What a crappy deal! Here's my take - there's maybe a couple things to notice in all this. When hunting public land, and a box-o-fools with deer rifles set up (knowing I am only 250 yds away) and commence to making a ruckus - seems like it's already time to move. I mean - who wants some disrespectful jackass with a deer rifle only 250 yds away? Sure it sucks, but I'm there to have a good time, not to stake a claim on public land or wonder if he passed a hunter's education class, or what he's drinking/smoking, or what direction his bullets are flying, etc. Next, if a deer falls after being shot -at- by 2 different hunters, what you got on your hands is an investigation, nothing else. That other hunter (no matter how wrong he may actually be) likely believes just as strongly that his bullet hit that deer (even if he is a jackass). We've all seen deer run clean after getting hit. I've personally had to do some serious tracking on a deer that "should" have dropped where he stood. I was just lucky to be on private land so nobody else took a poke at him while he was running. So if the other guy is willing to talk it over... you're lucky. If he's not willing to talk it over then I say drop it, because no matter how correct you/I think we are, there's a small (ok - maybe dammed small) chance the other guy is partly right (and that's always the hard part to see). So in your case, both of those sideroads passed by and the situation escalated. Now you and your buddy (who is a LEO) are toe-to-toe with a pile of armed guys, and a couple are maybe real problems. The way I see it, your buddy got you out with no holes in you - which may have been one of the things on his mind as a LEO. So what about the "menacing" with a firearm? That sure would get my temper up, but it's a grey area, depending on the laws of your state. If that guy had any actual (legal) claim to the (now non-public) deer, he may also have a legal empowerment to protect his property with a firearm. Ain't that a crappy turn around! So depending on your state's laws... to prove "menacing" you may have had to prove he never clipped the deer. If he did actually hit it, and you used a firearm to try to enforce your claim to the deer... maybe you would have been the one prosecuted for attempted theft. The fact they had contacted a Ranger before you left the area suggests (to me) they felt pretty strongly they were right - even if they were dead wrong. Anyway, they dammed sure handled their side badly, and I'm glad you two got out of it OK and wrote the forum about it so we could all think about what we would/should/will do in a similar spot.