the unwritten rule of claiming a hit deer

[aqua750]

I was  speaking to a buddy today about his hunting trip and he told me of a commonly occurring incident where a hunter is  on stand and a nice  eight point buck  walks into range  so my friend pops it, it hits the ground  dead but as it happens another hunter  gut shot it,and was trailing it , my friend graciously gave the buck to the friend who gut shot it  BUT In his heart he confided to me that he felt it should be his. Its my opinion that there is a unwritten custom  / rule  that if a wounded deer has wondered into the  sights of another hunter who shoots and kills the  deer it is the property of the man who kills it.What is the thoughts  and past experiences of you guys??? I think my friend who killed the deer  NOT the friend who gut shot it should get the deer but he did the  right thing no matter how painful   what do ya think  thanks in advance

[wolc123]

A gut-shot is always fatal so my opinion is the guy did the right thing.  The gut shooter ought to thank the dispatcher and give him a roast or two (maybe even a backstrap) for shortening his track (plus pay him for the bullet).  The deer search guys probably love gut-shot jobs because they are smelly and easy for dogs to follow.  

If it were a non-fatal hit (like a leg), then the leg-shooter is SOL and the guy who kills it should get it, even if there is snow and the original shooter shows up on the trail.  

[tommyc50]

the rule is the last guy who shoots it AND hits it AND it goes down owns it. Like fishing the deepest hook get the fish.I seen guys fight over deer once a kid was standing over a deer and some guy walks up and says oh that's my deer well the kid was by himself and the guy was with his friends and  wouldn't argue with the guy.

[GreeneHunter]

I've always believed you drop it you own it .

[Hunter007]

Tough call I mean you can hit a deer and it can run 100s of yards  how is the first guy even supposed to know that the  second guy  shot it  before or after it dropped to the ground. 

Deer could have just happened to dropped there and the second guy just shot it after the fact . 

Edited November 22, 2018 by Storm914

[Swamp_bucks]

Tough call. Our rule(group of 5 of us) is if you put a shot that would eventually kill the deer and the other person finishes it then it goes to the original shooter.  But you have to drag the other guys next deer out.  

Stateland and its someone else i dont know it would be tougher just depends on how the deer is acting coming in(in the process of dying or just looking to bed up) and how close the last shot to me was.

[Nytracker]

Been on both ends of that mess. The rules we were taught in hunter safety back many many moons ago was the last shot that put the animal down is the guy that gets it. That said I wouldn't claim a mortal  wounded deer . Definatly not a deer from somebody in my hunting party. Gut shot I will gladly back track and find the shooter and help claim his mess.

[turkeyfeathers]

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[G-Man]

In fact it is written last person to hit and kill deer it is their deer, the custom of giving the animal with 1st lethal wound is in fact a courtesy started by bowhunters. Your friend was entitled to the buck no questions asked. It's his choice to give it to the tracker. I would do the same if it was a kid or an older hunter as I have taken many deer and it may be their 1st or last, But a dec officer would of given the deer to your buddy as well as that is the actual law.

[Nytracker]

This happened a few years back. My BIL and nephew  were hunting with a close friend. Friend hit a huge buck . Gut shot with 45/70. The three of them tracked the creek bottom  one on each bank one in the bottom . Buck jumped up ran up to nephew  and he shoots it in the neck putting it down . Nephews first deer kill. Little bit of conversation . Agreement is to let the boy tag it. There were some hard feelings obviously.  Friend is no longer. That would be a tough call .

[landtracdeerhunter]

Put a 200" buck between the two hunters. Then we'll watch the sparks fly.

[Buckmaster7600]

First fatal shot, in your scenario it’s your friends buddy.


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[Just Lucky]

I would let the guy who shot it first have it. Thats how I was taught. 

[G-Man]

1 hour ago, Nytracker said:

This happened a few years back. My BIL and nephew  were hunting with a close friend. Friend hit a huge buck . Gut shot with 45/70. The three of them tracked the creek bottom  one on each bank one in the bottom . Buck jumped up ran up to nephew  and he shoots it in the neck putting it down . Nephews first deer kill. Little bit of conversation . Agreement is to let the boy tag it. There were some hard feelings obviously.  Friend is no longer. That would be a tough call .

If we were tracking a friends deer together and another tracker shot it it would still go to the person with original shot. As we would not be there tracking it if not for 1st person.. that is among my camp only..if we were tracking and it ran to another hunter not in camp and they shoot and drop it it's their deer no question.

