Injured Deer on Fence

I've had situations close, I came across a young buck that had been hit by a car, intestines were hang out, but the critter was still alive, I cut it's thoat. G.
 
Well, I am just going to look at it from the police or game wardens point of view.

I can see that if they allowed everyone to just shoot the animal and put it out of its misery, people will be poaching like crazy using the excuse that every animal they shot was injured or hurt. Now how does a cop determine who is being honest and who isn't?

You have to remember that while most people would be honest about it, it just takes a couple to really hurt a deer population. So they are probably looking at it saying maybe a few animals will suffer, but at least they won't have poachers decimating an animal population, and trying to hide behind the law while doing it. But what do I know.
 
I caught of with a Conservation Officer this evening and told him my story. He said the proper thing to do was to call the authorities in the jurisdiction where the injured deer was. In my case it was the Metropark Rangers. It will be their decision on what to do with the animal. (keep the meat?) He said that it would have been improper for me to put the aminal down. He did say I probably would not have been prosecuted for the deer, but discharging a firearm in the park would be another thing. Again these are descretionary charges and you never know when you get Mr. HardA## who will throw the book at you. Thanks for all your input.
 
I put a deer down on the way home from a hunt years ago that was hit by a car. I was 17 or 18 years old at the time and which didn't help when the sheriff deputy arrived on scene (approx 60 secs after I put it down, she heard the shot). She scolded me for several minutes for shooting it "too close to town". The deer was off the road shoulder flopping at the edge of a corn field in bad shape and the shot was directed towards the corn field without anything at all "downrange". I'm pretty sure she was a "city" girl that didn't grow up hunting. You should have seen the look on her face when I asked for a road kill permit to take the deer home. She said "you want to eat it after its been hit by a car?". It was hit in the head/front torso - The backstraps and entire rear of the deer was pristine, and tasty.

To answer the original question - I would have put it down without calling anyone. Right is right and I could not, in good conscience, allow it to suffer.
 
Surely theres a common sense law? You would have been doing the right thing putting the animal out of its misery.
 
Never expect common sense where the law is concerned. Common sense to one is outlandish prepostery to another.
 
No Visable GlEO's Loaded the corpse and be reporting how good the loins were with a side of new redskins and baby portabellas with fresh sauted green beans and baby portobellas!:thumbup:
 
xinel said:
Surely theres a common sense law? You would have been doing the right thing putting the animal out of its misery.
Click to expand...

Common sense and the American Criminal Justice system rarely have any type of connection.

...don't even get me started on the civil side...:barf:
 
My English class read a poem a couple weeks (maybe months I'm not sure) ago. It had a similar feel. Though the poem can be interpreted different ways one of the ways we focused on got me in an argument with a classmate. He argued that the man should have saved the fawn. Of course the counter argument is who would take care of it. Then we read a second poem with a similar feel. Once again he argued, in this case, the dog should have been rescued. It still annoys me. Here are links to both:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem185.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3549/is_199401/ai_n8367146
 
In NJ one can call the local PD and ask for an 'out of season tag' to be issued for the purpose of taking injured wildlife. I was looking out the window from my office toward dusk; and saw a whitetail go physically limping by 25 ft away. Saddest sight to a bonafide outdoorsman is to see a wounded animal suffering like that. I called DEP but they were too busy (?!) who in turn dropped a dime to my local PD, who sent an officer out to see what was up. Nice guy, but he was'nt stealthy enough to do the deed and the poor deer bolted off in it's last effort out of sight. It's a heavily wooded area, so it was'nt feasible to follow it in the fading light. Sad part was I could see where someone had 'winged it' in a shoulder shot, but the wound looked a few months old.....Fast foward to 3 weeks later and I find out some 'city slickers' were poking around 3 months prior, according to a neighbor, 'looking for a deer' (?!!!).

It's a unique situation each time due to location and circumstances, and local laws.
 
Here's a story that happened to me. I didn't even think of legalities at the imte. The pertinent part is the "second rescue" which I put in bold if you wanna scroll right down to the relevant content.

Two "Rescues" Performed with TOPS CQT Magnum by Brian Jones

Last fall, I had a couple of interesting experiences using my TOPS CQT Magnum 747 Folder. I literally was forced to abuse the knife to do what I had to, in order to save a couple people. Well, maybe not really "save", but at least help.

