# Shoot him or not?



## Stampede (Apr 11, 2004)

This is not one of those he did it but really me things.My buddy who hunts the same property that i do,but about a quarter mile or so from my spot,shot at a nice 10pt. But said as he released the arrow the buck turned toward him and he said it looked like as he shot the arrow eather glanced off the shoulder or the belly but the arrow didn't pass through,it looked like a glancing shot he said.Very little blood trail and he knows how to track a blood trail.Since i hunt the same area,i'm wondering if this buck passes by me ,should i shoot it or not.I wonder about with a wound,will the meat have an infection or would it still be good.I'd like to have another nice buck on the wall but am also intresred in the meet.What do you think?


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## Fishstix (Aug 16, 2005)

Personally, if I ever see a deer who is wounded or limping, I wouldn't ever shoot them for the reason that the meat may be bad. But if it has a large rack, I would. I usually have two Does in the freezer each year, so I would take a chance on the meet being bad.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

why let it suffer? you have plenty of chances to kill more than one deer in ohio, put this one out of the misery that we as hunters caused. i think that is doing the right thing.


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

Fishstix said:


> Personally, if I ever see a deer who is wounded or limping, I wouldn't ever shoot them for the reason that the meat may be bad. But if it has a large rack, I would. I usually have two Does in the freezer each year, so I would take a chance on the meet being bad.


I am totally 100% the opposite! If I see a wounded deer, limping deer etc etc, I will try everything possible to shoot it. I feel that wounded deer should be put down so the suffering stops. I also feel that a wounded deer, after it dies, often will P.O. land owners, other hunters etc. for many many reasons.

Several years ago opening morning of gun season I shot a 10 pt that I had passed on twice while bowhunting. This deer was limping and I figured it had been wounded and hated to see it go to waste. The shot was a little over 100 yd and not one I would normally take but I did not want to see this deer suffer. Upon butchering it I found the cause of the limp, it had a THORN stuck in its right front hoof!  He would have been a real monster the following year!


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

I shot a 12 point two seasons ago. When I was positioning it to field dress it, I noticed something sticking out of it's side. Upon closer inspection, I found it was a broad head protruding through it's skin from the inside out. During field dressing, I further found that there was approximately ten inches of the arrow still connected to the broad head.

The positioning of the remnants of the arrow indicated that the shot was perfect, but it somehow missed the vitals.

I helped a local butcher process deer for five years. You'd be amazed at the amount of old slugs, pieces of arrows, broad heads, barbed wire, ect, that I would find in deer while butchering them. After a few days, I would have a 5 lb coffee can or two filled with the stuff.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

i'd like to think most people would take the shot if a deer were suffering and facing a possible slow death.i don't like to see an animal suffer needlessly.
i was faced with a situation years ago during gun season,in which i had to decide whether to break the law or do what i felt necessary.
this was in the one deer(buck only) days.i watched a doe(literally) dragging her guts through the woods about 100 yards from my stand.though i knew i'd be breaking the law,after watching her for several minutes,i contemplated climbing down and tracking her down to put her out of her misery anyway.as i got ready to climb down,something stopped me.i heard a twig snap,looked around and saw an 8 point walking directly under my stand.quite to my surprise,he was dragging one leg,which had apparently been nearly blown off by another hunter earlier.that buck made my decision for me,and possibly saved me from a date in court.


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## Stampede (Apr 11, 2004)

Neither of have seen the deer since,but haven't been out much.The way he talks i don't think it was a life threating shot and the buck should recover from it.If i saw a deer suffering i'd might take it down but also figure on natures course,there are plenty of coyotes in the area.I was wondering about the meet in a situstion like this.


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

"If i saw a deer suffering i'd might take it down but also figure on natures course,there are plenty of coyotes in the area."

But it was not nature that put the animal in that situation, so how could it be nature taking its course. Many times in life you will have to clean up after someone else weather you want to or not.


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## CRAPPIE LOVER (Feb 11, 2007)

...There is only one problem with letting nature do it's thing...from what I hear the coyotes will start to eat if he is dead or alive...I myself would have trouble walking away with that on my mind...Sometime ago I spine shot a buck and he started bawling I couldn't get to him fast enough to put him out of his misery...JUST MY FEELINGS....C.L...


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

There is NO EXCUSE or REASON for allowing a wounded animal to suffer, be it deer, dog, cat or anything else. Five years ago I shot a first year fawn when I saw it had an arrow wound that started at it's shoulder and ended at the hips. The wound was about one inch deep and layed wide open. That fawn couldn't have weighed more than fifty pounds.


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## Bulldawg (Dec 3, 2007)

I myself agree with shooting a wounded animal regardless of what it is . The same thing happened to me this year. I have been hunting a very big 12 pt. this year on the land I hunt. After seeing him numerous times during bow season and not getting any shots , I was hoping to see him during gun season. I would of much rather shot him with the bow , but would of been happy harvesting him regardless of which weapon it was. But tuesday evening of gun season I saw a 4 pt. walk out by me and saw it limping . I didnt have second thoughts of shooting him . When he was 60 yds. away and broadside I dropped him right in his tracks . I wasnt expecting much out of the rack but was more than happy with my decision to put him out of his misery. I was actually really happy with his rack . Due to his injury I believe is what made his rack grow oddly like it did. He had been shot I am assuming in the right front shoulder and it had grown over making a big lump sticking out making it difficult for him to walk. It was funny though that I have never seen this buck before .


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I shot a large 8 point many years ago. I had heard sounds from a drive on the next property and many shots but saw nothing til a short while later, the 8 pt. came dragging himself up the hill in my direction with a shot off hind leg about at the first joint up from the hoof and the other leg had been shot thru. He was really in bad shape but I knew he was a victim of the drive so I had no problem at all in dispatching and tagging him. Apparently, the drivers honored the owner's request that they not drive his place(he was not on the premises at the time!) and did not tresspass to retrieve the wounded buck. I've seen a three legged(missing one front leg) doe jump from a roadway to the top of an embankment that had to be 5 yds. up. She had apparently been shot and made a pretty good recovery so they don't all die miserably in the woods.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

The buck I shot this year had been shot earlier(possibly during the youth season, as it had scabbed over) under the spine, directly over his front shoulders. He didn't limp, or show any signs of it. He ran up hill for 100yds or so, before stopping to check his back trail. 

I too used to proccess deer, and was amazed every year at what you would find in deer. Broken arrows and broadheads being the most common, but also old slugs, .22 bullets, sticks, car injuries, bird and buck shot. Many times, the deer had no outward indications of its injury, and more often than not, the meat was just fine. They are truly tough animals, but if they are injured, I think you should put them down, legal or not. This seems wrong, but as I understand the laws enforcement, if you make no attempt to recover an illegaly killed deer, you cannot face prosecussion. A neighbor farmer used to intentionally gut shoot deer, so they would run out of his fields before death. The DNR was notified several times, but they never done anything, and he would have been easy to catch, but he never tried to keep any of the deer. If they did fall in his field, he left them to rot. A load of BS, but it happened for about 6 years, until they quit farming.


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## Stampede (Apr 11, 2004)

My main queation in a situtation like that was the meat.Would it still be good?


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

i would guess that the meat would be fine in most cases.if not,it should most likely be evident upon inspection.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

A deer with a non lethal hit has a very good chance of recovering and living. A pure meat wound is not an automatic death sentence for a deer. I have watched multiple deer recover from wounds and live for years.


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