What would you do?

[rotorooter23]

That is your deer. That is very messed up and a bush league move. What kind of hunting story does that guy have for that deer? It sucks you couldn't get back the next morning or next night to search but can't help those things if you are unable to. Any normal bow hunter would gave you a call. Did he show you a picture?

Lets assume he didn't find your buck or go look for it the next day. What are the chances you find the buck in daylight when you went back? Pretty good i'm guessing. I can tell by your posts over the years you are not a rookie hunter and tracker. 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I will in the future retain this scenario for my own wisdom. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by rotorooter23

[growalot]

I'm interested to know if you've spoken to the land owner yet and how that conversation went...if your exchange with Mr AH was heated as you mentioned, did he get to the land owner first?...Lordy take a gift with you....if you haven't.

It's curious to me how many ask why he or any would take a deer. I've mentioned many times I am a shoulder shooter...and this is why...I don't attempt them in archery, though they have happened...it's where my eye tends to wander for good or bad because of those lost buck. Each time due to distance I had the deer drop where they stood. I'm not surprised by this in the least...it happens here all the time. I'm not the only one to loose a deer that a decision to "give it time"  in a gut pile only ending...sometimes they don't even bother with that! We have one great white hunter that has bought garage sale bucks and claimed them as his own, even though he has some nice buck he actually shot....hhhmmm we think. He really needs to keep his chatty wife out of the loop...hahahahaha The one thing that resonates soundly from this is:

Quote

unfortunately there are a lot of people that turn into idiots around deer season.

truer words never spoken.

Edited February 10, 2017 by growalot

[wooly]

Can't really say what I'd do in this case just because I've never experienced it in an open season like that. I've found a few noteworthy buck skulls during shed season that I've had a pretty good idea about who killed them, but at that point you never really know for sure.

I've scooped up a ton of skulls over the years, and never once felt obligated to now track down the hunter that couldn't track down his own animal. Post season finds get chalked up as deadhead/unrecovered bonus bucks on the shed season talley..... end of story.

They don't get put up on the wall, and there are no stories concocted about some amazing made up hunting adventure the way some of you are implying this guy is doing. There's also no CSI investigation being performed to find out "who done it?"

 

I guess the only real issue I see with what this guy MIGHT have done would have been if he had already filled his buck tags for the season when he hauled it (or parts of it) out. 

If he didn't have one left to tag this "find", that was technically reduced to his possession at that point, there may be some legality issues that are of bigger concern than the moral ones we get to make up on our own.

I'm not sure how that works in reverse if he had tags but didn't fill them out or report during an open season on a find like this.

Just one more reason I like to wait till hunting season is over before I officially kick off shed season and start cleaning up everybody's mess.

[beachpeaz]

Well, what's done is done.  He is in possession of it and he knows who I am.  If something ever changes in him and he decides to give me the rack, thats up to him.  It at least gave me closure that the deer was recovered.  I only hope he went back that night and grabbed the entire deer so it didn't go to waste (which I doubt).

Nothing I could have done that night would have found that deer.  I could have looked the rest of the night with the same result.  No blood.....the blind leading the blind.  Where that deer was allegedly recovered is nowhere I would have expected or looked that night upon the direction I watched him go.  With no blood trail and dark, you can only instinctively look.

For those of you who somehow blamed this on me, I can only LOL.  You don't know me, so go ahead and be quick to judge as you probably do with all aspects of your life.  I've never lost a deer in 30 years of hunting until this one.  I owe you no defense.

Thanks for the input from the rest of you, I appreciate it.

I'm out.