ORIGINAL: Paul L Mohr

If you hit the deer in the vitals another arrow or slicing it's throat probably won't kill it any faster, it will just hurt more when you shoot it again or stab it in the neck. Just wait for it to die. It takes time to die from lack of oxygen. Now if you waited a half an hour to go get your deer like they suggest then you didn't make a good hit and a follow up shot is probably a good idea.

If watching a deer die bothers you, you might want to think of getting a new hobby. Death is rarely pretty.

Also stabbing a deer in the heart will not hasten it's death, they die from the same thing lack of oxygen to the brain. If you destroy the heart it can't pump blood anymore and it will actually take longer for the animal to bleed out. Destroyed lungs or destroyed hear, both do the same thing in the long run. However I have noticed that heart shot deer tend to go farther than lung shot deer, the lung shot leaves a better blood trail.

If I have to kill a deer on the side of road after an accident or something I normally just just stab it. I have a SOG seal knife in my car for that purpose. It is long enough to make it through both lungs. One quick jab and wait. Multiple stabbings don't seem make things easier on the deer or give it a faster death.

Paul