RE: Mercy Kill ? Scenario
Yes I would take a wounded deer.... If it were legal.
A scenario that I ran into about 2 years back, a year into PA's antler restrictions:
A youth hunter (exempt from AR's) took a very marginal shot on a small forkhorn. He shot it right in the butt. The deer came straight to my stand. I could tell it was hurt bad, but was still moving at a pretty good clip. As he quartered away from me, I could see that a large chunk of his hind quarter was blown off. I could have shot the deer illegally and potentially could have been fined.
A little bit later I see the youth and his father tracking the deer. I pointed them in the right direction. The never found the deer though.
At the point that the the deer came by, I did not know there was a youth hunter in the area. I saw an illegal buck that had been shot. I didn't want to put down a deer that somebody just took a crack shot at without seeing that it was illegal to take, so I passed. I didn't want to take the wrap for somebody elses mistake. It was not until after they came by did I have my regrets.
But hey. You can't turn back time.