# Shooting Someone Elses Deer



## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

I know a guy very well who every year puts in his whole family in for the rifle deer hunt, but I am getting sick and tired of seeing him have about 4 tags a year and he shoots about 3 out of 4 of those deer. I just wonder how commen this is for people to stack there odds by putting in there kids or spouses and then shooting the deer themself. What he dose is he has 4 kids and his wife and him. He puts them all in including himself and draws a couple tags each year. The problem is I know the guy really well and this just dosen't seem fair to me and it is starting to tick me off.


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

1-eye it's not fair it's illegal. Now is your chance to be a hero turn him in. However it will be tough to prove, and your neighbor will hate you. Your call, you seem to be one hell of a sportsman, i'm sure you'll make the right choice.


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## callofthewild (Sep 7, 2007)

you have the chance to make the right choice and do some good for our deer herds. i love those moments i like to wave as they pass bye. seriously this is a tough choice, make sure if you accuse him of this to the co that you have proof. i wish you the best in what ever you choose to do.


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## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

Well I actually am thinking about it, next year I gurantee he will do the same thing and I figure if I were to call in a game warden next year when I know he has a deer down with a faulty tag (not his) on it and then the game warden will be the one who catches him. I hate to be a backstabber but he has stabbed all Utah deer hunters in the back for years now and it's time for it to end. It kills me sometimes when people abuse the privlage to hunt like this and give people against hunting more reasons to help stop it. I don't know why people abuse the sport of hunting so much, especially when it has people trying to stop it. I just can't sit around and watch it happen any more, I love the sport of hunting and will protect it with all I've got, friend or no friend he is breaking the law and needs to suffer the consequences. I would like to catch him sooner but am not sure how now I would prove that he has done it.


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## callofthewild (Sep 7, 2007)

good luck too you with this. we all as hunters and outdoors enthusiasts need to stand together and weed out those who give the rest of us a bad name. it is not just hunters but any of us who litter, ride atv's irresponsibly, or just ignore the rules and regulations in place. we need to stand up and let others know that this is not an acceptable behavior.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Take him to the bar along with a pocket voice recorder. Get him liquored up and he'll spill his guts. They might even put you on the 6 o'clock news.

Think about it, you could ask the whole state if they know who shot your 1 eyed buck!


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## coyoteslayer (Sep 10, 2007)

> Think about it, you could ask the whole state if they know who shot your 1 eyed buck!


DeadI sometimes things in life happen for a reason. You live by a guy who shoots 3 to 4 deer a year. I sense a shift in the wind because if you do exactly what treehugger says then you will be successful. You have a great opportunity DeadI. You cant let this one pass you by. You can ask who killed the one eyed buck and im sure you could be invited to the Jerry Springer show so that you can confront the person who shot the famous one eyed buck. They might even let you get a little violent :wink:

Follow your gut on this one and your good friend Treehugger because he just gave you......and I quote Wyo2ut on this one "A Golden Nugget"


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## huntducksordietrying (Sep 21, 2007)

My Father in law (retired CO) and his Leutenant arrested a fella who shot a deer for his dad on the opener. If the tag isnt in your name you cant be the one to pull the trigger. IT'S THE LAW! My wife took a buck this year. My neighbor was sure that I shot it for her. It took alot of convincing to get him to believe me that it was all her all I did was stand there. I was shocked she even hit the thing It was 150 yards out and she was in a standing position after we just ran up a steep hill. Had to be proud of her for that. I would call the DWR about it. Even if I did know the guy. Its still not right. To me it would be the same as him bringing home three deer on his one tag.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

If you don't turn him in and you have or can get proof, What would make you any different than him? Time to show the world what you stand for.


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## coyoteslayer (Sep 10, 2007)

I believe the one eyed therapist even told you that if you do this then it would start the healing process.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Never trust a one eyed therapist. :wink:


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

1-I - I don't envy your position. From other posts, I gather that you live somewhere in a rural town in central/southern Utah. Having grown up in a very rural town in Idaho, I know hunting is viewed differently in those parts than in the city. So are game laws. I say this not to excuse the illegal behavior you describe, but to let you know I understand the culture where this is considered acceptable. I actually think this ties back to the other thread on hunting as a right vs. priviledge. 

