Question about spoiled deer

[jawbreaker]

In another post a question was asked about whether or not a tag was put on a deer that had been found after it had already spoiled. The smell of the deer was part of the reason the deer was found. So I guess I am wondering what is the "right thing to do is" in this situation. Do you not tag a deer you have found but can't consume because it is spoiled or do you tag the deer even though it is spoiled because you did after all take it's life???

[mike h]

Let's say you kill a 12 pt and the meat is spoiled I know you are going to tag it. But your not going to tag that little Doe that you shot and spoiled. YOU KILLED IT YOU TAG IT

[Doctor]

I suppose that is why it is called a "Kill Tag" and not a "better luck next kill tag"

[Bow Hunter Brandon]

Im not sure I would be confortable leaving my tag on a deer in the woods. Maybe discard the tag at home but I dont think I would leave it on the deer and leave it laying there.

[PrtyMolusk]

Howdy-

Got a late start to deer camp last season, and found myself at M-53 and 46 around 1800 hrs. (6:00pm) Heading west on 46, I hit a doe. Smashed my van up, and killed the doe. I tagged her, threw her atop the van, and drove the 6 miles to camp. When I arrived (and after all the ribbing) I started to field-dress her. Impact site was mush; almost homogenized. Off side wasn't much better. We dragged her into the woods and left her for the carrion eaters. My tag was still on her.

You kill it (by ANY means), you tag it.

[ArrowFlinger]

Slight variation of the above scenario. You shoot it, wait till morning to track it, find it (what is left of it after the coyotes eat it).

Do you tag it?

[Steven Arend]

Here it goes I'll make it short.

First, if you hit a deer with a car, van , truck, ..... you can get a hold of the police and they will issue you a permit to take that deer so you do not have to use your kill tag.

Second, A few years back I took a doe that (at the time I shot it I did not know) had been shot a few weeks earlier. When we got close to her you could smell that something was not right. She had gane green through out her back half of her body. We call the local DNR officer and he came out to take a look at her. He told us that because I shot it I need to tag it, even tho it was close to death.

So in short if you shot that deer and then it spoils or its spoiled and you shot it. You need to tag it.

[JDLIGHT]

If you hit it with a car you can call the police and they will either give you a tag or sometimes take it themselves. I have seen both happen.

The DNR will sometimes make you tag the "spoiled" deer with one of your own tags for the purpose of disposing the deer. I have heard of the DNR actually giving a replacement tag to a hunter who was honest and called them in.

If you hunt by "if it's brown, it's down" then tag the same way.

JD

[stevebrandle]

You know, this question falls under the heading of "Do the Right Thing".

It would be easy to not tag a lost animal if it spoiled and keep on hunting, but an ethical hunter will never do that. To take it a step further, I'd burn a tag on a deer I thought was hit well and never recovered. Why? Just because I didn't find it, I'd assume it died.

If everyone would think this way, I think it would help keep people from taking iffy shots.

Honorable people act honorably even when they don't have to.

[Joe Archer]

I'd have to look through the regulations again and see if it is illegal to leave a spoiled deer in the woods if it weren't fit for consumption. My feeling is that you need to tag a deer if you are going to claim it. I think legally you can leave a spoiled deer for the scavengers, and are not obligated to use a tag unless you plan on taking any part of the deer out of the woods. Ethically, it doesn't really matter to me. Either way a deer was wasted! The tag becomes a rather meaningless aspect of the situation. I even get sick when I see dead deer go to waste on the side of the road. If we recover a spoiled deer, I would hope we could learn from the situation and let weather and temperature somewhat influence the tracking of our next animal. Tag it or don't tag it.. As long as there is remorse we are on the right trail. <----<<<

[ArrowFlinger]

From the handbook (which is not the offical 80,000 page rules, just a summary -- maybe Boehr can shed some light)

you may not...
Kill or wound any game without making a reasonable attempt to retrieve the animal and include it in the daily bag.

now the many interpretations(English majors please)
(Kill or wound any game without making a reasonable attempt to retrieve the animal) and (include it in the daily bag).
or
Kill or wound any game without making a reasonable attempt to (retrieve the animal and include it in the daily bag).

I think the legal intent is you cannot just sit out there and shoot everything you see becaue you still have a tag in your possession.

I also believe that if you found the animal you are legally bound to tag it(regardless of condition), but if you cannot find it you are not legally bound and it is up to your own CODE.

[cshqck]

Joe Archer Come on you can't be serious. "As long as we Have remorse were on the right track"

Do the right thing if you kill it burn your tag. Why should you be able to keep your tag. I'm with all the others here. If you take the shot and you don't recover the deer you lose your tag. Plain and simple. Is this really that difficult of a question. I think not.

[Joe Archer]

I think the greatest loss in this situation is the waste of the deer. Burning your tag, in my mind will NOT do anything to correct this situation. The damage has been done, learn from it and hope you can prevent it from ever happening again. If it were me, I probably would give serious thought to not even hunting anymore that year anyway. I have had a couple deer that I lost in the past 23 years, and believe me, it still stings! I nearly gave up hunting when it happened in the past. I rarely tag more than one deer a year anyway, so to me the tag is of no significance whatsoever. The lost deer, that is what is significant. That is all I was trying to say. <----<<<

[cshqck]

Joe Archer: I now understand where your coming from. The point I was trying to make was more directed at Hunter's that would try to use the tag again. Which based upon your explanation would not be you. Please except my apology.

[boehr]

I agree with variations of many of you.

ArrowFlinger is correct that you must make an attempt to retrieve game you killed.

For me personally, If I killed a deer and found found it later and it was bad, I'd still tag it. If I shot a deer and it was infected from a wond during bow season and was no good, yes I'd still tag it. If I don't want to tag it I shouldn't shoot it.

One deer I shot in the Verona SGA jumped up out of some tall grass when I was only about 30 feet from it. I shot it very quickly and it dropped right there but it might have dropped even if I had missed. It had been hit by a car, probably earlier that day. I still took it and tagged it, I shot it and probably almost 1/3 of the meat on one side was mush but just the same.

Doctor said,I suppose that is why it is called a "Kill Tag" and not a "better luck next kill tag"I agree 100%
Most, if not every CO will tell you a deer license allows you the opportunity to hunt, not to shoot a deer that has all good tasty meat, just the opportunity.

[Ferg]

for the last question it was beat to death about 3 weeks ago:eek:


ferg....

[Doctor]

Ferg,

I tried searching Spoiled and found three pages of stuff but nothing about Tagging Deer you shot and recovered it spoiled.

What words should I search to find this beat to death question?

I would be interested to compare the responses from this post to the last.

Thanks

[Ferg]

was more about if you saw a wounded deer - would you shoot it to put it out and would you tag it or not - I'll see if I can find it

ferg....

[Ferg]

Try this thread - maybe not excatly the same but .....

ferg.....www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=333375#post333375 (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=333375#post333375)

[steveboss]

A few years back I shot a doe that was limping. When I gutted it it stunk real bad not thinking much of it I tagged it. When I went to butcher it the meat was acually green and smelled real bad it had gange green. Since I didn't get any meat I felt cheated and the deer would have died a slow death. That year I did not get any venison and wondered why I did that and swore I wouldn't do that again but guess what this year I shot a buck with an arrow in its shoulder and when I found it it was also shot in the brisket. I did manage to save the back half though. I didn't mind this year because doe permits are plentiful. I really do think there shoul be a special tag or something in place so the you can get the DNR to do something with it.