lost doe

[v35]

A couple nights ago around dusk I heard a gunshot, probably a long gun, pretty close. Didn't think much of it since hunting is common around here. A little while later I saw a sole hunter in orange on my neighbor's property. Not an unusual sight.

The next morning I found a whitetail deer in the middle of my front yard. Turkey buzzards had already been on it and it was pretty torn up. Lots of fur around. The carcass was probably about 200 yards from where I saw the hunter walking the previous evening, 300 at most. There was a blood trail from its snout about ten feet long, looked like it had been dragged, perhaps by a fox? I don't believe the hunter dropped it where it lay. There appeared to be a couple of small entry wounds, like I would imagine would be from pellets or shot, but I really have no idea what entry wound a rifle would make.

I had to go to work that morning and a lot of snow was expected later that day so I dragged the carcass into the woods.

Anyway, I know very little about long guns and absolutely nothing about hunting, so my question is how common is it to lose track of a doe so apparently easily? This isn't an excessively wooded area, just a narrow strip of woods between our properties. Our respective properties are large. I don't even know my neighbors. They're elderly and I don't believe the hunter is the owner. Probably a friend of theirs.

Was the carcass beyond salvage? It's such a waste for it to just rot in the woods. Of course foxes and buzzards have to eat too.

Was the hunter irresponsible, incompetent, or both?

Should I have done something else?

 

[homers]

Assuming the person was on the neighbors property with authorization, and the deer went into your property, the proper thing to do is to go to your house, explain the situation and ask for permission to look for the deer on your property.

So, if he was hunting with authorization, he should have stopped by and asked for your permission. Shame on him if he didn't attempt this.
If he didn't have authorization, then he probably isn't going to come ask you for permission either for fear of being called out for not have authorization to hunt your neighbors property. Just my thoughts.

 

[stiab]

Rifle doe season in your county ends today, so he may have been legal if hunting with permission, tag, license, etc. Entry holes are oftentimes hard to see, even with high powered rifles. Deer can easily travel 200 - 300 yards if hit in a major organ like liver, which is not an instant kill shot. Will go about 50 yards if hit in both lungs, about 100 if only one lung, etc. My experience is that game that sits out overnight is not good, regardless of how cold it gets. Hardly ever gets cold enough to overcome the hot intestines, especially is shot in that area. I would have done what you did, then talked to my neighbor.

 

[Patocazador]

Maybe not irresponsible but definitely incompetent. Unfortunately, that's rather common nowadays.

 

[v35]

If the hunter knew he hit the deer, knew where it was, and simply knocked on my door, I would have:

1. granted permission to enter my property
2. helped him load the deer into his truck or whatever
3. invited him over for his choice of craft-brewed beer, fine wine, or some decent coffee and my home-baked biscotti
4. talked about guns
5. maybe learned a little about hunting myself
6. graciously accepted a cut of venison if he offered it

Or, just (1) if that's all he wanted, just to get the stinking useless carcass off my land.

Unfortunately none of the above was possible

We have no idea who each other are. I suppose if he were concerned about introducing himself and being confronted with some hysterical anti-hunting extremist, the worse that would have happened was an a$$-chewing from the property owner. He didn't do anything wrong though, and that's where it would have ended.

Too bad for all of us Everyone loses, except the turkey buzzards.

 

[Art Eatman]

Sometimes a deer will run an amazing distance, even with a "good" hit. Blood around the nose might be from the lungs. But I really don't believe that a fox could drag a deer's carcass.

Sad case, but winter alone kills thousands of deer. And in PA, the kill by automobiles has at times been equal to that of hunters.

 

[Sniper66]

Deer can indeed run a long way even when hit solid. My brother shot a mule deer with a 7mm mag and it ran 150 yards before it fell. Unfortunately, it ran through a bunch of trees and it took 4 people about 2 hours to find it. Both my nephew and his son have lost deer after solid hits. By the time we found both of them, with the help of several lookers, the coyotes had eaten a bunch. Of course it's unfortunate, but such is the nature of hunting.