Where I grew up, it was almost standard practice to make sure all the tags in the party were filled - no matter who shot the game. My Mom tagged 3-4 deer and has never fired a rifle. My brother tagged deer he never shot at. Whenever we hunted, I let everyone in the party know that my tag was not available for the "group hunt". It never set well with me. But then again, this was a town where most local ranchers considered pronghorn "Mexican food" and would pop one and drop it off in front of the run down camp trailer where their migrant workers lived - and do that once or twice a month throughout the year to keep them fed. The point is, then, game was considered a resource that had no end, and was available to all for the taking, laws or no laws about it. As long as there were game to hunt, there were plenty of tags and plenty of animals and no-one there complained or turned people in. The F&G turned their heads to the stuff of "tagging out" deer - at least the deer were tagged and not dumped in a ditch, or more recently, a car wash.

As I look at how game has become more scarce, and hunting demand has shifted in balance from subsistence, shoot anything approach, to quality hunting experience and higher demand for trophies, it seems like most of the hunting community has changed. It then becomes much more bothersome when people do what you have described. But there are folks still stuck in the older, shall I say, looser interpretation of the law. 

Its very easy to come on here and say "nail the sucker! He's a freaking poacher." and he is. But having grown up in that culture, I would most assuredly think that your friend does not see this as poaching at all. He probably is a fairly ethical guy and sees nothing wrong in this. He is probably a guy who would turn someone in for shooting game out of season or other game violations. But this one is embedded in the culture. 

I would suggest that you talk to the guy about it. You won't even have to bring it up. Everyone likes to tell hunting stories - just ask him. Before you turn him in, let him know that this behavior isn't fair, isn't ethical, and is illegal, and makes him a poacher. Let him know why his practices impact you, and other hunters, and also his family. And let him know that while it may be culturally acceptable in some groups, it is not legal. Period. I'd talk to him first though. 

If you call DWR, you really don't need visual proof. You will be interviewed about it, and then they'll confront him about. They will interview him, his wife, and kids that he filled their tags. They will either lie about it, or will break down. Depending on the kids' age, they will probably crack and give the DWR all the info they need. That way they are incriminating themselves. 

The other side of things, and depending on the CO you get to investigate - is that they may view this as there are 4 (or however many) dead deer. Each deer has a valid deer tag attached. The animals were not wasted. And who shot them is a he said/she said situation, and there are probably worse game violations to deal with than this one. 

Its a tough one though. Good luck.

Disclaimer here: I do not condone shooting other people's deer, and I don't do it. My family did it over 20 years ago and I never condoned it, even as a teenager. It is another form of poaching - no matter that some people don't consider it illegal. It is. And shouldn't be done.


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## itchytriggerfinger (Sep 12, 2007)

Question here?
We only had 2 days to get out and elk hunt this year (days off limited due to a baby) My wife and i had an elk tag a piece. we decided that since the rest of my family was going to be up there all week that if the chance arose we were going to tag the first two elk shot. Yes we would have taken them home and eaten them just like if we'd've shot it. (it never happened so we didn't have to worry about it)
Jump back a year. 4 of us had tags last year. one bull was in a medow and since i saw it first i got the first shot. I hit him low and it wasn't a real good shot. So my uncle aslo shot him. My uncles shot finished him off but i hit him first. Come to find out mine would have killed him EVENTUALLY but my uncle shortened the hike out for us. I put the tag on him even though we were going to be out hunting a few more days. Is this illegal. 
I understand what you mean though about 1 guy shooting 4 deer w/4 legal deer tags but doing it illegally and knowing(at least i hope anyway) that it is illegal.
I feel that our reasons are alot different than your neighbors. your take?


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

Itchy, most people I know, go with the rule if its a mortal hit (i'm not sure mortal is the right word.) they tag the deer even if someone else puts it down. I however am putting my wife trough hunters safty this year, so I can have two deer next year. I however am an archery hunter, and am going to have my wife put in for the rifle hunt. I bought her a 30-30 and think it would be way cooler to watch her shoot a deer than pull the trigger for her.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

> it would be way cooler to watch her shoot a deer than pull the trigger for her


Especially if she looks anything like your avatar. Yeeeouuucccchhh.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

callofthewild said:


> good luck too you with this. we all as hunters and outdoors enthusiasts need to stand together and weed out those who give the rest of us a bad name. it is not just hunters but any of us who litter, ride atv's irresponsibly, or just ignore the rules and regulations in place. we need to stand up and let others know that this is not an acceptable behavior.


+1


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## sagebrush (Sep 8, 2007)

Before like twenty years ago it was part of the norm, Now not such a good Idea!


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