First off to those who called the guy more or less "dumb" for not identifying himself, I say you are the one who is dumb.

I too am LEO. Me against 9 other hunters??? Lets look at this closely on why the cop would PROBABLY lose in the long run:

1) one vs. nine.....enough said
2) he's out in the middle of nowhere. They shoot him and bury him. Just another "lost hunter" that was never found.
3) He ends up fighting for his deer by killing the guy who pointed the gun at him. Now the dead fella's friend gets pissed and trys to shoot the cop. The cop wins and kills the second guy. Where does it end? Still 7 guys left. Are you confident that those 7 will be on your side????
4) If you killed the guy with the rifle, how much you wanna bet all the other 8 are going to come up with a story that YOU (the cop) were the AGGRESSOR and the dead guy was just "defending" himself.
5) I've never ever know a lone cop or person that was surrounded by 9 armed guys and wone a gunfight. Do you know anyone like that? Oh yeah, let me guess....superman.

Bottom line...Why are you guys criticizing the cop? You too as citizens have every right to make a citizen arrest up on that hill. Why don't you tell those 9 guys that you're taking the deer and anyone who gets in your way will be arrested for a theft crime.....

Let me guess....because you don't have a piece of metal (badge) in your pocket, you feel that you don't carry some type of "special power" that makes you invincible, like you believe the cop should have. Let me tell you something...that badge just makes the cop look weaker. Because.... most crooks know that when an off duty cops id's himself, he's now under "rules" on when and where or what he can do legally to make an arrest. They know that the cop isn't going to do something out of policy etc....

Whereas if it was a citizen that stepped up against that guy who was pointing the rifle he could have acted just as "hot" as the bad guys. Basically appearing "larger" and "nastier" than them. Calling their bluff in other words. Cops don't have that luxury.

I say, getting into a gunfight with 9 other people isn't worth a little venison. Although I definately would have gotten the ranger (and more help) to go back with uniformed cops to arrest the guy who committed the deer robbery. That would have been a smarter thing to do.