Illegal but ethical?

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nick2720

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martin, tn
Never really though about this scenario but say you shoot a coyote or deer at dusk. get down to find its wounded but have a light on the animal so you can dispatch it. I'M assuming it's illegal to shoot after hours and especially with a light but it's really not ethical to leave it and let it suffer? OR is there some law around this?
 
Someone else may say differently but I wouldn't think any reasonable person would consider euthanizing a wounded deer would constitute hunting after hours...


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I would like to think you could explain that to the Warden but the easiest way would be to dispatch the animal with a knife.
 
Call local wildlife officer/regional office and explain. If you are able to do so before the shot, even better.




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I did what was legal last year and ended up losing the deer in a very dense thicket. Blood trail just went dry.

It was a single lung hit that demolished one front leg too. This deer was hurt enough I walked up with my flashlight and buck knife and put the knife into its other lung. Ended up grid searching for that deer and somehow it vanished. I could hear coyotes in a nearby field and the next morning was Christmas. So I couldn't go back for it the next day.

In hindsight, I would have taken the chance and fired another round in the dark. Never want to see a deer hobble off into thin air like that again..


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Ive never had that happen but i guess i would just make sure of safety and do what needed to be done. I heard a story on someone that tried to finish one off with a knife and ended up getting injured badly in the process and lost the deer.
 
Planking":2uenyife said:
Ive never had that happen but i guess i would just make sure of safety and do what needed to be done. I heard a story on someone that tried to finish one off with a knife and ended up getting injured badly in the process and lost the deer.
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Using a knife to finish off a wounded wild animal is a very risky chance to take. A hunter in Georgia years ago was gored to death by a buck when the hunter tried to cut the throat of a buck by sitting on its back and reaching around the deers neck with knife and deer reacted suddenly and gored the hunter in chest. It was 2 days b4 hunter was found laying on top of deer.
 
I never have been one to cut a deer's throat. One quick hard stab to the heart with a downward rip has almost instantly killed every deer I've had to finish. The most dramatic memory comes with a doe that was shot during archery season. We tracked her into the night coming within feet of her several times before she'd jump up and run. Finally she was just too spent to jump and run and was laying in a thicket you had to belly crawl into. Had to make a semi leap onto her with the knife to finish her off.
 
The police,(including TWRA), finish deer and other injured animals off all the time with a firearm no matter what time of the day or night it is and there is a crap load of paperwork to go with it. They welcome you to put the deer or animal out of it's misery with your firearm regardless of the time of day, I guarantee it. Just shoot the deer and be done with it. No need to go Jason Voorhees on it with your knife.
 
If I'm on stand and have a deer down but not dead I'll shoot again from the stand. If I'm on the ground I use my knife. For some crazy reason I don't want to waste a bullet when I can accomplish the same with my knife. Also for some crazy reason it really hits home that I'm taking a deer's life.
 
TX300mag":33d6lukc said:
Call local wildlife officer/regional office and explain. If you are able to do so before the shot, even better.




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So you recommend calling the law and reporting yourself after you have just broke the law, if you weren't able to call before?
 
pass-thru":16pyzup9 said:
TX300mag":16pyzup9 said:
Call local wildlife officer/regional office and explain. If you are able to do so before the shot, even better.




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Click to expand...

So you recommend calling the law and reporting yourself after you have just broke the law, if you weren't able to call before?
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Just a suggestion, that's all. I could see the benefit of the local officer being aware in the event any accusations or any calls are made.






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Im shooting it. Ill take a ticket if a GW feels the need to write one but Ill sleep better at night knowing I did not let the animal suffer.
 
arctic_cat":3hi9u5fw said:
Im shooting it. Ill take a ticket if a GW feels the need to write one but Ill sleep better at night knowing I did not let the animal suffer.
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^^^^^^
This
 
backroads":36h1cxcf said:
arctic_cat":36h1cxcf said:
Im shooting it. Ill take a ticket if a GW feels the need to write one but Ill sleep better at night knowing I did not let the animal suffer.
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^^^^^^
This
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Sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer. Shoot the deer you wounded hunting legally.

No way am I attacking a wounded deer in the dark with a knife. That should be one of Darwin's laws.
 
If you shoot a deer legally, trail and/or locate it ethically, and it is still alive, my suggestion is: Don't overthink it.

I can honestly say that this debate would have never entered my mind but for this thread.
 
hinshm":2b7wsicp said:
The police,(including TWRA), finish deer and other injured animals off all the time with a firearm no matter what time of the day or night it is and there is a crap load of paperwork to go with it. They welcome you to put the deer or animal out of it's misery with your firearm regardless of the time of day, I guarantee it. Just shoot the deer and be done with it. No need to go Jason Voorhees on it with your knife.
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The one time it happened to me, many years ago, I called the game warden (I knew him) ask him how to proceed, during gun season, and I was under no circumstances could I shoot that deer after dark and I if I was caught I would be punished just like a poacher. I was using 12 ga and hit a sapling and the bullet deflected and the deer was missing the bottom half of one front leg and the other one was barely hanging on.
 
Headhunter":1y0n4sbr said:
hinshm":1y0n4sbr said:
The police,(including TWRA), finish deer and other injured animals off all the time with a firearm no matter what time of the day or night it is and there is a crap load of paperwork to go with it. They welcome you to put the deer or animal out of it's misery with your firearm regardless of the time of day, I guarantee it. Just shoot the deer and be done with it. No need to go Jason Voorhees on it with your knife.
Click to expand...

The one time it happened to me, many years ago, I called the game warden (I knew him) ask him how to proceed, during gun season, and I was under no circumstances could I shoot that deer after dark and I if I was caught I would be punished just like a poacher. I was using 12 ga and hit a sapling and the bullet deflected and the deer was missing the bottom half of one front leg and the other one was barely hanging on.
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See that's mt point say it's the bigestimate deer of my life and my neighbors here a gunshot well after shooting hours and call it in my wall hanger coukd be potentially confiscated just because it's ethical
 
dirtyhands":110du0k7 said:
I would like to think you could explain that to the Warden but the easiest way would be to dispatch the animal with a knife.
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I tried this once, because I left my primers at the truck and ran out. I had shot a doe and used my back up to shoot a buck. I walked up to him with knife in hand and grabbed him by his back leg. I had shot this deer in the neck and he was laying there and his eyes were twitching. I thought he was incapacitated and when I grabbed his leg he flopped and his other back leg spun around and I dodged back like I was avoiding a punch and it missed me by a few inches.

In short, just shoot it and don't even mention it or bring it up. If a GW comes up on you because they heard the shot, just explain you shot while it was legal, but you had to dispatch the deer.
 

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