Found a dead deer in the woods while scouting out an area

[rlg]

At the end of October we participated in a thread about a guy who shot at a dear and was not sure if he hit it or not and how he should go about looking for it. Well, I found a dead deer in the woods this week and it was not a pretty sight.

Since bow season is over for me and rifle season is about to start, I was scouting out the area that I will be hunting in a couple of weeks when I came across what was left of the rotting carcass of a dead deer. The coyotes have obviously ravaged most of the animal and by the evidence and the smell, I would estimate that the carcass was about one week old.

Amongst the carcass of this fairly large female was a broad headed aluminium arrow probably shot from a cross bow rather than a bow telling by the length of the arrow. The impact point of the arrow was very obvious since it had shattered part of the right shoulder blade.

Anyway, thought I would just post this since we were talking about losing a deer after having shot it. I have seen the carcass of dead deer and other animals in the woods before, but it is the first time I see one of a deer that had been wounded by an arrow before dying. I assume that it must have covered quite a distance before stopping and dying in that spot. At least, I hope it died before the coyotes found it.

I guess it happens more often than we know.

Regards
Robert

 

[sjemac]

I would hope that the coyotes found it and hastened it's end myself.

Talked to a seasonal GW in town yesterday and she says that they've been kept really busy with shot and left animals. Mostly bad shots that can't track. Lots of charges so far.

Anyway, the snow today should help a few more of the Fudds find their gut and ass shot deer this week.

 

[sheephunter]

Sad when it happens but even those that do everything right will eventually have it happen to them. Sure there are those that likely shouldn't be in the field but ####e happens sometimes. I've seen the best looking shots go sadly astray over the years..........none of us like to come upon a dead animal wounded and not recovered by another hunter but I'd be careful with branding them with too many names. You might find yourself wearing the Fudd hat one day.

 

[sjemac]

Sad when it happens but even those that do everything right will eventually have it happen to them. Sure there are those that likely shouldn't be in the field but s**te happens sometimes. I've seen the best looking shots go sadly astray over the years..........none of us like to come upon a dead animal wounded and not recovered by another hunter but I'd be careful with branding them with too many names. You might find yourself wearing the Fudd hat one day.

Now now sheephunter, I know we all make bad shots. I'm talking about the guys who do it routinely and consider a deer sized target to be just that, a deer sized target (what vitals? everthing from tail to nose tip is a viable target). Who believe that if they shoot and the deer doesn't drop in its tracks that they missed (way more of these types out there than I ever thought). Talking to this warden, she was indicating that it was MOSTLY Calgarians out for their one weekend of deer hunting a year, taking low percentage shots and not looking too hard after. If that isn't the definition of a Fudd, I don't know what is.

My point was that the snow will help some of these guys find deer that they wouldn't have on Sat/Sun this week.

 

[sheephunter]

Yup, there are definitely some of those but the danger comes in branding most city people as Fudds or most people that wound an animal as Fudds......I know some very accomplished hunters from Calgary and I've seen some very accomplished hunters lose an animal......sorry, just not big calling others hunters down .....it can be a long fall from the pedastal and not really sure how it helps the image of hunters in general.

I think snow will help all mere mortal hunters track wounded game better if such a situation arises......

 

[sjemac]

Yup, there are definitely some of those but the danger comes in branding most city people as Fudds or most people that wound an animal as Fudds......I know some very accomplished hunters from Calgary and I've seen some very accomplished hunters lose an animal......sorry, just not big calling others hunters down .....it can be a long fall from the pedastal and not really sure how it helps the image of hunters in general.

I think snow will help all mere mortal hunters track wounded game better if such a situation arises......

See my post on Pharaoh's hunt. I already fell but learned from my mistake. Some guys never do.

 

[M12shooter]

I've found more than my share of hunter shot and lost deer here in Manitoba. Gets really bad when rifle season opens and there is no snow. A bunch of ravens, magpies and maybe an eagle hanging around is a dead giveaway. Most archers and muzzies are fair to excellent hunters/trackers in my local. The general rifle season brings a lot more "hacks" into the field. As for city hunters being "duffers" or "fudds" ... well I've seen plenty of rural people major ill-equipped and indifferent to loosing animals. One guy a few years ago We bumped into had an old rusty Enfield with no front sight! Just my 2 cents worth...