The First "Rescue", I was in the local pub, when some people near me started wondering where their friend Jody went. About that time, we all heard banging from within the women's bathroom door. The doorknob didn't work and she couldn't get out, and actually was beginning to panic. Everybody rushed over trying the knob and pulling on the door. Nobody had a multi-tool or anything to unscrew it at this point. We all know each other here, and it's a comfortable atmosphere. I got up and said I could get her out, so I snapped my TOPS CQT open, and moved directly for the bathroom door. Everyone parted in front of me like the Red Sea. I don't know why.... I decided I'd try to get into the doorjamb and push back the nut to open the door. As I approached, the owner of the bar helpfully warned me, "YOU'LL BREAK YOUR KNIFE!" I looked at him and smiled: I love when a challenge like that is issued. I couldn't get it to push the nut back, and the girl started crying more frantically. Someone helpfully asked her, "You sure you got your drawers pulled up?!" just in case she forgot to get decent before we opened the door... The door and jamb were both wood. So, I thought, what the heck: I jammed my knife into the crack and pushed laterally, with most of my weight on the blade, spread the door jamb and door apart enough that the nut cleared, and we pulled the door open. Now, I was leaning HARD on the blade sideways! Not a scratch, no failure, still locks up perfectly. You'd never know I had just abused the knife by looking at it. The girl ran out, crying with relief (it must've been the smell in there?). Rescue done. I looked at the owner and said, "Break it, huh?" and winked. Everyone passed the knife around admiring it (this is my kind of place!), and everyone wanted one. Score one for the only folder I've been able to use as a prybar.

The Second Rescue was a bit more dramatic. This gets a little graphic. I was driving Halloween night on a back road, when a big doe jumped in front of my car. I stopped just enough for her to get by me, but she got clobbered by a woman in her SUV, going the other way, about 40 mph. The lady swerved, went off the road, and hit a stone wall and a tree. There were quite a few cars on the road at this point, but nobody stopped! I turned around and pulled in front of her and ran over to the car, asking her if she was okay. She was, and so were her 10-year old daughter and 8-year old son. I went back to the front of the SUV, surveyed the scene. The poor doe was half-crushed, and stuck to the grille. And she was still alive. My heart sank when I saw this. They got out and saw her, too. The woman was in shock and had no idea what to do. Her daughter was freaking out at the deer. I pulled the lady aside, and quietly told her to take her kids back behind the car, because I'd have to put the deer down to save it from suffering. I suggested she call the police so she could get a report for insurance purposes. When they went behind, I picked up a stick about two inches or so thick, and about two feet long, to use as a baton. I opened my TOPS folder (this has the hunter's point, smooth edge), and positioned the point right under the back of the doe's skull, right above her spine. I prayed that I could do it right, and then hammered the pommel of the handle hard and fast, driving the knife right through the cartilage between the top vertebra and the base of its skull, into its spinal column, and then very quickly twisted the knife hard. The deer passed instantaneously, thank God. I then pulled the deer off the grille, and laid her on the ground, mangled side down. I grabbed a rag from my car to wipe off the blood and fur on the hood and grille. It was grisly. But I thought it would spare the little girl that much more trauma. They came back around, and the little girl, crying, asked about the deer. Her mom didn't know what to say, and somehow I was able to tell her a story about how "the deer was old" (it wasn't) and "would've died naturally soon, and it'll pass back to the earth, and feed the plants and animals just like in nature, so life can go on." I told her it was in heaven, and was not suffering, and that it was surely thankful for her concern. I have no idea how I came up with that -- it just came out. She relaxed a little more. The bottom front fender of the SUV, driver's side, was crushed up against the front tire, making the car impossible to drive. It was made of that hard plastic they use now, instead of metal. I tried to pull it away, but it would just snap back against the tire. I told the woman I could try to cut it off so she could continue on her way. She said "fine -- please do." So out came the TOPS Magnum again, ready for more abuse. By this time the police arrived. I started "sawing" into the fender with the blade, making progress, but got tired of the time it was taking. So, I took the baton, and started hammering like crazy on the spine of the knife, driving it quickly through the plastic. The cops were standing with their flashlights on it so I could see better. I sheared about a foot and a half off, and the wheel was clear. I looked at my knife -- the coating was intact, and the edge still looked perfect as far as I could tell. The cops were passing the blade around, and fell in love with it! "Where can we get these?" they asked. Of course, I told them. When I got back in my car, I was curious. I turned on the interior light and held the knife up to it. The edge was perfect! It even still scraped hair off my arm with the part that went through the fender! I'd been impressed with this knife for a long time -- but now I was in disbelief! It absolutely confirmed to me why this is my favorite daily carry, all-around blade. And a folder, too -- I've always been a diehard "fixed blade only" kinda guy! This knife really is the only folder to date that I've been able to punish like a fixed blade -- and these two experiences just further illustrated it to me. It still is my daily carry, and is ready to be deployed for any situations that may arise. Interestingly enough, it almost seems as if this knife searches out people in need, and lets me do the honor of holding it while it does its good work. I'd like to express my gratitude to TOPS for making what I consider the finest hard-use folder on the market today.
 
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