One of our guys shot a buck a week ago and couldn't find it. He shot another one, 10 pt this weekend and we searched for hours with no luck. It dropped behind the feeder so he immediately went to get his truck and it apparently woke up and took off with no blood trail. All that was there was white fur and little blood. Hopefully it lived.

Then he shoots a 13 inch young 8 pt the next night which luckily dropped. We can shoot does so if you want meat take them in my opinion. We have no written rules but seems a little excessive considering we rarely see a shooter but they are out there. Or at least used to be.

And that is the reason many ranches are set up on the premise that if you draw blood, it is your deer.

Losing deer happens. Some of the best shots and hunters out there have lost a deer. The hunter should think about the shots he is taking, amount of energy he has put into practice, and have a little more respect for the animal. Problem is that many do not see them as being the issue, and it ends up being the reason a rule is created to fix the problem...everyone else gets punished instead of addressing the one with the issue.

That's a tough one duckman. You can't really set a limit on how many shots you can take at bucks. I have stressed with friends and fellow hunters how important it is to make sure your gun is sighted in and to make sure you take a responsible shot. A mortally wounded lost deer does nobody any good but the yotes and buzzards.

I would say its enough. Makes me sick when I can't find anything. What caliber is this guy using? Is his gun properly sited?

Lets say you knew a fella on your lease that insisted on shooting deer with his .204. Then he loses a good buck because of it. You talk him in to using his .270 that he's had the whole time, and later that day he loses another good buck. Then the next day shoots at another deer and can't find it or determine if he even hit it. Now, lets just say that he happens to be your FIL. How you gonna approach that one?

Purely hypothetical, of course, and completely unrelated to my need of a good tracking gun.

It was a 30.06. It was on when he checked it. Pulling a shot can happen when excitement hits. I pulled a shot on a hog looking straight at me Sat night. Bullet went right by him as I should have waited for a broadside shot but he was just moving through. I already dropped a hog and turkey so my gun was on.

I don't like it being strapped to a 4 wheeler driving around checking game cameras during the day either... Maybe I am just complaining but at least put the odds in your favor. Good lesson is check the deer before you leave it by itself. If it is still kicking, put another shot in it. With 5 people looking and not a single drop of blood besides impact that deer might still be alive hopefully. Lot of fur though.

It it was my lease, he'd have been done on lost deer #1. That's 3 bucks he's killed, and that is no bueno IMO.

Well said, another example of weak straw bosses..Cut the cancer out and move forward

Nailed it.

+1. I doubt it could be legally enforced, but blood and hair on the ground should result in a punched tag, whether you recover the deer or not. Otherwise, it is wanton waste of game.

I honestly can't remember the last guided hunt I've taken where this wasn't the case. Nowadays, there is language in hunting contracts that spell it out in plain English that the hunter can only kill or wound one animal. It is tough love, no doubt, but it puts the monkey on the hunter's back to properly do his job.

Such a policy, written or unwritten, would also throttle back some of the carelessness associated with LR shooting.

No comment.

wow

I would say about 3 wounds ago.

It seems a shame to me that the guy wounded 3 deer and never found any of them. Seems to me that by getting out of the blind on the 3rd buck and going to get his truck that he needs a lil more training. I mean are you not suppose to wait for 20-30mins before getting out of the stand? This would have given him opportunity to keep his rifle on the buck and when it did or may have popped back up he could have dropped it. So much carelessness these days, so much lack of... Hmmm, I'm not sure what to call it.

Gotta ask cuz I've known several fellas that have pulled similar stunts...

Are you sure he didn't find the deer? Lots of squirrly guys out there that say they can't find a deer and load'em up down the road.

Lease boss needs to have firm talk with him. Things happen but there is a pattern here. Firm rules and and firm lease boss make happy hunting.

He would have been done after drawing blood on the first deer at our place.

Agreed.

On our place, if you knowingly wound a deer you burn a tag. He would have burned both his buck tags and that would have been the end of story.

TXduckman-It also sounds like you have the chance to help your hunting brother out; have you offered to talk to him about shot placement, and potentially checking the accuracy and mounting of his scope? Sounds like you should also talk to him about follow-up shots, waiting 15 mins before walking up on the deer, making sure it's down for good, etc. Dude sounds green.

He found the 3rd deer, it dropped. The other two were much nicer deer as we saw them on camera. We really don't have a lease boss or rules which makes it nice but can result in things like this leaving a bad taste in the other guys mouths. We are not strangers to each other either and everyone is trustworthy and great guys. Just different views on shooting bucks I guess. No issues in 5 years.

I just find it ironic that someone can be obsessed with game cam pics checking cameras every single weekend and then you shoot a barely legal young buck. I let legal bucks walk but maybe I will shoot anything over 13 inches from now on...

Just wondering, do you guys all meet and hunt at the same time, or can you hunt whenever you feel like it.

We all have our own families, jobs, and live 2 hours a way so we hunt when we want which happens to be Fri to Sun for everyone. So basically we hunt together on the weekends.

Why?

I agree with most everyone. #2 would have been the definite "last straw". #3 just tells me it is only about killing, or rather "getting your moneys worth" from the lease. That would be to much entitlement for me to not say something.

Mistakes happen. I don't want my fellow hunters to feel the pressure of getting kicked out if you miss a shot. That will lead to more misses.

I think hunters on a lease should all agree on some common sense terms and use your best judgement when kicking someone off the lease. In this case, probably the best course of action would have been for everyone to agree that this hunter should have given up his buck tag after the second buck.

In the end, you really need to try and understand things from their perspective and try and take the emotion out of your responses.

My ranch , I am lease manager. You draw blood, you burn a tag. It is something we all agreed on for the good of the ranch. I enforce it. Although , I have only had to do it once.

When in doubt of a good, clean kill shot. Don't pull the trigger. If you are shooting a smaller caliber rifle, be damn sure you hit a vital kill zone.

Speaking from experience. I put a .243 round through the left shoulder and out the right shoulder and actually videoed a bone fragment flying out. Big ole 7 pointer dropped and lurched forward. Last seen was him severely limping away. Searched 2-3 hrs with the help of our lease mgr. couldn't find him. 2 hrs later my daughter spots a mature 6 pt. she turned to me with those baby blues and asked if she could harvest that buck. So of course I said yes, next thing I know, POW. Perfect shot, double lung. He ran off about 25 yds and piled up. Upon waking up we realized he had a claw on the end which made him a 7 pt. aged him about 4.5 years.
The next day we continued to search for the 7 pointer that I hit to no avail. Doubtful he will make it. I learned that I had burned both my buck tags that weekend and even though I was disappointed, I completely understood the reasoning and completely agree. Several of the guys at the lease have offered to help look the next time we are out. So we are in search mode

I'm truly blessed to be part of a great group of guys/gals and a wonderful hunting spot.

So great lesson learned; practice, practice practice. Know what your going to harvest before squeezing and be thankful of all circumstances.