 

[buck460XVR]

v35, I believe you did about all you could do. Depending on weather and the amount of damage by the buzzards, the deer was probably only good for buzzard food anymore anyway. The drag marks you seen could have been made by the deer itself as it struggled to get to cover while being mortally wounded. While the hunter may be a tad incompetent, he may not have looked for a wounded deer because he did not see signs of it being hit, i.e. a blood trail/hair where he thought he shot at the animal. If the animal did not react to the shot other than running away, he may have just assumed he had missed. Amazes me when I ask folks that need help finding a deer "where exactly was the deer when you shot?" and they can only answer "over there somewhere....I think." You walk another 50 yards farther after finding no sign and you find a heavy blood trail with a dead deer at the end. Folks get so fixated on the deer itself, they have no idea where the animal was standing when they shot.

 

[Sunray]

"...perhaps by a fox?..." Reynard is too small. Turkey buzzards are big SOB's and might be able to drag a carcass. Not likely the whole thing though. Far more likely to be the deer dragging itself after running like buck460XVR says. Not likely to be able to drag itself 2 or 300 yards though. Any fencing between you and the neighbours?
Entry wounds can be big holes or the wee ones you saw. Depends on the projectile.
"...around dusk..." Isn't entirely unusual for a hunter to lose the trail in the dark.

 

[3212]

Have any of you seen the "Chasing Tail" episodes?A group of bowhunters in the wealthy suburbs of Connecticut.They have property access down to a science with liability insurance and removing problem deer.But they still had a problem when an arrowed buck made it onto a neighboring property and collapsed on the pool cover.The owner was not too happy and concerned the antlers would puncture his pool cover.

 

[v35]

Makes sense. I think the deer took off after being shot and finally fell in my yard. The weird part is that the fur and blood trail starts about 10 ft from where it lay, but there is probably a less obvious blood trail elsewhere. I wonder if the buzzards started feeding on it when it wasn't dead yet.

Sad case, but winter alone kills thousands of deer. And in PA, the kill by automobiles has at times been equal to that of hunters.

If PA isn't the worst state for deer collisions, it's got to rank second or third. They are a real nuisance.

I took one out myself that way. My one and only kill Totaled the car though I've also been broadsided by an angry (or stupid) buck. Hit and run. Had dozens of close calls too, including one while landing an airplane. That would have been bad.

 

[v35]

the continuing saga of the traveling carcass

After the snow melted I found the wretched carcass has been dragged well into the woods, about 20' from where I had dropped it.

Today, I found it had been dragged back out of the woods and is now a good 100' from the edge of the woods, and is now back onto my front lawn

At least it's getting lighter

 

[Hardtarget]

! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! there is a zombie deer out there! sorry, couldn't resist.

Mark

 

[caribou]

Dusk , itself, is simply the wrong time to shoot any animal.

In a very short time , the light, litterally, gets worse.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

I suspect dogs are doing all this draging.

 

[eastbank]

over the last 60 years of hunting i have found that if i only take double lung broadside shots that i don,t have to do much tracking. as a young hunter i made some bad shots and have spent hours tracking animals with only droplets of blood to go on. the double lung shot only ruins the lungs and i don,t like lung soup. this is one of my favorte brush hunting rifles, marlin 45-70. eastbank.

 

[Sav .250]

As noted..........................not all hunters are responsible.

 

[SSGT PRIDE]

Just a wee word of wisdom...If a turkey vulture had chewed on the deer before it died...think of this

If the Bacterial bloom found inside the mouth and gut of a turkey vulture somehow found its way into your meat.

Your Dead...or at least wish you were. Salmonella is like a Sunday picnic compared to some of this stuff.

Even the poisons given off by the bacteria consuming the meat isn't neutralized by cooking in most cases