to shoot or not?????????
 

That is the question.

Here is the situation. early any gun season

A broken up scrub buck comes by your stand, broken front leg, shot in the but.......... you get the picture

Would you shoot him?

You only have 1 buck tag.

Do you watch him hobble off to die?
Do you shoot him (just to end it)and go back hunting
Do you shoot him and burn your tag

Now, it's not illegal to watch him go off and die but don't we as hunters owe it to the animal not to allow them to suffer

Shooting him just to end it is just flat out illegal, at least here it is but might be the right thing to do.

I was sitting in my stand tonight and thought off this. This year my buddy shot a nice 6pt because it came in limping and fell over a log. I have yet to run into this situation and got to thinking what I would do. And you know, I have no idea so I want to hear from people here.

shoot it and claim it as your tag is the most ethical and legal thing to do... if someone just watched it walk off they shouldnt be aloud to go hunting.... i would shoot it and claim it... theres always next year

I have seen some replies here of some people who have taken the Noble route and shot the wounded deer they saw to stop the suffering. While some knew they burned a tag, they didn't even bother asking for another from their game department.

Personally I usually get all the deer I'm allowed and then some via party hunting. I most likely would have shot the buck; then again if I did, I would at least ask for another tag in the event said buck had infections I didn't want to chance and process.

iSnipe

It would be really tough IDK what I'd do till I was in the situation

It would be hard for me to let it go and suffer, I'd take it and tag it. I used a tag this year on a gut shot Buck I found on my property. It was dead but still warm. I felt it was the right thing to do.

Again the ol' bs meter goes off. That's your opinion and of course, I don't share that opinion because I wouldn't persecute someone for passing on the situation as much as I would praise someone willing to take the shot and burn a tag... but you won't see me telling people they shouldn't be allowed to go hunting if they don't do as I did.(If I were one to SHOOT it)

iSnipe

well we get more than one tag, so i aint sure...definitely my ethics would come into play, lets just say i am not fixing to let the deer die a long...slowwww...agonizing death as described below...meat is meat, and i have only heard of rare occasions where the meat wasnt any good from a just deceased deer.
.taged n bagged in the freezer it wold go...1 way or another..


i got a question, to 1 up the ante..what if it was a buck hurt as mentioned, and you only had a doe tag...where do your ethics lay?

I'd shoot it, tag it and ask for another tag. If I got the tag great! If I did not get another tag, I'd start planning for next season with the knowledge that I had done the right thing! The only thing someone calling themselves a "Sportsman" would do!

I would shoot him and wait for someone to come tracking it first, then I would tag it if nobody showed up to retrieve it.

NO WAY!!! One Buck tag, no way I'd waste it on a busted up scrub. I certainly don't feel that it's my responsibilty to kill em... nature will take care of him.... ya know that whole circle of life thing! lol! If he doesn't live, then some coyotes and other scavengers will profit from his demise.

Got think I might shoot it, but that is with an assumption that a CO with just a tad bit of common sense would see the situation for what it is and issue me a new tag as I donate the meat to hunters for hungry or something similar. If the CO will not do so, I will promptly tell him that because it is not illegal to let a injured buck pass, I will never waste my tag in the name of doing the right thing. Will his concious been clean because his decision as a LEO influnced my future actions? I don't know.

idk proly shoot it if it was that bad........i know a bunch of my buds who half ass bow hunt. i would make them tag it, otherwise i might go purchase my dad or brothers archery tag.....

I'm not sure what I would do in other situations, but I only hunt my own property. If I saw a buck in that situation and knew he would suffer and die, I would put him out of his misery and drag him somewhere where the coyotes could have him. I wouldn't tag him. Sometimes you have to do what is right regardless of the law.

I would shoot it for sure. I don't like to see any animal suffer. Fulton Co - If shot by a human, then it is not nature taking its' course.

To tag or not to tag is different depending on situation, location, etc. Illinois makes it fairly easy to deal with an untagged deer.

no question i would drop him and claim him ,its the right thing to do IMO.

Eh, that's a tough one. Is he wounded so bad that he's sick/infected enough to effect the meat? I'd have 2 tags here in Texas so I may go ahead and take him down. I also have every opportunity to hunt on my own land so I'm not ruining my one chance to take a big buck.

Maybe ask around if anyone in the area recalls wounding a buck fitting that description, see if they'll tag it.

I just don't think there is a 'right' answer but whatever answer a person gives reveals something about their character.

my lil one is quick to react, i have posted already and as i check the updates , she sits here with me being O so helpful, and her opinion is stern...
(there was a post from before when the guy shot a deer and was on here sayin how it was paralyzed in back legs and should he just leave it to die or shoot it again..the deer was put down after a few hours ughh)

"we alredi had this one before! rite dad?..shot it agin or call a dokter"
-Kaden 6years Texas

I am diggin the answers here. As for me I don't think it would make it to far once i saw it, I am just not sure on the end result. I do know that letting it walk away would haunt me.

This is a good, but tough question. It would depend on the season. I have taken deer before that were shot and some had a lot of waste, or gang green, so it sucks to waste your tag on someone elses bad shooting. The type of deer your describing most likely will die from infection over time or be caught by opportunistic coyotes, if present. I'd probly let it go and hope whoever shot it would track it down, unless its near the end of a bad season ,I would take it. I don't see that as unethical.

yep. had a similar situation last year, had a small doe come in limping bad and decided to take her. We found out that this deer had porcupine needles stuck INTO the "knee" bone, and i mean all the way in. Also, the heart was almost 1/3 dead. Very strange, but couldn't let it suffer. Ethics before Antlers.
BigBuck95 :hit:

i take the shot, tag him, and know he will not suffer any longer

My brother in-law used his only shotgun tag this year on an injured buck. Hit by a car. It was a 2.5 year old decent 8 point with awesome genes. There are far better bucks on the property. We all try to take mature deer , but in this case. We all told him he did the right thing.

"Ethics before antlers"......

I really like that quote.

Every situation is different and it might not be obvious that a deer needs to be put out of its misery or will have a painful recovery.

+1 agreed!!!

Shoot him. BTW I wouldn't hunt in a state where I had to 'tag' deer.....

shoot it. The rest is up to you

Shoot him. In SC game zone 2 you don't tag bucks. I'm limited to 2/day, total of 10/season.

ethics
 

I would shoot & tag him.
For ethics and respect of the animal.
I've believe that you only get so many chances for a deer per season.
So who knows--this might be the only buck you get to shoot.
There are no guarantees!!

Mark

Same here. Drop it, sit over it for a few hours and if nobody comes for it, fill the freezer.

This is a good question.............................!



For me, I shoot and attach my tag.



This is when they say, "it was ment to be".

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.