To bad a deer ruined a friendship.. this scenario played out exactly with a friends 8pt we were tracking  I sent a another camp member ahead to cut it off should it jump and run.. the cut off guy dropped it .. the original shooter congratulates him on his buck and cut off man says what do you mean we are tracking your deer yours.. original shooter grew up hunting state land and couldn't believe the other guy would give it to him.. but again this is was within our camp state land would of been last guy to shoot and drop it

[moog5050]

There would be no question that in our group, first fatal shot keeps the deer.  There has been a number of times a second hunter in our group has finished off a deer.  Never been a question who would be tagging the deer.  

I did not know there is a written reg on this.  

Edited November 22, 2018 by moog5050

[Moho81]

Yup. First fatal shot gets the deer in our group. I’ve only had one disagreement with a guy in our group.


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[Jeremy K]

1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

First fatal shot, in your scenario it’s your friends buddy.


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It wasn't very fatal of a shot if it made it to another persons stand . 

[Jeremy K]

Now we get to argue over whats a fatal shot  .

[Nytracker]

Years ago I hit a nice 13 pt. One lung liver. Ran on to the neighbors property . Ran passed their son who missed  and fell down in front of mom who finished it off . Tracked a decent bloodtrail in the snow and get to kid who says deer wasn't hit till his mom killed it. Laughed and pointed to blood trail.  I left it to them . Next weekend posted signs went up between our properties. Mom and dad came out as I was leaving. Told me there 20 year old son claimed he hit it . If they had known they would have given me the deer. There was no reason for me to post the property. Told them that posted signs make good neighbors . If they hit a deer call my cell and I would  track for them. Told them to remind their son of the borders. Following year during bow season had 2 cameras come up missing . One  camera that was in a bear box locked and anchored  to a tree had pictures of the son.    Delivered copies of  it to parents and told them I expected both cameras returned to the.stump on my property in 24 hours or police would be coming .  Apologies  from both . Cameras returned. Haven't seen the son in years . Parents and I have a cordial  relationship  at best.

[Robhuntandfish]

In your own group of buddies I would always go with the first guy that shot. Unless it was grazed or something.  But that is usually worked out among good friends.  Me and my buddies would probably argue more that the other guy tag it!  Lol

On state land I gotta say it's the guy that puts it down. Deer are tough and can live thru a lot or never be found.  Guy that drops it drags it. 

[cbyzerman]

That deer goes to the original shooter.  That is a dead deer that would have been recovered.  Why would you want the deer cause you finished him off? There should never be an argument over something like that.........

[Jeremy K]

How can anyone say for sure it was a dead deer from the first shot ? Have you seen the stuff processors pull out of a deer? 

[NYBowhunter]

You all do know that retrieval of a gut shot deer, although lethal, can sometimes be very difficult to fnd. Sometimes very little blood, holes get plugged up and if no snow it can be very difficult to retrieve. My opinion is that if deer gets put down by another hunter, it should be that hunters deer. But i also do agree that if you are tracking a wounded deer together with the first shooter and you put the deer down then deer should go to first shooter.

Edited November 22, 2018 by NYBowhunter
Typo

[Nomad]

Seen this play out every possible combination. Back in the day I hunted with 4 guys, guy behind us had around 8, after sitting first light we would all meet up an drive for hours .

There were times we’d meet up and someone hit a deer, while sitting prior, we’d track it , set up on the woods it headed to ,while others stayed on track.

Who ever first shot it , no ,matter how minor got the deer, didn’t matter who finished it off . We’d all stop hunting to get him his deer, and the finisher never would have got his shot, if someone hadn’t winged it .

But we were all friends and helped each other.

Strangers it can go either way, then I tend to go with first fatal shot, but there’s not much chance of any argument where I hunt, as it’s miles of private land and we know all the neighboring hunters ,and think and hunt the same way .

Joe’s  spot well.....

[steve863]

Many a friendship have ended over claims on a deer, I can assure you.  The first deer I ever shot was claimed by someone down the hill of me.  If I am hunting with a group of guys I would never claim the deer that was hit by another member of the group whether it was hit well or not.  I would hope the other members of my group would return the favor if I had made a poor shot and they were the ones finishing it off.  I honesty would have a hard time claiming even a strangers deer if I saw another wound in it.  Of course a determining factor to how hunters will react depends on the rack that the deer might be wearing.  Antlers as we know can make hunters crazy, so all bets are off to what might happen in a scenario like that.  It can happen even with a doe, but with a big buck things could go south that much quicker.