You did the right thing. IMO.

I appreciate all on here stating they would take out the suffering animal as I believe no animal deserves to suffer at the hands of man.

As morally & ethically correct as we all feel it would be (myself included) to put the deer down you would be surprise to know that in most states the conservation authorities may have a different opinion, as hard as that may be to believe. If you read your rule books (in some states) if you find a wounded or dead deer you are to contact a game officer. They are to decided what is the right course of action...not us as hunters! If a game warden had witness this happening from a far (like they do) it would have been in his authority to issue a citation if he felt like it.

Just something to think about for next time.

i understand what you are saying. But me as a hunter, im going to take action on my property. I could tell he was hurt and didnt want him to suffer. I tagged the deer, and im going to make some good jerky and summer sausage with it. And if a DNR officer did happen to see if from a far and gave me a citation i would have just accepted it because in my opinion i did the right thing.

I would have done the very same thing myself no question.

I would have definitely put the deer down...and probably would have been the "best friend" of the residence coyotes!!

Good point. We would like to think wardens would not cite us, but there are plenty that would. For some, any citation is a feather in their hat. I once fished off a bridge for about 5 min, realized my license was expired, wrapped up quickly and walked back to my car. A warden was there and he even said he could see I wrapped up cause I forgot about my expired license but he still gave me a fine! It was not about following the law or what was right with this guy! A similar thing happened to a friend of mine, but his penalty was a lot stiffer (loss of priveleges and BIG fine) - and he even self-reported that the animal he accidentally shot was not quite legal. You can not trust (all of) these guys. Sorry, but that is the sad truth.