Found my unrecovered NY buck
 

Well, A few weeks back I made a terrible shot on a very nice 8 pointer on a buck in NY. Long story short, we lost blood and never recovered the buck. The past several weeks have been terrible for me thinking about this animal.
I rec'd a call from the farmer this weekend and he told me he had found the deer 100 yards from last blood. I am still bothered that I did not recover the deer at the time of the shot, at least we got the antlers. The coyotes ate good I guess.

it happens to us all, at least you felt bad, I know a few slob hunters that if the deer doesn't drop in their tracks or there isn't any blood they return to hunting and forget about the deer

Another pic...

I'm happy for you. Now you have some sort of "closure". Nice browtines.:s4:

I posted on your thread in the taxidermy forum. He looks like he definitly needs about a 23" neck on the cape for him. Could go 24 or 22 but 23 would be about right imo. Congrats. WCL

really? I had a couple of guys says 18" neck.. ha!

Glad to hear you you found your antlers.
It's a bummer for sure, but the bright side is you can add to your home decor...

It's nice that you got to recover the head gear but it's a chame that the animal was wasted.

I hope that the Farmer doesn't think to negative of bowhunting now after finding a wasted animal on his property. I know several landowners in my area that have been soured by such finds.

congrats on the recover. i bet it feels good to get your hands on him. thats a nice buck. congrats again

IL-Cornfed... he was ok with it and understands that it is a part of bowhunting sometimes. He hunts himself and has been there..

Just wondering if you tagged him?

You're going to mount the deer? :(

At least it will make a great Euro Mount

I did tag him.... and yes I will mount him if I get a cape...

You mount road kill to?:confused0024::poke::rolleyes:

I know a lot of large farms. Farmers I know could care less about waste of deer. In fact, most on the eastern shore of MD shoots and lets em lay. Thier only concern is getting them caught up in a combine. Which as a hunter really sours me to no end.

Sounds like to me, you just set yourself up to lose a deer in the future. And you can look at this thread and think about it. Just sayin. If anyone bowhunts enough it happens.

Just curious on if you ever tag your deer? Just wondering. Do ya?

No I don't mount roadkill Charlie P... but thanks for asking... :)

I tag everything I kill...

I myself don't but do keep the antler of roadkill or sheds and use em on my selfbows.

Charlie, lets see some of your monster kills this year.

I don't see what the problem is mounting a deer that I shot and was found dead later? We put a great effort into trying to recover this buck when shot. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful at that time. Deer was found not too far from where we left off and is indeed the deer I shot. Why not mount him?
It's not like it is some deer I just found randomly dead somewhere or on the side of the road.
I'm glad it was found because it is the worst feeling ever to have a mortally wounded animal unrecoverd. Sorry if mounting him upsets you Charlie...
I also keep the horns of buck killed by cars as well though... kindof cool to have them. Would not mount one.

Hey man what ever floats your boat.

If the same thing happened to me

I wouldn't mount him because I made a bad shot, I wasted the animal, and I couldn't find him and then a farmer found it , I just wouldn't want it on the wall, it wouldn't be earned to me.

There's a 140 ish ten point rack sitting in the enclosed porch at the guys house where I started bow hunting. I made a bad shot on it lost the blood in the rain and he found it in the swamp. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one I shot, he told me to take it. I didn't want it.

1 Question, with all the great dogs and Deer Search in NY, did you bother calling them?

I did not Rob...

I did not know there was a dog tracking program in NY..
It was a guided hunt. The guide is the farmer

What happened with the shot I didn't see the first post, a couple weeks ago.

I apparently made a bad rifle shot on a deer in TX on a trip a few years ago. we never found it while i was there, but the skeleton was found by a neighbor a few weeks later. the outfitter sent it to me and i used the cape from a buck i had just killed in NY to have it mounted. after it was mounted I kept it for a few months but it just didnt feel like it was my deer, so i sent the mount back to the ranch and told them they deserved it more than i did, after all the hard work they did to put me on that deer. point is, i was really bummed id lost that buck but i was very happy to have "closure" afterwards,however after some soul searching i realized, since i was not the one who recovered the buck i really couldnt claim him. thats the way i see it but its a personal desision i guess.

