Two people shooting same deer

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whymhot

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 30, 2017
Messages
86
Location
CT
Never really thought about this until I got a call from my brother while hunting stated he is in an arguement with a guy over who gets the deer. It was his first deer neverless buck so he was pretty hyped.

I have "heard" both sides of the story: it's the 2nd shooters deer, it's the first guys deer blah blah.

I told him, screw it.. not worth the hassle of fighting with this guy who knows where it will go, just let him have it and we can go out again. So he snapped a few photos and went on his way.. not happy.

His situation was he saw the buck walk in, stand there for a few minutes and he let an arrow rip and deer ran off. When they got there another guy was approaching from the other side saying he shot it. 2 arrows in deer not really sure who shot first.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
9,936
Location
missouri
If this happened to me and it was the other guy's first deer, I'd just recover my arrow and congratulate him maybe even if it was a real trophy buck. Otherwise, it boils down to which hit was 'more deadly' as in was one arrow through the heart/lungs and the other a peripheral hit. If both were equally fatal, and neither hunter wants to be the better man, flip a quarter.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,150
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
As a Hunter Safety Instructor,, I've brought up this type of thing in my classes.
Hunter A shoots a deer. It runs out of sight. Hunter B sees the deer & he shoots the deer.
Who gets the deer?

A lot depends upon the two hunters.
Hunter A,, a new hunter,, or even a young new hunter.
Hunter B, a grizzled veteran hunter.

I often say; "Ethics dictate how you handle such things." Hopefully, the grizzled veteran will "allow" how he saw a wounded deer & decided to help the first hunter finish off his animal.

Then I relate how a hunter can go to a place like Africa,, where you are required to have a PH with you. AND often,, the PH will "back you up" with a second shot (or more.)

But if you have 2 young or new type hunters,, (or heck, a greedy hunter,) things have been bad.

The best comment; "It's not worth fighting over."
 

buckeyeshooter

Blackhawk
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
857
Location
Ohio
If you are on public land, not real clear. If I am on my land, which is posted, it is clearly my deer. Any one there is going to get charged and fish and game called.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2002
Messages
8,966
Location
Ohio , U.S.A.
bottom line , KNOW your "arrow", then you decide and hope yours was the "kill shot" seen them run a long ways with an arrow in them, yes even gun shot, happened to us two times, one time we followed it into the Penna. line, till we saw guys had got it, and yes even the game warden stopped us checked our guns & license and thanked us for "checking" to make sure it was NOT "gone to waste", and found out a third party was the initial "shot" ,,,,duh, here my buddy thought he "wounded it" ( gut shot) OH well, he got his later that day.....RIP Terry;)
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
9,936
Location
missouri
"If you are on public land, not real clear. If I am on my land, which is posted, it is clearly my deer. Any one there is going to get charged and fish and game called."
Very limited 'public land' around here. I have an 'agreement' with landowners on 2 sides of our north farm. They have my cell phone # and will call if a wounded deer crosses the fence and visy-versy but I have to keep an eye on the other Dudes.
Similar here on the home farm which is pretty much land locked w/o any public access. One side leased by some hunters from Louisiana and across the creek owned by a hunting group from Minnesota. Both groups have my phone #.
 

lolbell

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
354
I can't understand anyone arguing over who killed a deer. I'll go along with the "you're on my property" but if we're on public land or a club you can have it. It's not worth arguing about. There's more deer than flys around here. I'll go shoot another one. World record buck or 60# doe, it doesn't matter. JMHO
 

375hh1973

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
297
Location
Michigan
This happened 4 years ago

I was deer hunting on my private property which has a wire and signs around the entire perimeter.

It was a warm day, was out in an orange Tshirt and jeans. Found a good spot and sat on a cushion against a big tree, thinkin it may be a good day for a nap. Hour later heard a shot on the public property bout 400 yards to my left.

When I hear a shot I always get ready, something may run by. Sure enough here comes a small doe limping badly. She runs behind me, circles around, and comes to a stop 30 yards in front of me, totally unaware of me. I can see one of her front legs is shattered.

I hate to see anything suffer and I had 2 doe tags.

I use a shooting stick and had a rock solid rest and at 30 yds put one in the base of her ear. Done.

Sat back and waited.

Sure enough can hear what sounds like a bear coming thru the brush. Guy wearing blaze orange insulated bibs, blaze orange insulated coat, and a blaze orange stocking cap, sweating and wheezing like crazy tracking the blood. Follows the path the doe took, behind me, around me ended up in front. Never saw me, was so busy looking at blood and panting.

Finally I coughed and he about had a heart attack.

Hes looking at the dead deer and is shaking his head frowning. Says to me "I dont approve of head shots"

I look at him and say "I dont approve of people crippling deer then trespassing without permission to recover them"

At this point I was seriously concerned about this guy passing out and or dying on my property. I hooked up my deer drag and dragged the doe to the property line where he came from and told him to stay the hell off my land.
 

diyj98

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 26, 2000
Messages
257
Location
WV
Years ago my dad shot a deer that ran off. As he was tracking the deer, he came upon two guy draggin his buck off. He said the guys told him that they shot the deer (even though no other gun shots were heard). My dad figured it wasn't worth a fist fight with two guys or getting shot and/or going to prison so he kept his mouth shut and watched them drag off his deer.

I once saw a guy threaten another guy that was sitting "in his spot" on public land. And some of you will remember the hunter who shot another hunter for sitting in his treestand several years ago. It made national news. There's just too many nut cases out there to argue about whose deer it is.
 
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TestEngineer

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 7, 2022
Messages
93
On public land here, it's generally considered that the deer belongs to the person who put it down - not the first person to put a hole in it.

That said, I only have seen one time when multiple people shot the same deer at the same time.

I was fairly young at the time, so I went to a public area that an older brother had hunted before. When it got light on opening day, there was so much orange I felt like I was sitting in Mile High Stadium. After a bit, a small forkhorn buck comes walking out of the trees. I raised my rifle and had the buck in my sights. I was waiting for the buck to give me a good angle, as to avoid damaging any more meat than necessary. Then about 10 shots range out within a second and the buck dropped. I thought to myself "I'm sure glad I didn't shoot that hairy bag of hamburger". I would of let anyone claim it that wanted it.

That's the last time I ever hunted deer on the eastern slope. WAYYYY to many hunters for me. I've hunted the western slope ever since and I only see a few other hunters each day.
 
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