Home sick from work 2 days ago with a wicked summer cold I watched a show on the Outdoor Channel, I think it was Archer' s Choice? Well, the show " guy" was sitting in his treestand off a field edge about 50 yards in Illinois and he hit his rattling horns. A buck slipped in behind them and surprised them so they quickly spun the camera on the deer and he took a pretty quick shot at the deer. It was clearly evident on the film he had gut shot the deer, they followed the deer with the camera and he didn' t go far, and he was hunched up pretty bad. The host of the show turns to the camera and tells how he had been concentrating on the deer and the yardage (32 yards) and had failed to see a small branch and he had his shot deflected low and back on the deer. The host of the show after watching the deer get up and bed down a few times decides to back out and come back the following morning.

The next morning they zoom in from a distance on the carcass of the buck on the field edge right near the stand sight. It was 90% eaten by coyotes. The next camera shot was the hunter with just the head and rack with his tag on it. Now he had a few more days he could have hunted, but he did the right thing IMHO and tagged the animal he killed.

I have never been in this situation myself but have known a few people who have, and some of these people have made different decisions than the guy above. I guess my question to anyone who cares to write their opinion is what would you do if your buck was eaten by coyotes before you recover it? What would you do if it was a doe you shot? I' m curious for anyone who says tag the buck but not the doe because he has horns you can keep if you think that is ethical? Would it matter if the horns had been chewed?