Do you have to tag wounded Game..

Jeff Ovington · 07-20-2005, 05:52 PM

I was reading an Artical in the Petersons Hunting Mag.
The author was on a guided elk hunt in Montanas Scapegoat Region.
Too make a long story short the Author shot and wounded a Bull Elk..The author claims ..The bull was facinghim dead on..The Authorcentred the scope's dot on the point where the dark mane ended...He fired....
The bull took off blood was found but according to the guide it was muscle blood...The bull was never recovered and the Author was able to harvest another Bull Elk...
Now where I live.....In British Columbia..The tag must be cancelled if the animal is wounded and not recovered....
I'm just woundering if the same laws apply down there.......

manboy · 07-20-2005, 05:56 PM

in wyoming it is no law, just good ethics to try as hard as u can to find the animal. wounding happens, just happens more often to some than others, what do u think huntnmuleys?

HuntElk4Fun · 07-20-2005, 06:57 PM

I've actually never heard of that law anywhere in the West. Manboy's hit it dead on in the West. You try the best you can, plus some IMO, then continue hunting. No law requires your tag to be cancelled or filled unless you find them dead on the ground.

1elkhunter · 07-20-2005, 07:19 PM

I don't know of any law that says that. I always believed that until you found a dead animal that your tag was still valid. I do think that when you think that you have looked long enough for the animal that you shot, you should look a little more. Respect the animal enough to give it every effort to find it.

Jeff Ovington · 07-20-2005, 07:52 PM

Sorry about that Guys....
My son asked me if he could ask a question on the forum...
He is in the middle of studying for his hunting licence and misinterpreted what the regs stated about recovering wounded game....
I politely corrected him..
Again sorry guys.........

handloader1 · 07-20-2005, 11:09 PM

IMO if you wound an animal, and can't find it your hunt is over. If you don't have the skill to take a difficult shot, or firepower don't take it. Good luck.

BareBack Jack · 07-21-2005, 08:04 AM

Hey Jeff thats not a bad question,even if there is no law,it should be.Then maybe we would not get as many wounded animals out there,or make pepole practice more.

For me my self if I wound a animal and not find it,my tag becomes null and void.I realy think I killed that animal and would no be fair to kill another.
BBJ

Jeff Ovington · 07-21-2005, 09:31 AM

I think its a very good question........I glad my son is taking this very seriously..
He is only 13 and reading those laws can be quite confusing
because there is always an If or an Unless........

And like he said there is alot of them.....
I personally have never lost or participated in losing a crippling game animal....I too would cancell my tag..
Josh(my son) wants to come to the next local B.C. wildlife Fed
and play an active roll in changing alot of the Ethical practices and making Law.
I'm sure alot of members will be behind it and it might be something
that will be implemented in a few years to come...

My son is quite pissed...He wrote a letter to the Mag about what he thought about the Author's lack of ethics and shooting and tracking ability......It will be interesting if it gets published....
He told me last night he hopes charges get filed to everyone responsible because not enough effort was made in finding that wounded elk...If you read the artical he may have a point.
He said.."If the writer was so upset that he wounded that Elk..
Why did he shoot another."

Anyways..he is signed up on the Forum..So I'm sure he will be an active member to this site,......

ShatoDavis · 07-21-2005, 11:16 AM

I personally have never wounded an animal and not recovered it myself. I've had a couple of long tracking jobs one of which required a second shot to kill the animal. This last deer season my step son wounded a doe.I don't know if it was gut shot or just a graze, but the blood trail was sparse and didn't last long. We or I tracked the animal for 7 hours. I even tracked it across a grass field after the blood trail ended. We never recovered that doe. It makes me sick to think about it till this day.

Jeff Ovington · 07-21-2005, 01:01 PM

I'm sorry S.D. that you could not rcover your step sons deer..
It seems to me yo put quite the effort into finding her........
But reading this artical..I don't see that they really made that much effort..
The author says the Bull was facing him when he shot. Down hill at 50yrds away.....The author aimed where the dark mane ended..
and fired..The bullet obviously hit the neck area..Did it hit any vitals or just a chunk of muscle who knows.
They followed the Bull until they found no blood.
The author claims the Bulls steady upclimb suggested a neck muscle wound..
Then it becomes eventually obvious there not going to get him....
This is where it gets tricky and if ethics/laws than come into play..
Did they exaust every posiblilty of finding it ??Or did they just give up because of terrain and lack of conditioning......Who knows..
The pargraph states..This isafter they finish tracking.."The hike out of the canyon was brutal,all the more so for me as the mental stress sapped my strength when I needed it most.."
I don't like judging but if he did give up because of terrain and lack of conditioning..And hey I'm sure it happens...."If HePractices Ethics"the Author should have cancelled his tag..