More on ethics...
 

Don't ask me what brought this to mind, as I have no idea. Keep in mind that this situation is completely hypothetical and that there is no right or wrong answer.

The situation;

It is the last 20 minutes of the last day of the season. You/a friend/someone you're close to has a deer walk under their stand and they take the shot. The deer runs off and after an obligatory 30 minute wait, the arrow is inspected.

Upon inspection you find that the shot made was a poor one, couple that with the fact that the deer ran off a few yards, slowed, and walked away with its tail down, you elect to come back in the morning. The next morning you begin trailing your deer, only to stumble uponit in its bed, mortally wounded, but still alive.

The question;

It is the day after the season is closed. The deerappears to bemortally wounded, but still alive. [Assume liver/intestinal hit.]Do you dispatch the animal?

If so, do you tag the animal and take it home, knowing full well that you have killed the animal after the season has closed?

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Having been there...(not my shot) the first thing I did was contact the game warden the following morning and informed them of what had happened and what I wanted to do. Then I asked what I should do to satisify the state laws. I was informed that I had a couple of options...1) it was after the season close and to leave things as they were 2) go and follow up the blood trail and see ifwe could find the animal and if it was dead then recover it. These were the only optionswe were given. The Game Warden didn't want someone out with a bow shooting at a deer with the possibility that the wrong deer might be shot and and you know where that leads, plus the season was closed.

We went looking and never found the deer.

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Happened to a guy here too that shot one with rifle. He contacted the warden. Same options. The spud went home and didn't even bother checking to see if the deer was dead the next morning. He told us a month later. We went out and did some snooping.Wefound the buck. 60 yards from where he shot it!! It ran over a knoll and died. He must of looked hard for it that night like he said. :eek: [:@] Lots all respect for him after that. Didn't have much respect for him to start with to be honest with you.

I know I would be looking the next day after seasonif it happened to me. If I foundthe deer still alive ??? Probably the same as finding a dieing deer after it was hit by a vehicle or run through a swather.

Tim

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here in maryland we have a 24 hour period to check our deer in... if i found it wounded an it was tryin to get up u cant jus let the animal suffer any more.. you wounded it u must finish it off... id kill it take it home an call it in as yesterdays kill...sounds to me like the the game warden told
AZBear to jus leave the animal to die..

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If we find a wounded deer while hunting here ... the warden saysyou either walk away and let it die on it's ownor shot/tag it. To put it out of it's misery and not tag it means a fine and chance of hunting privilages taken away if you are caught. You shoot it , you better have a tag and tag it.

Tim

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but as the question reads.... the person woulda shot it the day before... i feel it is your duty to shoot it the next day if u find it... if u were huntin the day before u musta had a tag to shoot at that deer so u should still have it the next morning.... i dont see how ANYONE could jus walk past a wounded deer an say welp im not wasting a tag on you lil fella guess you'll have to suffer!...i dont care if it the law or not. u jus dont walk past an animal thats wounded an not do anything about it rather u take it home or not!!!!!

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The question also states that the next day happens to be the day after the season closed.

Regardless of whether you have a tag in your pocket, it is no longer valid as the season isn't open.

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an i still shoot it an take it home..... owe it to the animal

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I shot a buck one year using my second tag..mercy killing he was so balled up... it would be hard for not to put a critter out of its misery, I dont think I could do it..probably have to eat my tag...

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To ME, ethics and law may not go hand in hand in this case. I will do my best to end the animals suffering. I would then tag the animal. That is how my ethics would work in this situation. Honestly if I got caught by a warden with bow or even gun in hand the day after season I would just tell him I was hog hunting. They would have to catch me in the act of shooting the deer for me to be in trouble. That is an acceptable risk to me to be able to find, dispatch,and recover the animal. I truely hope I am never in a position such as the one described.

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Wouldn't shoot a deer with 30 minutes left in the season...With a bow. No ethics involved,So I just hunted for the better part of 4 months and now I'm gonna get it done in 30 minutes..nah not me.

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I WOULD CONTACT THE CO FIRST

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Once again....GR8's got a VERY valid point. I didn't even hunt the last evening of our season, this past Fall.

I'll tell ya, though......If there's no valid season open......why go back with a BOW? I'm likely toting something a little more conducive to dispatching an animal quickly.

But....as described.....I'm shooting. I love deer hunting.....but even if it meant me having to do without for a while....I'll dispatch that animal.

I also like my chances in court.

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It can happen during the season in many states that don't allow Sunday hunting....same scenerio hunting Sat evening and recovering Sunday mornings......same scenerio about dispatching an animal after hours.....the laws all read differently across state borders. First and foremost to me, the RIGHT thing to do is dispatch the animal if the animal has an obvious mortal wound. Ethics and Laws don't necessary walk hand in hand.

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Ill kill it with out a doubt. Season may be closed but there is no law to carrying a gun or a bow out of season. Ill worry about the ticket later. I am not that unhumane!

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I had a similar situation this fall when my ex-g/f gutshot a goat on the last day of the season. We could see the goat in the cliffs below us but I couldn't get a second shot at it where it was bedded. The dilemna was that I would normally have just backed out and come back the next day but the next day was after the season and we wouldn't be able to shoot the animal if it happened to still be alive. I stalked down the cliff (in peril of my life!) to try and get another shot into the animal but just ended up pushing her out of her bed. My only way off the mountain at that point was to keep pushing her in hope of getting another shot but I was unable to before I got to another ridge where I could climb out. We then left and came back the next day (w/o bows) and were unable to find her. Wendy went back the third day and located her but the birds had pretty much destroyed the upper half and the lower half had spoiled and frozen to the cliff. She packed it out, but it was no good. I continually ask myself if I did the right thing by going down and trying to get a second arrow in the animal? I can say that I took the brunt of the blame for the bad outcome of that situation for a long time... even if I wasn't the one that took the crap shot. Hindsight is 20/20 but knowing what I did at the time, I'd say that I'd do it the same again. If it hadn't been the last day of the season though, I would have just backed out and we probably would have shown up the next morning (with our bows) to find her expired in her bed. Who knows?