 

[chemo]

i know it might not be topic related much but my hunt mates saw a moose carcass in the nearest dumpster of the hunting site they use this season and all that was missing was the filet mignon, it is likely that natives dumped it there, it was the only group seen on the field and the only who could cross the reserve border and tracks indicated moose went towards the reserve to get to wolf-free zones

 

[Wolf@TS]

I've found more than my share of hunter shot and lost deer here in Manitoba. Gets really bad when rifle season opens and there is no snow. A bunch of ravens, magpies and maybe an eagle hanging around is a dead giveaway. Most archers and muzzies are fair to excellent hunters/trackers in my local. The general rifle season brings a lot more "hacks" into the field. As for city hunters being "duffers" or "fudds" ... well I've seen plenty of rural people major ill-equipped and indifferent to loosing animals. One guy a few years ago We bumped into had an old rusty Enfield with no front sight! Just my 2 cents worth...

X2 here .. sounds like you hunt the same area I do !

 

[Vic777]

I guess it happens more often than we know.

You probably guess right.

 

[Kenny_G2]

i know it might not be topic related much but my hunt mates saw a moose carcass in the nearest dumpster of the hunting site they use this season and all that was missing was the filet mignon, it is likely that natives dumped it there, it was the only group seen on the field and the only who could cross the reserve border and tracks indicated moose went towards the reserve to get to wolf-free zones

OHKAY........Interesting story, next time I am moose hunting I will check the nearest dumpster for a moose that natives left there just outside a wolf free zone

 

[chemo]

OHKAY........Interesting story, next time I am moose hunting I will check the nearest dumpster for a moose that natives left there just outside a wolf free zone

this is serious, it was a very tough year for both wolves and moose, wolves came down south, moose went east as it was steeper ground, its a story told by the tracks, but the dumpster part is not related to our insuccess

 

[sunray]

"...wounded by an arrow..." It wasn't wounded by an arrow. It was wounded by whoever shot the arrow.

 

[fratri]

Unfortuneately we lost permission to hunt on land because the land owner found a dead deer on his property killed by a firearm just the other day ....what got him really angry was only the back legs were taken, the rest was left to rot....It made him so upset, he no longer wants hunters on his property... Even though it was not me or my son he has lost all respect for hunters at this point that as he says he "rather not deal with us"...It's ashame, my son and I thought we had a special place......

 

[sheephunter]

I slipped out for a couple hours this afternoon and found fresh boot tracks in the area I was hunting. After walking a while, I heard ravens and went to investigate. Upon following the tracks, I found a fresh gut pile and then drag marks out to the road. Damn, I have no doubt these were some law abiding/ethical hunters at work here. I'm guessing they were from the city too!

Funny, no one ever posts these types of stories....only wild speculation about what a bunch of bozos every other hunter but them is. Wonder why that is?

 

[sjemac]

I slipped out for a couple hours this afternoon and found fresh boot tracks in the area I was hunting. After walking a while, I heard ravens and went to investigate. Upon following the tracks, I found a fresh gut pile and then drag marks out to the road. Damn, I have no doubt these were some law abiding/ethical hunters at work here. I'm guessing they were from the city too!

Funny, no one ever posts these types of stories....only wild speculation about what a bunch of bozos every other hunter but them is. Wonder why that is?

Because we assume most other hunters are doing it right and don't need to post those stories. We talk about bank robberies not the guys who took money out with their bank card.

I posted info passed on to me by the game warden who has been actually laying the charges. The Sundre/Water Valley area is relatively close to Calgary and there is a very high percentage of Calgary based hunters here so it would make sense that they would be getting more infractions since they would be less familiar with the area and its landowners than the locals. That may simply mean that the local poachers are better at slipping through the cracks.

I never said or branded most city people as Fudds so don't put those words in my mouth (or keyboard in this case).

You're reading more into this than is here Sheephunter or are trying to pick a fight.

 

[sheephunter]

Talked to a seasonal GW in town yesterday and she says that they've been kept really busy with shot and left animals. Mostly bad shots that can't track. Lots of charges so far.

So how was she laying chargres for shot and left animals when the hunters couldn't find them because of their poor tracking skills. Who found them? How did she know who shot them? If a person truly couldn't find an animal, how could they be charged anyhow? Didn't they do their due dilligence?

Not trying to pick a fight at all....just not big about people going on about "they heard" stories about the poor ethics of what according to you sounded like an epidemic of Elmer Fudd city hunters. Post a story about a bank robber and there's likely a fact or two and usually he's not part of an indentifiable group like hunters. You basically painted a huge number of hunters with the "you're not as good as me because I live in a small town" brush and I'm trying to understand why.

 

[sjemac]

Wow! You read all that into it? Paranoid much?

