c903 What is your problem. NO ONE in this thread has indicated anything other than try to follow this deer up before continuing to hunt. It' s not the same as the other thread with MULTIPLE TAGS available and two deer dropping within sight. YOU simply have to be antagonistic and negative. It has nothing to do with the " shooter" but the situation. Why don' t you go play in the street or something. Give it a rest.

u did the right thing. for us if he/she is hit we will find her. that is our thoughts

MA Jay, glad to hear the deer was recovered. You went well above and beyond to retreive this deer. Your " friend" should be embarrassed every time he tells the story. Personally I wouldn' t hunt with him again. [:' (]

You did the right thing no worries. If more hunters where like you

Good job calling him on this.

As somebody else mentioned, I' d have left the gutting for him. I just don' t see how somebody can shoot any deer, let alone P&Y buck and not want desperatly to find it. Confident or not about the shot, the deer was hit, period.

I hope your " buddy" comes around and gets some sense in him.

Your welcome to hunt my woods anyday. (Note: That' s an open invite, but don' t think i' ll let you sit in my best stand! )

Good luck with your situation MA Jay.

-BJ

You' ve made the right decision. Find a new hunting partner or find a newbie and teach him. Most of us here have made bad shots, I know I have but in forty years I have only lost two animals so I feel very fortunate.

If I have any pet peve at all it is the drive for horns. If I get a chance at a nice buck, of course I' ll take the opportunity and have in the past. But, honestly a successful stalk and shot on any legal animal whether they have antlers or not is a hunt to be proud of. On top of that I have NEVER had a doe whose meat was not fork dender and very good eating. So I guarrantee whether I take a buck or doe I am very proud of the achievement.

Has anyone her ever seen a recipe for antlers?

I logged back on this morning and opened up the Bowhunting Forum (my usual Monday morning routine) and read the many posts. Thanks guys for the support. I wasn' t fishing for compliments or validation, as I honestly believe most of the true hunters I' ve read about on this board would have done the same exact thing, but looking to feel a little better by venting to some people who could appreciate my situation. I duck and goose hunted Saturday with an older Uncle who may only get out 2 or 3 times a year .. and though he didn' t even get a shot off, boy did he glow the whole ride home. Sunday I picked up my Dad and we hunted New Hampshire together in the morning. We sat for the morning and didn' t see a deer, we did see a nice Bull Moose and my Dad saw a Fisher cat at about 10 yards chasing snowshoe hares through the pines and junipers for about 20 minutes. Back at the truck packing up our gear to head home around noon, 2 guys who were parked next to us came out of the woods and asked about what we saw that morning and my Dad told them about the Fisher cat chasing a couple of snoeshoe hares, he described as if it was a 12 pointer chasing 15 does around. 1 of the guys asked my Father did he shoot the Fisher cat, and my Father looked at the guy like he had 3 heads and replied their season isn' t open till December 1st. The guy' s exact words were " I would have shot it." I felt real good inside becasue I KNOW my Father would never have even thought for a second about shooting that Fisher cat, even though he has said 1000 times he' d love to have a tanned Fisher hide some day, because the season wasn' t open.

I called the guy I went to Iowa with because I have to pick up my climbing treestand and some other gear we had shipped back for us and it is at his house. I asked him if he had been out, and he told me he had shot 2 more deer. 1 a nice buck last Saturday and 1 doe on Saturday 2 days ago. He didn' t recover either of them ... and I wish to God I was making this crap up. He told me he' s hanging his bow up for the year, because he' s jinxed he said. I' ve watched this guy shoot 300' s in dozens of indoor matches, win multiple 3-d contests .. and he has killed MANY deer, the Iowa deer being his 50th. He eventually came clean with me .. he shot at both of those deer when it was to so dark he couldn' t be 100% sure of the shot. He swore up in down they were so close he " thought I could pull it off" .

I guess I should be happy he didn' t call me to help find them, but I am also sad to know I may have been able to find them to not let them just rot. I agree with many of the posts on this thread .. hunting has the uncanny ability to bring out the best in some people as well as the absolute worst in others.

MaJay,
That aquantance of yours, is one sorry individual, he should have hung his bow up sooner than he did, there would be 2 less deer left for the coyotes!
I commend you , on your recovery of the Iowa deer.
People like him, need to take a long hard look at themselves!
People make mistakes, but he doesn' t seem to have any malice over it.

That' s what I don' t understand ... he really doesn' t feel " bad" over it. He says it sucks, and he can' t believe his luck. But it isn' t the deer he feels bad for ... just the fact he doesn' t have the deer hanging to add to the total or go on the wall.

I' ve killed quite a few deer, and hope to take many more. Everytime, mixed in there with all the feelings of excitement, gratitude, success, satisfaction, and elation there is a profound feeling of finality, respect and a powerful feeling of loss at the taking of a deer, any deers life. It is not just deer, I hunt many animals and I feel it every time. Doesn' t seem to be as strong for birds as deer (not sure why)but it' s still there.

What do you feel when you walk up to an animal you' ve killed?

Man, I didn' t intend for this to get this deep.

" I believe he' s even getting excited for his " official scoring" . WhooooHoooo .. what a way to make Pope and Young."

The first thing I' d do is contact P&Y. He shot the animal, he searched for a while, he then went hunting, the animal was recovered by a third party [/b]while he was hunting elsewhere.[/b] That' s an abandoned search, and P&Y will not allow the animal to be entered if they know the circumstances.