For whatever reason, either through poor shot selection, poor shot placement, or inadequate/improper tracking skills a hunter does not recover the animal for several days and then only with the help of crows. Is this really a recovery and if so, why?

I'm sure each have their own definition of recovery , but I'll give you my definition.
Between my love for the table fare that venison offers and the pure enjoyment I get from hunting it would be hard to choose which one is my driving factor. But they both go hand in hand! If I dont recover a deer in time to enjoy the table fare , it's not a recovery.
To some it may not matter , but if I shot a world record buck that I didn't find until it was too late to enjoy ALL benefits of a harvest , I wouldn't enjoy it half as much as shooting a six point and recovering it imediately.

<---Doug---<<<

Depends on what definition of &quot;recovery&quot; you are using to gauge the incident.

In my opinion, if everything was done with the best intentions when taking the shot, the shooter did the best within the parameters of his or her skill, gave his/her best shot in trying to (earlier) find the deer, and was still looking for and found the deer days later; although the deer was not salvageable, I would call it a recovery.

No matter how hard a person tries to prevent it, loosing a deer can happen to anyone.

Anyone who has bowhunted for any length of time knows that regardless of how prepared you are, stuff can go wrong!
Whether it be a doe, a small buck, or a monster buck, if you track it long enough to find a poorly hit deer, I`ll give you an &quot;A&quot; for effort.
That said, I would have to agree with....sit down, stay calm...Bowfanatic on this one! If the recovery was not made in time to save the whole animal, IMHO, it is not truly a recovery.

I knew we were gonna agree on something pretty soon!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

NRA,UBP,BASS Member
New Stanton,PA

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Anyone who has bowhunted for any length of time knows that regardless of how prepared you are, stuff can go wrong!
Whether it be a doe, a small buck, or a monster buck, if you track it long enough to find a poorly hit deer, I`ll give you an &quot;A&quot; for effort.
That said, I would have to agree with....sit down, stay calm...Bowfanatic on this one! If the recovery was not made in time to save the whole animal, IMHO, it is not truly a recovery.

I knew we were gonna agree on something pretty soon!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

NRA,UBP,BASS Member
New Stanton,PA
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

On this fourth day of December of 2002 at 12:04 am...

I just might have to bump this back up to the top every couple months!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>


<---Doug---<<<

I am torn on this issue, as I'm normally an all or nothing kinda person. I had a late recovery once in my career. I wanted that deer, and was just sick that I didn't find it in time, I was young and learned many things over the course of that experience. I relied on someone more experienced and followed thier lead and they messed up too. I personally count the deer, because I did kill it. I feel it makes it better to count a late recovery, if you leave that tag open and don't shoot another deer on it.

[Deleted by Admins]

To me, you haven't got anything until it's in the freezer. That's why I hunt. To eat good red meat. Actually, my wife said it best when we were watching a hunting show where they only took the antlers of a caribou. &quot;Why even kill them if you aren't going to eat them?&quot; That's why after wounding 2 deer and finding out my bow limbs are so old they don't have enough kenetic energy to kill a deer, I stopped using it all together. It caused me to lose the rest of the season and go deerless for the second year in a row, but I can't see wounding a deer and hoping I find it in time. Just my opinion.

KEEP IT LEGAL. KEEP IT SAFE. OR WE MAY NOT GET TO KEEP IT AT ALL.

I totally disagree on this one. I didn't find my 9'er till the
next mornin, and the yotes had already got to him. ya'll tellin
me I didn't recover my deer? of course i did! it wadn't my
intention for the yotes to find him first.

If you shoot a deer and for whatever reason you don't find him
untill 3 days later, is he still not the deer you shot?
he's still just as dead as if he'd dropped within 75 yds of
your stand.<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

daytona 500 winner- Ward Burton
go Cat-22

I think that it would not be a recovery unless you are willing to put your tag on it.

&quot;Bogobble-- I totally disagree on this one. I didn't find my 9'er till the
next mornin, and the yotes had already got to him. ya'll tellin
me I didn't recover my deer? of course i did! it wadn't my
intention for the yotes to find him first.&quot;

Bogobble has the exception to this rule as he found the deer in time to more than likely salvage the meat if the yotes hadn't got there first.

My brother-in-law has a friend who shot a nine point this year and didn't find it until 3 weeks later. He had pushed the deer to early and it ended up only 450 yards from his stand but he didn't find it until the yotes pulled it out of the brush. He had not ever shot a deer and got out of the stand too soon then pushed it too fast. He has the rack in his garage but failed to tag it. I don't consider this a recovery even though it is obviously the deer he shot.



&quot; Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad&quot;