Ethical ??? for everyone

[elkfarmer]

To shoot or not to shoot....That is the question.



Here is the situation. early any gun season



A broken up scrub buck comes by your stand, broken front leg, shot in the but.......... you get the picture



Would you shoot him?



You only have 1 buck tag.



Do you watch him hobble off to die?

Do you shoot him (just to end it)and go back hunting

Do you shoot him and burn your tag



Now, it's not illegal to watch him go off and die but don't we as hunters owe it to the animal not to allow them to suffer



Shooting him just to end it is just flat out illegal, at least here it is but might be the right thing to do.



I was sitting in my stand tonight and thought off this. This year my buddy shot a nice 6pt because it came in limping and fell over a log. I have yet to run into this situation and got to thinking what I would do. And you know, I have no idea so I want to hear from people here.

 

[Lawnboy]

I'll be honest here. I'd probably let him walk by and keep my tag. If it was a general season and not a special area tag I'd think about shooting him. It also would depend on whether it was close to the end of the season or not. I know it sounds wrong but I'm just being honest.
There are countless ways that animals die in the wild that we don't think about and I'm thankful I don't know all of them. It's the facts of life. I came upon a bird this year while mowing a lawn with a broken wing. The thing could only hobble around. My gut told me to stomp on it and put it out of its misery so that it wouldn't die a terrible death from a cat or something. So being the tenderheart I left it alone. Came back the next week to find feathers all over and parts of it scattered. What was the ethical thing to do? Let nature take it's course or intervene? I don't know.

Another quick story. 2 weeks ago in field by my house I see a cow elk laying there. It wasn't there 2 hours prior but had obviously died in those 2 hours. I walk out and the cow is not even stiff yet. I call F&g and ask if we can tag it and salvage what meat we can. They say no. I was going to use a valid tag. I realize that there might have been major meat loss due to the trauma from the car hitting it but was willing to take the chance. Instead they say no and the cow becomes bird food and is still laying out there. Was that the right decision?

 

[Big Fin]

When the OYOA New Mexico archery antelope episode airs next summer I guess people will see my answer.

 

[174in]

I would put the animal down and put my tag on it.I feel I would owe that much to the animal,Putting it out of its missery and making good use of the meat.Normaly I dont shoot scrub bucks but in a situation like this it would be differnt.

 

[Lawnboy]

When the OYOA New Mexico archery antelope episode airs next summer I guess people will see my answer.

That's why I enjoy hunting with Finn. It's only a matter of time before he rubs off on me. I do remember reading what you did on that hunt and your right it should give us a pretty cool message.

 

[belly-deep]

That exact scenario happened to me in 2007. A buddy and I got up on top of a ridge at first light. We watched two teenagers drive in and shoot at a herd of mule deer. They wounded one, tracked it for a while and shot at it some more, then decided they were going home. We went down to where the deer dissappeared. I came through the trees and saw the forked horn standing 30 yards away with a broken front leg.

I didn't even take the safety off. Sorry, but I only get one buck tag a year. That incident occured during the second weekend of season. I felt bad for the little buck, but I'm not going to fill my tag because some nimrod wounded a deer. I did think about shooting it and leaving it, but the BMA got alot of human traffic and again, I'm not going to put my ass on the line to correct some idiot's mistake.

 

[TLC]

had that happen last week to me. someone idiot had shot a doe in the front leg during shotgun season. or was trying to poach it? the hole was thru the leg at the bottom joint. anyways, put it down with a shot from the bow. knew something was wrong the way it was trying to walk thru the woods. never tried bolting as the roofing gun was banging away. stood there for over 15 minutes before I decided to shoot it. here, you can call the dnr and get a replacement tag if you want. not that big a deal to me as we can get unlimited bow tags here. guess I'm not into seeing critters suffer needlessly.

 

[sweetnectar]

Lawnboy, how can you do such a thing to a poor wounded bird? If I was sitting on one of your industrial powed mowers with one of the fastest blade tip speeds on the market I would of quickly put it in high gear forward and do some bird chopping....er I mean grass chopping.

As far as the buck is concerned. I'd just blow a tree over with my ultra, ultra, ultra, magnum and the falling tree would put the buck out of its misery, I keep my tag for the huge buck just waiting to come by. It's a win win.

 

[----]

If it's shot through the hinds, like in your scenario, I'm going to put it down.
To be honest though, I don't know whether or not I'd tag the animal. My buck tag here in Montana means ALOT to me, it'd be tough to give it up because someone else messed up.

 

[oleefish2]

