Todd, I don't condemn you for your doeful mercy. Most ethical people would do the same.
Deerdust, I perfectly realize the tricky nature in disregarding the absolute strict letter of the law. Believe me I am no outlaw. But the laws on the books were passed and exist to stop people from
hunting from the public roads, at night or out of season. They were not passed because the citizenry were up in arms about deer struck by cars being put out of their misery. Right or wrong I am a firm believer in the concept of situational ethics. For example I would not refrain from swimming out to and saving a drowning child in a park pond because a sign in front of me said "NO SWIMMING". Laws are great. Without them society would collapse into chaos. But believe it or not you can take anything, even adherence to the law, to a ridiculous extreme under certain, thankfully rare, circumstances.