He is not trespassing if he was invited onto the ranch. Again, if you're with him and he shoots the wrong deer, that's on you. Kicking him off the ranch immediately is what I would do. Most ranches would also keep the deer.

This happened on our place many years ago with a banker. The owner's son was guiding and told him the deer was off-limits. Then he starts to put the barrel of his rifle out the window of the stand and was told again YOU CAN NOT SHOOT THAT DEER! He said he just wanted to look at it through his scope as he had never seen a deer that big. Then BOOM! Dead deer. The banker was promptly shown the gate. The deer still hangs in our lodge with the MLD tag from the ranch attached to his antlers.

Okay, so you are saying that honest mistakes can't happen and you are just going to throw the guy off and make him get a GW to retrieve his deer.. How many
times have I been setting at a public rifle range and someone else shoots my target. More than a handful and thats without the excitement of shooting a buck.

If you hit someone else's target at a range or "accidentally" shoot a deer because of excitement then you have no business hunting or even owning a firearm for that matter.

When you bring a guest to hunt in your paid spot you take full responsibility for his actions. A dead deer is a dead deer at that point and is of no use to the property or paid member, but the paid member should face punishment.

The OP didn't mention the place being a deer lease so I can only assume he's referring to his own place. If so, I wouldn't make an offer to someone to hunt my place if I wasn't prepared for them to take any legal deer they see. Otherwise, you're sending a clear signal that deer mean more to you than relationships.

If it were a lease with other members involved, I would consider ANY deer he shoots as going towards my quota and make that clear to him. If he shoots a nice buck that I asked him not to shoot, it's still on me and my lease quota. No member should challenge another member so long as the deer taken goes toward their quota, even if a guest shoots it. If I bring a guest then I alone accept the risk and accountability for any deer he/she takes. If a friend shoots a nice buck after I make that clear to him/her, I question if they consider themselves a true friend of mine.

LOL. This is all Hypothetical. Hence the name of the thread.

So if the lease says, shoot a 3.5 yr old deer and you get the boot, does your buddy shooting the 3.5 yr old get you the boot? It's your quota, after all. So is his mistake yours?

Absolutely. Choose your friends wisely, especially when you invite them to your deer lease.

If the tables were turned and you were the guest, would you have a problem following what you were told?

IMHO, such mistakes are not made without the person realizing it beforehand and deciding up front to take their chances with the recourse in order to take home a trophy. Yes, some folks just can't help themselves when it comes to big antlers.

Yes. He's your responsibility while on the lease. Hypothetically speaking.

What a sphincter. Did he hold the note on the ranch?

One of the reasons I won't hunt on a lease that I'm not on....rather shoot pigs anyway....they eat better.....no drama....

EDIT: Hypothetically speaking....

Why do deer leases have to be so complicated?

Don't shoot this, don't shoot that, thats my deer you can't shoot it, don't poop behind that tree.

By the grace of God I am allowed to hunt a friend's farm. I have been on leases before and every time it was a big hassle. Never again.

To stay on thread if a "friend" shoots a "special" deer he is not allowed to shoot, but is legal per TPWD, let him tag the deer, take it with him, and say congratulations that is the last deer you will ever take on this place have a day.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Yep

Leases don't have to be complicated. Our only rule concerning the deer themselves are:1 8pt or bigger and 1 less than 8, and no does (landowner rule), that's it...if you like the deer, shoot the deer!

So if I allow someone on my place, they can shoot whatever they want, without legal consequences?

I find that highly unlikely.

Someone hunting on my place only has permission to shoot specific animals. Any thing else is poaching IMO. It’s not a free-for-all.

Max I think the question is whether contract law is breached based on whether verbal allowance to shoot one deer results in a different deer being shot. I can certainly see a commercial operation where one is paying by the hunt, per points, score, etc. obviously does constitute breach,.just not sure with a buddy shooting another buddy's deer based on a pure verbal instruction carries the same legal ramifications, guess we need NP to opine legally on this one.

No sir.

I don’t get butt hurt if a buddy shoots a bigger deer than me and I wouldn’t want my deer lease to be highly complicated either.

I only hunt family land so we never have had this problem

I would never allow anybody I didn’t REALLY know to hunt on any of my places anyways.

It was just a hypothetical, thanks for all the replies

As a guest I would hope I never put a host in such a position. I’ve been on a couple of MLD hunts where the host told me to only shoot does. Sure enough, a 120” 6.5 yr old cull buck showed up at my stand. I got to watch a beautiful mature buck for 20 minutes and then shot a coyote about half an hour later (predators were also on the approved list).

How severe a beating did your friend get?

What happens if you shoot the wrong deer on drawn (public) hunts just asking in case I ever get drawn again

No kidding.

What if you draw a doe tag, & shoot a trophy 12 pointer. Reckon the state would say “oh heck, my bad, no biggie”.

Interesting topic.

Father invited a good friend of his to the ranch to hunt. Ranch rules for deer at the time was 5 points and better.

I heard him shoot and heard the bullet hit the deer.

After he got to the house, he said he had missed a deer. When I was able to get my Father to the side I told him I heard the bullet it the deer.

We all went to look for the deer at my father's insistence. He and my father went to where he said the deer was standing when he shot. They could not find any blood or tissue.

I went to the other end of the field looking around and found a 3 point draped over a log inside the woods which had been gutted.

Now the problem, I had to tell my father what I found, knowing there were going to be dire consequences.

My Father cut his friendship off. I felt bad, but had to do the right thing. They remained non-friends for almost 20 years.

I was told by the Warden at Atlanta state park, they keep the deer, you pay restitution. He was very nice as he told us all at the pre-hunt orientation and check in. Was a good hunt too. Buddy of mine saw a monster 12 that was off limits. I saw a nice legal 8pt. Problem was we could only shoot doe or spike.

A friend I’d take hunting wouldn’t shoot something I asked him not to. That said, I take a couple of buddies a year that have killed a lot of deer. I tell them if they see a giant to go ahead and shoot him. It’s just a deer why worry about it? Hypothetically if a buddy did shoot a deer I asked him not to I’d probably whip his arse at camp for betraying my trust and loose a freind. No legal action would be taken on my part. I’d just realize my circle of friends just got a little smaller. Trust and a man’s word mean something to me.