# Gun season ends on a low note



## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

Well pretty slow year overall but finally managed to see some numbers Sunday. Dad was in the stand and my brother pushed a nice little 8 point to him. The deer was not a shooter for our property as he was only a 1.5 year old but that changed when it was apparent he couldn't use his front legs. One shot he hit the ground suffering finally over. Further inspection showed a shot through the front shoulders which was at least a few days old. I will know more when I skin him but my first thought is a pistol round of some sort as it is a small wound channel. I have shot deer in this exact spot with slug guns with instant or nearly instant kills. I just want to caution everyone as you choose a round know your bullet and know that the smaller you go the better the shot has to be. I called the game warden last night and explained the situation hoping we could get a tag for a mercy kill because of the situation and he stated that the word from the top is that you still have a choice to shoot or not and you have to tag it. The still have a choice part is BS in my mind. My dad misses out on the opportunity to hunt the big 12 we have been chasing and frankly I'm glad I didn't see the deer as I would have shot him even though I already have a buck. I post this as a warning not a rant but I am very disgusted with the ordeal this deer went through and the process itself.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

IMO you did the right thing. On another note how many out there would try to use that as an excuse for not wanting to use thier tag a deer which they shot. Reasons like ground shrinkage or tring to take another antlered deer. I think the whole thing stinks but I can understand both sides here.


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

jray - follow up and let us know what you believe the deer was shot with. We had the neighbor hunting with a CVA blackpowder rifle and powerbelts and this exact scenario played out last year. We heard a shot Tuesday am at 8:30am (neighbor is in 830 acres of woods we are connected to with only 100). 2:45 pm a nice 3 yr old 8 point buck appears on the ridge staggering and literally falls and slides 15 ft down the bench 75 yards from my buddy. The buck is in bad shape but continues to get up, walk a bit and either fall or bed. He had been shot right in the shoulder. 

Buddy actually climbed down and sneaked to within 35 yards of the buck and dropped him. Upon inspection you could clearly see it was a fresh wound in the shoulder. He texted the neighbor and indeed this was his buck. He drove over to our side and we had it down at the cabin on the 4 wheeler. He tagged it and thanked us (go ahead with the "law breaker" crap I don't care; my buddy literally walked up and shot this deer before coyotes got him that night & the neighbor confirmed it was his deer). The shot had penetrated and broke his left shoulder completely and also damaged his right side. He was alive and still trying to move; he traveled in the 800 yard range during that 6 hrs.

Neighbor changed rounds......he lives in NC so we don't communicate often, but this year he came over and talked on Sunday and he is now shooting a Barnes bullet.


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## colonel594 (Aug 31, 2012)

Sad situation that more arnt responsible like those who are part of this community. Who knows if it is an issue of integrity and respect for the animal you are hunting, or maybe it's an issue of ignorance, or an in experienced hunter but it is my personal belief that one should only pull off a shot they have confidence it will be a fast humane kill. 

I say this because while hunting Saturday afternoon the property across the street from us had a major drive going... There were easily 50-75 shots fired in an hour and a half and honestly I would hate to know the amount of deer that were wounded and suffered or are still suffering. 

It's a shame however that you can't be given other tagging options for a situation like this if you are able to prove it.


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

i cant agree more. Everyone makes mistakes but not knowing your limitations is plain irresponsible. For a positive takeaway, i was able to salvage the backstraps and hindquarters. Found a hole barely as big as my pinky same size entry and exit it appeared. I will say i dont mind the pcr concept but if you have seen the accuracy, trajectory, wound channel and knockdown power of the remington accutip in 20 gauge, I dont think you can make a case for the 45-70 444 or the like especially for store bought loads. IMHO. As for what Flathead said, i see his point but i just think its a shame the DNR has taken discretion out of the equation for our LEOs.


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

jray said:


> i cant agree more. Everyone makes mistakes but not knowing your limitations is plain irresponsible. For a positive takeaway, i was able to salvage the backstraps and hindquarters. Found a hole barely as big as my pinky same size entry and exit it appeared. I will say i dont mind the pcr concept but if you have seen the accuracy, trajectory, wound channel and knockdown power of the remington accutip in 20 gauge, I dont think you can make a case for the 45-70 444 or the like especially for store bought loads. IMHO. As for what Flathead said, i see his point but i just think its a shame the DNR has taken discretion out of the equation for our LEOs.



Couldn't agree more. And good thing u did. 


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

jray said:


> i cant agree more. Everyone makes mistakes but not knowing your limitations is plain irresponsible.
> For a positive takeaway, i was able to salvage the backstraps and hindquarters. Found a hole barely as big as my pinky same size entry and exit it appeared. I will say i dont mind the pcr concept but if you have seen the accuracy, trajectory, wound channel and knockdown power of the remington accutip in 20 gauge, I dont think you can make a case for the 45-70 444 or the like especially for store bought loads. IMHO. As for what Flathead said, i see his point but i just think its a shame the DNR has taken discretion out of the equation for our LEOs.


Admittedly a sad situation all the way around. However, I've had a couple of occasions to put deer out of their misery, and was happy to hang a tag on them. The deer was no longer suffering, and I had venison. As far as "knowing your limitations", it seems the limitations in this instance belonged to the bullet and not the hunter. The deer was drilled right through the shoulders, yes? I'm sure the hunter who fired that shot fully expected to recover that deer! 

We buy guns, bows, cartridges, shells, arrows and broadheads, with certain expectations in mind. Sometimes these things don't perform as advertised or as expected. Not everyone has access to blocks of clay or ballistic gelatin to test bullet performance. Unfortunately much of our "experimentation" takes place on living, breathing animals. One can only hope that losing that deer gets the wheels turning in the mind of the hunter that originally shot it.


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