This is what happened on a recent trip I was on.

Myself and 2 others individually applied for non-resident Iowa tags. After 3 years of applying we finally drew out. We hunted the 1st week of November, the weather was tough in Northeast Iowa but the rut was awesome, bucks were chasing does everywhere, we were seeing more racked bucks and bigger bucks than we had ever seen before. I was lucky and harvested a nice 9 pointer on the morning of the third day. 1 of the guys in my group shot a deer the morning of the 4th day (we were staying 8 days) .. but was not happy at all with the shot. He said he hit a stick he didn' t notice and he hit real far back on the deer. He said the deer was " good sized" but not a HUGE monster. That was at 9:30 in the morning. Wanting to give the deer some time we waited till 3:30 to look for it. We didn' t have much blood at all and didn' t get on the right path till about 15 minutes before light started to give out .. about 200 yards from his stand. We decided to let the deer sit for the night and head back out in the morning .. or so I was led to believe. The next morning when the 3rd guy was getting dressed to head out, the guy who had shot the day before starts getting dressed as well. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he didn' t feel good about his shot and he was going hunting. I was floored and told him I didn' t think it was right. He informed me he hadn' t come all the way to Iowa to not hunt (we' re from Mass).. and he' d look during lunch he said. I asked him what happens if he sees a deer this morning? We are in Iowa, during the rut, on some awesome land .. the chances are better than almost anywhere in the US he' s going to have a deer walk by. He said he' d have no problem shooting then. I let him know I was completely disgusted, but it didn' t affect him enough to not go out.
Not feeling comfortable with myself to just go off and fish or pheasant hunt and leave a deer in the woods, I drive back to the farm where he shot the deer and start looking as soon as the lights go on. Well, 2 hours of searching every pile of crap for 1000 yards from the stand, I find it. The arrow is sticking right out of it' s ass. It looks as if he missed a 1/4 away shot WAY back and it' s 1/2 between the anus and the hip joint. The belly is bloated a bit, so I decided to gut it quickly to let it cool, which I do and then I leave to go find the guy and tell him his hunt is over. I drive the 3 miles to the farm he' s on, climb the ridge I know he' s on and start looking for him. I saw him before he sees me and I see him glassing something... not wanting a bad situation I rush to where he' s set up and tell him he' s all done. He didn' t appear happy at the news and never thanked me. In fact he didn' t even look happy till he saw his deer for the first time and said " Awesome! It' s way bigger than I thought" .

I' ve known and hunted with this guy for more than a few years .. and have watched a guy who used to LOVE the quality of the hunt over everything ... to a guy who loves the QUALITY of the animal over everything now. I stood there and watched him snap pictures with first his Hoyt pro-team stuff on, then change into his Scentblocker outfit to snap photos. He wasn' t wearing Scentblocker when he shot it, and I don' t think Hoyt shooters would be impressed if they knew he was at least 2 feet off with his shot at 25 yards.

I' m torn up about this and let him know what I thought, but while he appeared to care what I thought I have learned that isn' t the case at all. This guy has taught me a lot about archery and invited me along on some great hunts .. but the guy who did those things would NEVER have only looked for 2 hours for a deer before giving up. He wouldn' t have felt any pride at harvesting a deer like that. But then again he wasn' t a " Hoyt Pro-Team Shooter" then either, and he didn' t have or require sponsors to hunt when I started hunting with him either.

I guess I am using an anonymous board to vent about losing 1 of my better hunting buddies. I won' t hunt with a guy who isn' t phased by leaving a deer to rot after only looking 2 hours. Am I being " to sensitive" or idealistic? I wonder, hence my request to know how some of you feel about this story.

Please, share your thoughts.