What is the right thing to do?
I was sitting this past sunday on a farm that I leased strickly for hunting. I was by myself hunting and it is roughly 1 and a half hours away from my house or any one that would come help me get a deer out. The farm is in the eastern part of KY where it is extremely rough terrain to deer hunt and impossible to get around without a 4 wheeler. I had arrangments that if I killed a buck I had two guys that were going to come help me get it out. I was only hunting for a buck this time.
Anyway, around dark I had a doe come in that was ROUGH. she was completely gray with bald patches on her back. by far the biggest and oldest doe I have ever seen in my life. He front right leg was gimpy and she had no use what so ever in that leg. No visible injury. She had two yearlings with her which surprised me. Its obvious to me that she will not make it through the winter. She fell on her face twice while infront of me. I was met with a moral dilemma. Do I shoot her as a mercy killing knowing that she won't make it through the winter even though I will almost certainly not be able to retrive her by myself, or do I let her go knowing she will starve or freeze to death in a couple months? I ended up not shooting her and letting her walk but the scenario has been bothering me ever since. What would you guys do? Did i do the right thing? I absolutly HATE watching injured animals so that is why it bothers me so much.