Interesting that so many hunters are criticizing the man for not retrieving his deer especially when in the last year I have read in this magazine as well as others stories of writers or editors in those publications who shot a deer and couldn't find it before they left camp. In one case it was two weeks later that the guide found the deer chewed up by coyotes. I like to call the guys who criticize everyone else "ethics nazis" they have the atttitude that their gut pile smells sweeter than most.

Two days of "old college try" (whatever that means) seems like a great effort. I have heard of people working much less to recover an animal and people thinking that is ethical. I guess we can give him guff because he signed up for it by being a politician, comes with the job.

I had one crawl into a river on me. I still spent all that day and the Sunday after trying to find evidence that he made it out (I saw the final crawl, but didn't follow up fast enough, there was no way he was making it out) or washed up. If that following day was a legal hunting day and not Sunday in PA, I might have been hunting instead. I knew there was little to no chance of finding that deer and that even if I did, the odds of it being remotely salvagable were even slimmer. Was sick about it for days, but sometimes these things happen. Two days and a 10 man party, particularly an experienced 10 man party, seems to be a reasonable, if not marathon effort. What would the headlines have been if the governor had missed obligations becuase he'd gone hunting? Remember he's a Republican, he doesn't get the "Governing is hard work and he deserves it" media pass.

I'm a Minnesotan and I think the real problem people have with this story is the fact that he took 200 yard shot, wounded the deer, and then didn't look for it himself. A 200 yard shot is hard enough for a skilled hunter, much less a token hunter like Pawlenty who spends a grand total 3 hours in the woods a year. I mean you gotta give the guy credit for being out there and supporting hunting but at the end of the day it's just a glorified photo-op. You'd expect a guy who is the Governor and potential presidential candidate to be a little more responsible than that.

I'm not citing any secret information here, read the actual news story it's all in there. Also the Governer's opener was less than 10 miles from my home last year so I have a pretty good idea of how it works.

So what it happens quit a bite that you hear about were someone shot a deer and couldnt find it. some times it just happens. It is not like he shot it and just decided to leave or just cut off the horns.

200 yard shot thats ethical a lot of areas thats the norm and im sure his gun was sited in for that. i had to leave a deer i shot and tracked for 2 hours and over a mile. i was sick about it. my dad and 8 other people looked for it and didn't find it so i went out looking a day later when i got back and i found the deer 500 yrds away under a dead tree and completely hidden they can get away... they avoid hunters all the time and when injured they can do the same.. stop reading into it any further than its a fact of hunting they are built 2 survive and all you can do is your best...

If the blood trail goes cold, how do you suppose the deer is going to get tracked? It's wounded, but still alive, maybe. He put in a two-day effort to find it and that shows he does care about finding it. But because he had prior commitments, he could no continue to track it. Perhaps yet, another hunter came up on the deer and took it for himself, and I know for a fact that happens.

A lot of hunters have lost deer, and a lot more hunters are going to lose deer in the future.
Two-hundred yard shots aren't that long. The farm I hunt on is 300 yards from one end to the other, and I situate myself at the one end opposite from where the deer come out. I use a 7mm Rem. Mag. and I know exactly where my 150 grain soft-point bullet hits at that distance.

Sh!t happens; people need to get over it and themselves (those that criticize). I'm sure I'm going to lose a deer or two in the future but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If, after two days of tracking, I haven't found the animal, then chances are it's still alive. If it's dead, then nature will reclaim it herself. Nothing goes to waste in nature and people need to start realizing that. People also need to realize that all these bullsh!t regulations with hunting came about because the antis started lobbying the government to legislate us to death. If they can't stop us from hunting from the word "go," then they'll do it incrementally. Think about when your grand-dad used to go hunting and what it was like back then, and then think about how it is now. It's enough to make your head explode if you actually sat down and thought about it, then realized, "holy crap, they did this to us and we let them!" Is it any wonder that we're losing hunters every year because people are leaving the sport and/or not signing up new members?

Gov. Pawlenty is only human. Sh!t happens. Get over it.

Seems kinda lame to shoot a deer and let his handlers do the work of recovery. If you don't wanna do the time, don't do the crime! Sounds like typical elitist repuke thinking, have the peons do it. As we all line dance into Oligarchy.