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Since my partner doesn't read this board and I respect him very much I at least want to post his point of view.

I feel he should have at least identified himself and let the other group know they were clearly in the wrong and let the chips fall where they may. But I know I learned at a very young age that you have to pick your battles in life. Some are worth fighting no matter the consequences and some what you get for winning isn't worth the risk.

If it were my deer he probably would have handled it differently, if nine guys were raping a girl I know he wouldn't have thought twice about jumping in. In this case it was his deer when he was out just trying to get away from it all and to him it wasn't a battle worth fighting. I hate bully's so I would have done more if it were me but I think since it was his deer on his time, I don't think he was in the wrong for what he did. In his mind it wasn't just the threat to him and myself he also told me he did not want to shoot someone over a deer.

I agree that cops have a duty to protect and serve 24/7 on or off the clock, but it was his deer therefore making it his choice. He's a good cop but he told me later it just wasn't worth it to him. He did file a formal complaint and they are trying to find out who these guys were. Just my 2 cents.

RBH, I commend your friend on a job well done <img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>. Nobody got hurt and especialy nobody died!!! He defused a situation that could have been tragic. The headlines could have read! Hunters die in shootout over deer bounty. I hope your friend tries to prosecute these slobs.


Hk45USP, 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.
I totally agree with you!!!

Gun controll is using both hands!!!

Lets see.... there are 9 armed men versus 2 in a beligerent situation.
No Radio....No Backup....No vest(most likely)
Badging at that point, most likely out of jurisdiction would accomplish what, exactly ? The act of pulling the badge out of his pocket, could likely have gotten him killed.
Walking away, and pursuing juridictional law enforcement was the money move.
Just my opinion.

I agree a deer isn't worth getting killed over or killing someone but you should have tried to get a lincense plate or back tag # because the next time they do this the victims my not be so level headed and try to fight them getting killing some of them and probobly getting them selves killed in the process. The sport of hunting don't need publicity like that or people like that becuase people that steal deer aren't hunters in my book!!!

This has happened to me as well. I was 14 when I went on a whitetail hunt on a snow day from school. I shot a doe at dusk with my muzzleloader. I found plenty of blood but decided to wait until the next day to get the deer as I was alone and only had my four wheeler for transportation. when I came back the next day and tracked the deer I had found that at the end of the blood trail the deer had been field dressed and was gone. Later I found some guys the only other ones with permission to hunt the area with my deer in the back of their truck but of course they didn't know anything about that.

&quot;if nine guys were raping a girl I know he wouldn't have thought twice about jumping in&quot;
That just doesn't sound right, but your friend did the right thing if he would have tried to fight them you would be lucky to be typing on this board still and we would been seeing on the news &quot;Two hunters disappear while out hunting&quot; congrats on a job well done

I'd like to put my two cents worth in, first of all what ever ha ppened to two different guys out huntn and both shoot at the same deer, it goes down, both of them run to the deer and instead of fighting over it, the debate is who should tag it. First guy says you shot first go ahead and takem, other guy says no I think I missed em clean he's yours, no no you takem and so on. I for one sure hope those days are'nt gone. IT is evedent to me that those 9 guys must not have much huntn success or they would have handled it differently. After all it wasn't some 200 point buck that was once in a lifetime animal. I firmly believe the two guys did the right thing, It was not a cowardly act on either of their parts to step aside and say have at her it's yours. Thats a very uncomftorable spot to be in, and hey theirs alot more deer out there. It's not worth either or both of them waking up in a hospital or not all in a morgue. Besides that could get in the way of something far far more important like ELKHUNTN next year. I too went to primarly bowhuntn to avoid incedents like this. But hopefully stories like this don't leave such a sour taste in our mouths that we forget how much we enjoy that one and only passion HUNTN especially ELKHUNTN. ELKNUT1.

I'd like to put my two cents worth in, first of all what ever ha ppened to two different guys out huntn and both shoot at the same deer, it goes down, both of them run to the deer and instead of fighting over it, the debate is who should tag it. First guy says you shot first go ahead and takem, other guy says no I think I missed em clean he's yours, no no you takem and so on. I for one sure hope those days are'nt gone. IT is evedent to me that those 9 guys must not have much huntn success or they would have handled it differently. After all it wasn't some 200 point buck that was once in a lifetime animal. I firmly believe the two guys did the right thing, It was not a cowardly act on either of their parts to step aside and say have at her it's yours. Thats a very uncomftorable spot to be in, and hey theirs alot more deer out there. It's not worth either or both of them waking up in a hospital or not all in a morgue. Besides that could get in the way of something far far more important like ELKHUNTN next year. I too went to primarly bowhuntn to avoid incedents like this. But hopefully stories like this don't leave such a sour taste in our mouths that we forget how much we enjoy that one and only passion HUNTN especially ELKHUNTN. ELKNUT1.

Elknut1, I think you bring up a good point about we should have been trying to give the deer away to each other. The truth is I wouldn't even shoot at someone elses deer even if they were missing by a mile until it was very obvious that the deer was out of thier range or no longer visible to them. And when I say visible I mean over a hill or ridge not just in the brush or trees.

Where the problem started was we were in a spot for a good 30 minutes and they came and sat no more than 200 yds from where we were overlooking the exact same hill and they could see us plainly. Fine its public land. Then they started laughing and joking loudly, fine again thats thier right. One detail I left is when they finally sat down we could not see them over a little ledge. Even with them making noise there were a good two dozen deer scattered in the brush on the other side of the hill. They started shooting and some deer started running, in lots of different directions and we could not see what they were shooting at. The 2 bucks run up our side but up the hill from us at about 300 yds. (ranged it later, about 500 from the other group). The other party stopped shooting and we said well maybe they were shooting at something else so we took 3 shots and had 2 deer down. There was a good 30 second pause from thier last shot to ours. After they shot the deer were not limping and going up the hill. They stopped to look around and we shot. We went over to the deer and started cleaning them and about 15-20 minutes later the other party showed up and started claiming the bigger one. By this time we had it tagged and half cleaned. We didn't even know that thought they shot anything. It was very obvious we shot our deer.

I very much believe in being a &quot;friend&quot; to other hunters but this was just blatant theft to me. Sure there is just good sportsmanship beyond laws but just cause you shoot at a deer it doesn't make it yours even if hes shot 2 counties away 3 days later. We were closer than that but there has to be a line where good sportmanship comes in and where you just miss and the animal is gone. I think my point is I belive in sportsmanship very much, especially towards other hunters but these guys came in and showed zero courtesy towards us. I mean who hunts and hill when someone else already has it? Then making all kinds of noise to boot. We were there and a clean and clear shot presented itself and no one else was shooting so we took it.