gmil6184

yes the landowner has the right to say what the rules are, especially if you are hunting for free. On the other hand if I am paying to hunt his land and have a signed lease I want to hunt anyway I see fit (within the rules of law obviously). If the lease document is silent about antler restrictions, and the like I would argue he has no right to come in after the fact and say "no shooting does" or "only bucks with 3 points per side" etc.

Lanse couche couche

yep, once a generallease is signed it is now your rules, not the landowners>

wis_rifle_hunter

yes they have every right. if you dont follow the rules i bet you be hunting there again. my uncle got kicked off a piece of land because he shot a to big of a buck. so you better follow the rules they make

yodeldog3

I'll never hunt this guys property again, I went to school with this guy, and we hunted together for years. No does, no small bucks, I understand all that, but this deer would have never made it. Some may argue, thats nature, maybe. I just think taking a lame deer is good management, he never would have gotten away from the coyotes, or made it through the winter.

whitetailaddiction

First off: Landowner sets the rules.

Now lets look at this fromhis perspective. What might he be thinking?

Maybe he didn't really evenwant you there in the first place but was just "tolerating" you and being a nice guy.
After allwhy wouldsomeone buy landfor the sole purpose of lettingsomeone else hunt it?
Shooting the button buck might havegiven him a reason to finally do what he was thinking about doing anyway.
In making your "ethical choice" you clearly proved to him that you were capable of disregarding his wishes i.e. rules and had the potential of doing so again. In other words you lost his trust.

Nothing personal, justthrowing out a couple of ideas.

I understand andsort of agree with your choice of shooting the wounded animal but then I 'm not the man who owns the property.

"Posession is 9/10's of the law."
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."