It was a thought that started because of two instances we had on the same property this year.

The beginning of season a buddy was riding his 4 wheeler to go move a stand and was skirting the edge of a peanut field that had some REALLY thick briars. He stopped because he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and he looked and saw large antlers sticking out of the briars. The pic below he took while standing on his 4 wheeler. He had no rifle with him, and when he got back with it the deer was gone, but it never ran while he was right there beside it on a running 4 wheeler. That buck was convinced he was safe and concealed and that by running he was going to give his position away and potentially be in danger.



Fast forward a few weeks. I shot the buck in my sig, and mortally wounded (some may recall the story) we found him and a fight ensued, but he let us walk right up him. Again, he was mortally wounded, and I would say the finishing shot was after legal shooting hours. It was about 5:45ish PM on December 6th.

Which got me to thinking - what if you are tracking a wounded deer at night, and happen upon another buck in thick stuff that believes he is concealed and you shoot that deer to "finish" him off and its not even the same deer? Not saying I want to do that or want it to be legal or anything (of course I wouldn't), I'm just saying it can happen. Just last year I was tracking a wounded buck at night and walked up to within 10 yards of a doe standing in thick stuff that was just watching us. We thought it was the wounded deer until the light obviously showed that it wasn't even a buck.

Just something to think about. Not trying to prove a point either way, the thought had just crossed my mind the other day is all.