story 4406 but is what you did legal? In Michigan it is illegal to tag some elses deer. Like it or not laws are created for a reason. You know have a non hunting spouse buy a tag and then tag the husband deer so he can continue to hunt.

So as I suggested, check your state laws and follow them.

.

If a wounded deer come past ya you’re hunting too close to someone or they’re too close to you imo. I was always taught a dead deer, one mortally wounded belongs to the man who shot it first. If it’s hit in the ankle it’s fair game so it depends on shot

On the weekend our public land here is pretty crowded. Good chance a wounded deer is going to run past somebody...if there were any deer. Lol

Anecdotal...a friend of my dad, back in the late 60's, AWEARS this story is true. His wife wanted to go deer hunting for the first time, in Wisconsin, so he taught her to shoot, rifle, and gave her a crash course. One lesson was to cut out the "scent glands" after a kill. She didn't know what they were & was embarrassed to ask.

Opening morning, she shot a buck that dropped in his tracks. Not knowing what the "scent glands" were, she cut off the testicles...then watched as the buck jumped up and took off. She started after him, and heard a shot.

She came onto a guy ready to put his tag on it, and shouted that it was her buck! The guy said no, and saying, "I got these", she held up the "scent glands".

The guy was flabbergasted, and said, "Lady...if you got that close to him...you can have him!"

He and my dad are both gone now, but he'd swear on a stack of bibles it was a true story...lol. He was a great guy, a teacher like my dad, and a pretty straight shooter.

I dunno...but it cracked me up.

That’s a great one, Coach!

one buck says when someone says the statement is true look out. LOL

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