Interesting article from Deer and Deer hunting

[erussell]

It's Not 'Your' Deer...Is It?    December 03, 2009

by  Dan Schmidt, editor    Beyond the Article

This column originally appeared in the January 2010 issue of Deer & Deer Hunting. Click here to see what else is inside.

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What should be perhaps this year’s best feel-good deer hunting story has turned into one of the most gut-wrenching.

It happened when a 12-year-old Wisconsin boy shot an incredible buck while hunting in a special youth-only gun-hunting season in October (click here to see the photo). The mainframe 10-pointer also sports several kicker points and easily surpasses Boone and Crockett  record-book standards.

We’d love to tell the heart-pounding story and show you more photos of it, but, unfortunately, the family now almost wishes the buck never made an appearance that day.

Why? Well, it seems as though some folks in that community, who are apparently avid bow-hunters, aren’t sharing any of the joy. They are allegedly jealous to the point of being peeved.

“We don’t know if we even want to tell the story anymore,” the father said during a phone interview with D&DH’s Jake Edson.

It seems there is jealously and anger in the community over the fact that the boy was able to shoot this deer during a special youth hunt where kids were allowed to use firearms.

When I heard the report, my jaw hit the ground. How in the world could someone be jealous of a kid shooting a big buck? It happens every year, and those are the best deer hunting stories, in my opinion, because they embody everything that hunting should be about: excitement, luck and unbridled enthusiasm.

After doing some more background work on this story, we learned that at least one of the jealous hunters was upset because the boy shot what he considered to be “his” deer. The guy apparently had been holding out for this buck for several seasons and, in the process, had obtained several trail camera photos of the deer on his property.

After discussing this sad story with another friend of mine, we concluded that as our epiphany moment in trying to understand the mindset.

“That is so typical,” my friend said. “A guy gets a trail-cam picture, and now it’s ‘his’ deer.”

All I can say is, “wow” — and not in an excited, gosh-that-is-so-cool tone, but rather in utter disbelief.

Wow ... really ... has deer hunting gotten this far off track? This twisted? This self-centered?  What happened to our common-ground hunting kinship? Can we not extend our hand to a youngster in congratulations on his first buck?

Do people honestly believe that free-ranging whitetails — products and property of the public domain — are truly theirs merely because they planted a food plot that the deer ate from or hung a camera that happened to snap a photo of the animal as it walked about freely within its several-square-mile home range?

Gosh, I hope not.

Would someone please tell me I’m wrong?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All i can say if you are jealous because a kid shot a big deer ( and a mighty fine deer if I may say so ) you need to get a life. I have even seen articles where some areas if someone shoots a big buck they immediatley call in there wildlife officers and run through what happened, where they shot it, where it fell ect. just so other hunters cant start rumors about them  jacking the deer or killing it over bait. IMO unless you have the deer chained up to a tree when you shoot it, IT'S NOT YOUR'S. And being a douchebag about it won't make it anymore your deer no matter how many lbs of your food plot it ate. I had an area one time that I shot a nice 200lbs 8 point  with the bow. The following yr I was back in the same stand and the neighbor wouldn't stop driving his 4 wheeler around his property while I was there. He would drive by and see my truck from the road and around the property he would go for and hour straight. I never was able to kill a deer there again and stopped hunting it altogether when the owner sold it. Come to find out later I heard from someone else that the trail I was hunting on lead right to one of his food plots and he was angry I was killing "HIS DEER". I have even had a friend one time who put up a stand about 50 yrds from the neighboring property and went to his stand and someone had dumped a whole box of mothballs around his stand. What a bunch of losers.

[jasons75]

Really..... "his deer".... Some people are just plain morons. The kid needs a pat on the back a congrats and a good happy memory of an awesome hunt

[shenders]

Good for the kid. Last time I checked we dont own the deer. People need to really take a step back and look at the big picture.  There is a new hunter born and has just experienced the best part of our sport. To harvest an animal and enjoy the outdoors. Regardless of what season it is a youth, bow, rifle it doesnt matter.

[nyslowhand]

WOW! A deer of a lifetime and a 12 year old boy!

Now he'll spend the rest of his life trying to get another one as good or better. BOL!

Other hunters thinking the deer was theirs to pursue, just crazy.

They should have congratulated the boy and moved on with their pursuit of other bucks.

No one owns or has exclusive rights to any deer, unless they bought it and have it fenced in!!!

[fasteddie]

The deer was mine . I got pics on my trail cam . It wasn't fair that you shot it !

What a jerk !

[steve863]

Why should this attitude surprise anyone in todays hunting world?  People put out cameras, food plots, feeders, the works.  They do this stuff to try to keep the animals on their land and after a while they start thinking the deer are their own.

[Doewhacker]

Why should this attitude surprise anyone in todays hunting world?  People put out cameras, food plots, feeders, the works.  They do this stuff to try to keep the animals on their land and after a while they start thinking the deer are their own.

The only thing I'm surprised about is that this type of story doesn't surface more often. I'm sure it happens more now than ever.

[steve863]

Yeah, you probably won't see it in print, since the magazines and TV shows will never show the jealousy and greed that can be involved in this game.  I guess it would be bad for business? LOL  Everything is sugar coated in the hunting world, like it is just about everywhere else these days.

[Elmo]

I should get my camera and take a picture of that guy...so I'll own him.

[RPIBuckHunter]

This is the problem with hunters today.  People like that are threatening to destroy our sport.  This kid is a hunter for life now, and us adult hunters should be grateful that there are these young people willing to take up the sport and continue the legacy, etc...

[bubba]

I will say it again, hunter insanity.  it takes over a lot of people around mid september