Thanks

Interesting dilemma; without more information I don't know if I would shoot it or not.

According to the article, the teen had the deer on camera, knew it was one of the escaped deer and setup in the area specifically hoping to shoot it. So this wasn't a situation where he shot a nice buck and later found out it had escaped. He knew ahead of time who the deer belonged to.

On the flip side, unless they were tame, how do you round up the escaped deer and get them back to the owner. Also, the article doesn't state if the HF operation was actively looking for the escapees and had asked the surrounding property owners not to shoot them. If the HF owners wrote off the deer off because they escaped, it's time. If they had asked the other property owners for help getting the deer back, it wasn't a very neighborly thing to do.

Regardless how one feels about HF operations this wasn't a neighborly thing to do. This type of thing tends to come back on folks. I would have called that neighbor or at least made an attempt to. I see something obviously tagged on my property I'm going to try and find its owner before I just blast away. Always take the High road. That behavior will go a long way in the end!

try to find the owner and then what? "hey, uh, i think one of your deer ran past me this morning, he was right over there, wanna go look for him?"

I'm no authority, but I'm pretty sure in other states there's a higher percentage of hunters that ain't so neighborly as Texas. We have our share of jerks, granted.

Was at a golf coarse. Par 3 with a narrow fairway close ta Tee. Trees on both sides. Just this side of green was a ditch. To left of green was golf cart path with bridge. 4 guys working on it. Yelled Four, ta let em know we playing threw. Would have taken out 4ta5 iron, an hit light ta roll ta green. . Not an expert nore a Pro. Needed ta get it up over ditch, so used bigger no. club. Have a bad slice, got under ball. Ball went up & ta right. Heard thud. Guys working on bridge parked trucks in woods, not parking area. Owner wanted my Home Owners insurance ta pay for small dent. LOW income, didnt have Insurance on home. Fish&Hunt just ta keep family feed. At Club House Manager asked for Insurance. i was a member of a Country Club

I feel this way also but then again I'm not seventeen nor looking for a Boone and Crockett Trophy.

If it was tame enough to walk up to me and follow me inside my backyard fence I wouldn't shoot it. I don't really know I would have found out after taking it down right after I saw it though.

I always say...You can't put a name tag on a deer when someone shoots one that you have been watching..

Oh wait, he DID have a name tag

To the Victor go the spoils!!! Was this and escaped buck? or a liberated one? Hopefully he got to spread his seed around the free roaming does. Good for that kid!!

That's like finding a bag of money in the woods. I'm taking it enjoying and that's all there is to it.

No. Deer are not protected under livestock statutes [/quote]

So what about exotics? Do they qualify as livestock that people sell hunts for or whats the take on that? [/quote]I think it's illegal to shoot an exotic that's wandered if it has an ear tag or...a tattoo. I have yet to figure out how to identify if an animal has an ear tattoo at 50+ yards. [/quote]

Negative- if classified as an exotic you just have to have landowner permission to kill it. With that said you could loose possession if owner can prove it his/hers.

Biggest thing make damn sure it isn't endangered and requires CITES tags.... [/quote]

I don't believe that is 100% accurate. The owner of the animal has the recourse not the landowner of which you are hunting. I know there was a case going to trial last year in Jack County over this exact thing. I need to follow up and find the resolution.

Are the tattoos on exotic animals also located in the small of the back

Good for the kid. He saw the deer on his TC's and hunted it like he would any other deer he had pics of.

It would be like fileting a huge black bass, I'd feel a little bad about it, but the filets would be in my freezer.

Darn tootin I would. Gonna be hard to top for the rest of his life though.

'Hope the kid doesn't have the owner's "whole family" comin' after him, like on a recently locked down thread.

Dang, that was like a visit to Deep East Texas, without the drive. Refreshing.

Article stated the deer was on his game cameras wondering the property he hunts. I'm sure if someone had 20k to spend on a deer they could probably round up the funds and man power for some darting. Ever heard of Pneu-Dart or Dan-Inject? http://www.pneudart.com/ http://daninjectdartguns.com/why-daninject/

DRT!

Use to dart cattle with one... Wild whitetails a little different you basically have to get in bow range...

And then they won't be leaving any blood trail to follow. You will need a lot expensive equipment than that dart gun to aid in the recovery of the animal.

Me, if I were getting regular pics of it and new where it came from, I would talk to them and offer them the op to hunt it with a dart gun and get their investment back. If they said no to that then I would shoot it.

Exact same thing happened in Parker with an elk. Had landowner permission but elk owner proved it was his. He lost procession of the head.

Only legal recourse is if the property your hunting on didn't give you permission to shoot exotics. But that's more for your landowner not the exotic owner