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?

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.

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. [:@] 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

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..

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

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!!!!!

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.

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

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...

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.