If you shoot a deer......

[phil@thesidehill]

If you shoot a deer and feel confident you killed it....but you don't find it....do you punch the tag meant for that deer and move on? Or do you get back in the stand and use that tag on another deer if the opportunity presents itself.

I know someone that shot a buck saturday AM....shot looked a little high but still most likely a lung hit. Blood evidence I saw via pictures indicated lung hit....bubbles. Deer was uphill of the tree stand location and therefore was closer to about the same level as the shooter. That means the entry and exit wound would be high on the deer making for a difficult blood trail.

The hunter and a couple buddies took to the trail after about an hour and half. lost blood several times, but were able to find blood again...until they came to a bed covered in blood....and running tracks leaving it. they jumped the deer. They lost blood quickly from that bed. They then did a some walking looking for a "white belly". They gave up the search at last light and have not looked since then....and the hunter has no intention of looking any more. He is ready to get back in the stand...all though he feels confident that he has killed this deer. He just feels that he put enough effort in and will not be able to locate it. In PA we only get one buck tag....

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Sounds like a pi$$ poor attempt at recovery to me.

good....i'm not the only one.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I wouldn't be so sure the buck dies and yes I would keep hunting.

YOU wouldn't be so sure he died...but this hunter claims he is confident that the deer is dead.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I've stuck and lost 2 bucks....and each time I was pretty much sick to my stomach over having done so. I didn't hunt bowhunt again those years. The first one almost made me quit bowhunting completely.

I've been fortunate and only had one buck and one doe get away from me....I ended up getting trail cam pics of the buck 2 days later....was only a grazing flesh wound. So i went back to hunting. The doe was shot in the void below spine and above the vitals. never found her but spent 3 days trying hard...didn't fill that doe tag that year.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

well the crows will be working within 500 yards of last blood in a few days then. If You bowhunt enough You will lose deer. Most make it, some don't.

It isnt a matter of whether you lose deer or not..that goes with out saying...its the effort you put into making the recovery. and when you don't recover, but feel like you killed that deer....do you continue to hunt with that tag? Me personally...that tag gets punched.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I just went through it a month ago. Swore my shot was good. Deflected high but still looked good from the tree at 27 yards. Looked for 6hrs the next day, could not find him. As Stu said, I was sick thinking he was dead and I could not find him......Until he showed back up on camera with a gash across his back 2 weeks later. Glad I did not punch my ticket.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

The "void" is anatomically impossible. Deer can live with top of lungs being clipped.

thats funny right there...lmfbo.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Woohoo the no man's land discussion :D

I don't believe it has ever been completely disproven...but I do think most hits attributed to it are actually above the spine, through the backstraps.

Beats the CWD Thread all to hell!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Check out BJE's pic at post #49 on this thread. The void has been a disproven urban myth for years.

http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/the-agony-of-defeat-maybe.1490/page-3

that pic looks legit too....sources?

I have had the pleasure of gutting a deer with an arrow lodged under its spine that did not perforate either lung....my friend's son shot it on the opening day of bow season in 2012. we never found it, but they got pics of him coming back into the same plot again in december. his son shot him again in late archery season and I helped them track the buck and then get it out the woods. he had about 18" of arrow in him...the fletching side broke off and so did the broadhead side, both were out side of the deer on either side. Was only a little bit of shaft sticking out on each side.

 

[chummer]

I shot one a few years ago and never found it. The neighbors shot it two weeks later, the shot was below the spine and healed over. Not saying I didn't hit some lung, but these animals certainly are tough.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Woohoo the no man's land discussion :D

I don't believe it has ever been completely disproven...but I do think most hits attributed to it are actually above the spine, through the backstraps.

i can agree with that Stu.

I have yet to actually see any actual study that shows it to be disproven. All i have seen is that grainy pic.....its the Zapruder film of the void discussion.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Now back to the real discussion....

You shoot a buck....you feel that it is dead....you dont find it......you have one buck tag....do you keep hunting for another buck?

How about we throw another twist in there....8 days later you find the coyote mangled carcass...do you tag it?

 

[BJE80]

If it is a meat deer I would not if the carcass is destroyed. If it is intact I would tag it even if the meat wasn't any good.

If it is a buck and I find it that same season I would tag it. If I can't find it I would not tag it.

