Originally Posted by VA5326

You did the right thing IMO. I know a lot of guys who would not have even thought about giving that kid their best buck ever. You probably just made a life-long hunter out of him and the sport of hunting is desperate for young hunters. Either that or he will be spoiled for the rest of his time hunting. I've never experienced that personally. Had I made a terrible shot on a nice buck when I was younger, hunting with my old man, and someone else ended up dropping it, my dad would have not let me even think about taking possession of it. Hard lessons are never learned easy. Hopefully that kid's father emphasized with extreme importance (in your presence) that he was very lucky to be hunting with someone so gracious......and ended it with him and the kid shaking your hand with every bit of gratitude in their body. But, that's just the way I see it.

VA