Unrecovered deer

[Thakamokid82]

Id like to share a story with you if I could, it may not be the most unusal story, when it comes to deer hunting, but I thought it was worth sharing.

Anybody who has bowhunted for any amount of time has probably lost a deer or two. On 11/14 a friend of mine arrowed this Oswego county buck on his property in Scriba, NY. Unfortunately, thats not him holding the rack in the first picture. He tracked the deer for 1.3 miles before he lost the blood trail. On 12/08 the picture of the rack started circulating the area via text message, with the story of how and where it was found dead. My friend located the guy who found it, they exchanged their stories, and the man even walked him out to the carcus in the woods where he found the buck, which was 80 yards from where the blood trail abruptly stopped. Unfortunately the man did not want to part with antlers, even when offered money for them. As a hunter myself who has lost deer before, I can understand the sorrow of shooting and tracking a deer, only to come up empty handed, but to shoot a monster like this, and have 3 weeks go by wondering and second guessing, and then stand face to face with man who found it, and not being able to convince him to part ways with his find, can only be described one way, heartbreaking! I can only hope that this story hasn't ended yet and that in the days or weeks to come this man has a change of heart, and gives this story a happy ending!

Now i know there are alot if big bucks out there, and some people have more than a few on thier wall, each having a story to go along with it, and in most cases these expensive mounts will be passed down through out generations and hopefully the storys along with them, and sometimes the storys of the ones we've lost or missed will take on a life of thier own. As of right now my friend will have to come to terms with the fact that, the story of this big eight point, aside from a few trailcam pics and picture on his phone, is just that, a story!

[BigVal]

Wow that's a beast sad to hear

[outdoorstom]

That's really too bad, I hope he changes his mind, but I doubt if he will. That might be the biggest 8 I've seen in New York. Really wish he would have called me to bring my dog!

[Skillet]

Some class on the part of the guy who won't give the antlers to him. What a loser.

[Jeremy K]

I guess he didn't offer enough money .

[Marion]

What kind of doosh takes someone else's antlers and tries to claim they are his own?

You Can't Beat My Meat!

[The_Field_Ager]

He looks just like my big 10. Hope the big feller is still on his feet.

[The_Field_Ager]

I dunno. If you fail to track and retrieve a shot deer, it's fair game for whoever does recover the carcass in the end. Once the blood ended on a deer like that I would have circled and circled until I was sure he wasn't close by.

 

It sounds like a full 3 weeks passed before the carcass was discovered. I would have gone back every day for a week.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Papist

[Skillet]

I hear you Papist, but I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't give them to the guy who shot it, if he contacted you.

[Taylormike]

I feel for your buddy, unfortunately I think the story will always have a disappointing ending. If the guy finally gives in and gives him the rack it's only a band-aid and doesn't change the fact the deer went to waste, wasn't tagged and isn't a successful harvest. The only thing that heals this, is time and redemption, he needs to go out and shoot another. Sorry to sound harsh, I just wouldn't be overly enthused no matter what.

[The_Field_Ager]

I hear you Papist, but I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't give them to the guy who shot it, if he contacted you.

 

 

Difficult one to prove unless you had footage of the hunt or could describe the arrow still in the carcass.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Papist

[The_Field_Ager]

What kind of doosh takes someone else's antlers and tries to claim they are his own?

 

 

 

They're only yours if you get your hands on them after the hunt and tracking.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Papist

[Skillet]

I agree. I'm just saying that being the guy I think you are, if you believed the guy shot it, I have a feeling you would give it to him.

[Skillet]

Definitely not a successful harvest though. I've got a rack that I recovered much later. It isn't a trophy, like the rest of them. It sits in its own place, as a reminder that I need to make every possible effort to humanely & cleanly kill the deer I shoot at.

[SteveB]

Personally if I don't recover when edible I consider it a failed harvest. Would have no interest in a rack that reminded me I didn't get the job done. After 3 weeks, I would never think I had any claim on it at all.

[the_narrows]

I'd question whether the shot on a deer that walked 1.3 miles was ethical in the first place. I guess you could hang the cape in the basement with a sign that said "Practice" underneath. I agree your buddy's claim was questionable.

[turkeyfeathers]

I'd question whether the shot on a deer that walked 1.3 miles was ethical in the first place. I guess you could hang the cape in the basement with a sign that said "Practice" underneath. I agree your buddy's claim was questionable.

ethical has nothing to do with it. An inch or two off the mark will do it. I've lost 2 in my life. Basically broadside , standing , off rest , took time. Something went amok and don't know what. Both ethical shots I screwed up, ship happens. Feel crappy to this day on both. Assuming I hit inches too far forward. Tracked both forever and a little longer.

Sucks that he wouldn't give rack ! Karma hopefully

[Pygmy]

I feel bad for the guy who lost the deer.

However, I don't think there is any doubt that the person who found it is the rightful owner of the rack.

Who knows what his reason is for not wanting to sell it to the person who believes he killed it ? I'd say that it is his business..

Personally, I don't think it's worth getting too upset over a silly hunk of calcium, but that's just my opinion.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I feel bad for the guy who lost the deer.

However, I don't think there is any doubt that the person who found it is the rightful owner of the rack.

Who knows what his reason is for not wanting to sell it to the person who believes he killed it ? I'd say that it is his business..

Personally, I don't think it's worth getting too upset over a silly hunk of calcium, but that's just my opinion.

Thats Right..Sucks for the shooter but its the same if that guy that found it was sitting in a tree and killed that buck with his arrow while the other guy was tracking it.  Its a lost deer on the first shooter. Even though it sucks big time.

[grampy]

Yup, no difference if after tracking for a mile and someone else shoots him. The rack is now with it's rightfull owner. Does it suck to be the shooter? Sure does, but he never recovered the deer, he just shot it. If the buck had died in a spot to never be found by anyone, he would be no worse off than he is now.

[chrisw]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thinks like this, the guy that wounds the deer is not "entitled" to the horns when or if they are ever recovered, also it sounds as if this deer should've been recovered if it were only 80 yds from last blood. It might suck to have to know someone else has something that by all rights should've been yours but you failed to seal the deal unfortunately. The guy that found the deer may also have some reservations as to whether you were in fact the guy that wounded it, big antlers make people do things they wouldn't otherwise do...

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[Paula]

It is a nice deer, to bad your friend and you didn't work a bit harder to recover it then.

[nyslowhand]

IMHO, B&C promotes this exact kind of behavior with their "Picked-up" class of trophy listings. Hard to believe any "finder " would have any gratification, not to mention bragging rights from simply locating a dead deer!

[Skillet]

I feel bad for the guy who lost the deer.

However, I don't think there is any doubt that the person who found it is the rightful owner of the rack.

Who knows what his reason is for not wanting to sell it to the person who believes he killed it ? I'd say that it is his business..

Personally, I don't think it's worth getting too upset over a silly hunk of calcium, but that's just my opinion.

If it's just a hunk of bone, it should mean even less to the guy who just picked it up. I'm sure he just kept the rack to let the dog chew it.

[Doc]

There are a lot of us that have collections of found antlers, and there is some feelings of ownership when you add another antler or skull to your collection. I have seen some pretty impressive collections of found antlers, and I'm sure the guy that found those was very happy to add that rack to his collection. Yeah, I can see where you might have a problem parting with it regardless of the story of failure behind it. In all respects, that deer was totally lost and the guy that found it was responsible for giving the thing any value of ownership that it might have. If it had not been found by guy #2, the thing would have become rodent food. So the only guy that reduced that deer to possession was the guy that found it.