 

[BJE80]

Phil,

Sounds like the people you know took up the trail way too early. But I think you already knew that.

 

[Reagan]

I have only lost and later found one doe. I did not burn a tag since in my part of the state I can have more tags than I need so left over tags is a non issue.

I have lost two bucks. I don't know if they lived but my heart was not in the rest of the season. I feel like one of the two probably died. I did keep doe hunting and holding out that the one that got away would show up again. A different shooter did not tempt me that season so I am not sure what I would do.

I believe in Ohio if you do not have a carcass or antlers, there is nothing to check in with the state. Legally I believe you can keep hunting. If I found the antlers later, I would tag it.


With all that said, I make a very big effort to find a deer. We found my lost doe by the stench a week after I shot her. I had walked within feet of that deer and did not see it. When I was talking with my daughter about the possibility of losing a deer, I told her it will happen if she hunts long enough. Even the lions in Africa don't always kill what they wound. We do what we can but sh!t will happen.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Phil,

Sounds like the people you know took up the trail way too early. But I think you already knew that.

yeah...they did.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I have only lost and later found one doe. I did not burn a tag since in my part of the state I can have more tags than I need so left over tags is a non issue.

I have lost two bucks. I don't know if they lived but my heart was not in the rest of the season. I feel like one of the two probably died. I did keep doe hunting and holding out that the one that got away would show up again. A different shooter did not tempt me that season so I am not sure what I would do.

I believe in Ohio if you do not have a carcass or antlers, there is nothing to check in with the state. Legally I believe you can keep hunting. If I found the antlers later, I would tag it.


With all that said, I make a very big effort to find a deer. We found my lost doe by the stench a week after I shot her. I had walked within feet of that deer and did not see it. When I was talking with my daughter about the possibility of losing a deer, I told her it will happen if she hunts long enough. Even the lions in Africa don't always kill what they wound. We do what we can but sh!t will happen.

Good points..state regs can play apart. But i'm not necessarily meaning...actually filling in the tag and reporting it as a harvested deer, but rather considering the tag as though you have filled it...basically if it was a buck tag and you only had one....now you have none and are therefore no longer hunting for a buck.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

In Wisconsin it would be illegal to tag the buck. You have to call the warden and they put a price on the rack, you pay that price for the rack or recover the rack in about 3 months.

In PA we could tag that buck legally. We cannot posses antlers intact with a skull or skull plate without it being tagged. If i find a nice dead head while shed hunting or a roadkill for that matter, i have to call the WCO and report it, then I have to pay $10/point to keep it, and he issues a salvage tag. Tags also have to be kept with mounts. All my mounts have the tag stapled to the back.

 

[BJE80]

That's illegal in Wisconsin

So at what point do I have to start paying? 2 days? 5 days? a Week?


I've never heard of this.

 

[kabic]

From another web site I read someone got clarification on these sort of questions

Your questions were:

1) Do I have to contact the DNR to get some type of salvage tag ( for a dead buck found in the field)?

If the season is still open and you know it is the deer you killed, and you still have a valid tag, then by law you need to tag the deer and register it. If it is in such poor shape the it makes no sense to take it to a registration station, then contact a warden who can do a field registration. After that, you may salvage the parts you want. If it is not a deer you killed, but simply found, the deer is still the property of the state. You can contact a warden and inquire about getting a tag for the carcass or parts you would like to salvage, though you will likely have to pay for it.



2) What about if you find one on the side of the road dead?

Any person who accidently kills a deer with a vehicle on a roadway has first opportunity to claim the deer and request a free tag for the carcass. DNR issues tags to the local Sheriff and Police agencies, and they can tag the deer for the driver. If the driver does not claim the deer, then any other person who happens upon the scene/dead carcass, can request a free tag for the carcass. It is not legal to simply take the carcass or just cut of the antlers and leave the rest lay. A tag must first be acquired.



3) Or find one while shed hunting in the spring?

Shed antlers, and bones and skulls of deer that are otherwise completely decomposed and only the bones material remains can be collected and kept without the need for any special tag. Permission from the landowner would be needed to hunt for or collect shed antlers, skulls and bones found on private property.



Thomas Van Haren
Conservation Warden & NR Policy Officer
Bureau of Law Enforcement
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(() phone: (608) 266-3244
Website: dnr.wi.gov