Yesterday I was hunting with my two sons and drove four deer out of our leased for hunting woods.

One of my sons wounded one, it crossed the road and went across a big field, my two sons were tracking it and I drove around to the other side where the field ended, I'm on the main road watching them come across the field.

Two guys from a house just down the road drive up in there pickup, pull up and ask me whats going on, so I told them there tracking a wounded deer, the guy says thats my property coming up and I don't want you going in there.

I said ok no problem and they drove off, and we left, but when they reached the other property we were going to ask for permission to go in, just never got the chance.

We asked for permission to cross the first field and that was okay, so our intentions were good.

This doesn't set to well with me, a wounded deer needs to be found if at all possible, although I respect another mans property, any opinions.

Rob,
I know in Oregon If you wound a deer and it goes onto private property, we can not go after it unless we have permission or we could be arrested for trespassing. As a hunter myself it's hard to let a wounded animal get away. I know that most hunter ask before entering private property and that your intentions were good. Looks like you are teaching your sons also to respect other people's property and I commend you for that.
Ray

The best advice is call your local conservation officer. They will help you gain permission. The CPO will require access to the land to search for the deer.

Yep it sucks... I would think that the recovery of the animal should come first! It's what you do as an ethical hunter. You strive for a quick killing shot, but sometimes it doesn't happen and you have to trail the deer a long way. But I still feel you should be able to recover the animal first and formost. But that's not what always happens. I think the majority of the time property owners will allow you to track onto their land if you ask. But sometimes owners don't want anyone on it. This is usually because someone didn't bother to ask and went onto the property and and may of done damage or something to piss off the land owner.So like you said, you have to respect the property owners wishes. You went about it the correct way by asking permission instead of just entering his property.

Hopefully the deer either survived or at least he found it and was able to use it or donate it to a food bank.

Rob,
I know in Oregon If you wound a deer and it goes onto private property, we can not go after it unless we have permission or we could be arrested for trespassing.

Same in WI

You were right in wanting to finish the hurt but the landowner has final say in granting access

Wardens don't have the authority to grant you access to private lands nor investigate tresspass - that's a local PD/Sheriff issue

having had "city" hunters shoot up our farm equipment and shoot one of our cows when I was a kid I can understand the man not wanting you on his property and I would have reacted the same way. He has no idea what you're capable of. He may be thinking that if you couldn't knock it down the first time what is there to make him think you have the skill to track it and kill it even if he gives you access to his property. I agree with the idea of tracking it and putting it down, but as far as letting folks on my land that may or may not have the skills to track and kill the deer, I'm not taking the risk. For all I (he) knows you may end up injuring yourselves or others on my property; no way I'd let you on either. And as far the game warden coming on to my property to track a supposed wounded deer, that may or may not still be on my property? I hope that could not be done without a search warrant, but given the current state of personal freedoms it wouldn't surprise me if that could be used as an excuse to trespass.

The land owner likely is going to get himself a free deer without using his own tag. I have seen it happen countless times deer huntinmg where a wounded deer enters private property and lays down to die. The property owner finds it dead and claims it himself without using his tag. Seems to be happening less and less these days though with the new deer licensing we have and the ability to purchase additional tags now for cheap.

You might want to listen closely to what Kurt says Rob, he might just know a thing or two about the DNR. ;)

Jeff

any opinions.

yeah...don't shoot unless you know you can drop it.

having had "city" hunters shoot up our farm equipment and shoot one of our cows when I was a kid I can understand the man not wanting you on his property and I would have reacted the same way. He has no idea what you're capable of. He may be thinking that if you couldn't knock it down the first time what is there to make him think you have the skill to track it and kill it even if he gives you access to his property. I agree with the idea of tracking it and putting it down, but as far as letting folks on my land that may or may not have the skills to track and kill the deer, I'm not taking the risk. For all I (he) knows you may end up injuring yourselves or others on my property; no way I'd let you on either. And as far the game warden coming on to my property to track a supposed wounded deer, that may or may not still be on my property? I hope that could not be done without a search warrant, but given the current state of personal freedoms it wouldn't surprise me if that could be used as an excuse to trespass.

