I've read a few different posts about people taking a shot at an animal (some had a blood trail some didn't) but weren't able to find the animal. Some of them notched their tags and stopped hunting since they might have killed the animal. I've always believed you notch your tag when you locate your animal, not before. I've seen pictures of deer recovered with broad heads buried in their shoulders from years ago. Animals can be tough and don't necessarily die just because they've been shot (with an arrow or bullet). I might understand notching the tag on a bad shot under certain circumstances, like a limited hunt with only a few tags available for conservations reasons, where the difference of 1 vs 2 animals harvested would affect the ecosystem. However, In a place like CO with unlimited OTC tags for elk, what are you accomplishing by notching your tag other than a sense of self worth? Maybe I'm the minority (or wrong) here so I'm curious on other opinions. I made poll for quick access to the info.
Ethics Question: Do you notch your tag if you shoot an animal but can't recover it?
- Thread starter rob86jeep
- Start date
swordtine
FNG
Personally it all depends on the circumstances for me. I always lean towards notching my tag when in doubt, however there are certainly cases where I think it is ethical to continue hunting. I only archery hunt elk and have only not recovered one animal, but because I am very confident that it was not a mortal wound I would hunt for another.
you have to really read the sign, I.e. blood, tracks, arrow damage, etc. and make the best decision you can and move forward. That said, don’t look for 5 Min and call it ! Do your due diligence to respect and recover that animal even if that means 5 hrs of searching and hunting it all over again.
Case by case I would say.
you have to really read the sign, I.e. blood, tracks, arrow damage, etc. and make the best decision you can and move forward. That said, don’t look for 5 Min and call it ! Do your due diligence to respect and recover that animal even if that means 5 hrs of searching and hunting it all over again.
Case by case I would say.
Cant hit em
WKR
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,831
Ive done both according to what i feel was the outcome of the animal. If i feel it was a fatal shot ill cut tag . If i feel the animal survived ill keep hunting if legal too do so.
BroodBuster
WKR
Placing your tag on an animal legally transfers ownership of that animal from the state to the person. Not sure what’s gained by notching a tag when that transfer of ownership has not taken place.
If you, or I, make a game day ethical decision to not pursue another animal don’t. Notching a tag isn’t necessary. Just go home.
If you, or I, make a game day ethical decision to not pursue another animal don’t. Notching a tag isn’t necessary. Just go home.
Jake Larsen
WKR
Case by case, but its also worth noting that from the conservation angle, they take this into consideration with tag allocation numbers. They expect a certain number of animals to be killed and not recovered, and for those hunters to go on to kill another animal.
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Pnelson
FNG
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- Nov 18, 2018
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- 21
I would agree with you Rob. It depends on the hunt for me.
By notch your tag I meant it as a symbolic measure (although some likely due so literally as well) to mean no more hunting.
Thanks for clearing it up though, I guess I left it open for interpretation a little too much.
I always expend all my resources looking for the animal If I think I hit it. It is good to highlight though.
Interesting. So what happens if you "think" you hit the animal, but can't find an arrow or any blood? I've seen it both ways where the arrow was buried inside an animal and resulted in a fatal kill (with no blood trail) and where the arrow was buried in the dirt never to be found again with a clean miss. What does the law in Canada say if you're unsure whether you hit the animal or not?
And it is possible to not be sure. I've heard a lot of people say they saw the arrow (usually with lighted nocks) disappear into the animal. When in reality, the arrow went just over the animals back and they saw the lighted nock "disappear" as it went behind the animal...
mtnkid85
WKR
Im currently debating this question in my mind as well. I shot a bull early in the season, Ive since seen the bull alive several days after, although I'm pretty sure he is gut shot. If that's the case then he will die, because of me. I don't know what the correct answer is, or if there is a correct answer.
I guess I should update my thread that i posted with the rest of the story.
I guess I should update my thread that i posted with the rest of the story.
Last edited:
I'm not a biologist, but if an animal is alive days later, the shot wasn't fatal. A fatal gut shot should take hours, not days. The only reason it would take days to die would be from an infection (which although might be caused by the shot, I wouldn't consider it being dead from the shot). I might be wrong though.
DAOutfitters208
WKR
It depends on the circumstances. Most of us know when the shot is true and if we feel the shot will most likely kill that animal. If you know you hit one well, its what you do after that is important. Spend at least a day or two searching for that animal. I know people who give up after a few hours because the blood is gone or it doesn't look like a murder scene and go on to start hunting right away. Fatal shots (heart, liver, sometimes lungs) may not produce text book blood trails. Animals can be recovered without a blood trail, it just takes more time and effort.
Huntindog45
WKR
no, not even consider it. I will do my damndest to recover any animal i shoot. If I fail to recover it I figure one of two things have happened: It either lived or some other critters are going to have a phenomenal meal. Either way I do not feel that guilty. I hunt to put meat in my freezer, not to notch a tag.
BluMtn
WKR
I personally have never lost an animal, but I have been involved in many searches with friends who have shot an animal and lost it. Many times I have not found it till the next morning. I have searched with a couple friends who should not be hunting because I have spent multiple days searching for animals they have shot and have been unable to locate. No offense to anybody but it seems like archery hunters are usually the ones that have the most issues finding lost animals, a least in my experience. I have through the years spent a lot of time looking for wounded animals that a bow hunter has hit and then can not locate. Again just my observations over the last 50 years of hunting.
CorbLand
WKR
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2016
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- 9,724
Voted depends on the hunt but more depends on the circumstance. If I shot one and I think its fatal, then yes I would notch the tag. If I shot a bull in the ass he is out pushing cows the next couple days and just limping around then I wouldn't punch my tag. Depends on the likely hood of the mortality of the shot within a reasonable amount of time.
.204smokechaser
WKR
Hell yes! Why is this even a question?
the_bowhunter
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2015
- Messages
- 164
Nope. Tag does not get touched unless I am skinning an animal. If I wound one and the circumstance dictates it, then I will not go out and chase another animal.
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