When is it enough too many tags and wounded deer

[Fatboyxc]

Interesting question! Unfortunately in life misses are part of it. In my years hunting I've only been involved with 2 deer that haven't been recovered, both by guys I've been hunting with & one was this year. This is my first year bow hunting & I must say it is a completely different type of hunt, I haven't had a shot yet but when the time comes I hope to be able to place shot as practiced. My buddy who lost a deer this year with a shoulder shot, was sickened by the experience however, he learned from the mistake & we checked out his bow only the find the scope off just a bit (for whatever reason). Its very unfortunate to lose an animal or to wound one & I believe that most people who have had this happen too feel horrible but try to learn from it. I don't think wasting your tag does anything except make you dwell on your miss.

[vixenmaster]

This is a Topic that may never be viewed by all the way the Thread starter wants it to be. Here in my area it would be a personal choice. Even if i counted the lost deer & tore that tag up! I am allowed unlimited Doe tags, see where i am comin from ? Even if'en if i deducted as a Buck i can take 2 here & 2 or 3 in Ark. 5 down home in Ms. 3 in Tn. so it won't stop me from huntin. It really goes to a persons own opinion n choice. Thats like tellin me i can't kill a 5 pt but a 6 pt is ok, its jus headgear. Some grow more some less.

[one shot scott]

If you don't think a unrecovered deer should count, how many unrecovered deer should you be allowed???

2?

3?

4?

keep shooting till one falls dead in front of you???

Because unfortunately there are some like that out there.

gladly I dont know of any guys like this. I still dont know how you would police it, for a wounded deer to bother you, you must have a conscience. Only someone without a conscience would go out and wound repeatidly. How could you force a guy to use his tag on a wounded deer if you cant find the deer as proof?

IMHO, high fence hunts enforce it because a wounded deer has just lost them money if they allow a hunter to continue and shoot another. I doubt they do it cause they feel badly for the deer.

A wounded deer bothers a good hunter, A dumbarse who wounds stuff will quickly get bored and hopefully go back to his videogames.

[rayman]

A great deal of what I learned about deer hunting early on was from my best friends father in elementary school and he would not tollerate loosing deer. I think that maybe that type of early training in ethics is lacking in many cases. Not meaning to offend anyone. And I suppose it's not the person's fault if they did not have that type of training.

It does happen, but there is a difference between a 90% recovery and a 33% recovery. I talked to a guy at a cookout once that said he shot 7 deer with a bow before he finally recovered one. Kind of enraged me to hear him tell the story without remorse. Still, its a matter of someone ragging him into being a better hunter, not taking away his license.

[bob1961]

here in PA we have SRA hunting units, "Special Regulation Area's" in and around philly and pittsburg....where you can buy unlimited over the counter doe tags if any are left....now the problem with those SRA areas is that most if not all of the area is someones back yard, or posted private property....but the problem we have is people in those areas buying up 100 tags at a time and burning them to not let anyone else harvast the deer because there are way to many deer in those SRA units....where the problems starts is the following year when they total up the deer harvast report cards and the number of tags sold and see that not many deer have been taken....so the next year they add more tags to those areas and that cycle starts all over again....

[toytruck]

Good topic!! I was very lucky this year to fill all my 5 tags. Only have done that one other time, mostly get 3-4 a season. I butcher my own and none of it goes to waste. Just put 4 pounds of jerky in the dryer for the grandkids visit next week, we all enjoy venison.

I knocked down a big buck last year with the muzzleloader an never found him, never filled that tag, but it wasn't because I didn't try. Went back to the range after the season an readjusted the scope and learned my lesson the hard way. Still think about the deer that I haven't found over the years, just makes you a better hunter, or should!! Not that many, but one is too many...

[DuckHunt]

Its an interesting question that has just as many answers as we have hunting areas. Where I hunt in VA I can get unlimited doe tags and there is no daily limit. You can fill your truck full of doe if your freezer can handle it. The landowner whose property I hunt has given me direction to 'kill all of them'. While that certainly isn't possible, it does highlight the problem. They just have too many deer. Everyone in the area wants the population lowered. They even have an Earn-A-Buck program to force hunters to take doe in order to get your three buck each season. You can shoot doe from the first Saturday in September through the end of March. Yep, seven months of the year.

This is an entirely different hunting situation than the one you face. When the goal is thinning the herd, you may take a shot you would not otherwise take. My dad always taught me that you won't kill anything if you don't shoot. But, lets be real for a moment. No one wants to spend the better part of a day, or weekend for that matter, looking for a deer because they made a bad shot. If you hunt long enough, it WILL happen. Fortunately, the sun will still rise the following day.

DuckHunt

[grousegrove]

If you don't think a unrecovered deer should count, how many unrecovered deer should you be allowed???
2?
3?
4?
keep shooting till one falls dead in front of you???
Because unfortunately there are some like that out there.

_______________________
My two cents... yes there are some out there like that but I'm not one of them and from what I've seen on this forum neither are most of us. In my opinion it's a matter of law and personal ethics. I've no problem with a licensed person following the law who tries again to harvest a deer if they failed before after a responsible shot and effort to recover it. Aside from the law, I guess the higher interests involved are the improving the reputation of hunters among their critics and conservation and stewardship of a resource. If we as hunters consider those three things we'll make ethical decisions. It's good to consider our answers to such things but we need to be careful about casting stones at our fellow hunters