Guests/Customers Shooting Wrong Deer

[UncleCharlie]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread so let's hear your worst experience with a guest/customer shooting the wrong deer.

I've got two that immediately spring to mind and both were 'experienced' hunters that were hunting specific deer that they had been shown mucho video on.

The first was a guy that worked for my dad. We had a deer on our Stand #2 that would hang out and eat corn/protein from day light til dawn. Watch you get in the blind for the afternoon hunt and not spook, etc. 4.5 year old 10 point that everyone on the lease saw and as much as he peaked your interest, he just wasn't ready and every one passed him. Morning hunt, I sit in the blind and video a white horned 6 x 5 that was mature and was mid to high 140s. Great customer/friend deer. I show him about 5 minutes of video and he's pretty distinctive. He goes out and shoots the 4.5 year old 10 that scored 151. There were a lot of unhappy people at the cleaning station that night including us. He knew it wasn't the same deer that I showed him video of but he thought the deer he shot was mature and was a good one to take.

The second event was the same thing. Customer sitting in a blind hunting a big palmated 9 point or a very heavy short beamed 9. Both deer mid to high 130s and both very distinctive. Showed him lots of video of both. He ends up killing a 3.5 year old 6 x 5 that had broken off 4 scoring kickers off his bases. Deer scored high 140s. I asked him if he thought it was one of deer that we showed him video of and he said he knew it wasn't either deer but that this one was a 'no doubter' and he knew it the second the deer walked out.

[systemnt]

Reminds me of that youtube video of the guy hunting a cull..and shooting a monster "by mistake"... that manager was ****** off....
that guy had to write a HUGE check...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmnFLk7Jlp8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmnFLk7Jlp8[/ame]

[mesquitecountry]

Reminds me of that youtube video of the guy hunting a cull..and shooting a monster "by mistake"... that manager was ****** off....
that guy had to write a HUGE check...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmnFLk7Jlp8

That video was staged. One of the guys in the background shot the buck. Hillarious nonetheless.

On our ranch. People only shoot a buck with myself, my dad, or my brother in the stand.

Period. Keeps this conversation from ever happening.

[lanceodom]

Had my buddy bring down his future brother in law to the lease and he shot a baby 8 pt. I mean, 110 inches of 2.5 yr old. He said he thought the buck was mature, we asked him if mature south texas bucks really weighted 120 lbs? So he comes back the next year and we tell him to only shoot does. Well Whamo! Dead nubbin buck. So he doesn't return to the ranch for over 5+ years and on his first night on the stand, we tell him its ok to shoot a doe and Steeeeerrrrrike 3!!!! Dead nubbin buck! It was ugly.... I truly think some people just lose their mind when they are deer hunting. They forget everything you showed them, every discussion and every detail. Then when you question them, they have that look on their face like everyone else is the idiot....

[klooney]

holy crap that video is pretty messed up, but really funny...

[ken]

I had the same thought as Mesquitecountry. Some people either get excited and make mistakes or want to shoot a deer so bad they allow themselves to make a bad decision. The only way to prevent this 100% is to be in the blind with the guest/customer.

[Breezy]

years back on our lease a lease member had his dad and uncle sit together in a blind....they were told ONLY hogs and coyotes many times before they went out....when they should up in camp they had 3 turkey hens!!!! First of all they were not allowed to kill turkeys plus the ranch doesnt allow turkeys to be harvested during the fall/winter just the spring! That was that members last year on the lease

[UncleCharlie]

On our ranch. People only shoot a buck with myself, my dad, or my brother in the stand.

Period. Keeps this conversation from ever happening.

I agree with this 100% and it became the rule the hard way.

[UncleCharlie]

I truly think some people just lose their mind when they are deer hunting.

I can relate to this one too. People want so bad to kill stuff and when you put multiple animals in front of them at one time, they just absolutely flip out.

[Coach]

had a lady who was in charge of a particular organization that we will leave unnamed. She asked if she go go out and shoot a doe while the hunters from her organization were out hunting for thier trophies. The ranch owner said "sure, take an axis, fallow or WT doe." She comes back in later and says she shot a fallow doe but couldn't find it. We go back out and locate the animal but it wasn't anywhere near where she said she shot it and it turned out to be one of only 14 red deer on the ranch. Needless to say she was not allowed to go out her own ever again.
Had a guide one year tell one of his paid hunters to shoot what he thought was a trohpy fallow buck. Turns out it was the breeder red deer bull. He was also never allowed to take hunters out or go out on his own again. That red deer is now mounted over the fire place in the hunters' dining hall as a reminder to make sure you know what the heck you are shooting before you pull the trigger. Every hunter that comes on the ranch is given the "Binki" speech the first night at supper.

[huntresss]

My husband and I refer to it as the "forbidden fruit syndrome". Folks always want what they can't have, especially when it comes to hunting. Every once in a while we'll have a trophy animal here that somebody will book a hunt for so we'll tell our guests that if they see that animal, they can't shoot it because somebody else is coming to hunt that specific animal. Well, we learned the hard way that we had to institute a hefty penalty so we could buy a replacement because without fail, those animals almost always get shot. I told my husband that from now on when we have something we really need to get rid of, we just need to tell our hunters that it's off limits and that if they shoot it, it's gonna cost them beaucoup bucks.

[aironeout]

What gets me are the ones sitting there calmly before the feeder goes off. Once the feeder goes off and a couple of decent young middle aged bucks start to show the first thing they start to do is reach for their rifle. Those are the ones that need a severe reality check.

>E

[Roscoe]

On our ranch. People only shoot a buck with myself, my dad, or my brother in the stand.

Period. Keeps this conversation from ever happening.

And as a guest on yall's place, no one should ever have a problem with it.

[JayB]

Not a failure story but a success story.....
I was invited to a corporate ranch to hunt a few years ago. They needed to take a bunch of deer and our group was the final group to help complete those numbers. The rules/guidelines were pretty simple: 1) Shoot a mature doe first then 2) take a MATURE buck. We had a long discussion with the ranch owner followed by a video about aging deer on the hoof. Dr Krowl (sp?) I believe had put that video together. It was very good, but I would miss about half of the "test" deer. Lucky for me I was always guessing them to be younger than they really were. We had 2 - 3 days and the deer were everywhere. I was not concerned at all about getting to take something home. Fist hunt out...shot my mature doe...good size deer, great doe to harvest. 2nd hunt out, I had no less than 10 good bucks come by my hunting area, and I was nervous as a cat in a rocking chair factory. But I was not satisfied with the "maturity" of what I was seeing. Now I was seeing some 140 + class deer, but they looked only to be about 3 to me. Finally, had a good buck come out of the trees towards a group of deer that were under the feeder. They ALL ran off...bucks, does ...everything. I knew then I had a mature buck. I watched him. Checked out his head, stomach, ears, etc....I was still worried becasue I wanted to come back another time in my life....this deer even walked within about 30 yds of me....after much thought, I convinced myself that he was mature. I had him at about 80 yds and laid him on the ground in his tracks....Got picked up,,,delivered the deer to the check station and the Ranch Manager first thing, sees this deer and says " who shot this deer?" I was thinking "oh crap". Then he said "this is the best deer taken" I had followed all the rules and taken a mature 10 pt that had reached maturity. That buck is in my photo.

Sometimes people do pay attention and follow the rules...but I find mine to be the exception rather than the rule.
JayB

[lnester]

Good stories, folks...keep 'em coming!!