Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Public Land Mule Deer Hunt *pics*

Thanks everyone for all the responses... it was a great hunt & everything happened the way it was supposed to.

good on you, you did right and still killed a great buck

While I don't disagree with you, I have gone the other way and will again in the same circumstance.

In 2002, I had a special draw bull moose tag on a military base. Unfortunately, due to training exercises, the area I wanted to hunt was closed all week, we had to hunt unfamiliar areas of the base. On day 2, we spotted a 40"+ bull running across the meadow. We tracked him for about 8KM before he began to slow done and it looked like he was looking to bed down. I had just told my brother that and to be even slower and quieter, when we heard sszzzzswhack! A bullet hit an animal that was close by.

My brother was quite dejected and said we should head back to the truck. I said no, we came this far, I was going to find the carcass, or the south boundary fence, whichever came first. Deer were also open and it could have been a deer that was hit.

I walked up a small rise and just as I could see over it, I saw the bull walking through chest high brush. Before I could rest against a tree and shoot, the bull bedded in the brush and was not visible.

I walked a few steps further and crossed a cutline. Far down the line, 450-500yds easy, I saw a flatdeck Toyota pickup. There were two men and they were not watching the line, but messing around by the truck.

My brother and I crossed the cutline and I creeped closer to the bull. At no more than 80yds, the bull stood up in the chest high brush. As I had already followed him enough and I didn't want him to get into the really thick aspens, the 338winmag roared 4 times until the bull toppled over.

While we were posing for pictures, (and I can't remember if my friend had brought my truck over yet), the two men came over to where the bull lie. One of them pointed to a broadside chest shot hole and said "That's the bull I shot at. That's where I hit him."

Remember, It was 3-5 minutes after we heard the shot, that I finally saw the bull. I saw him moving for about 20yds and then he bedded. I saw no wounds and he moved normally. I then took another 3-5minutes to sneak closer and then shoot him. When the bull stood up, I saw no wounds. When we were posing him, I did not see any wounds that could not be explained by my shots.

I explained to the man that I had spotted the bull and followed him for a great distance and did not see any wounds. I said he may have shot at him, may have even hit him, but I knew who made the killing shot(s) and it wasn't him. He explained that they had been driving down the cutline, when they saw the bull come out of the bush. He stopped the truck and fired one shot and thought he hit the bull. In the process, he lost the truck keys in the snow. They had to use a hidden key or hotwire it to drive (I can't recall).

They left and looked for another bull.

Later, we did find a wound that hit far back and went through the center of a stomach full of twigs. I had never aimed there. We found a bullet, and it wasn't mine (30 cal partition and I was using 338 failsafes). Maybe that's why the bull bedded down where he did not far off the cutline.

I felt a little bad, but we never saw the wound until we were skinning the bull. Again, the way he was moving, there was no indication he was hit. Only strange thing was his sudden bedding in the brush.

Anyways, thats my story.

Congrats.

Me and a very close friend were elk hunting awhile back. I spotted an elk at first light about 600 yards away. We moved closer but were still a good ways off. I took a rest and fired two shots with no noticeable effect. I fired my third and final shot holding differently than the first two, more elevation. After empty I told my friend to SHOOT. He was waiting on me as this was my first elk. He fired one shot and the elk disappeared. I had my back to the elk to reload and didn't see what happened.

After a search for blood amidst falling snow we find no sign.

The next day we found the elk. It had two holes from my first two shots behind the shoulders and one in the neck from where he unknowingly issued the coup du gras (sp). He tagged the elk so I could continue hunting. And it was a good thing....he was bucked off his horse that day and blew his knee out... no more hunting for him.

I bagged a cow later in the week.

Here in the east, depending upon where you are hunting, this happens too often. I am always mixed on proper edicate because it should be first blood but if that first blood is a bad shot, then how do you know if the deer would have ever been recovered or found.

On a good note, it looks like everyone had a good time and you all did well, some beautiful looking deer there

I think you did the right thing, you will be rewarded in the future! Great hunt!

