Which deer would you shoot?

[Stewart1516]

I would shoot them both. Hit the good one first then go after the Hirt one. Would be easier to hit. Alsoat my camp we always have lots of tags to fill. So we party hunt!

[Hunting Man]

Party hunting is against the law in most states. Filling someone else's tag is a serious offense at least in Ohio.

[BruceBruce1959]

I don't know of any state that allows party hunts. forget about the legalities part of it,
what kind of pride comes with tagging someone else's kill?
party hunting is not the sort of practice I would encourage anyone to participate in,
as a matter of fact it should be highly discouraged.

[tomlightfield]

Originally Posted by BruceBruce1959

I don't know of any state that allows party hunts. forget about the legalities part of it,
what kind of pride comes with tagging someone else's kill?
party hunting is not the sort of practice I would encourage anyone to participate in,
as a matter of fact it should be highly discouraged.

Good answer Bruce, I agree. Once in a while one of our guys will cripple one, and if he determines that he will not make a speedy recovery, all of us go out and help. In that case we don't care who ends up killing the deer, we want to put the animal out of misery as quick as possible. The original shooter tags it and it is his. On 2 separate occasions I have killed deer that guys on the neighboring ground crippled and the deer ran by me. They showed up both times and both times were a little surprised when I told them to "take your deer". In both instances they were very appreciative of the help. Back to the original question, kill 'em both if you can, the original shooter will be along shortly to see what happened and you can let him claim his deer, plus make a new friend in the process.

[buckhunter5]

i had somthing similar happen this year except there was no big buck and it wasnt just the leg it was that the jaw was blown off too. i tryed for a 250 yrd shot and missed horribly and he went and suffered. im still shooting my self in the foot for not resting my elbow on my leg. but my answer is that i wounded buck there will be more big buck to come around in the future. (unless the aztecks were predicting right)

[rdrader2002]

Hmmm, let's see . . . . . . Texas Parks and Wildlife rules say I can have one "trophy" and one "other" (aka spike) buck. If they're both standing broadside, and I've known bucks to freeze when I got buck fever and rushed a shot, I could probably drop them both with my Model 81 (semi-auto) in .300 Savage.

Now, if I can only choose one or t'other . . . . hmmm, now that's a dilemma to think about . . . . but I'd choose taking the wounded buck. Like most the other guys here on the forum, I don't stand for watching a buck wander around wounded. He's suffering and needs to be put out of his misery. Why not do that AND put him in the freezer, too???

RR

[onehorse]

Originally Posted by tomlightfield

Back to the original question, kill 'em both if you can, the original shooter will be along shortly to see what happened and you can let him claim his deer, plus make a new friend in the process.

The original questions says you can only kill one, but, if you CAN legally kill both, that would be a good answer. I'm curious about one thing, though: if you had two tags and did kill them them both, and the hunter who wounded the buck didn't come along, would you tag them both? On the other hand, this would be a real dilemma if you only had one tag - in which case you'd have a legal dead buck and an illegal dead one to deal with. Just something to think about before you start pulling the trigger one-too-many times. (The "new friend" that you make just might be a warden!)
A few years ago, I hunted with a friend who accidentally shot two antelope when he only had one tag. When we got back together, he asked me for a my tag to put on the second one. I had used my tag that morning, and couldn't give it to him even if I wanted to - technically, illegal in Montana, although it's probably done quite often. When he did the same thing the following year, that was the last time I hunted with him. He's still my friend, but I just don't hunt with him anymore.

[Stewart1516]

I live and Hunt in Canada and we are allowed to party hunt! :)

[Arcene]

Originally Posted by onehorse

Since I set up this scenario, I guess it's time for me to give my answer, but first, I want to thank everyone who has replied so far. You gave a lot of perspectives that I hadn't thought about.
Joel - I agree that no deer is worth getting into an armed confrontation for. That was a good point.
TNHunter - another great comment when you say that you almost have to be in the situation before you could tell for sure what you might do. (I'm trying to set these up so that just in case you ever find yourself in such a situation, you may find it more easy to make a hard decision because you have already given it some thought.)
Most of you guys would shoot the wounded deer to end its suffering. That's what I would do too.
I wouldn't assume that the hunter who wounded it would be tracking it or good enough to find it if he were. Of course, if he were to show up after I killed it, I could always offer it to him - provided I hadn't already put my tag on it. That might make things a little sticky!
Also, I wouldn't assume that the deer would survive this wound. There have been lots of deer that survive with a broken leg, but a broken shoulder is pretty much a fatal wound... but it might take a while. The point is not the particluar wound described here, but the idea that you might find a deer that has a wound from which it most likely would not survive.
For me, if I shot that big buck, I could never tell anyone the story without, at least, thinking about what might have happened to the other buck (whether I told them about it or not) and that would make the whole thing, not only a bad experience to begin with, but a recurring distasteful problem every time I told it.
(More questions on hunter ethics to follow.)

Onehorse, keep these scenario's coming, it proves to be a great ethical learning experience for us newbe hunters. I truly enjoyed reading through all the comments, and found myself struggling with the different options. Although my instincts lead me to believe that I would have taken the wounded animal, then taken my time to tag it, in hopes the first shooter would show up. P.S. should ask him for a replacement round I fired????