Two Hunters Shoot the Same Buck, Owner Decided with Coin Toss
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.01.14
Wisconsin’s deer season opened with a bang, but one 11-year-old hunter will not be going home with the nine-point buck he shot. According to the Associated Press, DJ Jorgenson was hunting with his son, Kameron, near the town of Oneida, Wisconsin when the boy shot and wounded the buck. The deer then ran off into private property, where another hunter managed to finish it off.
“We could see that the other landowner on his land, and we got up as far as the fence line. He came down and met us by the fence post,” Jorgenson told WLUK-TV.
The landowner, Randy Heyrman, indicated that Jorgenson’s intial shot only wounded the deer in the leg and said it took an additional two shots to put the animal down. The hunters met at the edge of Heyrman’s property to discuss who would get the buck.
It is not unheard of for two hunters to claim the same deer, although it is fairly uncommon. In this case, wildlife officials said the law was squarely on Heyrman’s side as to who should get the deer. In Wisconsin, as in many other states, hunters are unable to follow wounded deer onto private property. If the deer dies there, than the property owner can actually claim the deer, although hunters can request permission to retrieve it.
The Jorgensons and Heyrman decided to settle the matter with an old-fashioned coin toss, which the Jorgensons lost. Before they left, the young hunter took a quick picture with the buck he could not keep. DJ Jorgenson remarked that he believed the decision was fair, but remained disappointed that his son will have only a picture to remember the deer by.
You hear an interview with Jorgenson below.
Who do you think should have kept the deer?
