NEW61375

I never really encounter this problem during bow or rifle season but I almost always do during shotgun season. Finishing a downed deer. One that has been crippled or paralyzed or otherwise incapacitated. Now I have seen and used several methods but I have always been curious how others handle it. It gives me a weird feeling when I have to do this thatI can't really describe. I do know this, the first time you do it can be tough, ecspeciallyif you can't for whatever reason ground-check it(shoot it on the ground), which I don't really prefer anyway. I guess I'm notinterested in the methods as much as "Does anyone else relate to that feeling?" I'm sure someone does.A lot of times youare seperated/desensitized from the actual death of the animal by distance(rifle), it runs off-you trail it and find it dead already(bow), or other similar circumstances.But when it is just you and that animal in the woods and you have to end its life up close and personal, it's just different.

NEW61375

HEY

Main Frame 8

Like it or not, our jobs are to dispose of them as quickly as possible. If there is no imminent danger of approcahing the deer, cut the vugular and it will only take seconds for the deer to expire.

phall2

I have done it once for me and once for my littlecousin. Killing the animal is a part of hunting. It is supposed to be done in a quick and ethical way. Wether you kill the wounded animal when it is at your feet or you shoot the animal and it dies 60 yard away, you are still killing it. A lot of people dont understand that until it happens to them. The first time I had to do it was my deer and I got "that" feeling. I havnt gotten it again. It was my first bowkill and my feeling wasnt feeling bad for the deer, well kinda. It was more of a "damnit I should of made a better shot. If I would have, the deer would of died quicker and more peacefully."

deerslayer270

first deer i ever shot i spined it with an old 30-30 and have had to finish a deer off twice since then and i dont geel anything at the moment...i switch into a mode where i dont think about anything but killing it ASAP...all i do is shoot him again in the vitals.....if u can get a good point black shot at the heart it is over VERY fast.....like i said i dont feel anything at the time but later that night in the car ride home or before i go to sleep it hits me and i sorta feel bad that i made him suffer...

wayomic

What ever will end it quickly, and not present a high risk of injury to yourself. (had a few "kickers" in my time, best to shoot again in that situation) BUT, I seem to remember that some states have some strange laws on what is considered "proper" ways to finish an animal. (probably put on the books by Humane Societypettitions[:'(] )

So, one that's just laying there and no threat to you physically,
a stab to the jugular (cutting makes too much a mess to the carcas)
or "pith" them (small narrow knife stabed into the spot between the base of the skull and the vertibre, sometimes up into the skull)
Or, if it's kicking and struggling,
One clean shot to the chest. (head shots are WAY too messy, especially close range)

deerslayer270

messy and then they get all twitchey.....

cardeer

I relate with the strange feelinng. But I just finish it with a shot where the head meets the neck.

wayomic

I had an uncle (actually my father's uncle, passed away years ago) who used to carry around what looked almost like a old style bayonette. Maybe it was, but the main thing is that it was a long, narrow but thick spined blade that was perfect for finishing off game. He used it on deer, coons, anything larger than a squirrel or bird. He would use it to spike their spine and sever the sinal cord right at the base of the skull. Just hold down the head with his boot and pop, they don't move around any more. When I had anatomy class in school it stuck out as the basically the same thing done to "prep" frogs and such for disection. Must have been the old WWII vet in him getting the fastest way to stop your quarry.

Windwalker7

I know the feeling and hate when I have to do that. Sometimes I actually feel like quiting hunting all together after that.

I shoot them in the lungs. Nothing to waste there but rib meat.

I don't shoot the head or neck. I need them to tie the drag rope to and I feel if none hunters see that it may turn them against hunting.Seeing a deaddeer with an eyeball hanging out isn't a pretty sight. I sometimes hunt a state park and encounter nonhunters quite often.