RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

If i make a fatal shot and the deer runs a little ways and some other guy shoots it i still think it should be mine. If i shoot a deer in the leg and it runs off and someone else makes the killing shot then its theres. i once read an article in NAHC about a guy going on his first elk hunt, alone, he shot a nice bull and whent to get something back at the truck, when he got back a group of hunters already had his elk quartered and claimed there friend shot it.

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

First fatal shot...period.

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

Ok, I can agree with that but just for the sake of arguement, what is a fatal shot? I mean I' ve seen animals hit in the lungs run a long, long way. I' ve also seen animals very poorly hit only go 500 yds or so, then go into shock from blood loss. Nature is cruel and even if you only cripple an animal isn' t it eventually fatal? I know I' m splitting hairs but I' m just curious. Cause part of my brain says regardless of where you hit the animal bar none, if hes able to run two canyons away then you didn' t realistically deal him a fatal blow, did you?

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

There is a sheep (feral) hunt on the Big Island that draws a bunch of hunters. Every year the guys at the check-in station hear these arguments. I gathered that the general rule is " whoever drops it, keeps it." I think it may not always be the best solution, but I didn' t make those rules. Personally, I' m not too keen on hunting in crowded areas, but I realize it' s often beyond anyone' s control.

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

The answer is yes you did deal him a fatal blow. Your also right anything no matter how poor can result in death by way of a shoot. I think what your asking for is instant death, while some deer may fold up on impact others bolt and run a distance then keel over.
The only sure fire ways I know of are:
1) Take out the pins (a double shoulder will take out vitals as well as render the animal unable to move very far) Very quick death, minimal tracking, big target BUT meat loss is high.
2) Head shot (can' t run if the brain do say so) Instant death, no tracking BUT High percentage of miss
3) Neck Shot (can' t run) Death certain, no tracking BUT again High Percentage of a miss...causing the opposite result
4) Spine Shot (can' t run) Death is slow, no tracking BUT high percentage of a miss and loos of meat.

I guess what I am saying, if your in an area or situation that may lead to this scenario you best put him down and not worry about the what if' s that may follow.

I realize that having a certain area to hunt all by yourself is not possible, so if i was in that type of situation I would aim for the PINS. Then I don' t have anything to worry about, b/c like you point out how do you determine who hit what and how fatal that shot may have been. With more than one bullet hole in animal it is really hear say with who hit what and where...no way to prove the truth. Or you could buy a pair of track shoes so you can run after your shot deer and get their first:D

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

Not true. I killed a mulie doe this past season and she had her rear leg shatterd to where it had grown back in a 3/4 circle. There was a huge knot where the bullet had struck and shatterd her leg. I even recoverd bullet fragments in her musscle around the wound. She was a perfectly healthy deer other than that and was walking just fine with no signs of a limp at all.

That' s why I said what I did about the yack off and the leg shot.

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

I say bull feathers to that statment. I shot a 6x4 Bull in the chest, knocking out one lung, he traveled for a mile we tracked him and he crosse a road I heard another shot about the time I hit the road.Walked to the animal and while looking the guy in the face could put my finger in my bullet hole. Well they had 6 guys we only had 2, next time that dude will get a Ruger .44mag stuffed in his snout[:@][>:]


We need to get back to ethics of hunting, heck in this state idiots pull guns on people ovewr FISH[:@] What is this about? Go to Safeway' s if this is the way you think you can get your meat. I get up 3 hours before dawn, climb 2 miles up n the hill fatally wound North Americas toughest game animal and some Arsehole sittin in his truck gets the reward for my hard work. Bull[:@] Road hunting should be illegal. Sad thing is, is in this State the Game Warden told us that technically to Elk hunt all you need is: Tennis Shoes, Elk Tag, and a knife. That' s sad[:@]

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

On the other side of it, I agree with the severity of the" fatal shot" . I believe a lung shot justifies the right to claim. But what about a gut shot? Last year, unknowingly my scope broke on me, had a 4x3 mulie @ 75yds broadside, aimed at his frint shoulder and touched off 4 rounds before he flinched, he ran about 100 yds down to where my partner neck shot him dropping him instantly.

Knowing that I would not miss four times in a row on a close in shoulder shot of that distance, he searche and found I hit him in the left flank, pulling his intestines out the other side. I let him tag it because of where my shot hit.2 feet to the right and low? But if you know you hit the animal in a vital(heart lung brain neck) I believe it is your animal.

Neddless to say that Simmons scope found the garbage quick, never have another one of those if the were free

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

The law around here is it belongs to the first guy to get to it and put a tag on it.

My friends and I decide before hand in what order we will tag our animals and thats what order we take em, but usually we all shoot. Only exception is if only 1 person can see an animal from his particular vantage point then he gets the animal.

My personal feelings are this. I love hunting and everything I gotta do to get my bull or buck. I would never take an animal that someone else wounded unless I felt it was gonna go to waste. Hell if a big 6x6 bull came running by I would shoot it and start cleaning it but if it had holes in it already I' d give it to the guy who shot it first, even if it was a shot in the flank. Why? Because I didn' t " hunt" it. Now if the guy never came to claim it then I' d take it.

My last post was a little confusing when I read it again so let me elaborate. I got thinking about where the " line" is. Where should it lie as sportsman and I was wondering what everone else thought. The point I was trying to bring up was yes sometimes an animal lives through a bullet wound but most of the time they end up coyote food no matter where you shoot em. Nature is very hard on these animals and usually, not always, a handicap will weaken them enough that something will get em as a result of the wound. So I was just wondering what a fatal shot meant to everyone. Because you can put a decent hit on an animal but it can run a long ways sometimes. And to be honest if I took out the lungs but the animal ran a long distance, maybe a mile or so, and someone else finished it then I wouldn' t be convinced I put a fatal shot on it. At least not in terms we are talking here although he would' ve certainly died for the wound.

Bottom line for me is this. The first guy to put the first fatal shot on an animal deserves it. To me a fatal shot means to put an animal down in a reasonably short distance. However as a sportsman I would always give the first guy to shoot the benefit of the doubt in any uncertain situation.

RE: Etiquette for claiming game?
 

We cant do that here they dont allow Party Hunting. You shoot it you must tag it........