What would you do? A question of deer hunting ethics.

A scenario that might be somewhat common.

A fellow hunter and good friend shares with you, several photos of a very nice buck that has been frequenting his/her feeder for several months. It becomes obvious he/she is very intent on harvesting him.

The same deer shows up at your feeder on Opening Day.

Would you take him?

If it met my criteria, without hesitation I would take it. And I would expect the same if the rolls were reversed.

If it was a deer I like and fit the bill for what I was after it wouldn't stop me from shooting it, but other circumstances would make me willing to pass him up.

If he meets what im looking for no doubt I wouldn't think twice .. if its just on the border line and I have other options na.. he/she would enjoy it more...

Why wouldn't you take it if it was deer you'd be proud of?

If it's at your feeder on your lease that you paid for. I don't think it's right to claim certain deer off a place.

Hunters tend to get the idea that the deer at their feeder and on their cam belong to them at least I've seen it before. Personally if it gets my blood pumping ill kill it. A free range deer is just that it doesn't belong to anyone.

And to me, it's aggravating.

I don't consider this a case of ethics at all. We all take a chance that the deer we have "been feeding" are going to also be fed by someone else. If you like the deer it's yours to take, end of story IMO.

How bout this... What if it was reversed and the other fella just has a stand and never feeds.. comes and sits in the stand one day and pops a buck you been hunting for months.... now what have you?? would someone be upset about this? even though this guy was able to kill a deer with nothing more than hunting a crossing and no feeder?

Kill it it could be 5 miles away if in rut and in someone's else's wall

It depends on you. Would you be happier knowing you passed him up so your buddy could take him? Maybe make a prodding comment...."Hey, how do you know that buck doesn't like my feeder better!!" Maybe it turns into a friendly competition of who can down him first. If it turns into awkward silence, then you have a decision to make, but I agree with those above. You pay, you get to shoot. Plus, if the buck shows up at your feeder and not his during the season, then perhaps you are the better hunter!!??!!

Yes, I'd take him if he met my criteria. And I'd expect him to do the same if our roles were reversed. Only difference from your example is that I don't have an ownership mentality. I'd be happy for him whether he would be for me or not.

Navosot, first of all this could never happen...(deer not being shot at a feeder I mean) but if by some chance it did, good for them.

Or, what if the other hunter is a dad who told you earlier he had the deer pegged for his son or daughter? Would that have any impact on your decision?

Yes if they were respectful kids

Maybe it's something that should be addressed in the lease rules.

It's something that actually happened to me a couple of years ago when I took a very nice buck that another hunter had been watching for two years. However, that wasn't made known until after I had taken the deer.

The question is made even more complex when the two hunters have differing views on "when" a buck is ready to harvest. The hunter who has been watching the deer might have decided he needed another year before harvesting.

Again, it's something that I suspect is becoming all too common on deer leases with tracking cameras being so common as well.

If the hunter had it pegged for his kid, it would at least give me pause. If it would be my personal best or something really unique (non-typical, drop tine, etc.) I'd definitely still take it. If its just another mature buck similar to deer I've killed in the past, I'd probably let it walk in hopes that the kid can connect. Heck I may even let the kid hunt my stand for the buck if that would give them a better opportunity. So basically, this complicates it a little more for me, but it wouldn't stop me from shooting the buck if its something really special.

I feel like I can speak to this pretty honestly. I would shoot.... why?.... because everyone I hunt with would and would expect me to. I know in my last lease if someone got a buck on camera, we all knew it and all tried to figure out his pattern. That said, we all kind of assumed that wherever you happened to be hunting out there, if he shows, he's yours if you want him.
My best friend helped me build a ground blind on a pipeline and as a result I gave him hunting rights to it (when I wasn't using it).... just so happened he was hunting there one morning and a 142" 12 point walked out.... and he shot it. I would have done the same.... not saying that in my mind I wasn't a little mad, but I couldn't blame him, in S. Ark. a 140 is considered a giant! So yeah... I'm shooting if I like the deer.

