Would you hunt with these guys?
 

This past year a friend of mine got invited to a new hunting camp. He asked me whether he should go because he knew some of the hunters have issues (i.e. jealousy, bad attitudes, not very welcoming to outsiders, etc.). I told him I'd go since he's being invited by a paying member. Well turns out he went and actually managed to shoot a huge deer (at least he says it was huge:D). He made the shot right before legal shooting hours and waited for his buddy to help him track. They pick up the trail about an hour later after dark and follow it for a good bit. He says they found blood, a drop here and there thenseveral big drops and one with a small bone fragment in it. They lost the trail that night and agreed to back out till the morning.Theygotturned aroundin the woods thatnight and didn't find their way out until about 1 hour and 1/2 later.Now here comes the kicker...the deer ran into the area of the lease that has some BIG woods that neither of them were familiar with. The next day, the alleged "Friend" starts discoraging the other members not to go back to help him trail his deer and he refuses to pick up the trail too. He says they're telling him that he must've hit a bone on the deer or something and that's not a good shot so he probably lost him. While he's telling me this I know better because he said the deer was broadside when he shot him and he claims that he held right on the front shoulder. At this point I'm heated and am thinking of approaching the guy that was with him as well as some of the guys in the camp. I know it may not be my business but right is right...even still, how could they just leavewithout attempting to pick up the trail...Am I missing something? Anybody ever heard about a "bone shot"? I haven't.[:'(]

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

I normally shoot for the vitals and I usually see all kinds of a bone fragments on the ground from the bullet going thru the ribs. I actually like to see that after I shoot one.

Doesn't sound like anyone I would want to hunt with that is for sure.

Paul

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

NO

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Surely at least a couple of them went back out the next morning and attempted to locate the deer..........didn't they?

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Nope...not one. In fact, one of them lookedupinto the sky in the area that the deerwas last thought tohave ran andtold him "well, I don't see any buzzards circling so you probably just made a bad shot". I don't know if I so mad because they refused to help him track or because of some of the STUPID advice that they're giving him. I know a few of the members really well and will probably be talking to them about it next weekend. [:@]I'll probably lose a few buddies but who needs people with these ethics...

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Why didn't your friend go look by himself? There's no way I would not have looked for the deer regardless of what the others said.

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

He would not be welcomed in my camp anymore!

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Thats bizarre.... I wouldn't hunt w/ them

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

might be, that deer was found and didn't wanttheguest to have it.

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

That maybe possible but, if I had shot at a deer and hit it then I would have no choice to look for it and know for sure. Regardless of what others say or think I would still double check and know for myself. Would I hunt with them again, NO WAY!

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

No I wouldn't hunt with them again. And if any of them ask why, I'd tell them in a matter of fact way, because just what you said. It's important first of all to stay within the law and hunt during legal hours and only ethical to shot if there is visibility and light to track the deer if it doesn't immediately go down, buts wounded.
Of course, the final thing is a hunt needs to be responsible and one ofmany ways to demonstrate that is to exhaust every avenue possible to find and retrieve an animal one has shot.

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

I agree with Steve F ---- Why didn't your friend go look for the deer himself ? Did he need someone to hold his hand ? He was just an unethical as the others for not attempting to recover the shot deer .

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

I would have been on my hands and knees with a mini mag between my teeth, or a head lamp. If I knew I had made the shot, or even felt that the shot was good, that deer would be mine - period. If theytried to stop me, that would have been the end of it right there. Once you put an arrow or bullet in an animal, it's on!

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Why would he need their advice on tracking the buck? I wouldn't have needed any of their help in finding it..he should've just looked for it himself.

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

He says the deer ran into an area that he was totally unfamiliar with. In fact they got lost in there the night before. His thing was that some of the other guys are well familiar with the area and refused to lift a finger. If I would've been there I probably would've gone even if I wasn't all that familiar with the area. And the guy who's supposed to be his friend discouraged everyone else by saying he made a poor shot.

RE: Would you hunt with these guys?
 

Getting lost at night and getting lost in the daylight are 2 totally different things. The next day he should have went back (with a compass!) and tageed his trail in so he could easily find his way back out (hopefully with his "huge" deer). Not just that it was a said "huge" deer, but any deer shot, you are obliged as an ethicalsportsman to try to locate it. Doing otherwise may even be a violation of game laws depending on where this was.

As a first timer I think there may be some other "unseen" (or told) reasons why no one wanted to go into the deep woods to blood trail & search. You said it was BIG woodsand very easy to get lost in. I kinda suspect that the members feel that these woods hold the deer and didn't want anyone in there spooking them. Maybe he could have came in from a different way and kinda did a drive towards them. This would have been much more possible if compasses and/or GPS had been utilized with a map (should always have a map when new to an area - thay are readily available).

Or do you believe they were going to go search later just for the rack?

I would hunt with them again. I would have map(s) and atleast a compass. I don't think it sounds likethere's any need to get in an uproar. No one actually said, "NO! You can't go back in there." - just no one wanted to go with him. Depending on tags in pocket he could have used it as a stalking opportunity while blood trailing.

I would have.