Got a doe..... but.

[grouse]

Although I'm retired and have a good place to hunt, I have not hunted as much as I expected to this season. I've gotten out six or seven times and seen deer nearly every time but I had not taken a shot at a deer. I passed up a wide open shot at a nice buck at 45 yards because I thought he was coming closer, I let a fawn with spots walk and I shot my first crossbow turkey. It's been an interesting season but no venison.

Last Saturday afternoon I drove up to the farm to hunt. About 4:30 I climbed into my stand and began to watch. First I saw 15 or 16 turkeys go out into the standing corn to feed and then deer started to pop out also. At about 5:55 a doe stepped out about 40 yards away and quickly went into the corn then started standing and stepping. I could seen right down a row so I decided to risk a shot when she got there. I could hear the arrow hitting corn stalks before I heard the thwack of it hitting the deer. She ran a short distance then began alternately walking and standing her way back into the nearby dense woods (we call it "the thicket"). With my binoculars, I saw the exit hole with blood around it and it was several inches farther back than I would have liked. Either she had moved just as I shot, the arrow was deflected by the corn, or I made a bad shot - I'm not sure.

Sunset was 6:05 that night and I wanted to avoid pushing the deer. I waited until 6:25 to walk to where I saw her go into the woods and take a quiet look around. It was really getting dark so I decided to wait until morning to look for her. I told a friend who owns the farm next to mine about what happened and he said he would help if I hadn't found the deer when he finished his morning hunt.

The next morning my friend showed up as I was going out to look. He said he had overslept and decided to join me instead of hunting. We headed to the scene of the crime and found blood right away but not much. It took a lot of looking to stay on the trail first but it got better and better. It soon became obvious that she was heading for the creek that forms the south border of my farm.

We got to the creek and I saw her lying on the sandy bank across from where I stood. She was half eaten and ripped up by coyotes. There were coyote tracks all around her and the smell of her torn out intestines was getting bad. Reluctantly, I left her there.

This is exactly why I prefer morning hunts over evenings.

[Riflemanz]

Congrats on getting one but here in Wisconsin you can’t leave it overnight or the yotes will clean it to the bone!

[Boo]

Yep! That would bum me out! Go get another one!
Come to think about it, now you have some bait for coyote hunting!

[DuckHunt]

I've had that happen to me a couple times. Ironically neither time was with archery equipment. Once I left one overnight after a crossbow hit and found it the next morning missing its tail. I must have interrupted breakfast.

That is a pitfall of afternoon hunting, but when that is the time of day your deer are moving, it's a chance you have to take.

[Normous]

There is a penalty for this bad behavior and I never miss an opportunity to serve up some lead or carbon towards the hairy
b-stards.

[ihunt]

Unfortunately things like that do happen, just have to get up the next day start all over again, that’s hunting.

[vixenmaster]

I am sad to hear the yotes got your tick toter. I know even in the daylight 4 hours yotes will have gotten there before me. Just too many of them, i have not saw the 1st fawn on this Farm i am hunting on

[AJ01]

This... is a good Yote!!!

[robertyb]

Congrats on getting one but here in Wisconsin you can’t leave it overnight or the yotes will clean it to the bone!

That is pretty true everywhere now. I live in NW GA and have just waited an hour to find a deer and had it partially eaten by a Yote when I found it. Only good Yote is a DEAD Yote.

[Hillcountry]

Never lost a deer in my life…been lucky I guess. So, you shoot a deer and lose it to predators…aren’t you supposed to tag that deer anyway? Not sure what my state laws are but I would think that “wasting” a resource (deer,etc) would be unlawful.
Have to check with my Fish and Game dept…
What are your state’s laws pertaining to “wasting” an animal?
I know hunters around here utilize the blood trailing dog/handlers but all deer are not always recovered. I guess they determine that the animal will survive the shot?

[Boo]

Congrats on getting one but here in Wisconsin you can’t leave it overnight or the yotes will clean it to the bone!

That is pretty true everywhere now. I live in NW GA and have just waited an hour to find a deer and had it partially eaten by a Yote when I found it. Only good Yote is a DEAD Yote.

We seem to be having a population growth here. I was in my orchard with wife and 2 dogs and one was about 50 yards away checking us out. I had to grab a glass marker pole and run at it to make it disappear. When it gets cold and they get hungry, they will get targeted. I have 2 neighbours, one a dairy farmer and one a market gardener. Both want the coyote population down.

[grouse]

Never lost a deer in my life…been lucky I guess. So, you shoot a deer and lose it to predators…aren’t you supposed to tag that deer anyway? Not sure what my state laws are but I would think that “wasting” a resource (deer,etc) would be unlawful.
Have to check with my Fish and Game dept…
What are your state’s laws pertaining to “wasting” an animal?
I know hunters around here utilize the blood trailing dog/handlers but all deer are not always recovered. I guess they determine that the animal will survive the shot?

I wondered about that too. I didn't tag it because it doesn't matter to me in terms of tags. As a land owner of over 75 acres I get four free archery deer tags. I always stop after two (if I get two). Two more would mean three and I would still have one left. I don't like what happened but I don't feel guilty of "wasting a resource". What the coyotes did was out of my control and much to my dismay.

[AJ01]

Never lost a deer in my life…been lucky I guess. So, you shoot a deer and lose it to predators…aren’t you supposed to tag that deer anyway? Not sure what my state laws are but I would think that “wasting” a resource (deer,etc) would be unlawful.
Have to check with my Fish and Game dept…
What are your state’s laws pertaining to “wasting” an animal?
I know hunters around here utilize the blood trailing dog/handlers but all deer are not always recovered. I guess they determine that the animal will survive the shot?

Here in Texas..."If you plan on keeping ANY part of the deer ( antlers), then the appropriate tag MUST be used". If you are not keeping any part, no tag need be used, just chalk one up for Mother Nature.
In Texas it's not only 'Yotes but Hogs too. They'l eat anything!! Both of these critters play pure hell with Fawn populations. Our rules where we hunt are pretty straight foward, you see either of these varmints, kill 'Em!!

[Hi5]

A hunter wounds a deer but it escapes. Another hunter intercepts the deer and kills it. To whom does the deer belong?

The second hunter. He killed it and has possession of it.

Do you know whether you killed the deer, or did the coyotes finish him off? So you can’t say for sure that the deer is your kill that you therefore must claim.

If you take any part of the animal, that changes things. You may have to use your tag to show you have authority to have possession of animal parts.

[Hillcountry]

Never lost a deer in my life…been lucky I guess. So, you shoot a deer and lose it to predators…aren’t you supposed to tag that deer anyway? Not sure what my state laws are but I would think that “wasting” a resource (deer,etc) would be unlawful.
Have to check with my Fish and Game dept…
What are your state’s laws pertaining to “wasting” an animal?
I know hunters around here utilize the blood trailing dog/handlers but all deer are not always recovered. I guess they determine that the animal will survive the shot?

I wondered about that too. I didn't tag it because it doesn't matter to me in terms of tags. As a land owner of over 75 acres I get four free archery deer tags. I always stop after two (if I get two). Two more would mean three and I would still have one left. I don't like what happened but I don't feel guilty of "wasting a resource". What the coyotes did was out of my control and much to my dismay.

True enough…natural predators claimed your meat. I read in my state, as others have said, if you want the antlers off that devoured buck, tag it. If not, it’s an uncontrollable act of nature.