Given the above, and the original scenario dictates that it's dark now so there will be no second shot opportunity, I guess I'd come back the next day (unarmed) and hope for the best.

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Is the deer on my property:DSorry

If it is wounded enough I can run it down and knifeitI will do so, if I can not run it down and knife then deer lives another day. Ican not shoot it with a bow out of season.

Again it is my fault for making a bad shot[:o]

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This situation to me is no different than crossing a property line to get a deer you killed. You are trying to balance ethics and that law and as Rob stated, they dont always walk hand in hand.

If you trespass torecovera deer you shot, you are breaking the law the same as if you dispatch the animal out of season.

I tend to error on the ethical side of both arguments.

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Good point, I now have no idea what I am doing anymore in the woods. I am afraid to shoot a deer in fear being on HNI "Was this Ethical" post.

These post have made me mental[8D]

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I would "dispatch" the animal and take it on home. The DNR would probably find some way to pin something on you ifyou decided to go ahead and try to check it in.

Being a nice and honest guy doesn't always pay off.

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Are you sure it is the posts................ Maybe it's the guilt getting at you from takingthat little girls ipod.:D

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That will be the next question ask:D

Is it Ethical to keep an IPOD you find in Kentucky:D
Finders keepers, losers weepers[:-]

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The funny thing about these ethics posts is that there are guys that will gladly leave a deer to rot in the woods because it is the "legal" thing to do, but let a guy come on this boards in Oct or Nov and say that he got a bad shot on a deer and after spending three days tracking he couldn't find his deer.....these same guys will be the "ethics" police all of a sudden and will start blabbing about how we "owe it to the animal to find it, afterall "we did make the choice to take its life"....

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Whoa there ducky! Is there something you're not telling us about your turkey incident?? :)

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No it is not ethical.

The law states if you..."an outa stater" find propery in a publicarea in KY..........that you the finder must give the item to the closest Kentuckian to you when you found the item:D

Need my mailing addres?[:-]

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I think we were in Indiana:D So the law in Indiana is it goes to the guy who finds it.

If I recall I did at least buy dinner[8D] My wife sure loved that Ipod.
The next time Mrs. HuntinGus calls me I will ask what color she likes

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Some of you just don'tunderstand the ethical thing to do would call your local vet and have him track that deer down with you & save its life. Bandage him up give him some antibiotics & set him free to be hunted again in the next legal season.


Geeeeehhhhhhssssssssss some of you will never get it!!!!!!!


And with any luck he will stay on your land..........;)

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It was in KY and yes you did buy the dinner so I guess you are "entitled" to any and all items left in parking lots [8D]

Stay away from Mrs. HuntinGus!!!

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Hey she called me

HuntinGus have a great weekend!!!

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I don't have time to resopond now but I will!

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This is really the sad truth. If the laws read that you must treat a wounded animal ethically in or out of season , there's no question what we would do.
In most states you can't even shoot a deer hit by a car to put it out of it's misery. You are violating game laws if you do. It does not make sense.

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I know what the question read. I just commented onwhat two different wardens told me when I asked the question previously when finding a wounded deer or wounding one onthe last day. I like knowing my legal options. Any time I run into a warden I ask questions or call them if I have questions. Then when I am put insuch situations, it is much easier making a call because I know where I stand in reguards to the law.

I never said what I would do. I will say ... I haveused a tag to end someone else's screw up when I have come across a wounded deer that was sure to die. I know what I will do ifI am faced with the othersituations when I don't have a tag or it is out of season.

Tim

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I was hoping everyone had forgotten that one!;)

I just wonder what would have happened if I had just let it go. Maybe the DNR would have thought the check station wrote the wrong date on the check-in tag.[&:]

Anyway, I wouldn't be a honest person about this circumstance. Finish off thejob and takethe deerhome. TheEnd.

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While these ethics questions are interesting and thought provoking I wonder sometimes what the poster is looking to discover.Are they trying to come to terms with what they would do in these circumstances,or are they looking for support of their own actions.These are hard questions in the sense that I don't think "most" people want to break a law,they are trying to do what to them is morally right.
Some have made it seem like violating a game law is different than violating any other law,why is that? If you break a law,you break a law.To place game laws above any other comes from some form of justification.The person I trust the most is the one that looks back at me in the mirror in the morning.When circumstances arise (situational ethics) I am going to do what I feel is right and will have no reservation about it.
I would like to think in the situation described by WH I could call a CO and have them have a rational response,like let's get this animal out of it's suffering and let's get the meat to a needy family or soup kitchen or whatever.Our local Co recently retired,he is a friend and a client and would still be the guy I would call for advice.Personally I would not call a CO who I didn't know because I don't have the faith that they would do the right thing.I will be darned if I was to be put through grief for attempting to do things correctly.
The bottom line for me is that the animal is not going to suffer any longer than it has to and it will not be wasted.To me that is the committment I made to the animal when I chose to shoot it.

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yes. I would have no problem with that. It would be a good idea to get a warden involved, but I don't have the patience for that. Killing it is the right thing to do.