Shooting wounded deer

[Ken]

I will bring up a question that I'm sure has come up before: What should be done if you are deer hunting and a very badly wounded deer comes by you that you know will not survive? What if you don't have the appropriate license for that particular deer (buck or doe)? What if it is not even deer season? If you find a dead deer where you are hunting (that is not spoiled) do you still tag it with your own kill tag, even though you did not shoot the deer (the rule book says you cannot tag a deer that you did not shoot). I myself believe that any badly wounded deer should be put out of its misery regardless of kill tags, but what does the law say? Sorry for so many questions, but they all somewhat relate.

[The Nailer]

I'm not sure what the law says about shooting a wounded animal but, I think as a hunter it is your moral obligation to put it out of it's misery. Then call the local CO and explain to him what you did and take him to the animal. But, I would bet it had better have very obvious signs of distress aside from your killing shot.

[boehr]

Nailer gave the correct answer.

[bocephus]

my friend and I noticed an injured deer beddeed down by the side of the road the other day. we got out to look at it and it got up limping. we didnt know whether it was legal to shoot it or not, but i decided if it was legal or not i was going to do it because i knew it was the right thing to do. well i got out the shotgun and someone came yelling out of there house and said animal control was coming. well, hopefully it got taken care of. but thanks for clearing that up for me.

[dslayer]

A coulpe years ago my sister hit a deer with her car just down the road from where I live. I went down there and it couldn't get up, was in bad shape. I Put it out of its misery with a slug, then called the police. They pretty much fliped out when I told them I shot it. "You shot it? ah ah Wait at the scene don't go anywhere". When the police arrived I told him I had tag and could put it on it if its a problem I shot it. He was very nice about it. "You may have shot at it but you missed it! Right!" So he issued me a tag to keep it. ;)

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[boehr]

If you dispatch an injured deer, you better make sure it's fatally injured, it will not survive, can not get up etc. Limping doesn't sound like it was injured to the point of putting it down. We have a lot of 3-legged deer out there. I realize you want to do the right think but even my officers will not put down a deer just because of a leg injury.