Hunter edicit question
coolsun
10/5/09 11:32pm
So when i got my bull last weekend we had a guy and his son come up to us and they said they were tracking a blood trail from a bull they shot about 300-500 yards but lost the trail and had heard our shots. And we told them that the bull was walking like he should there was no staggering and that the only bullet holes in the bull where mine. Well the bull had a missing eye we thought maybe he hit it on a branch or maybe got in a fight or something. So im home skinning the skull and come to find out there was a small hole in the other side of the skull where the bullet came out from this other hunter. So apparently the guy shot him in the eye with this 22 looking rifle and there were no signs of it. Sorry heres my question. If you kill an animal that someone has already shot but has gone that far who gets the animal?? Had i known that it was a bullet wound im not sure what i would have done, but for future reference i would like to get some of your opinions. My buddy said if it goes farther than 100 yards and you put him down its your. thanks in advance.
5,953
1) What you did was perfectly acceptable. The bull seemed to be a healthy bull and showed no signes of being hit; you didn't hear any shots nor were you aware that someone may have already put a bullet into the bull; you had no idea that the eye wound was even rifle-related. As far as I am concerned, it's your bull....although it is truely your bull now because it's wearing your tag.
2) If the bull was mortally wounded I would have made every effort to find the hunters that wounded it and assist in the recovery of the animal. After all, none of us wants to see such a magnificant animal suffer any longer than necessary, if at all. I believe one of our members here ran into this situation with a Mule deer buck a season or two ago and can chime in on this.
3) If there are any arguements between hunting parties as to who's bull it is......let them have it! Getting into a firefight with some idiots because they believe they shot the animal first is not what you want. There are other animals out there and no human life is worth a tag of any kind. If you still have serious issues with the situation, call the local Game Department and let a warden sort it out. Again, I've heard too many scarey stories that started this same way.
Not to mention, would you really want to put YOUR tag on an animal that was already mortally wounded by someone else?! I know there are folks that don't care but I certainly would not want to. I am prepared to go home empty handed every time I hit the field and really am out there to enjoy the great outdoors anyway...the last thing I want is a "charity" animal to fill my freezer.
I could go on but again, there are so many variances to this situation that I would be typing all night. Bottom line in my opinion: You did nothing wrong and have one heck of a fine animal that YOU harvested. again, CONGRATS!
If you didn't harvest this animal cleanly, the dolts that made the poor shot would have never found it and it would have been left to try to make it through the winter fighting infection and all the other nice things associated with a not immediately lethal wound like that. I agree with Hawks advise, nothings worth fighting over, but the bull is yours. The best news is that now this animal is being enjoyed and is not just another pile of bones on the winter range. That's my opinion.----shooter
The guy who gut shot him stopped buy our camp when he realized I was skinning the deer he had shot that morning. He congratulated me and even apologized for any mess his bullet may have made.
Now I do know of a few people who've had deer stolen from a hanging pole/tree by people before. Thats just pathetic