Deer and ethics
 

It might sound “crazy”, but I like nature and like to see the deer not only through my rifle sights, wait a second, I like that too J , but I do not enjoy seeing them suffering. Clean shot or fast fallow up minimizes their pain.
Anyway here is my story with question:

I was driving to work one morning in January and was running late sitting in traffic, when I notice that traffic was build up because some one must hit a doe and drown away. She was still alive laying on the side of a busy northern Chicago suburb, still moving her head and a leg. I drove by hoping that police would be there soon to take care of her. But then I start thinking: Would it be ethical for me to get out of car and take her out of her misery (I had a knife in my trunk from bird hunting weekend)\, it looked like she was dying there, but then I imagine faces of driving buy people looking at guy in the suit with the knife finishing a deer. I think it would legally wrong as well. Probably calling police was the only right choice, but what would you do?

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Tough call. . . when I lived in Texas it may not even raise an eybrow if you got out and put it down. I've seen guys cuttin heads off road kill bucks and folks don't even slow down. There may acuatlly be a law about doing the right thing. Perhaps someone else knows that answer.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Where does the ethics come into the scenerio?

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Some states will not allow you to touch a deer hit by a vehicle. I think you need to check state laws where you are.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

A few summers back while on I-94 in central MN, I saw a doe and fawn trying to cross 6 lanes of 70MPH highway. The doe made it, but the fawn got clipped pretty good by a car and went spiraling through the air.

I pulled over and my buddies and I started looking for the fawn. I found her about 30 feet off the road in some thick grass and from the look of things, she was laying right where she landed. She was still breathing and whimpering, however her front legs were both broken as was her left rear leg and femur was sticking through the skin. She also had blood coming out of her ear (in humans this virtually guarantees a skull fracture).

Knowing that she would likely be suffering for some time before either bleeding out internally or externally or starving to death/dying of dehydration, I decided putting her out would be the merciful thing to do, so I lifted her head with my boot, turned it around backwards as far as it would go and then pushed until I heard and felt her spine break. As much as it sucked to have to see an animal die needlessly, I slept better that night knowing that I had minimized her suffering rather than letting her suffer.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Most state laws prohibit putting them out of their misery. Ethically it is a personal matter and in the past I have followed my conscience and dispatched the animal much the same way as djschuett.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Its one of the few situations where I can sleep better knowing I broke a law vs obeying it.


However, I can see where this could be a slippery slope and why a law like this probably needs to be in place.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

I believe in Illinois you can't finish one off after a deer vsvehicle accident. Only law enforcement is able to. In my opinion that is a stupid law........I see pros and cons,the con beingthe deer laying there suffering. And the pro being yahoos killing injured deer off a busy highway in front of sensitive prople, although these type of accidents don't always happen in the more populated areas. I will say that I would rather put the deer down than worry what people think and if they knew the circumstances I'm sure they would be in agreement but who knows? I've seen it happen two times. Once outside my town a spike buckgot hit and broken down in the back, Some guy stopped along with others and was able to tie the deer up to a tree against my recommendations and attemped to slit it's throat. At the time I was on a fire department and had already radioed in to county and a officer was on his way. I couldn't get the guy with the knife to understand the law so I left. The second a deer had wandered into town and was struck, basically the same kind of injury. Luckily a state troppper was just leaving his house and stopped to take care of this one. But he had to get permission to discharge his weapon from his commander. As hunters we know a slow death is not what we want for the deer.

RE: Deer and ethics
 

Would this be considered ethical:
http://www.fieldandstream.com/fields...599794,00.html

RE: Deer and ethics
 

I canappreciateyoufeelingsin the situation, as I would have had the same. I think that you should start carrying a handgunon your person if it happens again. I mean, someone shooting a handgun in Chicago would be just kind of typical. ;):D