This is a very good question?? I have filled 4 tags with crippled animals over the years,1 antelop,1 deer, and 2 elk. I had watched an antelope that was bedded from a distance of about 600 yards. He seemed to be sleeping with his head lying on the ground. He was a solid 78 to 80 class buck. He struggles to stand and begins walking slowly toward me. At about 300 yards I put a round from my 300 win mag through his chest and he just keeps on walking like nothing even happened. I launch another missile and visualize the impact and see hair and gore blow off is body. He takes a few more steps, lays down and dies. Upon inspection I find that he has a large cancer growth in his neck which was why he acted so peculiarly. While helping my youngest son with his deer hunt, I watched a young buck staggering around like he was drunk. I decided to go ahead and fill my tag and shot the little 2x2. He had been hit low on the brisket and it had affected his balance. In the mid 80s I had a cow elk tag in the Bighorns Mountains. My wife and I had spent the morning walking through some scrub timber and had jumped a large herd of elk and they had escaped down the mountain without me ever firing a shot. We made a long circle back to the truck that I had parked next to a spring before daylight. We were visiting and not in a hunt mode just enjoying the Indian summer. Have you ever thought that you have lost your mind because you know you must be having a hallucination? No that cannot be an elk standing next to the truck or is it? The young cow starts limping away from the truck, turns a look at me, and then slowly turns to leave. I put a 270 slug through her heart and its over. I find she has a broken front lower leg. Another trip to the Bighorn Mountains and this time I have an any elk tag. I and 2 others have walked a couple of miles into an area that is supposed to be holding a herd of elk. After hunting hard all morning we decide to take a brake and watch a mountain park for a couple hours. Mid afternoon finds me not able to sit still and leave the mountains unexplored. I leave my partners and tell them to keep their eyes open in case I run something past them. I walk less than 100 yards and find a spike elk lying behind an overturned dead tree bleeding from a chest wound. He never attempted to rise from his death bead as I dispatched him to stakes and burgers. Two other bull elk I have killed had injury’s that were not visible or know when I harvest them. Wyoming does not give you any replacement tags and if you dispatch any animal you better have a tag because if you kill it you have to be able to tag it.

 

[sweetnectar]

oleefish2- Have you ever killed a healthy animal? I mean that is a big resume for wounded animals.

 

[Muley Crazy]

I have been fighting with the same question myself since Big Fin posted his hunt in NM. I am still not sure I could burn an out state tag that I have waited for years to get on a crippled animal, as for a mule deer tag NO WAY I hunt on average 20 days a season for mule deer here in ID and pass on over 70 bucks per season. I always seem to see at least 1 buck every other year that is hurt in some way but I cant justify burning my tag. I work to hard to get my time off and spend countless hours scouting to put down a wounded forky and go home early, just because some road hunter shot and lost it. Just my 2 cents worth dont hate me !

 

[Goldtip]

It's a very personal decision, and surprisingly many animals we see wounded, bounce back surprisingly well, however some don't as we all know. If I have a chance to evaluate what injury the animal may have and I am certain there is no way it will bounce back and make a recovery, then I am going to put it down.

 

[oleefish2]

oleefish2- Have you ever killed a healthy animal? I mean that is a big resume for wounded animals.

46 years of hunting gives a persona a little more chance to have those experiences. It truly is an independent situational decision for each and every one of us. I have never had a nonresident tag of any kind and I would find it hard to use just to be the good guy to. If a big bull/buck was standing by a cripple, would I shoot the cripple, only if my hunting party was the cause of the cripple and I was the only one with a shot. I would kill the big guy and report the cripple.

 

[Buschy]

I have done both over the years. I have killed two deer to end their misery when they are really suffering and walked away. I have also killed a wounded deer and tagged it. Anymore if I kill a wounded animal, I would put my tag on it. Before Big Fin came to ND I found a really nice buck with broken front leg (I didn't bring a weapon while I was scouting). Big Fin and I looked for this buck in particular for a couple of days and never caught up with him. I would have much rather harvested him than have a pack of coyotes drag him down, which I assume is what has happened by now.

 

[justdada]

I'm hoping the guys saying they would shoot and leave an animal are just making a bad joke...
IMO, finishing off an animal that's torn up on the road is one thing, but a warden investigating a deer that someone found left in the woods is going to be hard to talk your way out of.
When I see an animal that looks wounded, I usually wonder if it has cronic wasting, an infection or something esle I wouldn't want to eat. I say leave it to the lions to sort out the weak.
One year I did see a buck antelope that had lost one of its front legs below the knee.. He got along just fine, even kept up with the others at a run. Amazing they can heal something like that.

 

[Bambistew]

What if it was a B&C class animal? Would it still be someones mistake or would you shoot it?

 

[noharleyyet]

What if it was a B&C class animal? Would it still be someones mistake or would you shoot it?

...if so, would you enter it?

 

[The Hedgehog]

I don't know what I'd do and suppose it would depend on a few other things. I've had chances to kill wounded animals in the past, and didn't, and in some cases did. It's hard to tell if the animal is really destined to die, They're tough and sometimes will suprise you.

I drew WY red desert lope tag in '98 and the day prior to rifle season, archery was open and I had my bow.. I was about 10 yards from a real nice buck. It was a bag of bones, and clearly sick or something. I could practically walk right up to it. It was walking around and feeding some. It was a trophy buck. I didn't shoot it because I didn't want to touch it, much less dress it, and bring the meat home. Who knows, maybe it was tame and had a tapeworm.

My tags and time I spend hunting are for looking for a great animal and some good meat.. not to cull the sick and wounded.

I was once told a story of a guy who sneaked up on what appeared to be a sleeping bull elk. He ran an arrow through it's chest and it didn't move.. because it was already dead, very recent. The meat was sour, but he ended up tagging the animal anyway to avoid having to explain the situation to the FWP.. he thought the bull may have died from injuries caused from rutting/fighting with another bull. It's antlers were in the 370 range if I remember right.

 

[The Hedgehog]

what I was trying to say is if it were a wounded bear, wolf, coyote, etc... I'd put another hole in it, just to make sure it really was going to die. God knows it's awful to let animals like that suffer in the wild.