Problem is, you "heard" this. Give the guy a call, or stop by his house. Have a nice, polite conversation with him. You might be surprised. Just my $.02

Here is what you do fella, i have the SOLUTION! Go and get your deer first............then go and ask for permission. If he says no, then oh well already have your deer. If he says go ahead, then you already got permission to get other deer later in the season. Now you know how he is going to respond.

As a landowner, I do not have a problem with someone tracking a deer on my property as long as they were legally hunting and did not shoot it on my property (and they give me the back strap, Just kidding)!, with that said though all this crap I read here about going and getting it anyway or go ahead and trespass kind of pisses me off. in my state you cannot trespass and go after the deer without permission period. If you talk with landowners, most are very nice they just want to know what is happening on their land, heck you may never know he may even let you hunt his property. What makes landowners mad is people who don't want to buy their own property and just use everyone elses. Don't know what state the one poster is from but in Missouri not even the CO has the right to order the landowner to allow trespassers.

You can't do it in MI either. I have a buddy that hunted land next to a local gun club. He arrowed a deer and it expired on their property, barely. He could see it from where he was. They would not let him come get it and they kept it. They said it would be put to good use or something like that. It was private land, so there was nothing he could do about it. And by the time he could have gotten a hold of a game warden or something it would be to late any way, they were already taking posession of the deer themselves. What a great club, glad I don't belong to it.

He talked to an officer later and he said there may have been a possibility he could have gotten it back for him, but no promises. That is if one could have responded in time.

I talked to one about this very same thing, because I hunt some pretty populated areas. You know, like what if I shoot one and it runs into someones yard and dies on their back porch (seen it happen before, but not to me). The officer said the best thing to do would be to contact them or the sherrif's department and have an officer go with you to retrieve it.

Game wardens can go anywhere they want pretty much, without having to have a search warrant or anything like the police do. That doesn't mean they can make someone give you your game though. The catch 22 is there are laws that govern what can be done with an animal and how it is to be tagged, and hunter harrasment laws. The guy can not simply let the deer rot after being informed that it is there. And in order to claim it, he has to tag it. So if he doesn't have a tag, or doesn't want to burn one on a deer he didn't shoot, guess who takes the deer, the game warden. Who will inturn give it back to you most likely. However if the owner wants to tag it, your pretty much screwed if he sticks to his guns. Probably won't get much cooperation from the DNR in the future though.

At least that's how it was explained to me any way.

I agree, it would be easier and wiser to ask first to make sure, before you go and tick the guy off for no reason. Heck if someone asked me to retrieve a deer off my property I would probably go help them do it if they wanted.

Paul

I have lost two deer due to this type of thing happening.In my part of Ohio properties just are not that large anymore.A few years ago I shot a 13 pt buck that gave me fits.To make a long story short I decided the deer tried to circle and crossed onto the neighbors property.He would not allow me to look for it.A few weeks later he let me look for it.It was 50 yards over the property line in a brush pile.Last year I shot a great 10 pointer on Oct.15th.I had one heck of a blood trail and new exactly where the arrow hit,it was a full pass thru out the back of the opisite leg.The deer went 30 yards and started up hill.I decided to let the deer lay in case I only caught one lung.It rained all night!!We searched everyplace and decided the deer had circled back in the direction it had came from.The land owner just so happened to come down that morning,he would not let me go in.The neighbor across the road told us later the land owner went looking,found the deer and took it back to Akron with him the same afternoon.Needless to say I don't like that law,but it is the law.

You're fretting over something that hasn't happened. I wouldn't sit on the guys line or he'll be checking you or harrassing you. Put the arrow in the right spot and the deer won't make it that far. If he does, I'd slip in like a shadow and get out of Dodge. It only takes a few minutes to drag a deer back across the line. Either that, or don't hunt anywhere near the guys place. You say you "hear he won't let anyone retrieve a deer". I don't trust anything I hear. Before the season starts I'd go see the guy, introduce myself and tell him I'm hunting the adjacent property. Tell him what you heard and ask if it's open to discussion. "I'll bring No weapons across the line and will ONLY cross to check on a hit deer. If I don't find it quickly, I'll leave. Would that be possible". If he says NO, well say "OK... I had to ask. I don't intend for such things to happen, I was just making plans before hand. We'll both stay on our sides of the fence. Have a nice day". THEN... if it does happen, get sneaky.

Sounds like some of you are advocating trespassing which is a crime!

I know your not in Michigan but I wish every state had laws passed like ours. I had this type of incident ocurr to me last year while I was hunting some private property just southwest of Barryton, MI. I shot a decent size 7 point that ran about 40 yards and crossed a seasonal road. He then went onto an elderly man's property and died approximately 100 yards behind the old man's trailer. I asked my buddy (his dad owns the property we were hunting) if he knew the guy. He said yeah, but he probably won't let you go get your deer. I went up to the house and politely asked permission (since I could see the deer from the road w/binoculars) to retrieve the animal. He refused and said "Nobody steps foot on my property other than me and my son". So I went back to the house and called the DNR. The DNR showed up and asked me take him where I had shot the deer. We walked out to my stand (this was between 9 and 10pm) and I showed him where the deer was standing when I shot. I also showed him my arrow. Then we started following the blood trail. When we got to the road, there was an obvious blood stream going across the road. The DNR Officer told me to wait there and he went up to the old man's trailer. About five minutes later he came back and ******ed me onto the property to retrieve the animal. After it was all said and done I asked him about the procedure if this ever happens again. He advised do the exact same thing as I did this time. He advised me if a landowner refuses permission to a hunter to retrieve an animal that was obviously (must be proof) shot where the hunter is permitted, then as long as there is evidence (blood trail) concluding the animal is on the person's property, the DNR will assist and 99% of the time will let you go on the property and retrieve it.

So is letting the deer rot.

I have to agree with David mill and Sumhunter on this situation .Although I'll be damned that I'll let the deer rought either .But as you said what you heard just might be a rumour because maybe this has happened before and guy's have tramped all over his property without asking.So I'd ask before the season start's .You might just be surprised with the answer.

nubo