What part of that would be illegal?

Go get that head.

Picking up the head of a buck u failed to recover days past after the meat is ruined is not illegal. Harvesting more bucks than u are allowed is. He already did that but wether or not he takes the horns now makes no difference.

Also I wouldn't say he is guilty of anything. He at least gave some effort to find the buck.

Why would it matter if he picks up the rotting skull or not?

Thanks, bdotson. I concentrated in the thick stuff, wish I would have followed your advice. I'm going to spend a lot at the range here real soon.

I knew what to expect, still a good example to others that it may happen to.



I know you're not kicking me, no worries. I can assure you that "just shooting until something drops" is definitely not the case. And certainly not "if it don't drop, I must have missed".

The reason I made this post was so others can see that even if there's no sign you hit, if you felt you hit then you should do everything you could have done. Like I said, there was no blood to follow, or anything of the sorts. And even the game cam pictures show what I thought was me shooting in front of him. Obviously there was a lot more I could have done, in hindsight I wish I would have. I'm thankful for every animal I take, and knowing I wasted even one has me disgusted with myself. I would tag him in a heart beat, if I could.

As far as I'm concerned, the season is over for me next week because that's the last legal time to shoot a doe, and I have no interest in a spike.

Since it's illegal to take the horns, because I can't tag him, I'm not going to touch them further.

Kudos for coming on here and admitting you messed up.
You are correct that going back for the horns without a tag would be illegal. Would doing like sneaky said and hanging them in a tree until she'd hunting season be the right thing to do? I don't know, but I'd sure entertain the idea.

I shot a doe opening weekend in the evening at only 50 yds. I found no blood, I looked for maybe an hour. Went to camp and had 2 others go back out with me with really good lights. Again no blood found. We did straight walks and also did short, medium and big circles, nada. They were trying to convince me I missed, I knew I didn't. We stopped after about an hour and a half later. I looked again after my morning hunt. Same thing, no blood or deer found. Started believing that by some weird chance that I actually did miss.

Got in my stand this past Friday afternoon and saw buzzards in trees about 50 yds behind and to the left of my feeder. This is very thick and piney woods. There are draws that run down my area. There she was in the 3rd draw.

We looked in the first 2 draws but did not go any further. Really sucks when this happens, that was the first deer I've ever lost. Mine wasn't a nice buck but it still stings.

The way i see it .....if you only looked for 45 mins that was your first mistake to me , i have looked for one for 2 or 3 hr and found it !
To me you owe whatever your shooting at the common courtesy to do everything in your power to find it even if it means looking into the morning hours .
On taking the head i would say leave it you dont deserve to have it IMO because you didnt find it the first time and i know this is a little harsh but you said you learned a lesson so what'd be the lesson of taking the head?

I decided to go ahead and call the Game Warden and fill him in on the situation. I don't believe I broke the law, but wanted to be honest nonetheless. He was completely understanding and even offered to go with me on Wednesday to harvest the rack for me. So it looks like it'll work out. Glad there are good men and women who serve in LEO.

Thats good but just make sure that you filled the back of you tag out from the other deer , he's going to be looking for something to get you on i would bet on that .

I shot a doe opening weekend in the evening at only 50 yds. I found no blood, I looked for maybe an hour. Went to camp and had 2 others go back out with me with really good lights. Again no blood found. We did straight walks and also did short, medium and big circles, nada. They were trying to convince me I missed, I knew I didn't. We stopped after about an hour and a half later. I looked again after my morning hunt. Same thing, no blood or deer found. Started believing that by some weird chance that I actually did miss.

Got in my stand this past Friday afternoon and saw buzzards in trees about 50 yds behind and to the left of my feeder. This is very thick and piney woods. There are draws that run down my area. There she was in the 3rd draw.

We looked in the first 2 draws but did not go any further. Really sucks when this happens, that was the first deer I've ever lost. Mine wasn't a nice buck but it still stings.