My dad invited a young girl and her mother out to our place for youth weekend around 2002 or so. The girl hunted a 'crossing' as someone referred to it above and took the second largest deer ever off our place at the time, a beautiful ~130" 10pt, bigger than anything I'd shot to that point. I was a little miffed because I didn't feel like she'd earned that opportunity, and because I'd been adhering strongly to the management plan that developed such a deer. However, our neighbors took it to a whole 'nuther level and high-fenced their 400 acres because she shot 'their' deer. I got over it after seeing their response.

I hope to have the chance each year to take a great deer, but I have nieces that haven't gotten a deer yet, and I'd like my dad to get another great one while he's still hunting. So I would likely shoot a great deer that showed up at my stand but if it shows at one of theirs I'll be happy for them.

Here a thought....... What if we didn't have to read/ answer anymore of TD stupid hypothetical ethics questions......... imagine all that could be accomplished in the world.... "something to address in the rules" that funny

The neighbors spent $20,000 on fence because someone killed a 130" deer? Neighbor's aren't too smart are they?

depends on if the 130" deer was a 1.5 year old deer or an 8.5 year old deer......

Didn't realize your computer defaulted to opening his threads, or somebody was holding a gun to your head...




I think it was more like $80-90,000. I didn't see the deer but I'm pretty positive he was 4.5. He'd been seen at a feeder in their place a couple of times and was killed about 300 yards into our place in a shinnery thicket.

The kid situation actually happened to us about 3 years back. My daughter and I had been watching a 12 point split brow buck all through the summer. Then on opening weekend a guy that is notorious for filling feeders the Friday night before opening morning shot that buck on Saturday morning. The whole camp was furious. He thought it was good strategy to fill the feeders suddenly and make the deer move in a different direction than normal. This didn't sit well with the other leasers.
As clearly there was nothing to be gained by making an issue, my daughter and I took it better than the others and we went back hunting. The guy that shot that buck felt badly, an apologized to me often, but I understand hunting, you never now what might happen, we are still friends.
I thought it was a great lesson. My daughter had to put in the extra work to get her deer, and it was one of the biggest taken that year. It wasn't 12 points, it was 8 points and freaking huge. And like a recent news story, she had to work for her trophy, it wasn't given to her for just showing up.

Thanks for giving us something to muse on Dan.

Never thought about it and now that I have, I'd say its a great thing to bring up BEFORE the season with the other members. In my case, I'd let them know there is no such thing as "dibs" on a deer -- as long as I am seeing it from MY stand. If I asked permission to hunt someone else's stand, I'd do them the courtesy of asking if they have a buck that they had been seeing and hadn't gotten yet and were really excited about. In that situation, I'd pass on the deer.

You're right. $20,000 would have only covered one side plus a little.

Not really. You can buy 130" yearling bucks for a lot less than $20,000. Well, you could before this most recent CWD witch hunt.

Last year, the best buck taken on the ranch we hunt was by a guest of the ranch hand who hunts for free. The landowner gives him tags to hunt on another part of the ranch (we only lease 1000 acres of a 4000 acre ranch). Did it kind of perturb me, sure, but that's the luck of the draw. We see deer every year that we have no pictures of on camera. No one can claim a deer on a place. I'd be way more upset if someone shot a deer that we all agreed needed to grow another year or two. My advice is to communicate and don't be surprised. If everyone's understanding is the same, then there are no ethics questions.

My 2 pennies.

Keith

This is not an ethical question. Does this guy pay more than you to hunt? Does this guy put in more work than you at the lease? Not only would I take it if it met my killing criteria, I would pick up the phone right now and call him and tell him I am shooting it if it shows up a my feeder. It's not his deer, it's not your deer, etc... And, if it's a trophy that fits my kill criteria, I wouldn't give it one seconds thought about saving him for somebodies kid, maybe would let my kid shoot him in my stead, but kids got a lot more years of hunting left in them than I do plus I am paying for it. Again, solve your ethical guilt right now and pick up the phone and let him know your intentions.