this is the point right here. your a consciuos hunter doing the right thing, but we've raised a generation of hunters who don't give a crap about rights or conservation, it's about the beer and b.s.

you did the right thing, but others have ruined it for you. i lost my stomach years ago, but i know that hunting is conservation, and done properly, is best for the ecology, but you've run up against the now generation, and all the problems they cause is taking effect on your hobby. keep doing what you do, and educate as many as possible, and hopefully this will turn around, before everybody has fences up, or worse, hunting is done away with in most areas....

yeah...don't shoot unless you know you can drop it.

What? I guess you have never bow hunted. A hit deer doesn't usallly just drop in its tracks.

What? I guess you have never bow hunted. A hit deer doesn't usallly just drop in its tracks.

cmon... i see it in the movies all the time, right after shooting a car and having a city block blow up.....

From my experience, there are two types of people out there. Hunters, and people with guns. It's the people with guns, who have no clue what they are doing, nor respect for others that cause all the problems for hunters who actually take a genuine interest in what they are doing. Just so that you don't think that I am anti-hunting, here's my best buck. It would be worth while to offer to help the land owner find the buck. At least it won't go to waste. There will be other deer.

The best advice is call your local conservation officer. They will help you gain permission. The CPO will require access to the land to search for the deer.

That's the best bet.

Just so that you don't think that I am anti-hunting, here's my best buck.

Nice spread, what is it? Looks like about 20"-21" maybe?

Jeff

That's the best bet.

Won't happen here in Wisconsin. Trust me, Kurt knows better than anybody here how the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources works. As he said, they have no control over allowing access to private lands.

Jeff

Down here, I'm too scared of walking up on a meth lab to go over the property line farther than I can see. I've been lucky, never had a deer run over 30 yards.

What? I guess you have never bow hunted. A hit deer doesn't usallly just drop in its tracks.

the three that i have 'harvested', and the multiple others that my father and brother have shot, have all dropped within 15 yards of where they were standing when that 12 gauge or 20 gauge slug tagged 'em, save for one, that was a shot over a gulley that was probably 90 yards across from rim to rim, and easily 200 or 300 feet deep. the deer died and fell all the way to the creek in the bottom. it took three men the better part of a november day in central ny to drag that SOB out of the gulley.

anyways, sounded to me like the deer that was shot may have been high-tailing, as it was driven or flushed out of somewhere. is it really worth even shooting at a deer on the run? now the landowner may have to deal with some hunter's 'sloppy seconds' so to speak.

you dont shoot a running deer, and you dont run after a deer you just shot.


but to answer your question, no, i have never bow hunted. :confused:

is it really worth even shooting at a deer on the run? you dont shoot a running deer, and you dont run after a deer you just shot.


I guess I shouldn't have shot that doe this past saturday then, as it was flat out running out of a corn field. There is nothing wrong with shooting deer that are running if you have shooting skills. If you are nothing more than a subpar shooter, then I would agree with you, shooting at a moving target is pointless.

Jeff

I guess I shouldn't have shot that doe this past saturday then, as it was flat out running out of a corn field. There is nothing wrong with shooting deer that are running if you have shooting skills. If you are nothing more than a subpar shooter, then I would agree with you, shooting at a moving target is pointless.

Jeff


we see how shooting at this running deer unraveled. the little spikehorn buck i took in 98 was jumping a 4' tall post and beam fence when i knocked him out of the air. two shots, one hit him in the snout, the other was right through the neck. everyone has exceptions. bottom line for me, though, is if you can't kill it, DON'T shoot.

Went thru a similar scenario 3 years ago when I wounded a doe and it boogied thru adjoining farms property. I stopped and asked owners and they said no problem go ahead and recover animal. Dont just tromp on their property. And it is tough hitting a running deer over say 50 yards no matter how good you are with that rifle. I normally dont shoot at anything running over a certain distance as they can do 40 miles an hour. I have shot a few running in my time but they were coming rite at me or quartering at me. Normally I will just let them go now. The legs aint what they used to be as far as tracking long distances.

