If I could see the guy who gut shot it I'd let him do the dirty work. If not I'd put it down(legal here). That's a hell uv way for an animal to go.

A slob on our farm did the same thing this past season. Gut shot a nice buck.What a mess! A gut trail all thru woods. It ran to adjacent farm and BOOOM. Same slob(I know it was him) shot at running deer(Doe) with smoke pole! Thought he didn't hit it. Two days later It walked thru woods with upper jaw shot up and tounge hanging out,gasping for air. Geeez - I did not want that deer but I put it down and gave it to another hunter on farm.

What about this one;
I had 2 bucks walk 10-15 yrds from my stand this Jan. I had already shot 1 buck in Nov and was confined to 15" or better buck. 1st buck(4pnt) was on 3 legs. L/F leg was stuck/locked under body!! He needed to be culled for obvious reasons. I couldn't take him legaly - I let it walk. What do you do in that case. Ck it in and you get a nice citation from the man! BTW the 2nd buck was 8pnt but not 15" - let him walk.

What about this one;
I had 2 bucks walk 10-15 yrds from my stand this Jan. I had already shot 1 buck in Nov and was confined to 15" or better buck. 1st buck(4pnt) was on 3 legs. L/F leg was stuck/locked under body!! He needed to be culled for obvious reasons. I couldn't take him legaly - I let it walk. What do you do in that case. Ck it in and you get a nice citation from the man! BTW the 2nd buck was 8pnt but not 15" - let him walk.
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The deciding factor for me would be--If you think he's going to live,let him go.If he looks like he's going to die anyway--shoot him.

I am truly amazed at all the altruism displayed here, shoot the deer and tag it. I don't care what the guy at the hunter's safety course said, the deer belongs to the one who reduced it to possession.

Just because you chose to ignore simple ethics lessons please dont try and pass your B.S. on to our young hunters!

Sorry 121553
no one said there was an illegal shot deer. But I'd do the same if I figured some one was poaching or tresspassing

AL

Put it out of it's misery in a heartbeat, then settle back and wait for the person who shot it to clue them in about it's location.

Well lets see if you don`t shoot it there could be a chance that the animal could run off and die and never be found by anyone and have a long suffering death? (IMO)Which is wrong no matter what!! (TAKE IT DOWN AND PUT IT OUT OF ITS SUFFERING AND SETTLE WHO`S DEER IT IS LATER!!! rta47..

i remember 1 time this 16 year old blew off the leg of a nice 8 pnt and i found it and shot it and he was talkin with his buddies about how he shot it in the leg and blew it off and didnt bother going after it cause he was to lazy then when i said i shot one with the leg blown off he said he wanted it that aint right

nichol, I thought it was an illegal deer because he said he couldn't shoot it. Why is some else allowed to shoot it and not him? Maybe I just misunderstood the ? My apology. Bobby

I would shoot it instantly. I wouldn't even have to think about it.