BuckTracker: And the Shed Goes Too….

I am just back from an archery turkey hunt in Florida, where I spent a lot–and I mean a lot–of time in a pop-up blind. Not only are portable shelters a wonderful tool for bowhunters, they also serve as a mini-meditation facility where the inhabitant can ponder many of life’s questions, great and small.

Of course it takes a little decompression time to get into the swing of things, and it wasn’t ’til about the third day when a hypothetical–but very real–conundrum slid into my “situational ethics” radar screen. It goes something like this:

You and a buddy decide to devote a day to shed hunting. You will wander several properties, some only you have access to, others he hunts exclusively, even some public ground. None are owned by either of you. So when someone picks up a shed antler, who gets to keep it? The guy who found it? The person who hunts the land? The title-holder of the property? Does size (or other intangibles, such as familiarity with the buck) matter? I’m anxious to hear your thoughts!