That has happened to me also, the land owner stopping my hunting party from crossing his boundary while tracking a wounded deer. Understandable, he did not know us from beans and probably had problems in the past. Respecting the land owner's property is essential to the sport.

Also, I have lung shot more then one deer with a .308/180 grain bullet and the deer did not drop dead, instead ran for up to 1/4 mile (3 hrs tracking, no snow). Go figure! Heart shot, usually drop within 50 feet.

The thing about shooting deer is you really don't know for sure if the deer will run and for how far when you pull the trigger, or in the case of bow hunters release the arrow. A hunter can brag all he or she wants about their ability to make a drop/kill shot every time, but there are just too many variables to be sure of the ability to do so. My buck this year was shot through the heart with a 7MM Mag and spit the heart in half. It still ran an amazing distance considering the wound, amazing really.

As to taking a run shot, every one is different depending on angle, terrain, visibility, etc. So I have taken them and not taken them, it all depends. I think you did the right thing in regards to the private land, you sound like a responsible hunter.

Here in Iowa it is completely legal to pursue wounded game onto private property without the owners permission however you must enter UNARMED. So, you better have mortally wounded it if you pursue it.

I will offer a different perspective as I have tracked wounded deer,and have enjoyed trapping, and hunting. However, the landowners rights, and decision must be respected. I also own property that I would not let hunters track wounded deer onto,because of one word, Liability. Suppose that one of the hunters is injured, accidently shot, trips and breaks bones, or is killed. Dont think that it doesnt happen. Guess who gets hit with a lawsuit, and the first thing brought up in Discovery is, the landowner said it was OK to enter his property. This is a crazy world, if you are ever sued, you will change the way you do business with strangers, forever. They dont know you, maybe stopping back and making friends, spending some time talking to them may make a difference,maybe not.

Rob,

You did the right thing. As hunters we can easily forget how other see us. To a farmer besides his family, his land is what is most valuable. Where I hunt we know the neighbors well some let us hunt some don't, fortunately all will allow us to track wounded animals.

This is where we has hunters need to be proactive and know where we stand with neighbors ahead of time. It sucks to have one get away but private property needs to be respected.

Call the F&G warden and explain what happened. Maybe he'll go out and talk to them and find that they took your deer for themselves.

Call the F&G warden and explain what happened. Maybe he'll go out and talk to them and find that they took your deer for themselves.

In Ohio the landowner would have the right to the animal.

Even though the land owner said not to persue the deer on their property, I would still walk up and knock on their door and ask permission one last time. The land owner may have been in a defensive posture thinking you were just going to tresspass onto his property. He may reconsider and escort you. If he still says no, just walk away and get over it. It is not worth getting into an arguement or getting shot over a deer. There are way to many out there anyway. It has happened to us and most of the time they will let you track it as long as you give the landowners the respect they deserve by asking permission.

Interesting post.
The past weekend I was in the back of my property doing yard work and I saw a tree stand in the wood area of the farmers field next to my land and was wondering what would happen if they had to track a deer into my property. So seeing this post I checked the Indiana DNR.
This is what was stated:

If I shoot a deer and it goes on a neighboring property, can I legally retrieve the deer?
Answer: Unless you have permission from the landowner, preferably written, you may not go onto his/her property to retrieve/track the deer.
What do I do if a landowner does not give me permission to retrieve the deer I shot?
Answer: Contact your local Conservation Officer for assistance in retrieving the deer. He/she can be contacted via the Sheriff's office or the DNR Law Enforcement District for your county. The landowner can still legally refuse to give up the deer.

I think as posted because of so many problems with disrespectful people and the property owners being liable everyone just does not want to take the chance. It is sad that because of this the deer is lost and gave it's life for nothing but the coyotes.