Apparently (according to her) landowners and other hunters reported the shootings and some vehicle descriptions. Charges were able to be laid in many cases as a result. I guess by actually talking to the hunters and looking at the carcasses she and he could tell that there were bad shots made and that the hunters didn't track them. Were all the left animals connected to a charge? I wouldn't think so but I didn't ask. I would also imagine that any wanton waste charges are probably add-ons to the trespassing charges or the shooting from the road charges that originated the calls. Again, I didn't ask.

I reported what she told me but I'm sorry that you require the Hansard records of the entire conversation. I didn't tape it.

I'm sorry I ever used the word Fudds if it upsets you so much. I will keep that in mind for the future and simply talk about "inexperienced hunters" and "poachers" when to referring to this type of stuff in order to sustain your delicate sensibilities.

 

[DBeato]

a reply to Fratri's story, taking the legs and leaving the rest of the animal to rot is not hunting. It's called poaching, that is the difference, a hunter would not do that. Explain this to the land owner. Also explain to him that the best defence against poachers is to give a law abiding hunter permission to hunt on his property, because a law abiding hunter keeping an eye on the property is his best security for poaching, tree stands, trespassing, growing dope, etc....this explaination worked for me on the farm I hunt.

 

[rem338win]

Yup, there are definitely some of those but the danger comes in branding most city people as Fudds or most people that wound an animal as Fudds......I know some very accomplished hunters from Calgary and I've seen some very accomplished hunters lose an animal......sorry, just not big calling others hunters down .....it can be a long fall from the pedastal and not really sure how it helps the image of hunters in general.

I think snow will help all mere mortal hunters track wounded game better if such a situation arises......

I slipped out for a couple hours this afternoon and found fresh boot tracks in the area I was hunting. After walking a while, I heard ravens and went to investigate. Upon following the tracks, I found a fresh gut pile and then drag marks out to the road. Damn, I have no doubt these were some law abiding/ethical hunters at work here. I'm guessing they were from the city too!

Funny, no one ever posts these types of stories....only wild speculation about what a bunch of bozos every other hunter but them is. Wonder why that is?

So how was she laying chargres for shot and left animals when the hunters couldn't find them because of their poor tracking skills. Who found them? How did she know who shot them? If a person truly couldn't find an animal, how could they be charged anyhow? Didn't they do their due dilligence?

Not trying to pick a fight at all....just not big about people going on about "they heard" stories about the poor ethics of what according to you sounded like an epidemic of Elmer Fudd city hunters. Post a story about a bank robber and there's likely a fact or two and usually he's not part of an indentifiable group like hunters. You basically painted a huge number of hunters with the "you're not as good as me because I live in a small town" brush and I'm trying to understand why.

As a person that lived in Calgary for over 14 years, and having come from a small agri-community, and knowing quite a few SRD boys and working with them, I feel like I meet the requirement of ACQB (that is the acronym for Arm Chair Quarter Back, if you didn't know) for this subject. The MAJORITY of people I hunted with from Calgary where good, reasonably honest (everybody tries to cheat their taxes) people. I will not continue to hunt with more than a handful of them. It seems that they do have a attitude of "I bought a tag, that gives me a right to a deer, and I'll bend the rules to get it" attitude. People that shoot less that 20 rounds out of their rifles a year should not be shooting past 200yds period. Yet most of them do. And they hit and wound game, and 80% of the time they do not follow up as due diligence would state they should. This develops into dead animals, found a week later, all over. And people report it when this happens and the SRD follows up on this and they do have different charges, for different circumstances, to lay. The MAJORITY (again) of these people deserve exactly what they get, as it is the same idea as Hit and Run in my mind. If you don't like this opinion, tough, it has happened enough times around, and to, me to be a fact in my mind.
In a rural area, people know other people and their vehicles and people are easily held accountable for their actions. I have hunted with quite a few people of rural roots and habitation and I still hunt with a majority of them. They seem to have an easier grasp on the idea that their tag gives the the PRIVILEGE to HUNT a deer and that is it. They also seem to have a little more ire for folks that don't respect the land (often because it's theirs) and the animals on it. Now there are a few I can't stand, have publicly denounced them as poachers and avoid them entirely for their actions.
You also need to remember that there are a lot more people from Calgary than the rural areas and that means there will be a lot more offenders from Calgary due to demographics.
I do know and can tell you this. Rural folks are leary of city folks. We don't think the same as the other and that can cause conflicts. It will likely never change and the only way to deal with it is to hold other users of the outdoors accountable for what they do. Don't hesitate to call the SRD if something is fishy (no pun intended).
From the outside looking in SH it looks like your pickin' a fight with Sj. It doesn't suit you.....Fudd