Yes I would shoot it if I liked it. As my good friend stated "free ranging deer are not owned by anybody".

As I get older, I begin to see that many, many problems can be fully eliminated by everyone (including myself) just keeping their mouths shut. Especially about what you see or harvest hunting. Certainly this issue wouldn't be an issue, and I think a certain dentist would have a much less stressful life.

I would never deer hunt with a he/she.

Click...boom.

Just depends on the group of folks you ar hunting with... if you been watching deer for years without killen em thats one thing... you hunting somewhere thats a free fer all one person can't really lay claim.

Sage Advice.

Last season, a guy on our lease claimed a nice 10 that we had been watching for a few years. We are mostly meat hunters, and didn't really care one way or the other, so we passed on him.

He never showed up after the second weekend of the season, I am 99% sure the neighbors got him.

Yep. Nobody "owns" a deer that isn't wearing a tag and hanging from a game pole. As long as it is up and walking it is fair game for whoever decides to pull the trigger on it.

I wouldn't have a problem taking him and neither would anyone on our lease. We all share pictures and videos. If it was frequenting another stand and a kid was the primary hunter at that location, I would more than likely let it pass, but simply because I have a soft spot for kids hunting. I don't see it as an ethics issue either way. If I shot the deer, I would spend the rest of the year trying to find a good buck for the other hunter.

I had a guy go to my stand and shoot the deer that I was hunting. I wasn't terribly happy about it because I had been watching the deer for months, but I was still happy that hunter got a deer he was proud of.

And it worked out in the end...I shot a similar buck out of his stand a month later that scored 10" bigger

I would probably take the deer. Exception would possibly be saving the deer for a family member or a child if the circumstance was right. While the deer are open for all on the lease to take, it would irk me somewhat for a hunter who had not contributed to the to the lease to take one I had been watching.

Similar situation happened to me on a lease last year and I'm only 20. I watched an absolute beast (for my area, 21 inch spread and TALL) from late July well into November on my camera. Never could catch him, never actually did see him but I hunted him hard. I was actually sitting in my stand when the fella I share the lease with shot him. My heart fell to my stomach as soon as I heard the shots. I knew he nailed him. I even helped the guy drag him out of the woods and listened to him say it wasn't a very big deer. I silently disagreed!!! Wish his son could have taken him or even myself but that's the risk you run with hunting in general. I say unless the kid has him spotted and is genuinely hunting him, take him.

Guess I am different. We have community blinds. Nobody claims a deer. But if a member of our lease shares pictures with me of a good buck I would not feel right killing that deer even though I could. I believe each persons day will come if they are patient. I get as excited seeing a friend kill a big deer as I do killing it myself

Word. That's the best way to run a lease in my opinion. Makes it easy!

For me and every lease I've ever been on, free chase and open blinds setup is "luck of the draw - plain and simple". The deer have no boundaries to roam and if everyone is doing their part to feed and has provided requisite blind requirements, then I have absolutely no problem with one hunter taking a buck vs. another. I will be the 1st to high five them and would hope they'd do the same to me. If that weren't the case, I'd either bump them off if I was in the position of authority on the lease or bump myself off if I wasn't - "plain and simple". Game cameras have simply given us visibility to see what we couldn't previously see IMO. I don't believe the intent of them was to start "laying exclusive claim" to certain deer that weren't previously seen on film. I realize this may not be everyone's opinion, but it is my honest and humble opinion for what it's worth.

You and I are on the same page. If I know someone has their sights on a particular buck, I'll pass on him if I recognize the deer. I almost always have a video camera, so I'll shoot some footage and share it with the other hunter and try to come up with a plan to get the other guy on the buck. If my plan works, I'll be just as happy, or maybe even happier, than shooting the buck myself.

