Something like that is/was true for Louisiana. If i recall correctly, it was technically illegal to enter someone's property to retrieve wild game, but if you left your gun behind, you could only be charged with a form of trespass that was about as serious as getting a warning ticket for jaywalking.

Didn't say I dropped them all on the spot...I too bow hunt...started with a Bear recurve in the late '60s...the poster that started this didn't mention bow hunting...and it is posted in Deer Hunting....I have also muzzleloader hunted since the mid '70s and even built a custom flintlock in '88...

Since we have owned our own farms for several generations...I have learned to hunt and shoot...straight...Can't be considered a one day a year gun hunter, as our rifle season runs from mid October until Jan 1st...We kill 45-50 deer a year on our farms...So I have had to track quite a few deer, some went quite a ways, for other guests that we have...Usually we find it is from a poor hit, mainly because the hunter didn't hold right due to the angle of the deer...And because of buck fever ...They always have an excuse...Its always amazing how big the buck was...untill we find it.. I am also a year round shooter...coyotes, groundhogs crows etc...And I used my deer rifle for all...

I still say...if a hunter truely knows his rifle and his load it is no problem to drop a deer on the spot...I also believe that if you don't have a good shot and don't have a good rest...don't take the shot...Three years ago I was hunting a power line that runs through one of our properties...a nice buck stepped out...150 yards away...broadside...and about 100 yards on our neighbors property...Now this guy wouldn't mind if I went on his property to retrieve...but...I don't hunt his land and he doesn't hunt mine...I tried to grunt him over to my side...he showed no interest...so I didn't kill him...I'm betting a few of you would have done it differently...

Just last year I had a guest that shot a doe with his inline...the deer left the field and headed to the property line...we tracked her to the property line, I stopped and called my brother on the cell...He called the farmer that owns the land...He was glad we had called and said we were free to retrieve the deer...These things can be worked out...If you are a good neighbor...Within the past week we have decided to let this farmer tend this particular farm and he has agreed to plant our foodplots for us it worked out well for all.

Goodness, you worry too much. But you sure are easy to have fun with. Never seen someone go thru so much trouble to convince people.

Yea this is a deer hunting page bud. Alot of times we will talk about hunting, and it can be with a multitude of weapons.

NC,

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted your earlier post. I thought you said that it isn't any problem to drop a deer in its tracks and that you can do it any time

And it is nice to see that you are cool when it comes to cooperation across property lines.

If he was in sight I would grab him. If not I would call the game warden.

I would never set up on a property I didn't have permission to hunt on, but if I shot one and it ran onto their property I would get my deer. I would leave my gun or bow in the truck so I wouldn't be technically hunting. "Sorry sir I got lost and didn't see the signs in the dark."

Gotta go with CoyoteHowler and mustad on this one. Lines are lines. Here's hoping sensibility and reasoning can work with even the most ornery neighbors.

Pretty simple if you ask me. Avoid a situation like that to begin with and you wouldn't have to worry about an "ethical" decision. It sounds like it is known that the neighbor is a jerk and that's too bad. However, knowing this to begin with and hunting near such land, you are flirting with a bad situation. Either way you cut it even if the guy is a jackass he does have the same rights as a landowner as hunters do. I've given up nice pieces of hunting land before for the same exact reason.

Of course, the safest best would be to simply give up hunting. That gets you out ofthe woods(pardon the pun) on any and allpotential legal and ethical entanglements.

Given this scenario, with an unreasonable landowner, I would not hesitate to cross the line and retrieve the deer or any game animal for that matter. It would be the ethical thing, IMO, to retrieve the animal I shot and not let it go to waste. Now on the other hand, with a more reasonable landowner, I would give him a call.