Take it easy on the guy for cripes sake. It was found 100 yards from where they had last blood. Its not like the deer was alive for days before it died. His shot was a fatal one obviously they just didn't have enough to find him. It's not his fault the guide didnt have a dog to help with the last 100 yards of tracking. I've made bad shots on deer and got a lucky recovery blindly looking or have a buddy find it while helping right after the kill. Does that mean you don't deserve to feel good about the hard work you put in to kill a mature buck even though something went amiss with the shot. It happens weather it be nerves or somethign else that caused the fouled shot but to say you don't deserve something and be proud of the deer you killed is dumb. We are all sportsman and have to do the best we can to preserve the sport. Hang him on the wall so the deer gets the respect it deserves. Weather or not you can be proud of a deer if you find it or not is all in the eye of the beholder, so to each his own but don't tell someone they shouldn't be proud of a deer they put their time in to kill and made the best effort possible to recover the deer imidiately. It happens to the best of bow hunters and no matter what the deer deserves complete respect in the end. WCL

Well, this is EXACTLY what happened to Wayne Zaft. Who's he? He's the young man from Edmonton, Alberta who killed (with a bow) what would have been the world record typical whitetail. They said his G-2 and G3 or G-3 and G-4 came from a common base. So, there were considerable deductions instead of added inches which dropped the score.
Anyway, do you think for a minute that this fellow isn't one of the proudest bowhunters walking the planet? I know I would be! Even under the circumstances that followed his shooting that buck, I would certainly call it a legitimate kill. I KNOW he does!

I'd do a euro mount on it. If you shot it and you know you shot it, then I'd feel good about it to. I hate when people coming down on other people about not finding a deer. It has happened to alot of us and no one really knows the conditions you are facing. Congrats on getting him back!

I agree with Charlie.
If I don't recover the animal while the meat is still good, I didn't do my job. Have no interest in keeping any momentos of one I didn't earn.

WMH, You were the last one to see the deer alive so he's your kill. Mount him and display proudly as is deserving of all trophy whitetails.

I wounded a nice buck on the second to last day of Wisconsin's Gun season in the late afternoon. Six of us looked well into the night and never found him. Went back the next day but it had snowed 3 inches and covered up any chance of tracking. I still consider that buck my trophy and will claim him later this winter/spring when I find his remains

Be proud of what you've accomplished this hunting season, regardless of the path it took to lay your hands on your trophy.

Hey that's your opinion.

I didn't do that I asked a question and gave him a smart butt reply(just like I would a hunting buddy) and answered his question.

Different opinions are not putting some one down,calling people dumb is.

earlyIN, I know who Wayne Zaft is and I also know there were plenty of different opinions on that deer.

Not directed at the original poster or really anyone in paticular on this thread but,

If it's all about the horns on the wall, you might as well just take any shot you can that will kill the animal and not worry about when you find it.

Charlie,
Definately not a trophy hunter here in Massachusetts... Definately not about the horns. Most seasons we are lucky to get a shot at any legal buck w/ the bow around here. This NY buck was by far the biggest I ever shot w/ the bow. I have been hunting for years and around here anything w/ the bow is a trophy. I had one unrecovered doe my first year ever bowhunting... this is the first time this has happened since them.
I respect everyone's opinion and they are entitled to that...
I have never shot an animal for it's rack. I kill & eat 2-3 deer a year... usually all does... and I am very proud and happy with that.

Like I said that last comment was in no way directed at you.

I understand...
Hunted hard all season here in MA, managed to get a "trophy" MA 4 pointer... haven't seen a deer w/ the gun in my hand. This state is terrible... at least Western MA... We need ARs or no does for a couple of years...

Nice buck,,congrats

Then you must know that his buck stands as Alberta's record archery typical whitetail. So, apparently the way his buck was recovered had NO bearing on the outcome. Just say'n.:s4:

Did get entered in Pope and Young can't remember. I see he withdrew it fronm P&Y and B&C.
He luckily didn't go and hunt before it was recovered.

Earlyin, It's a personal feeling with me I really don't care what others think.

Like I said I never mounted what would be my biggest buck, because I failed to recover it stopped looking and some one else did.

Not the same scenario as the OP either as he was not from the area and had to go home.

Like you said, he withdrew it from P&Y/B&C. I guess he was not pleased with the switch-up (common base) in scores, which made the WHOLE DIFFERENCE. That buck was "originally" scored at like 222" gross typical and 206" net, or something close to this.

Would you have abandoned (sp) your buck the same way if you thought it would have been a world record contender? Even if someone else finds it, you're still the hunter who killed it. I know what you're saying though, in so far as it not having the same "meaning" to you since "you personally" didn't recover it. That Zaft story is an interesting read though.