[stweedie]

I'd like to get some feedback on the topics of losing a deer to coyotes. A few years back my brother shot a doe just before dark. The doe was quartering away from him and he hit her just a hair further back than was ideal and hit the liver. We knew right away from the blood that it was a liver shot and gave her a good hour before we went looking. Of course she ran directly into a swamp and we were looking with flashlights and jumped a deer in the swamp and assumed it was the doe. It was supposed to be cool that night so we decided to look for her in the morning. When we found the doe the next morning the coyotes had taken to her and the only thing left was the front shoulders. We all got that sick in the stomache feeling while we looked the deer over and wondered what to do. I called a warden friend of mine and asked him what were we supposed to do? Do we tag the deer and take maybe 10lbs of meat off her or leave the deer there for the coyotes to finish up? The warden just said that we never had this conversation and good luck with the rest of the season. Nothing makes me feel worse than losing a deer and I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and what did you do?

 

[Cap'n Jack Duggins]

Just leave it there. Mother Nature has a way about these things. Don't get caught up in the fluffy disney outlook on everything.
Things live and things die. period. You did nothing wrong, more-so, you did the right thing in not pushing the deer to exhaustion then losing it.

I have lost my share over the years due to bad shots, ghost branches, etc...

Racoons, Fisher, Fox also have to eat and I'll bet $$$ nothing goes to waste.

 

[kenton6]

This hunting thing ain't an exact science, that's for sure. I found as I got older I did less chasing deer after the shot. Mostly because I calmed down a peg or two and never felt like I HAD to get that deer.

But Jack's right. You did the right thing and in all honesty it can send you to be not feeling real good about everything but these things happen and we just learn from them and try to reduce our chances at erring next time.

Have you seen Bambi II yet? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[aroostookbasser]

You did nothing wrong..in fact you should be proud of how much you did. I'ld hunt with ya.........