I would like to hear the full story of the hunt on this deer. I have found a couple wounded dead deer over the years (one an arrow in the guts and one a bullet in the guts). Phoned fish and wildlife, they came and looked at both kills and determined that I could keep the horns (and capes). I never heard who shot the bullet buck but I did find out that the arrow buck was shot at 90 yards from a person who had no business shooting that far. I never told him I had the buck and I never felt bad about it. Point is that if I found the OP's buck I would show him if it was an ethical shot, and everything was done to recover it. I would still keep the antlers. But i've heard so many stories on this buck, everything from 110 yard facing away shots and tracking and pushing him for miles, to a good hunt that just had some bad luck. I would like to hear the real story.

Why would you want to keep an animal's antlers and cape if the only reason you had it, was that you were lucky enough to stumble upon it? Do you actually have that found animal mounted up on the wall?

And your definition of ethical may vary from another person's definition of ethical. That's the thing about ethics, they are different for everyone.

Definitely not ideal hunting in 34 deg weather but unfortunately some of us working stiffs have no choice. We hunt when we have the time booked.
Arrowed my elk sept 6th...think it hunt 34 that day actually.
Just need to have a plan and work a little faster and smarter.

Do you work?
What do you do when you have a trip planned and the weather doesn't cooperate. Cancel?

Oh man WT Junkie must of hit a nerve. Man some guys get fired right up during the month of November.

Isn't this why bow hunters are supposed to put name and phone number on arrow shafts?

No, that hasn't been a rule for at least 10 years.

LC

This is not the deer I found. I left that one where it died.

It's a stupid old argument used by ignorant old farts against early season bow hunters, as well as foot access hunters in remote terrain. And it's 100% bs. People hunt in Nevada and Arizona, where it gets a heck of a lot hotter than here. You do have to think about how to handle the meat in warm weather, but it's not that difficult.

But yeah I hear ya, between the deer and hunters I'm not sure who gets more wound up in November. Guilty as charged.

Why not keep it if you can? No different than finding a dead head while out hunting or shed hunting no matter how old it is. Cause of death doesn't really matter and even though I didnt kill it there is a story to go with it. The cape was used on a different project and the antlers hang on a shed.

Lets go back to the original post. ' LOOKING FOR INFORMATION, not whether or not its right or wrong to keep the dead deer. That's another post in itself

It would be helpful thou to know which WMU this happened in.

I knew where that deer was but my schedule didn't allow me to get out there, please don't say which WMU if you do know. Terrible ending for a deer I watched for a couple years, its unfortunate but it happens. I heard from the local rancher that he was dead but no other information.

I cant help but read this entire thread and think to myself how the antis don't have to do anything to destroy hunting, it seems we are doing a good enough job. If its done legally it should be high fives and thank you's, not constant judgement from others.

The difference is that you knew who shot it and who had put the time into hunt the animal. Much different than shed hunting or finding a random skull. So your story goes, “I found a dead deer someone else shot, decided not to tell him, used the cape for my own benefit and then hung the antlers on my shed, wanna see them”. .... nice story.

Did you happen to tell F&W you knew who shot it when you applied for your permit?

So what's the time limit on taking a dead head? What's the protocol for shooting an injured animal? What if someone misses the shot completely, do they get dibs on it in the future? What if an animal isn't mortally injured from a bad shot, is it still the original shooters animal until the end of the day? Week? Month? Season?

A guy shot an animal and couldn't find it after a long hard search and leaves. End of his "possession" of said animal. New hunter finds it, dead or alive, now it's his opportunity to take said animal. End of story.

If I find an animal dead, I do not want it. I will report it to F+W or the RCMP.
If I find an animal wounded and there is no one in pursuit I will call F=W or the RCMP and wait for their instructions. If requested and given permission I will finish the animal, but I make it clear that I do not want it.

I once saw a wounded buck with a dangling rear quarter. After getting permission from the rancher to be on the land, the RCMP asked me to dispatch the animal and said I could keep it. When I said I did not want it the officer told be to offer it to the rancher. I was instructed to give the rancher paper with my name and the officer's name. We did this by telephone and the RCMP did not attend.

He stated he knew who shot and mortally wounded the animal and decided not to tell he recovered his buck. If you can’t see the difference then I am glad we don’t hunt the same area.

