Dispute Over 9 Pt Buck

[Bureaucrat]

What if the adult needed the meat to feed his family?

[Boar]

Sorry but its hard for me to swallow that, "the need to feed the family" anyone one this site in my opinion dosent hunt for the sole purpose to put food on the table. Not in this day and age. we hunt for the sheer love of it. putting meat in the freezer that we harvested is secondary. pretty sure that for the price of the tag and fuel and shells and other hunting necessitys that he and we could all run down to sams club and actually fill the freezer. or by a whole hog or half beef and be sitting on the couch watching football. The kid should have gotten the deer. Just showes the true mentality of some adults, but I also see some of the senarios here to.

[deerminator]

This ...

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/...y-buck-lifetime

A wonderful example of buddies and no greed when it comes to big bucks. Granted they are friends. I also like this in regards to the party hunting thread. I used to be against party hunting because I don't do it and many people do abuse it by hunting alone and tagging for their wife or girlfriend. But examples like this, and there are many unreported, are the reason I am now in favor of party hunting. You can't punish people because of what others do. Its not right and the fact that the whole party took the day off to celebrate the big buck after it was taken speaks to the motives involved. They weren't out to massacre the cloacl herd.

[LightningBG]

Sorry but its hard for me to swallow that, "the need to feed the family" anyone one this site in my opinion dosent hunt for the sole purpose to put food on the table. Not in this day and age. we hunt for the sheer love of it. putting meat in the freezer that we harvested is secondary. pretty sure that for the price of the tag and fuel and shells and other hunting necessitys that he and we could all run down to sams club and actually fill the freezer. or by a whole hog or half beef and be sitting on the couch watching football. The kid should have gotten the deer. Just showes the true mentality of some adults, but I also see some of the senarios here to.

For most of us, that is probably true, especially if hunting out of state or a long distance away. But, I'm sure there are plenty of people that count on that meat as a good portion of their meat for the year. People that aren't especially well off, hunting out their back door, with an in state license, with a gun they've had for decades. For those people 2-3 rounds and a $30 license might bring them 100+ lbs of meat for the year. For some, that few hundred dollars in savings (vs store bought meat) can make a lot of difference. That's new coats for the kids, replacing that finicky sump pump, or a load of gravel for the driveway, etc. Everyone has a different situation.

I'd still give the kid the deer.

[efgh]

Randy H must be pretty proud of himself about now, that is if he read these posts and thinks about what he did to a 11 year old kid.

[LightningBG]

We actually had a somewhat similar but opposite situation. One of the guys in our group took a shot at a deer. Nice doe, and it wasn't the greatest shot on earth. The deer was wounded and on the move. This was his first deer ever (he's got to be nearing 40 years old). Another guy in our party, who was hunting with his 10 year old (kid was just tagging along and has been for years (no gun, no shooting)), ended up shooting the deer and dropping it. #1 guy tracked it all the way to where #2 dropped it. Being it was #1 guys first deer, #2 guy and the kid gave the deer to #1 guy, even though his shot probably wouldn't have been fatal. #2 and son ended up heading home shortly after due to the kid not feeling well and he had gotten a wet rear end from sitting in the snow. They were going to eat tag soup and they knew it.

To me this just shows that it can work both ways. Even though this kid didn't shoot the deer himself, he was shown by his father that giving it away was just as important if not more important than keeping it themselves.

No matter which way it turns out, there are teachable moments for these youngsters.

[leechlake]

don't know the guy a bit but most people justify their actions and I'd assume he's done that and has convinced himself he is justified by his actions. We all do it to an extent.

[Boar]

I hear ya Lightning bug, but would have to dissagree with "hunting to save money" Just for the idea of lisence pluse expenditures to gamble on getting a deer off 40-45 maybe percent of meat of the off the bone which will diffe per size of deer but probably an average of about 35-40 lbs tops. If the need to put meat on the table was that much, then taking that monney and watching meat sales would be a forsure win. but your right everyone has a different situation and im not trying to speack for all. just my way of seeing. kid gets deer everytime.

[kcota15]

I would haven given the deer to the kid also. But this doesn't make me right and the gentleman in the situation wrong. An early hunting experience for me would be the motivation for my decision.

I was 14 when I harvested my first deer. When I lived in MN I was part of a hunting party. While making a drive, one of the other guys, Barry, in our party shot at a buck and wounded it. We finished the drive after marking the blood trail with the idea of returning to track the deer later. After we finished that drive and made another, Barry asked me if I would go track the deer with him. I was pretty excited to be asked. This was the first year that I was allowed to carry a rifle during the hunting season. The previous season I was allowed to partake in drives but not allowed to carry a rifle. It was a party rule that the first year of hunting for a youngster would be without a rifle so they could learn the land, stand placement, etc.

Luckily there was 4 or 5 inches of snow that year. We followed the blood trail for about 1/4 mile through the woods until eventually there was no more blood. We did however stay on the track. We could identify the wounded deer track from others, because it would always have drag marks on the wounded leg. We tracked and tracked. The other guys in the party said we were wasting our time. We tracked it out of one woods over a ridge and into the next woods. Barry kept encouraging me and said we will track it until we don't see anymore tracks. Finally as we were standing looking for the next track, we spotted it 40 yards from us. It was standing broadside and Barry told me to shoot. I did and dropped it.

Never at any time did Barry even consider taking any credit for the deer. He insisted it was my deer because I earned it by tracking it and making the final shot. I was super pumped and got even more excited when my dad finally caught up to us. I will never forget his smile and high five. I think Barry's excitement was almost as evident as mine.

I will never forget Barry giving me that experience and allowing it to be mine. Unfortunately, since I have moved to AZ I don't get to hunt with those guys anymore. I sure miss the party hunting. There was never any jealousy. Only sincere happiness for whoever was successful during the hunt.

I know this situation is different since they were not in the same hunting party. However, I know how much excitement and pride I got because of someone else's generosity. I can only hope to pass that on to another one day.