General Hunting Discussion
State of hunting and fishing
Sorry LB, I think you pooped in the trail on that one. I think I get what you were trying to convey but it didn't come across well.
Tracking is an acquired skill that requires a decision process with great potential for making the wrong move even with years of experience. Nonetheless, my actions are always driven by the objective of salvaging edible meat. It's the ethical way to fly and I believe most others feel similarly.
Although I believe it was me and long barrels going back and forth about Wisconsin being the best deer state in the country I have to agree with LB about pushing deer!! The worst thing you can do is push a liver/gut hit deer because you "KNOW YOU HIT A LUNG" and it's gotta be dead around the next tree! I have been on over 100 blood trails in some pretty rough tracking terrain and you will lose 9.5 to every 10 deer u push early because they are servivors by nature and will leave you with no more blood to follow-- good luck finding that deer where it could be anywhere within a 2 mile radius!! The stories I could tell about blood trails and the hours spent on hands and knees looking through grass and pine needles and oh yeah the grass has red that looks like blood so your wiping blades of grass to see if it's blood!! I have seen deer do some amazing things and have literally spent an entire weekend looking for a deer that we had to get right away cuz I heard it crash!! Don't get me wrong we find way more than we don't but all the ones we lost were the ones that we got on to early!! The people down south shoot deer in the heat all the time and I think you have more time than people realize!! If you hit guts or liver it's 7-8 hours in my book and I don't think it's rotten sitting in 75 degree darkness!! My 2 cents- Casedog
In this case there is really no gray area, you are either an ethical sportsman or you are not. You're the one that said you'd rather let the buck lay because the rack won't rot. If you choose to pursue a buck differently, going so far as to let it rot, than you would pursue a doe for fear of having the antlers run off, is that ethical? I don't know how you're able to tap the psyche of deer to measure their will to live. You're full of "chit" if you say you're putting your buck tag on a "rotten" buck. After all, the yotes would take care of it in short order. I would think most people, myself included, would do everything possible to retrieve any deer (fawn, doe, spiker, b&c monster buck) before the meat spoils. And there's no way doing everything possible to retrieve a deer doesn't play better to the anti's than letting the meat rot and sawing off the antlers (those don't rot I hear). I guess we're just all ethical gifts from God for that.
PLH, didn't your mother ever teach you that jealousy will get you no where.
WI doesn't have trophy hunting...stop fooling yourself.
I don't get you people...you act like you're some ethical gift from God. So a northwoods buck walks in, you put an arrow in it but hit it in the guts. You can't tell me your chasing it. Pot calling the kettle black. If you chase it you are a absolute idiot. Pushing a deer is unethical too. It's worse than letting a deer lay so it can die in peace. The anti's would be all over someone if they heard a story of a buck running around 2 miles with all his guts hanging out. Yeah, i'm right. Leaving a deer lay to make sure it's dead is a hell of a lot better than pushing a wounded deer on a 2 mile marathon just to lose it anyway. 9 times out of 10 you'll lose a deer if you push it. Anyone that has hunted long enough has been on nightmare tracking jobs would agree
LOL, you guys are so freaking comical it's pathetic. you all talk so dang high and mighty yet NOT ONE single person can actually sit back and tell me you'd run in on a big buck you hit marginally if it's warm. If you do you are lying to yourself.
Pushing a deer is retarded at best. You'll get no where with pushing a wounded deer besides a trail ending in no more blood. If I had a dollar for every hunter than pushed a marginally hit deer I wouldn't have to sit here and argue with a bunch of liars.
I'll maybe look for a doe faster because they can't take an arrow like a mature buck. A mature bucks will to live is MUCH greater than a doe.
What I've said here is what i stand by. Call me what you want, if I arrow a big buck on a hot day don't have good blood or it made it out of sight, i'm letting it sit, I don't give a chit if it's got maggots already. Sorry, you're an idiot if you don't give a deer enough time to die on a bad shot. You push it, everything is lost.
I hope the comment about not tagging a rotted deer was not aimed at me. I know the rules, go preach to someone else.
Only way a deer rots is if it dies in an open field. Ground is plenty cool. I was giving a hypothetical, i've shot many deer in warm and never had one spoil. It could happen though cause will NOT go in too soon. I always error on caution's side. Let it rot and the yotes got to eat too and I don't care if there are maggots on it...it's a gross exaggeration. I'm not here to make friends so I couldn't care less what anyone thinks. That said, no deer should be tracked earlier than it should. If it's dead in 4 hours, it will be there in 8. I would rather risk a deer rotting than pushing it and making it suffer more and then losing it anyway because you didn't listen. When it doubt, back out. I don't GAF if it's 75 or -10
No GO2001, I was referring to PLH's post quoting Mr. Longbarrels post from the archery reports thread where he stated if it's a warm day, rather than risking jumping a poorly hit animal he will "let (a buck) lay because the rack won't rot" rather than making an effort to retrieve the animal before the meat spoils, or "rots" as he put it. No big deal, "if it rots the yotes will get it."
You still have to tag the animal whether or not the meat has "rotted" to take the antlers. Not tagging the animal because it has "rotted" and just taking the antlers is NO DIFFERENT than your average poacher who shoots the deer at night from the road, takes the antlers and leaves the deer lay. PLH's post calling out mr longbarrels's questionable ethics is a fantastic post for the state of hunting and fishing thread. What a sad state some people make it to be.
Fishsqueezer, were those posts meant for me? I have plenty of biomass, but I don't let deer rot and don't pursue one sex harder than the other for recovery efforts. Nor does the rest of my camp. The guys who hunt on the neighbors land to the west who don't do lift a finger or spend a dime are the only ones around with a reputation for letting them rot. They shoot anything, hunt with shotguns with bird barrels, and assume they miss if they don't see the deer drop.
I hope all the wildlife managers in this thread have more respect for the animals they care about then you do LB. I guess if you plant enough biomass you can let one rot every now again.
WTF are you talking about dude? You NEVER make sense....it's like i'm reading stuff typed out from a 13 year old.
Let what rot? More respect for animals...huh?