Those who hunt elk with a 243 and deer with 223s would do well to remember this story, though I have used 22-250 and 223 on deer and plan to again with those 60 gr NPs

for me, it could depend on the hit, if it was a total flesh wound, that woudl have never been deadly, then I"m saying its mine. Other than that in this situation, you done right.

I think you made the right call. It's tough to give up an animal, but this was the right thing to do. I hunt all public land, and lost out on two different opportunities this weekend alone. I helped an inexperienced hunter gut and drag a spike out just this morning. He was sitting right in one of my favorite spots. I fired no shots here, but have given a finishing shot one time and luckily the first shot came from one of our guys. No hard feelings at all-I was just glad we got the deer. I did end up tagging out later that day on a forkie. Maybe good deeds don't go unnoticed.

I'll agree with that man...

I had a similar experience on an Elk hunting trip in North Idaho 20+ years ago. I heard shooting about 10 to 15 minutes after legal shooting time (7:00 am)at what seemed like 2 or 3 miles away. I kept hunting and jumped a cow elk about 10:00am and watched it run off. I kept hunting in the general direction that the cow had went and heard the brush breaking and something running through the timber, thinking it was probably the same cow I didn't really get ready to shoot, but when the elk went through the opening below me I could see that it was a nice bull. I pulled up and shot just before the bull cleared the opening, and the elk just stopped running, I followed up with another shot and the elk droppen in his tracks.I walked down to where the bull was laying and started getting my jacket and belt off to go to work on dressing out the bull. Within about 5 minutes another hunter showed up and said that he and his partner had shot the bull and had been tracking it for almost 4 hours. After talking with this guy for 10 minutes or so and looking around it was obvious that they had hit the bull in the right front leg just below the knee. This hunter was a good guy and was concerned about what to do. I told him that they had shot the bull and probably would have caught up to it and told him it was their bull. About that time the other guy shows up, he had some sort of a disability to his leg, he walked with an exaggerated limp, which is why he was 15 minutes behind the other hunter. He immediately went into a tirade about me shooting "HIS" elk and that I shouldn't have interferred in his hunt. After he went into his tirade I found out that they had been shooting from the road at 500 to 600 yards and knew that they hit the bull because it stumbled when it was hit. I was going to help the first guy get the elk out of the woods, but after being chewed out by the second guy I just said "see ya" and went on my way. I talked to the game warden later that day and by Idaho law the elk was mine, and if we had contacted the game warden and went through the scenario, not only would the elk have been mine but the other guys may have gotten a citation for shooting from the road. I didn't feel too bad about not getting that elk though, usually after being wounded and chased for 4 to 5 hours it probably wouldn't have been too good to eat anyway. I kille a 5x6 the next weekend so all was good.

Bart

Sounds like it paid off for you Bart, that's a tough one to sucker down too. I don't blame you for not helping the guy either... shooting from the road & having an attitude about you killing the bull that they poorly shot "sounds like a real winner".

Thanks for passing it along Bart!

Well I want to congratulate you on doing what you did as it took sportsmanship and class. You'll remember this story for the rest of your life and you got a nice picture of the buck you shot and then another of the 2nd nice buck you shot so to me you got a twofer this season. A nice buck to take home as well as a really good story. Never let a deer make you feel bad for even one day unless you poach it shoot or waste it or something dishonorable like that. I thought about this the other day when someone started a thread about letting a nice buck walk and wondering if he would regret it. It's a deer nothing to regret either way. I one time read a story in one of the sporting rags where two kids shot at the same duck and the one that got to it first kept it over the claim of his friend and later found out the other kids family was having a hard time. The quote at the end has always stuck with me. "The chance to be magnanimous last but an instant the chance for regret lasts a lifetime." Enjoy your successful season !

That.

This is as much or more about fellowship as meat for me, so in my mind you not only did the right thing but then went above & beyond in helping the brother out. Good on you; over time you'll find that having done the right thing by transcending the potential conflict is more satisfying than being proven "right" in an argument with a fellow hunter.

Good on you. Awesome hunt!