There's nothing that says your friend will even see that deer again, if you pass the shot. Then neither of you gets it, and the guy or gal down the road sees it for the first time, and boom!

This reminds me of a golf ethics issue....

What Would You Do?

What if you were playing in the club championship tournament finals and the match was halved at the end of 17 holes. You had the honor and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin. Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway. Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball.

Just before the permitted five minute search period ends, your opponent says: "Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don’t find it in time, I’ll concede the match." You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin. About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods: "I found it!". The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole. Now here is the ethical dilemma: _
DO YOU PULL THE CHEATER’S BALL OUT OF YOUR POCKET AND CONFRONT HIM WITH IT OR DO
YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT

golf....

No One remembers who was in Second Place

"Ye who Chums the Most Wins"

Let me preface this by saying I hunt on a 5000 acre high fence ranch in the hill country; so unless the deer goes out one of the holes in our fence, I don't have the neighbor could shoot it situation. I was in a similar situation on my lease. One of the old timers had been watching a specific buck for probably 4 years and could never connect with him. I had pictures of him on my camera as well, so this buck tended to roam all over the place. I knew he was looking for that guy and had I saw him and recognized him, I would have passed. However, I also told him that if he happened to walk out when my two kids were trying to get their first buck, all bets were off and they might shoot him. Since it's a family friendly place, he was completely fine with that. We never saw the buck and the kids shot different bucks instead. So if the situation came up now, the three of of would end up passing on the deer.

To me and my specific situation, it's just the neighborly thing to do when someone has invested years on a single deer and is actively passing up other deer in the search for it. Now, if it was someone that was trying to claim every deer that ever walked by their camera, that would be a different story. However, I haven't seen that with the folks on my lease.

If you don't have a name tag in his Ear its all fair game

Probably this but it really depends on a few things.

And I don't consider this to be about ethics.

It's just easier to take a picture and know how easy it would've been to kill something sometimes. I have 1 deer that I'm going to have to pass up this year regardless of what it looks like since someone has already staked claim to him.. that's fine...I'll just see what else I can find. As far as kids go, there are 2 kids who have the keys to the locks on my stands on a different place. I haven't hunted those stands in 5 years, but keep them maintained and feeders full. I have a good idea of what's coming to them and have no issue with the kids hunting those stands and have been happy for them when a text comes through with a deer they've shot (which has been a 139, 143 & 7yo buck with not much going for him except really long browtines in the past 3yrs)

OMG where do people get these questions from.

If someone said,"hey, I'd really like for my Son to shoot this deer", I'd give them a couple of weeks, after that he's fair game. This depends, of course, on how good a fellow he was.

Lots of variables. If the guy was a jerk, I'd tell him to go pound sand.

Lol! That is one of the variables!

On our family ranch, we are happy for each other no matter who shoots the deer. As long as it is a deer that meets our standards (age most importantly), it can be shot by whomever wants it. We are always excited when we hear a shot fired.

Is the original post a joke?

Hell yes I'd take him. You don't get to call "dibs" on a buck just because you got a picture of it.

depends on your lease/camp arrangements. we hunted many years on a lease where there were several lease hunters. the lease rules were that you were entitled to shoot what your license allowed. we would see deer that frequented at times many of the feeders. at that point its just firt come first served. whoever sees him first.

where we hunt now we hunt only among family and its an understanding that we rotate who's year it will be to harvest a higher quality buck and then everyone else hunts for does/culls/hogs, etc. we do this to try and preserve our number of higher quality bucks until they are mature. in this instance....if it wasn't my turn...I wouldn't shoot him.

unless the lease rules provide for it I would say a person has no expectation of claiming a deer until he's killed him and tagged him.

yep...that's a lot how our place works. majority of the meat ends up in the same community freezer anways. always exciting to hear a shot on the place. means meat on the table.

Our lease is mostly for wives and kids to shoot deer...unless a monster walks out...the guys mostly go after the hogs....everybody is happy!