My wife had never showed any interest in hunting before, so I about fell over last year when she wanted to go turkey hunting with a bow!

The story is , I went through all the equipment buying, preparation,etc., and when turkey season started, I took some time off work and we hit it pretty hard. After a couple close encounters with longbeards, She finally made a good shot on a jake at 15-20 steps. He spun in the air and managed to fly down the hill over the bench we were on and out of sight in 4-5 seconds. We got out of our blind and I kept telling her she made a good shot, but we would give him a few minutes. In her third trip to the woods my wife had done what a lot of my friends had never been able to do - kill a turkey with a bow!!!

Here's where it turned sour. We started down the hill in the direction the jake flew off. We had only gone about 50 yards when I looked out ahead and saw what I thought was a wing sticking up in the air. I raised my binoculars and sure enough, there he was. He had only gone about 75 yards from the shot.

The bad news is, as we got close to him , it became obvious a predator had been there when he crashed and feathers were ripped out all over the place and the turkey was about half ate up!! I couldn't believe the odds that this would happen , especially on her first kill. The jake was tore to shreds. My wife cried over the whole mess.

My question is, after a lot of thought and deliberation, I decided that she would not check this bird in at the check station. It was tore up and there was really nothing left anybody would want to eat, so we left it in the woods to be finished off by the critters. We felt robbed.This was our only place to hunt, and if we checked it in , she would not be able to legally hunt anymore.I know some people who feel like it should have been checked in anyway. What do you guys think???????????????????

Well...She didn't exactly harvest it now, did she. There wasn't any usable meat due to the damage the predator left. It seems to me the predator harvested a meal not your wife, she only helped. Nothing to check in.

I look at it this way: if I shot a deer, let it expire, came back and it was completely eaten up, I wouldn't tag it. Nothing to tag. Not sure this is right or wrong, but that's what I would do and wouldn't feel that I did something wrong. I would feel bad that I killed an animal I couldn't eat, but I guess the critters out there are interested in filling their bellies too.

If that's the biggest problem she ever runs into in bowhunting she should have a good life. I really don't see any problem or dilemma to consider. Of course I'm not tagging the dang thing or bringing it out of the woods. Ethical.. smethical.... she shot a turkey and something else ate it. Nothing ethical to consider. Hunt on.

Unfortunate as it was I don't see a problem with it. Tag it and then what? Put it in the back of your truck and do what with it? nahhhhhhhhhh unfortunate incident, but it wasn't truly harvested.

I see nothing wrong with not taging it.it is like she shot it and didn't find the beard and feet the next day.

no problem ; hunt on.

Captain,

You made the right decision!
Forget about it and hunt another Turkey.

Sag.

No tag captain, that is just plain ol' bum luck after a great shot by a beginner. Tell her most bow enthusiast never even attempt to turkey hunt. The odds of that happening immediately after a shot have to be astronomical. That scavenger never ?'d his ethics. Just plain hungry and following his natural instincts to survive.

This happened to me this year with a deer, and I tagged it. The WCO's have the option of issuing you a new tag when this occurs in the state I was hunting so I figured why not tag it. Plus I did kill the animal as your wife killed that turkey. You wrote I'm guessing it wasn't the killing of the animal she was upset over, or she wouldn't have launched the arrow ... what I am guessing bothered her was the leaving an animal she killed in the woods to become worm food, which you could have made better by tagging it and taking it to a WCO and telling your story and hopefully getting a new tag. The fact your wife cried over this meant her conscience was hurting .. so why not tag it, if for no other reason then to make her feel better about the experience.

Not saying what you did was wrong, that's just my opinion.

i personally would of claimed it....i shot it and recovered it, well what was left of it, it's different when you cant find it, but this is just me.....
congrats goes out to her though on her first kill......YOU GO GIRL !