What would you do?

[cnelk]

Scenario

You and your pal are hunting elk one afternoon.
You are set up on the edge of a small meadow and 5 elk come by.
The last one is a bull and you both shoot at it [Rifle ML Archery it doesnt matter]
The cover is as such that it is determined that both could have made the hit, but not quite sure.

The elk run off and you wait for an hour before the tracking starts.

You find blood. Good blood.
You press on for an hour. The cover is really thick
Suddenly the bull jumps up from its bed and bolts.
But you notice the elk is not doing well. No shot can be made

You wait a bit longer and start the trail again. You come to a fence. The bull has crossed it.
It is posted NO TRESPASSING.
It is known that the landowner does not allow ANY access for ANY reason.

You see the bull standing 150yds away, its head is hanging down

What do you do next?

1) Shoot the bull? Who shoots the bull?

2) Watch the bull die?

3) If you chose #1, what do you do next?

4) If you chose #2, what do you do next?

5) Other - Explain

 

[cohunter14]

That is difficult, but I will make a couple assumptions...
1) The elk is going to die right there anyway
2) I am within reason to cell service

Assuming that, I would back out of there and do my best not to scare the bull again. I would get back to the area I had cell service in and contact the DOW and let them know the exact specifics of the situation. As tempting as it might be, I would not finish off the elk by shooting it on private land and I would not try to sneak over and pack it back out. Just not worth the risk, to me. I\'ll let the DOW instruct me on how to proceed and, since I haven\'t been in that situation before, I honestly don\'t know how else to handle it. Is there a more ethical way? Does the DOW have a firm rule on how to handle this?

 

[cnelk]

No cell service - sorry

 

[Buglemaster]

I\'m with Derek. It would kill me to not finish it right there, but if you did that, forget calling a Dow officer as you would be cited on the spot. Mabe, just mabe, if the bull dies there & the officer presses the land owner you might get your bull. I can\'t stand to watch an animal suffer, but I hate having a noose around my neck even more. That\'s a bad situation that I hope never to go through.

 

[mainebrdr]

I\'m also with Derek on this but I would probably first back out some and watch at a distance to make sure the bull expired before going forward. If he does I would do whatever was necessary to contact the DOW with my situation.
If I was not positive about the bulls demise I would then contact the landowner and hope that the reports of him were incorrect.

Here in Ks. landowners are to give the hunter access in these situations.

 

[Swede]

I agree with Derek. It is not easy, but going after the bull could be very costly in more ways than one.

It is interesting that a friend of mine shot a huge bull during archery season. He did not get a great hit on the bull and it headed downhill. He waited awhile, then began tracking. Well the bull went a long ways, but the blood trail was easy enough to follow. My friend finally walked up on his dead bull. It had collapsed on someone lot, by their house, in a subdivision on the edge of town. When my friend got there, the State Police were already there. Apparently the property owner thought it was weird to have a big bull elk just walk up and die in his yard. After discussing what happened, there was no problem and my friend was allowed to retrieve his bull.

 

[timberland]

Leave on guy there to keep an eye on the bull, also as a witness, and send the other out to contact the DOW.

 

[Deertick]

I\'ll be honest ... I don\'t know what I\'d do, and I may do the \"wrong\" thing ... but until I\'m there, I\'ll have to say I\'m just not sure. I wouldn\'t put any of the options past me, though.

 

[OldMan]

Watch the elk die.

Tear off tag, and mark it.

Contact the land owner, and tell him I shot an elk, and it\'s dead on his property. If he wasn\'t going to let me get it. Then he should take care of it.

Report it when I got to a phone.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

In Oregon, I think if you call ODFW or the State Police, they will escort you onto the property to retrieve a dead animal after you show them what happened. Not sure what they\'d do if the animal was still alive.

 

[Swede]

John: I believe the State Police game wardens were asked about that at the annual Oregon Bow Hunters Convention, at the last convention on the coast. What they said was, they would contact the landowner and see if they could get permission for a hunter to retrieve their game. Ultimately it is private land and they can not give you permission to trespass. After that it was asked about the animal, and we were told it could stay there and spoil and no one would be cited. The land owner is not required to salvage any part of the animal.

Tick: I understand how you feel and have thought the same thing I believe you are alluding to. Just remember what is at stake if you cross the fence. You become a trespasser, and no one in authority cares where the elk was shot. Crossing the fence is ultimately a risky proposition. What makes matters worse is, if you ask first, then you have told whomever you called, who you are, and everything about the elk.

 

[cnelk]

This is a \'Real Life Hunting Scenario\' guys.
Nobody said it was gonna be easy.

In the heat of the moment, I truly believe that most wouldnt type here what they would really do... :!:

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

John: I believe the State Police game wardens were asked about that at the annual Oregon Bow Hunters Convention, at the last convention on the coast. What they said was, they would contact the landowner and see if they could get permission for a hunter to retrieve their game. Ultimately it is private land and they can not give you permission to trespass. After that it was asked about the animal, and we were told it could stay there and spoil and no one would be cited. The land owner is not required to salvage any part of the animal.

Tick: I understand how you feel and have thought the same thing I believe you are alluding to. Just remember what is at stake if you cross the fence. You become a trespasser, and no one in authority cares where the elk was shot. Crossing the fence is ultimately a risky proposition. What makes matters worse is, if you ask first, then you have told whomever you called, who you are, and everything about the elk.

Thank you Swede for clarifying that. I\'ve heard a lot of talk on the subject and was never really sure. Swede for president! :clap:

 

[OldMan]

This is a \'Real Life Hunting Scenario\' guys.
Nobody said it was gonna be easy.

In the heat of the moment, I truly believe that most wouldnt type here what they would really do... :!:

There\'s only two answers. Illegal, and legal. Are you saying most would chose illegal if they were honest about it?

 

[cnelk]

I will say this:
My definition of INTEGRITY = Doing the right thing when no on else is around...

 

[OldMan]

You didn\'t answer the question.

 

[cnelk]

Yes, I really do think most people would choose the illegal route.
Seen it happen...

 

[OldMan]

Pretty sad if it\'s true.

 

[Colorado_Lew]

I try not to put myself in that situation.
However if for some reason I did find myself in that situation, I would contact the LE agency and go from there.
If the landowner refused to let me recover the bull then I guess that I would punch my tag and go home.

 

[Deertick]

I\'ll tell you this ... a few years ago I shot a whitetail doe next to a fence. She struggled through it as she died. I walked over and pulled her back all of about 3 yards.

I\'m ready for the stone-throwers, but I really don\'t think that was unreasonable.

The day prior, I shot a doe and it went onto the other neighbor\'s land, still very alive. I contacted the neighbor (who happened to be a big-wig in the P&Y club) and he told me to go look for her. I followed blood as she backtracked on to the property I had permission to hunt.