I Can't Believe He's Bragging About This

[Woods Walker]

Whats the difference between this and killing feral hogs??

The difference? Well for one I would hope that if you were deer hunting and you saw and shot a feral hog (which is perfectly fine), that you would know that you did indeed just shoot a hog and not a deer.

This guy didn't know what he killed even after he had it dead at his feet! He even compared it with "deer that he's shot up north in Indiana" not being that big......well, that MIGHT just be because it wasn't the same animal!!!!

When I lived in Wyoming we had deer and elk that many times were in the same habitat. Sometimes the elk season was not open in that area, and you'd damn sure better be able to identify what a deer is and what an elk is. And if both seasons were open at the same time and you shot a cow elk and came back to camp talking about the biggest deer you'd ever shot, you'd be living that down for the rest of your life!

[NC Deer Hunter]

I agree Patriot. I don't see what the fuss is about.

[Wanderer]

Woodsie,
The no field dressing thing is widespread in Alabama. When I hunted Alabama for the first time, I was a guest at a hunt club. I shot a large doe and promply gutted her and dragged her out to the edge of the dirt road. When my ride back showed up at dark thirty, he asked if I'd taken a shot. I said yes and he went to help me throw the deer onto the truck tailgate. He looked at the deer and asked where I gutted the deer. I said in the field that I shot her in. He said "We don't do that here" I was led to believe that it was either illegal or at the very least, highly undesirable to gut one in the field. All the deer processors in the area hang the deer and skin them out before gutting them into a plastic barrel. After awhile, it became almost second nature to do it that way. I know that on hunts in some of the state parks in Alabama, the deer have to be brought in to registration ungutted. If I was hunting alone or had any distance to drag a deer, I gutted them. If help loading was nearby, I threw em in the truck and drove up to the processor and let them do it. The venison that we ate for the six years that I lived in Alabama was as good as any I've ever tasted.
As far as shooting a red deer goes, there are no red deer in Alabama unless they are escapees from a game farm. Hence, there are no regulations covering them. Last year there was a case somewhere in this country where a guy shot an escaped game farm elk during deer gun season. Whatever state that was in doesn't have an elk season, so the Fish & Game guys said no foul. A legal buck had to have an antler visible above the hairline, so by that definition, the elk was a legal buck.
I'm still keeping my horse in the barn until gun season is over. Someone might think she's a 1200 pound doe.

[Patriot]

I also don't necessarily see a bragadocious tone from the gentlemen who shot the deer.  He seems like your everyday happy hunter to me.

[dewey]

ORIGINAL: NC Deer Hunter

I agree Patriot. I don't see what the fuss is about.

I also agree with NC Deer Hunter and Patriot. Also like Wanderer said if hunters in Alabama don't gut their deer until later that is there decision to make and not our place to ridicule them. Just because a couple of people think it is weird doesn't mean that it is wrong.

Like I said before congratulations to him for harvesting quite a unique trophy.

Dewey

[SwampLife]

You guys are over reacting.

I would be pretty proud to kill some rare deer in the wild. Just because this deer was imported does not mean it was 'livestock'. Read the story, there is no known place near where this deer was killed that had captive red deer. This was not a high fenced or pet deer that got out, it was wild and a once in a lifetime opportunity and you guys are ripping him up.

A guy killed a nice Fallow buck on some public land I hunt in FL last year. Several hunters encountered the deer during bow season but could not close the deal because the buck either saw or smelled them. This deer was miles from any high fenced game ranch and 100% wild, no reason to take any credit away from the hunter who killed it.

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: dewey

ORIGINAL: NC Deer Hunter

I agree Patriot. I don't see what the fuss is about.

I also agree with NC Deer Hunter and Patriot. Also like Wanderer said if hunters in Alabama don't gut their deer until later that is there decision to make and not our place to ridicule them. Just because a couple of people think it is weird doesn't mean that it is wrong.

Like I said before congratulations to him for harvesting quite a unique trophy.

Dewey

I look at it differently Dewey. Just because they may do it that way in Alabama, doesn't make it right either! Gas builds up immediately inside the intestines thus spreading bacteria through all of the veins and capillaries. That bacteria gives it that "gamy" taste people complain about. I don't think you would appreciate your hamburger or steak handled like that! Meat lockers handle meat the way it should be handled and gut the animals as soon as they were killed...for heath and flavor reasons. This is the 21st century. People need to know what is right and what is safe. There is no such thing as gamy deer. Gamy deer is really poorly handled meat. It's time for everybody to be educated especially when the media in involved. It makes all hunters look like we're idiots, and we're not.

As far as him shooting a red deer, I'm with WW on this one. People need to identify their target. If he knew it was a red deer and knew it was legal, more power to him! He didn't though! If it was a mistake, OK then but ranting about killing a caged animal that has escaped is a little different then harvesting a wild deer.

Like always, it's just my opinion [8D]

[Patriot]

At 120-130 yards away....sounds like he just thought it was a big whitetail doe and took the shot.  Can't fault him for that. 
 
Regarding immediate gutting of the animal, I definitely think it was a mistake to let it sit so long (if indeed that's what happened).
 
There is probably more to this story, but at least it give us something to talk about.
 
 

[Woods Walker]

3 points.....

1. I don't really care how long he let the animal go before he gutted it. It's his kill, and since it's livestock and not a game animal, he can't be charged with wasting it.

2. Years ago there was a guy trying to raise elk right where I gun hunt in west central Illinois. The elk kept getting out on him, and after a while he just gave up and let it be known that if anyone saw one, that they may as well shoot it. I had already decided that if I had a shot at one I'd take it, because elk is some good eating. But I wouldn't brag about it, no more than I'd brag about shooting someone's steer. And I damn sure would know that it was an elk that I shot and not a world's record whitetail!!!!

3. Like I said, mistakes do happen. But for someone who's supposedly shot a lot of deer and is no neophyte hunter, he STILL didn't know that it wasn't a whitetail even after he had it dead at his feet! It's this kind of stuff that makes us look like slack-jawed, toothless neanderthals that shoot at any moving creatures, and worry about what it was later...if ever. Like I said, I'd be worried about my dog if this guy was coyote hunting on my place! And I CERTAINLY would keep my horses locked in if I knew he was deer hunting!!!!

[JPH]

I'm kind of sorry I weighed in on this one because I think my remarks may have been lumped in with some others that do not necessarily reflect my own thoughts.

If the state DNR does not have a problem with him shooting it, neither do I.

If southern hunters do not field dress their deer, I don't have a problem with that either. Just don't try to get me to eat any of it.

Now, if a hunter is going to intentionally delay gutting a deer for days, solely for the purposes of showing off a "trophy", I do object to that. That begins to rise to the level of wanton waste in my opinion.