cardeer

In Pa ,believe it or not the PGC dont respond to wounded deer hit on the road.They tell you to call the local cops. I think not all laws are always ethical. I will put any animal out of misery when injured.

skeeter 7MM

In the context of your question..NO. If I were to shoot the animal it is against the law here and could be charged which includes fine, loss of hunting rights for 1 year and permanent record. Furthermore if shot by a poacher originally I could also face charges of obstruction of justice and the above mentioned infractions. What I would do is call the TIPS line and help the CO's in anyway I could.

Ethically I think we all know what we would want to do in this situation but legally it could nip you in the butt.

slobbyrobby33

In the context of your question shoot the poacher first then put the animal down. Just joking. If its on my property I am putting it down. Here in Missouri the sherrifs departments won't come on private property to put down and animal. They will however respond to car vs. animals on the road if the animal is mortily wounded. If you call the conservation department to take care of it you may wait weeks to here from anyone. One of 2 things I would do on private property: 1) Call the Game warden at home. - Get much better responce this way. 2) take of it myself.

Sometimes a higher law exist other than the law of the land.

Rickmur

Where did you pull the last part of that statement from? Are you a psychologist? [:'(][:@][:'(]

OH_RedNeck

That is a tough question, "break the law" or "do the right thing". When I say "do the right thing" I mean end the animal's suffering. I personally would put the deer down especially if you are on private property or deep in the deer woods. I feel you would be giving due respect to nature by showing mercy to one of its creatures. As a further sign of respect you could even bury the deer in a shallow grave, or just let it be food for the other woodland creatures. Just my two cents...

3ptbuck

Ive only been put in this situation once, but it was in season. I walked up on what I thought was a dead deer but turned out to be a young b-buck that had its front shoulder shot to hell with bones and meat sticking out everywhere. He was too weak to move and obviously in alot of pain. At one point I snuck around him in a creek bed and popped up over the bank 5ft from him. He had enough energy to raise his hind legs to try and stand and then just fell and stared at me staring at him.
I felt so bad for this animal I turned around and made the mile walk back to my house and returned with my 870. I stayed just out of his view to keep from worrying it more and put a slug through his head to make it quik.
I'd have to say that if I ever saw a deer in that situation again, in season or not I would definately put the thing out of its misery.

johnl

tuff call I think I would put it down but I would also call the DEC first just to cover myself
if it was in season without a doubt I would . A few years ago I put a small button buck down that was hit by a car cost me a tag for very little meat but at least his suffering was over

silentassassin

For all of you "letter of the law" and "how do you know if he's going to die" guys. I got a scenario fro you. When I was about 14, I was out squirrel hunting one day. I heard a dog coming from what sounded like a long way off. After a minute or so the dog sounded a little closer. I assumed it was running a deer so I started to walk in that direction to get a glimpse of the deer. I didn't walk more than 20 yards over a small rise when I saw the dog. He was lying there on the ground not more than another 20 yards from me. The dog was lying there starving to death and literally rotting. I could not imagine that the animal was still alive. I have seen animals that were dead for a week that were not as decomposed as that dog was. He was literally starving and rotting to death. It had orginally sounded like he was a couple of hundred yards off. Well really he was only 40 yards but he was so week that he could barely bark. As he heard us talking he mustered up enough strength to bark a little louder. When I got close I threw up. Between the smell and the thought of this poor animals lying there for the last month decomposing alive. The animal appeared to be paralyzed. It was truely sickening. Well I shot the dog and put the poor creature out of it's misery. I figured it had suffered enough. It was time to end it's suffering. What I did was illegal. However, I did it then and would gladly do it again, even if it meant loosing my hunting license for good. I could not in good conscience look myself in the mirror and know that I had left that animal out there to conitnue suffering needlessly. I would like to hear which side of the fence everyone wouled be on in the above scenario.


To answer zaks question, I don't know. It would depend on the situation and how bad the animal was hurt. If the animal was down like after a wreck or something and I knew the animals couldn't get back up, then I would finish it off. If the animals was not down just severely wounded I would assume it had a 50% - 50% chance and let nature take it's course. The law and doing what is right and ethical don't always go hand in hand. I am going to do what I think in my heart is right. If that happens to be against the law then I will pay my fines etc. JMO

Fieldmouse

Yes, I would just shoot it and move on. Why waste time thinking about it when you could shoot it and be back on your way in under a minute. I killed a 13 point 6 years ago that had a broken hip from a car. I did keep his rack just because he had 6 brow tines on one side. If it wasn't for that I would have just left him for the critters.

Tazman

Well it depends on the situation, but I will simply say that one way, or the other, the animal will have its suffering ended even if I got busted for so called poaching.