Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting First blood, possession or it depends?

I don't know that it's actually addressed by PA law....but my understanding is the last shooter is the winner....





I let a buck walk several rifle openers back. I had the entire season to hunt and he wasn't anything special. One last look to make sure I didn't wanna take the last opportunity, I noticed a piece of his guts hanging out. No thought about it. Boom. That buck was absolutely going to die a slow miserable death and not be recovered. I sat with him till almost dark. Noone came so I gutted him and tagged him with my only buck tag.



Couple years later....very last evening of our rifle season. Buddy and I were still hunting a ridge side by side 100-200yds apart. I cut a fresh set of buck tracks on the edge of the laurel I was working. I knew I'd never see that buck so I circled down below and sent him past my buddy. He got 2 shots off. I got to him and 1 shot was definitely in stomach. It looked like a grenade went off. Green and red all over the snow. Other shot was probably liver and a lung... Looked down the trail and it was a mess..blood spraying and pouring...green stomach matter.

Boom! Shot rings out from the road. Well...I sure hope that was at the doe....this buck can't be on his feet.

We followed the carnage 75yds and there was the buck piled up just over the knoll of the hill. Another hunter standing on the road saw us and quickly started towards the buck. N O way!


He claimed the buck was standing there and he shot it and he had no idea he was hit. The evidence in the snow told me otherwise. That buck was absolutely dead when he shot it. Maybe taking its last kicks but definitely on the ground and it was very evident it was hit twice by my buddy.

My buddy is older than I and he wasn't about to get worked up over it. He hauled me away and that was that.

Guy was in the right place at the right time walking down the road.....I have no doubt that buck was on the ground when he shot. Even if it was alive....those 2 hits and whatever ballistic missle my buddy was shooting...it wasn't getting away from us. In that case I'd say the ethical thing would be that goes to my buddy.

Not sure how it would be interpreted here, but in my mind it would be first blood unless other hunter was youth or really wanted the deer.

I have a slightly different view. If I shoot it and it doesn't go down and I track it and someone else shoots it and drops it, it's theirs if they want it. If a wounded one comes by and I shoot and drop it and they come walking up tracking it, as far as I'm concerned, it's theirs if they want it.

Years ago while setting up a drive my uncle who was a blocker had a huge buck approach him from behind in a creek bottom. He made a poor shot in the lower left front leg that was basically superficial but he and my father tried tracking in good fresh snow for a couple hours. After they gave up I took up the track and discovered the beast to be hiding behind our neighbors barn in a deep thick draw. I was barely able to convince them to try again but ultimately they agreed and I was able use my fathers human scent to flush the buck out the bottom of the draw against the wind. I killed him when he tried to exit. My uncle came over, shot the dead deer twice and tagged his 170” buck without so much as saying thank you. My take is that without the paper cut wound and deep fresh snow, I simply would not have tagged the animal myself.
Another time I shot a good 150” 10 point but hit the deer back just behind the lungs in the liver area. The buck crossed two properties over the next day before expiring. When I found him on a neighbor’s property, the neighbor had just discovered the deer and returned with a saw to remove the antlers. When I approached the neighbor, he went completely nuts on me, professed that I had poached the animal out of season and told me it was his. I told him if he wanted it that bad, it was his. Next time I bumped into him, he was friendly and acted like nothing had happened. My position is a deer is rarely going to be worth a fight or losing a friendship over.

Always prepare for someone to be an ahole when it comes to possession of a dead deer. I've seen arguments over a deer that was moving in someone else's direction when it got killed. I've seen track meets break out when a big deer goes down in sight of multiple people.

Good onya bud. That kid and his father will remember your kindness and hopefully carry it forward.

Same here.

i try to use a rifle big enough that the animal either goes right down or does go down close , i have lost a couple of animals that i killed and some butt head found it laying down and tag the animal. one was a 6 pt. bull elk in Wyoming that i put a Zwickey Broadhead thru the lungs ,plus thru both sides at 15 yds. and the local taxidermist walk up to this dieing bull elk in bull`s death bed shot an arrow thru his neck . many hunters have ethics but some are thieves of the truth as this taxidermist was and is.

If its a good hit and I just finish it off, it's the other fella's. If it was a poor shot, I'll wait to tag and see if someone comes a lookin'. If not, it's mine. It's SHAMEFUL how many folk don't follow up on a shot. You don't always find blood/ hair.
If it was a kid shooting, I don't care if it's a Booner, it goes to the kid.
Giving up a deer to a kid feels GOOD. Once had a broke leg doe come by. I dropped her and walked over. About the same time ,here comes Dad and a kid. The kid looked crushed and Dad had that " Oh no" look.
I said " Good shot kid!" " Can't believe that close and I hit it the leg".
I think the boy peed a little he was so excited. Just gave Dad a wink and walked off.
The LORD sent me a whopper doe the next day.
Even though possession is 10/10ths of the law in the woods, IT'S ONLY A CRITTER. Be nice about it and maybe ya make a new friend?

Where's the "like" button?

i don't know about PA law either, but it always been the guy who shot it last gets the animal.

my ex-wife shot a beautiful 10pt behind the shoulder and it ran about 80 yards and it fell down and then a guy shot it on it's stomach and went out the hindquarter. by the time we tracked the buck, the guy was busy gutting it. i decided it was a waste of a tag because he got only one hindquarter and one shoulder (my ex's exit wound took out the shoulder). he had a 10pt antler soup, while we ended up with 2 bucks (4 hindquarters, 3 shoulders, 4 backstraps and 2 necks).

THis

I can’t speak for other states, but in Montana, the killing shot is the one who is supposed to tag the animal…

I will double that like. Muddly, you are a good man. 👍👍