spaniel

Sounds like the property owner had some bad experiences with bad hunters in the past maybe and were incredulous that such a polite and considerate person was in front of them...

bronko22000

VA - You may want to contact the VA wildlife agency and explain the situation to them. They may we able to help you get onto that property and retrieve your animal. I know that its been done here in PA.
But I know what you must be feeling. My friend arrowed a buck at last light last evening. He let him set all night. We dogged his trial for the from 6:30 to 10:30 this morning. Just spots of blood here and there. So far he's gone about 300 yds. We will be picking up the trail again this afternoon I hope. Last blood was at the start of some high weeds (about 8' high) trails everywhere. We may have to do a back and forth sweep through there. The prognosis does not look good. Bad part is we can't find his arrow.

falcon

A high intensity flashlight with a blue filter will cause blood to shine: Really makes it stand out at night.Have used minesince i got it in 2003 to find a hog for myself anda lot ofdeer and hogs for others. Have heard that gasoline burningColeman lantern will do the same thing.

Gotbuck

What scope do you have? For evening right before closing time you need to have a 40mm or 50mm lens, it is like daylight looking through them then you would be certain of your shot. If blood is sporadic and he crossed a river chances are he might be fine. At that close range he should of fell in his tracks so maybe you clipped his upper back or neck shot him. Were there any trees nearby that would tell you if he brushed up against with blood, this could tell you about where he was shot, low blood possible leg shot, mid height shoulder shot, high shot upper back, neck shot.

sabotloader

Gotbuck

Not always true... the ability of the scope to transmitt light is a factor of the quality of the lens and the power of the scope. If you divide the power you are using into the size of the objective it will give you the light figure..

Example... 3x9x40 - on 3 power you get a factor of 13.3 and at 9 a factor of 4.44

On the other hand a 2x7x32 the factors are different...

on 2x power the factor is 16 meaning more light is transmitted
on 7x power the factor is 4.57

But yet through the range of powers - your suggestion is correct for a normal 32mm 2x7 scope. But if you had a Swift Premier 2x7x40 - there is a ton of light available in that one.

so in this case everything being equal the 2x7 actually transmitts more light on the low end of the power range... Again proving Cayugad knows what he is talking about when he suggests 2x7's all the time... I still prefer the 3x9 though because I get a bigger field of view on all powers.

RW stuck me with this treasure of a fact... one of the few things he was actually right on and did not goet paid for.

cayugad

When I was outfittingscopes on muzzleloaders for our modern season, the gun shop owner who also shoots competation explained scopes just like sabotloader just did for us, to me. He said that with "good glass" like the Nikon Pro Staff in 2-7x32mm that I could transmit more light back to the eye then with the other scopes. It is amazing to take a Nikon 2-7 or my Bushnell Elite 2-7 out at dusk. The Bushnell especially since it has firefly (hold a flashlight pointing through the scope for 10 seconds and the cross hairs glow neon green) should almost be illegal. I could shoot well into dark with that thing. That Bushnell/Browning (actually but in a Bushnell box)was another scope that Batchief, Underclocked and Sabotloader recommended to me.. boy were they on the money. What a nice scope. I should have bought three or four of them for that sale they were having.

USNRETHunter

When it comes to pursuing injured game, Iowa has done it right in the law. With regard to searching for a deer that you shot:

Retrieval and Waste of Game
While taking or attempting to take game or
furbearing animals, you cannot abandon the injured
animal without making a reasonable effort to
retrieve it from the field...

Where it talks about "Trespass":
This paragraph does not prohibit the unarmed
pursuit of game or furbearing animals lawfully
injured or killed which come to rest on or escape to
the property of another...

Thus, you are required by law to pursue the animal, and a landowner cannot (legally) prevent you from tracking the injured animal on their property. (But leave your gun or bow on the outside of the fence.) If they do actively try to keep you off their property, a call from you to the DNR will quickly result in a visit to them from the DNR and a citation to the landowner if they persist. While I am a strict advocate of private property rights, this is one area where I agree with the law. How many deer go off to die unrecovered in Virginia and other states without such a requirement.

cayugad

I could see where that Iowa law could be abused...

SteveBNy

I know for a fact the Iowa type laws are abused - and NY does not even have them.

Steve

arcticap

We don't have the Iowa pursuitlaw here in CT either but in a way, the state virtually claims ownership of the game animals through thiergame regulations anyway.
What we do have here as most states probably do toois a limitation of liability for any landowner thatgives any hunter permission tohunt on to their property.
So in essence, the Iowa law is only asking for something in return for granting the limitation of liability in the first place.
There's a greater public benefit to be gained from both types of laws.
The only real problem about abusing the law is if it leads to some formof hunter harassmentor interference witha private landowner while they are hunting...or if the landownerhas some kind ofillicit activitytaking place on their landwhich they don't want anyone else to discover and thenoops! it is. Now that's part ofwhat's referred to as the "long arm of the law".