If I found this buck dead with an arrow in it that killed it I would do everything I could to find the shooter and return his hard earned trophy.I don't understand wanting to keep something that I didn't harvest.A dead winter kill is one thing but to me this falls under a different set of circumstances.

I've been in that situation and did find it after a few days. Folded my tag and took the antlers. They're in the corner of the garage with junk piled on them. I should have left them where they were. There are no good feelings about that hunt even if they are a nice set of antlers. It was not a successful hunt.

Just typed a long winded post and deleted it. I really want to comment on the stupidity in this thread, but I'll hold off...

My intent with this post was not to stir up any controversy. It's simply the buck of a lifetime and it will haunt me till the day I die if I don't ever get to see him in person.
As for the effort put into recovering him, I can assure you I did everything in my power to make that happen. I brought several close friends as well as my family to the spot and literally spent sunup to sundown looking for several days in a row. I personally put on over 76 kms in that little area trying to cover every square inch of the property. Not to mention the time donated by my friends who took out of their own hunting season just to help me.
Exactly a week after I had killed him I was still searching, and in a moment of utter exhaustion I knelt down and had an earnest prayer meeting right there on top of the hill. I got up from that and wandered around for another hour or two, turned around to head back to my truck, and walked right up to him.
I knew my shot was fatal, so I was going to keep looking until I found him or until I saw him on someone else's social media page. Once I saw that his head had been cut off, it became my mission to find the person with him. I'd love to know their side of the story. How did they find him? When was it? How was the velvet? Would they consider getting a replica made? This deer was literally all I thought about day and night for a couple months of my life and not knowing where he is or what the end of the story is, that's what's killing me.

I can also assure everyone that there was no 110 yard shots taken. No one should ever take a shot like that! Especially on a deer of this caliber, but also on any deer. Even if you're the best shot in the World, too much can happen over the time it takes to get there.
This deer was shot at an ethical distance by a proficient archer (myself) and was mortally wounded. The angle was steep quartering away, and I didn't get quite as much penetration as I would have liked. So I decided to back off that night, (it was shortly before sunset) and go in for him the next morning.
I brought two close friends in the next day. We found one drop of blood on the dry prairie grass, that was it. The carcass was about 800 yards downhill from that blood spot. So my assumption is that it was a liver hit.

I hope that you get a chance to at least see this buck. :)

I can vouch for Jeff that he is as ethical and dedicated of a hunter as you will ever find. Watching his social media feed over the last couple months, I know how hard he worked for this deer, both before and after the shot. Jeff, I sincerely hope that you get some closure on the deer and the hunt. It's crazy how much emotion one animal can stir up. But for how passionate I know you are, it's not surprising. All the best Jeff, and good luck with your search. I will keep my eyes and ears open. Maybe a measuring day down the road will turn something up as well. I will be attending Foremost in January. I would hope that other forum members will do the same.

Kind Regards,

Blake

Thanks for the kind words Blake!

I've been following this thread and it is a crappy deal all around. It appears to me that you've done all that you could, and more than many others would have....I hope you at least get to see the antlers up close.:)

I couldn't tell fish and wildlife who killed either as I did not know at the time when I found it and applied for my permit.

Great to hear that you did all you could to recover the buck. We all know there will be those days as archery hunters where things could have gone better like we had planned. You could approach your local fish and wildlife with a picture of the deer and inquire if they may have had it come in the office for a permit. Depending on how close he was to shedding the velvet may have still have been good (depends how much blood was still inside) Hopefully the deer turns up and we all get a chance to enjoy a few close up photos of him. Good luck

100% wrong

Dedicated yes .. ethical ? Well we will see what happens this week if he is hunting where I think he is .:thinking-006:

So, are you observing Jeff hunting, while he is out in the field? Or are you basing this off of his last attempt at locating the Mule Deer he arrowed, or just heresay? Keep in mind, he did locate the deer after a long and hard fought battle, only to find the carcass and missing the head. So if you want to question HIS ethics, I think he comes out on top for spending so much time searching for that beautiful buck. But don't forget about the "hunter(s)" that are laying low and not coming forward. I'm not up for a ****ing match, but I do have a full bladder.