If I shot every limping deer I saw I would be considered a poacher. It was a buck and you have a tag. If the buck was something you wanted then you shoot it, tag it and know you did a good thing. You filled your tag and eliminated some suffering on a deer with problems. To shoot it and leave it would be a bad decision. To a trophy hunter that worries about burning his only tag on a crip scrub buck.....then don't shoot. Nature deals with wounded deer in many ways. All deer die either by the hands of man or from something probably much slower and more painful. We have a right to hunt and harvest...not euthanize animals we think need it.

no i would not shoot him

A deer got hit on our road early this fall, neighbor called us...my sister and I went and I cut it's throat...it's back was broken, leg broken..etc.

You can disagree with me if you want but I am a Christian and to me they are God's creatures and they should not suffer.

So deer season or not, an animal like that should not have to suffer. Now I am a law abider and respect the DEC but I will say this, I have had to go through the exact situation you posted...I will not let any animal suffer, regardless. I love to hunt and I have a love for the animals...To me there comes a point where it is more about ethics than the written law and IMO some laws are unspoken and unwritten in my book. Shooting a deer in such a condition is, to me, just like ending one's suffering on a roadside, just helping speeding up the process, especially, as in my case, the deer is dead on it's feet, skin and bones, pus oozing from it's leg, inedible for my consumption...It is about as bad as it gets. Only once I've had this happen to me, this year in fact.

There's the right way according to the laws and then there's the right way according to your heart and ethics, and if you are Christian, God's law.

Most if not all state game commissions will give you a replacement tag if the deer is unfit for consumption. Put the animal out of his misery if he comes by you and leave it there. Of course its a call if you examine the deer and decide to take a chance with it. Deer shot that live for hours afterward are typically fever ridden and there are so many compounds in the meat that would render the animal meat inedible or unpalatable at the least.

My question is why would you bother to tag and dress and drag a deer that you were unsure of its consumpatbility?

My buddy shot a buck in ohio this season in the afternoon, and he recovered it early the next morning and dressed, tagged and dragged it to his truck. Then drove all the way back to CT and found out the meat was rancid. He did the right thing though as he shot it and was responsible enough to do the right thing.

I'd shoot him and call the warden, try to find the original shooter if possible.
This would be a good question to ask your local warden ahead of time. The warden who has been here 30 years would tell me to tag him and then he would authorize another tag, but I would have to go and buy it and get reimbursed later. But I have a brand new warden taking over Jan. 1st so I will talk to him soon and make sure.
Some of the game officials would preffer that nature take it's coarse and thats fine with me too, but if you have the opportunity to get fresh meat for yourself or someone else and all you have to give up are antlers, which story would you rather tell? I gave up my trophy to take this one, to end this deers suffering and donate the meat sounds pretty good, while the story where you watched an animal suffer to save your tag and money and a chance to get a bigger set of antlers doesn't sound good at all. You'll find people that agree with you either choice you make, but it's your choice.

Definitely shoot. No question. As for tagging or not, you have to ask yourself is this something the State really has a say in.

Really? I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it and tag it. My life doesn't revolve around getting a huge rack...it's nice if I do, but the success of my hunt doesn't hinge on it. Doing the ethical thing and enjoying my hunt is what it's all about.