Last fall a real trophy whitetail came running by me in a plowed field. I was in Wisconsin and the field was empty except for a couple hunters in my party about 90 degrees from me at the edge of a clearing. I raised my .257 Roberts and shot at the deer running 90 degrees from me away from the other hunters and he tumbled. The deer got up and looked around and one of the other hunters put a .30-06 thru him and put him down. The other hunter immediately ran to the trophy deer and tagged it.

When I got there the deer was dead and the hunter was proud of his trophy. I said nothing,
The next day we were out hunting again and I had heard that when the other hunter skinned out the deer at home that night he found only one bullet hole in the deer.

What would you have done?

Well it's kind of a moot point now but I would have asked him what the hell he was doing shooting at a deer that I had already shot. I would have also informed him that I was sorry that he wasted his tag on my deer and removed it.

The animal belongs to the forst person to shoot the animal. And a deer doesn't just decide to take a body roll with out being shot.

That would also be the last itme I hunted with him.

People like that really burn my butt. I have had to finish off an animal or two that another hunter had already shot and I wouldn't have dreamed of tagging it myself. Heck I even helped him drag it out to the truck.

I had that same type of situation quite a few years ago except supposedly we had both shot at the same time. To settle the claim I looked for the exit hole because he was on one side and I was on the other side. The buck was approximatly 100 yards in front of us when we both shot. This was a real big buck chasing a doe and he didn’t care if we were there or not. The end result was that it looked like the bullet had come out on my side. I was very disappointed in the results but had to admit who shot the deer. Since that day, I always try and hunt in a secluded area with no other hunter.

I'm with you on this bb

I have had that happen before and to be honest after thinking about it , it wasn't worth making a big hassle . I just got to know anyone I hunted with better after that . In my case it was a uncle andI was just a kid . I hunted with my uncles after that but not that particular one .

I would have called your local Conservation Officer and told him that someone stole your deer. Then he would have sorted it out.

I had a similar situation in 2001. A 180 class whitetail was standing at the opposite edge of a field from me right at the last minute of legal hours. One of my companions was in a tree stand only 100 yards to the left of the buck. After looking him over forabout 30 secondsfrom a ranged 407 yards, I finally decided that my buddy either didn't see him or didn't have a shot. I fired, striking the deer in the chest as he faced me. The deer jumped about 8 feet in the air and put on a sprint out into the field. After about 70 yards, he slowed and stopped -at which timemy buddy shot him in the neck. Before I could walk even half way there, my buddy was down from the tree and standing over the buck. He indicated that he saw the deer at least 5 minutes earlier, but couldn't shoot due to branches in the way. We shared in the taxidermy bill and have the mount at our housesalternating years.

I did ask a game warder later about "what if" in the event that the other hunter was a stranger. He said, no question, the hunter who fired the killing shot and got to it first was in possession. Go figure . . . .

Now the part I didn't tell you.....the hunter that tagged the deer.......he was 14.

Good test. That could change the answer for some guys .

I dont suppose that anyone here remembers the incident that occurred in wisconsin last year? Well, a dud was pissed that other folk were in his area or something. He opnened fire and killed like three dudes. LET THAT FRIGGIN DEER GO! This is a great sport, and bagging a good one is awesome! But life is too precious. If letting one go to a jerk means coming back next year, then so be it. Be safe, in control, and mindful. I wanna see everyone here continue to return to tell the stories! EJ