Rascally deer hunters

M

McFarmer

Well-known member
So we’ve got some CRP north of the grove at the home place. The last week or so I’ve been watching the pheasants roost in the grove at night and go out in the CRP early morning. I’ve also got a landowners deer tag I can fill from the kitchen window if I want. (Kidding on the window part) I set up a pheasant hunt for this morning.

Late yesterday afternoon while in the shop I hear the beginnings of a small war start up. Across the road in the neighboring section there is a pickup and three hunters unloading on a small doe with their rifles.

They eventually break a back leg and she goes down. They drive up, she takes off. Did that three times until they got to my driveway. The doe runs between me and the house, through the grove and into the tall switchgrass in the CRP. Probably lays down.

So what could I do but let them try and finish the job out there. Sure enough they got about a dozen birds up and since it’s now about dark I figure they’re gone for the night. I hear some shots, look around the shed and there’s a buck running past the bins. WTF ?

I get on my blaze orange and go out to see what’s up. I stumble across the doe and two of them unload on her. She makes it to the lake on three legs about a half mile away. Lost.

I ask about the shots I heard and the youngest says he got a buck up and thought he would take him instead. Don’t think the buck had to worry much. Don’t know what they had but one had a AR type gun and the other a 336.

Needless to say the hunt this morning wasn’t what I had hoped for. This new Iowa rule on useing straight wall rifle calibers I think makes some folks think they can take any kind of shot. Those first shots were probably 200 yards at a running target, with scopes.

Another day in paradise.
 
In their defense these are the type of guys who only hunt deer and only during shotgun season. Past years they would have been useing slugs in the old Mossberg and shooting 50 yard shots.

Somebody told them buy this cool 45-70 and it’s good out to 300 yards. ‘Course, they didn’t tell them what it takes to make a 300 yard shot.

So they think back to all the old westerns they’ve seen and start throwing lead. I watched the bullets throw snow all the way across the section and ducked in the shop when the deer got between me and them.

Nice enough guys, I don’t think they liked the idea of the doe spending a few days on three legs. Enough coyotes around she won’t last long.
 
No defense. 200 yard shot at a running dear is careless and reckless. Any idiot can shoot a rifle or shotgun. But it’s not hunting. Shooting at another deer on your property when tracking the first is irresponsible and selfish. I’m guessing you gave them permission to recover the wounded animal, not “hunt” your property. It also shows disregard for the wounded animal they are responsible for. I hope they continued to follow the wounded doe in an attempt to recover her. But im guessing they aren’t fond of effort.
 
We looked until it was dark. She made it to the cattails, no blood trail at all.

But yeah, taking a shot at the buck peed me off. What if we had two wounded animals to find ? And I think maybe hours were over.

Besides, you’re right, they only had permission to find the wounded doe.
 
Absolutely no defense and these guys are not hunters. You take shots that you can make and avoid long range shooting at running deer. I think too many in SoDak have seen this so often that they have become desensitized to the stupidity.

This is exactly what I observed many years ago in SD. I was just in my early 20s and we hunted pheasants with a farm family in the Ipswitch area in October. They invited us back after Thanksgiving to hunt Fri - Sun. Anyways, I have never been so disgusted in all my life - when I observed SoDak deer hunters in action. We would walk creeks, fields, and sloughs and the number of road hunters circling us were insane. If a deer ran off in an unexpected direction ... they would speed off after it.

Where I grew up deer hunting in the river bottoms of the Sheyenne River (North Dakota), my great uncle would get upset with the trespassers and idiots, but would never press charges. I asked why and he said - I have to live with these jokers 365 days a year.
 
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Deer shooters seem to be worse every year. Around here there are very few deer hunters. There are a lot of people who drive around and try to shoot a deer from their vehicle.
 
Altillathedak said:
Deer shooters seem to be worse every year. Around here there are very few deer hunters. There are a lot of people who drive around and try to shoot a deer from their vehicle.
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In montana, deer hunters don't walk.They drive the edge of coolees, un till they flush a deer, or they use 4 wheelers to flush deer.Mist of them are uneducated rubes.
 
If you spend any time at all in deer and pheasant areas, you know it is not just one or the other, there are slob hunters in both groups, to think different is just showing your ignorance.
 
Not sure who you are referring to. The original post was about unethical deer hunters. Poor ethics is not restricted to just those who hunt deer. And I myself have taken shots that I questioned after the fact. No one is perfect. But the actions described in a lot of these posts are the same sort of actions that will lead to a loss of hunting opportunities in the future. If the overwhelming majority of society turns against us, it will be mighty tough. As I get older I find I do not “hold my tongue”, or “cut people slack” when they act in an inappropriate manner. Those in these stories did, and need to be called out. Hunting isn’t about driving around in a car, or on an ATV, looking to shoot something. If we let actions like that identify us, it will be at our peril. Hunting involves the taking of life, and pain and death for our quarry. That bargain deserves more
Integrity and respect than these people have shown.
 
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