Deer hunting ethics

[antlerridge]

You seemed to do more than most would to attempt recovery, hunt.


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[Q_Sertorius]

We are pretty sure the buck is alive, we had a trail cam photo and it appears to be him. Continued to hunt today, but the soup is luke warm.

I’d keep hunting him. The odds that he survives the winter is pretty low. I’ve tracked deer a surprising distance - 1/2 mile or more - even after “good shots” like a high lung shot that doesn’t affect the spine. I believe in exhausting all reasonable measures to recover a wounded animal.

I am not saying this applies here, but I have also seen some really poor attempts to even look for blood by some hunters. “No blood within 6-feet of where I think he was when I fired. I must have missed.” My dad’s rule was that if we shot at a deer we walked a search pattern in the direction he ran out to 400 yards with increasingly longer legs. It took forever on the side of the mountain, beating brush, climbing over dead trees, etc. Which basically meant you were done hunting for the day unless you found him. Do that once or twice and you take shots you know you can hit.

 

[Timplant]

wound loss is factored into tags sold, if you gave your effort, go hunting.

 

[Model70]

Keep hunting. You did everything right, but to no avail, so ethically, you are good to go in my book.
I hate crippling a deer and not recovering it, but it happens. Fortunately, I have not had the misfortune of crippling one in many years. Eats my guts out.

 

[mad_angler]

This thread is sorta confusing.... folks keep asking about the shot, the weapon, etc.

It seems that the question is much less complicated: "Do you stop hunting if you wound a deer?"

I know most guides consider the hunt to be over once blood is drawn. I think that is self serving to force their clients to take better shots and to maintain their personal herd of animals.

I think it is a personal, judgement call.
My personal, judgement call is to keep hunting...

 

[velvet muley]

Keep hunting, shit happens. They factor all that into tag numbers.

 

[Swamp Fox]

Keep hunting, shit happens. They factor all that into tag numbers.

'Keep shootin' ..... They'll make more.'

 

[Rich M]

This thread is sorta confusing.... folks keep asking about the shot, the weapon, etc.

It seems that the question is much less complicated: "Do you stop hunting if you wound a deer?"

I know most guides consider the hunt to be over once blood is drawn. I think that is self serving to force their clients to take better shots and to maintain their personal herd of animals.

I think it is a personal, judgement call.
My personal, judgement call is to keep hunting...

Some folks just keep wounding critters and continue to hunt and do it again and again.

Yes - the guides arent into killing say 4 animals to retrieve 1. Go prepared and be embarassed if you miss. Feel like crap if you hit and lose an animal.

 

[Charlie-NY]

You went the extra mile which a lot of hunters wouldn't have. A tag is used to place on an animal that is reduced to your possession. That didn't happen. Go hunt and enjoy the remainer of the season.

I don't really think that what a guide/outfitter thinks is a good guide for everyone. This year, a whitetail guide stated that they have a new rule - if you "mortally hit" an unrecovered deer, you forfeit your tag. Well, if it's unrecovered; how can you say that it was mortally hit? Besides, we we're hunting whitetails which are plentiful, not elephants. It makes a difference.

 

[coyotekilla]

Hello roksliders,
I want to know would you punch your tag or continue to hunt. I shot a deer after sitting on him for an hour to finally stand. Shoot, impact, then go to track the deer, track the deer for a mile and a half in a loop, deer initially goes downhill then eventually uphill. Pretty consistent blood with 5-6 decent puddles. I go back the next day morning and evening with a hound to see if we can turn him up. To no avail, we believe the deer is still alive since we didnt turn him up alive or dead. i have 4 days of season left.

Id have made a better shot, sorry

 

[Predator_SD]

What would i do? I’d not take a 500 yard shot for starters.

More animals are crippled by people taking shots that are way further than they have any business taking. Both bow and rifle. Must be all the social media/youtube heros nowadays idk cause it wasn’t as prevalent even 20 years ago.

I mean can people seriously not get any closer to animals than 500 yards nowadays?

 

[dsotm]

Punch the tag, call it a season, get more range practice

 

[blacktailcentral]

What would i do? I’d not take a 500 yard shot for starters.

More animals are crippled by people taking shots that are way further than they have any business taking. Both bow and rifle. Must be all the social media/youtube heros nowadays idk cause it wasn’t as prevalent even 20 years ago.

I mean can people seriously not get any closer to animals than 500 yards nowadays?

I shoot regularly to 1000 yards, practice 0-600yards almost weekly. Handload, and shoot good setups…. There was no way to get any closer. If you have ever hunted in the west you would know that

 

[Steve300xcw]

I shoot regularly to 1000 yards, practice 0-600yards almost weekly.

Nice to see all that practice paid off..

There was no way to get any closer

Bullshit

 

[blacktailcentral]

Nice to see all that practice paid off..




Bullshit

im not going to get into it but obviously youve never hunted beyond a tree stand . And you have always made a perfect shot because you are perfect lol

 

[blacktailcentral]

If you think 500 yards is a long shot, with a modern rifle system…. You are a fudd @Steve300xcw

 

[Steve300xcw]

You fubbed a 500yrd shot and got on here asking folks if we all thought it was ok if you went and hail married one at another deer.

Hunting blacktail is about all that interests me. Folks claiming they cant get any closer, either are either lazy, a liar, or just suck at hunting.

 

[Steve300xcw]

If you think 500 yards is a long shot, with a modern rifle system…. You are a fudd @Steve300xcw

It was too far for you.....

 

[blacktailcentral]

You fubbed a 500yrd shot and got on here asking folks if we all thought it was ok if you went and hail married one at another deer.

Hunting blacktail is about all that interests me. Folks claiming they cant get any closer, either are either lazy, a liar, or just suck at hunting.

500 yards is not even close to a hail mary, and yes i didn’t make a great shot. But that doesnt in any way shape or form make the shot unethical. Hunting is perfectly, imperfect.

 

[7RemMag]

Nice to see all that practice paid off..




Bullshit

im not going to get into it but obviously youve never hunted beyond a tree stand . And you have always made a perfect shot because you are perfect lol

While I have nowhere near the experience with "Western" hunting that some do, having only lived in the West a handful of years, I agree with Steve300xcw here. I've killed a number of big game animals here in Wyoming, and I've never had a situation where "getting closer" wasn't an option, and one that was used. In fact, the ONLY time I shot at a game animal over that 450-500 range turned into a rodeo with a lower leg hit on a cow elk that, quite frankly, made me disgusted with myself. My Dad and I dogged the elk out, and we got her. It was my first elk (actually OUR first elk), and the way it went down absolutely detracted from the overall experience. Keep in mind also that this was after close to a decade of having virtually no issues inside that 450-yard window mentioned above.

I don't disagree with you in that bad shots just happen sometimes. You seem to be owning it, which is the right way to behave. Although, your apparent denial that the distance could've even remotely been a factor is a little bit off-putting for me. Forget about "punching the tag" or not after your incident....Did you think long and hard about what you could have done to prevent the same result in the future? I'm assuming you did, but if you didn't....Any discussion about "ethics" here is over.

*Post Edit* After thinking it over a moment, I think it's important to mention that the cow mentioned in the first paragraph was out in open prairie in a herd of about 200. We closed a distance of about a mile and a half before getting within 500-600 yards. We established at that point that "getting closer" wasn't an option. Boy, after we followed that herd of elk watching that cow struggle to keep up with the herd for the next couple miles over a time span of an hour and a half or so before we got close enough to put her down, I was sure wishing that we'd have gotten closer or I'd have not shot. It would've saved a lot of headache for us, and more importantly, a whole lot of suffering for that cow.