RE: Your opinion: whose deer is it?
It sounds like there is a concensus that the 2nd hunter claims the buck.
C. Davis:
Well, yes, I agree that there is a "right answer," but I wanted to encourage discussion and not hammer anyone who disagreed. I think the 1st hunter would indeed have been very pissed off if my son had shot and killed "his buck" the next day, even if the original shot proved out to be a pass through flesh wound that likely would heal over in time. This is partly becausethe 1st hunter characterizes this as a "monster buck" and this evidently means a lot to him. He says he wouldn't have stuck on the trail so tenaciously if it had been a smaller buck.
I also agree that the 1st hunter ought to get his act together. In the past I dismissed the misses and woundings as exceptions, but over four years a pattern has been established. This year he shot and knocked down a doe that stood back up, ran away, and was not recovered. The buck this thread is directed to was shot and dribbled blood over 1.5 miles or more until the trial was lost. I guess I'll just have to make a special trip up there -- 250 miles -- before season with the expressed purpose of getting this guy out to a rifle range. I think if he had to sit at a bench and deliberately squeeze off 20 rounds under the observation of a fellow hunter -- me -- he may have to acknowledge that his shooting needs improvement. Part of this exercise would preferably involve having him shoot groups off-hand and then other groups from a sitting position, to demonstrate the advantages of using a more stable shooting position than off-hand when possible. Maybe I should clean his rifle for him and show him what comes out of the rifle barrel when you do this!!!