New to deer hunting? >1 deer per party/trip possible?

[Exmasonite]

Hey all... hope i can make this clear/understandable.

This is my first season deer hunting.

Background: I've been/will be hunting w/ 12 ga and slugs in mid-lower michigan woods for deer. of my 2 buddies, one has hunted 5-6 times but never gotten a deer. the other 2 of us are rookies.

Went out last weekend w/ 2 buddies. Was on a nice 40 acre plot w/ 3 different blinds. We all split up and took a blind. nobody saw anything (except some turkeys) but it was still good fun.

This weekend we're going out again. this time, we're going to a different plot of land. we have a small 2 person blind set up near a 1 person tree stand in a wooded area. we'll all be within 15 yds of each other, apparently. (we'll have walkies b/w tree stand and ground stand).

Never having done this before, how does it go down when the deer show up? I'm assuming 1 person will shoot. Best case scenario, he'll get what he aimed for.

After that, what happens? are we pretty much done for the day at that point? Should we all focus on dragging that deer back to the car, cleaning, and that's the end of that hunt? Or, can we drag off the deer and have 1-2 people come back and hunt that spot again? Is there any chance in hell that the deer will return after awhile (and what is "awhile"- 30 min, 2 hrs, 2 days)?

Thanks for the info in advance!

 

[dakotasin]

i've busted deer and then my brother busted a deer within a minute or two of each other several times. and we've done it the other way around.

here's how we handle it... we decide on who gets first refusal. if a deer walks out, and my brother doesn't want it, then it is my choice. if i don't want it, then the next deer goes back to him and on until we shoot. once you shoot, connect or not, first refusal goes to the other person from that point on and the following year whoever did not have first refusal the previous year gets it by default the following year.

when we have another hunter or two w/ us, the least experienced gets first refusal, or whoever had to travel the farthest if experience is similiar.

after the deer is down, we go together and dress the deer and then drag it back together to wherever our 'base camp' happens to be. nobody quits until all tags are filled, nobody doesn't help. at the end of the day, we help drag the deer out to wherever the truck is. if we have a situation where 1 or more has tagged out, but at least one has not tagged out, everybody who has tagged does everything in their power to get the unfilled tags filled short of shooting the deer. only you can shoot your deer, no exceptions. so, maybe the help is glassing, maybe that's helping to plan and execute a stalk, maybe its pushing brush... whatever it takes.

but... you must establish ground rules w/ your friends to avoid hurt feelings. who shoots first? who shoots second? what determines shooting order (ie, whoever sees it first gets first shot, etc). you also need to determine what each person's role is in getting the unfilled tags filled, if any. in our party, nobody's done until everybody's done - but in some parties you shoot your deer and get it out of there and everybody meets back at the house that evening.

anyway, best advice is to get the ground rules straight before you head out.

 

[Exmasonite]

cool... thanks for the info.

I think my buddy who's hunted before and got us the hookup to use his cousin's land will get first refusal.

Thanks for the great post, dakotasin!