Ethics of leaving a deer overnight with warm temps

I have a question for everybody. This is something I have struggled with in the past. I obviously know when there is a questionable shot it is ethical to give that deer time to expire(overnight). My struggle is that when it is September and its not going to dip below 70 degrees overnight, do you really want to leave the deer when you know if you find him/her in the morning, the meat will likely be spoiled. Is that ethical? Is it more unethical to look for the deer after a few hours and risk bumping him/her or to let him/her lay overnight and possibly spoil? I would not want to have to trash the whole deer because of spoiled meat. In cold temps its a no brainer to let the deer sit overnight. Waiting only a few hours you definitely risk bumping the deer but if the deer is dead you can get him/her cleaned up and taken care of before and spoilage can occur. What do you guys think?

 

Oh boy.........

 

Just because you let a deer sit over night doesn't mean it died right away. As long as the heart is still pumping the meat won't spoil. I wouldn't let a deer sit more than 4-5 hrs in those temps.

 

I can see this going bad in a hurry. If you have a questionable shot and dont know or dont think the deer is dead and you risk pushing him during the night wouldnt you decrease your chances of finding the deer isnt that unethical?... There are so many things that can happen during the shot you can ask so many ethical questions to push for a answer you are looking for... If you are worried about leaving a deer over night because of warm temps then ethically should you hunt at night when it is warm?...Should you only shoot at deer that are really close and only broadside when it is warm?...The amount of ethical questions can go on and on for any hunting situation.

 

^^^THIS^^^
The question is a really loaded one.
personally I believe ethics are what you can live with and accept.

 

The temps play a big factor on when, where and how I hunt and even a bigger factor on when I loose an arrow!

 

I don't think any hunter, with a set of ethics, takes a shot with anything except the intent for the animal to die quickly. However, things do go wrong, shots are missed, twigs get in the way.
At that point, I think it's a judgement call. Do you think the deer is going to die in 2 hours, or 4 hours. If you chase after 2 hours and you bump it, then what? I don't think it's ethics that come into question at this point.
Think of ethics as standards you live by. Ethically you wouldn't shoot a deer 80 yards away with the intent of hopefully just getting an arrow in it and it hopefully lays down so you find it a few days later, but if you have a good shot on a deer 30 yards but something goes wrong and you need to give it time to lay and die, that isn't ethics, that's a tough judgement call that you must make with the intention of finding the deer within a few hours of it dying.
In 99.9% of the situations you'll come across, the ethics of letting a deer sit overnight probably shouldn't come into question.

 

You'll discover "ethics" range broadly around here.

For me, if you are hunting when you know it is hot, you know already that you have a dilemma. Are you going to take riskier shots that may result in a poor hit? That may be the larger ethics issue here (That being said and I am a southerner, the meat is still fine if you don't recover the deer until the next morning. I would avoid organ/internal meat and meat immediately around the anal area if the deer is left in warm temperatures for long periods.

If you are concerned about night recoveries, maybe the best ethical question is whether or not you should hunt in the afternoon? Or if you have a long season, whether you should be hunting in those warm temperatures at all or in areas where possible loss may be more of an issue such as along creeks, rivers, property boundaries and extreme thickets where tracking is difficult and slow. What I am saying is these are all things you should decide "before" you shoot; which is what you seem to be doing. Kudos.

If it is really warm, what other options do you have? Me; I'll just go fishing or catch up on some farm chores. One always really bad option is taking a shot that is risky any time, warm or cold. Losing a deer is a definite bummer, at any temperature and knowing and staying within your personal shooting limits is the best way to minimize long tracking jobs.

Finally, always have a recovery plan before you go. That means you are comfortable in the woods in which you hunt... at night. You know your way around, you know your way out, and you have the needed tracking resources available such as compass/map/gps, lighting, carts, friends, dogs etc...

 

Let's set ethics aside. There are a lot of what ifs / variables. Personally if I made a bad shot late in the evening and it was warm I would rather risk bumping the animal. So with that said I would give it as much time as I was comfortable with and then pursue. At least if you bump it you know you have more time. Rather then thinking its alive only to discover it ran less then a couple hundred yards and expired and has been dead almost since the minute you shot it.

I've made some really bad shots in my life. If you hunt long enough it will happen. I've seen it happen to where I thought the deer might even live only for it to pile up just across the field.

 

If you believe letting that deer lay overnight guarantees spoiled meat, then I think letting it lay overnight is completely irresponsible. If letting it lay overnight knowing the only thing you can successfully recover is the rack, then to me that is currently a big problem in whitetail hunting. Sadly, there are plenty of hunters that will do just that.

Ethics are fun.

 

Nice post.

 

I would give the deer some time and then very quietly and slowly begin the tracking job. The blood trail will likely give you the answer to your next move of continuing to track or backing out. If it looks like there is a decent chance for recovery at night, I would go for it. If the trail is really poor, I guess I get back out there at the first hint of light in the morning and hope for the best. Have bags of ice in coolers with you so you can pack the cavity full of ice and get the meat chilled down as soon as possible.

 

One positive of letting it lay and hopefully finding it the next day with spoiled meat, or days later, is that a bunch of people will give you a "atta boy" for recovering the rack and showing the deer "respect".

 

my step dad a few years back made a horrible shot. i waited three hours then grabed my dog(normal kids retriever) a .45 and a nice flashlight. when i made it the almost mile to were the deer made it to i had enough time to get a bullet in him before he jumped. this time i made it count.(only thing i could see was his head and the .45 hallow points destroyed it! step dad was pissed when i made it back) i would do it the same if i were to ruin a shot today. move slow and it might give you another shot. if i bumped him then i know his meat will make it tell morning. back out and do it again in three hours.

 

This is exactly along my line of thinking. I have accidently put an arrow too far back before thinking that the deer is gonna run forever and take all night to die only to watch it pile up 80 yards away. If I wouldn't have seen it die and let it lay all night, that would have been a long time to let it unnecessarily lay and possibly spoil the meat.

 

I agree with you here. A lot of guys are satisfied with themselves because they can say they gave it time and recovered the deer(more or less the rack) only to end up throwing away the whole deer because the meat is no good.

 

If people spent as much time worrying about what to do after the shot as they do before the shot, there would be a lot less lost deer.

There are so many signs once the arrow is released that will tell you exactly what to do with the tracking. The deer's reaction, specific look to the arrow after its found and the look of the blood trail are just a few. If people would educate themselves on these things and wait the appropriate amount of time, nearly every deer that dies from your arrow would be found within two hours of it expiring. Whether it takes 10 seconds or 8 hours.

The problem is, people get all emotional and stop thinking rationally. Tracking is pretty elementary.

 

I concur with PT.))

Dave

 

I don't see an "oh boy" in this at all. But, thanks for the little comment from the peanut gallery and setting the tone of the thread.

 

Let's not forget closure. When they find the rack they get closure and that is very important.