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