Did I Do Wrong?

[jethro224]

I would shoot. I have before.

Deer can heal up and live well for a long time tho. There used to be a 3-legged doe where I hunt. Never could get close enough for a shot. She had twin fawns at least 2 years in a row with 3 legs.
I got a doe one time that had a missing front foot too. She was running with some other deer and, other than a limp, you couldn't tell the difference.

 

[rabjr]

Thats true. I've seen a few deer with missing hooves or part of a lower front leg that healed. They only showed a difficulty in walking but running you couldn't tell the animal was on 3 legs. In every case it was deer with a missing Front leg. I've never seen a deer when a rear leg was involved that healed and lived.

 

[tg]

I do not think you did wrong the choice was yours,and the judgement call yours at the time, there have been injured deer and every other type of animal wandering the woods some surviving some not long before many rose to the top of the food chain, it is natures way. I might or might not put an animal down, my pendulmn has swung both ways over the last 40 years, it would depend on how I judged the particular situation. Do not let this situation bother you, every night many trees will fall in the forest and you will not hear them.

 

[ronrryan]

Probably forty years ago I saw a doe limping with a broken front leg. I was SURE another deer I glimpsed behind her was a buck and would give me a shot. The second deer disappeared, and I have been thinking about passing on that doe for all these years. Wish I had shot. But all we can do, really, is learn from mistakes and be a better hunter. Good smoke, ron in FL

 

[Cherokee]

Totally up to you. Its hard to say what I would do without being there in the elements watching and thinking of the shot and then its gone.
I could say I might have taken the shot but I wasnt there. You did think it out and had concerns maybe it will be fine maybe not. Theres probably more farm animals in worse shape than the deer out and about.

 

[Russianblood]

I came across a gut shot button buck deer on Thanksgiving. It was small but I put a bullet thru it's head, dressed it and had it processed. It couldn't have weighed more than 80 lbs but it's still good meat and I feel good for doing the right thing.

 

[jethro224]

Thats true. I've seen a few deer with missing hooves or part of a lower front leg that healed. They only showed a difficulty in walking but running you couldn't tell the animal was on 3 legs. In every case it was deer with a missing Front leg. I've never seen a deer when a rear leg was involved that healed and lived.

Well, I've never seen an injured-rear-leg wild deer either. I'm pretty sure it happens tho.
I read a magazine article one time where they had done a study of bucks with one non-typical antler and one typical. The study found a relationship with leg injuries to antler development. If I remember right, it was the same-side front or the opposite-side rear that seemed to go with the one non-typical antler. :hmm:
It was probably in Deer and Deer Hunting magazine. They're heavy on science. I havn't read one in a while. Good mag tho.

 

[Rat Trapper]

I would have shot it. I really do not think our early pioneers and setlers were hung up on shooting big bucks. The concern with big racks came later with sport hunting. Our early pioneers were meat hunting. They would have been more concerned with feeding the family. Young deer are better eating.

 

[Dave K]

Years ago, where I still bowhunt. I had a mature doe with a fawn come under my tree in about the 2nd week of season. There had been no other hunting season yet, and this fawn was missing it's left rear leg from the knee down. I suspect it got hung up in a fence, lost it. I have seen deer that had died from a similar incident. I had thought hard about putting her down, since the severed leg was still bloody. But, as those deer ambled away from me,even though the fawn hobbled, she looked healthy. When those 2 deer crossed my foot prints, the doe, didn't catch me, but the fawn did. So, I made up my mind to let her go. I remember watching her for 5 more years and she had a fawn or two every year. When she fed, she would place the right good leg out a little more than normal and then rest her stump on the ground. She could run and jump a fence with the best of them. I always wondered what became of "Gimpy". I looked forward to seeing her.

 

[Shudy]

I would have probably passed on the deer. If you think about it the injured area might not be good meat due to infection or just too busted up. That would have been wasted meat for say us humans. If the deer dies then it will feed other animals that need it to survive the winter and if it lives then maybe in a couple of years you will have the opportunity to harvest it again. I dont know in your area how many deer you are allowed per season but if you are limited then I would only take what would make good meat. Dont feel bad and put it behind you because remember only the strong survive in the animal world. A good question you posed for us and there are many right answers.


Shudy

 

[Stumpkiller]

Hey! How you is?

I've killed limping antlerless in the past, but have also not. It depends on the circumatances of the shot. If it was late in the season and the shot was a certain one I'd probably shoot without much hesitation. I saw one this year that would have been a very long shot for me and I didn't fire. And, like you, I've had lots of second thoughts.

Don't let it wrankle you. A deer is never wasted. From chickadees to coyotes to crows, mice and beetles. It will be a Christmas bonus to someone. I don't think many whitetails die of simple old age.

A couple times I've heard a shot close by and a deer comes hobbling by. Is it hit hard? Is it dying? Is it just wounded? To shoot or not is one of those tough judgement calls that you just have to take as they come. Worst case is you're out 40¢ worth of ammo and someone is mad you put more holes in his deer. But you can always justify ending the suffering of an animal.

One year I shot an out-of breath & frantic spike at about 15 yards that had run the gauntlet of a hedgerow and I was, I believe, the sixth shot fired. As I was standing over it several hunters showed up and I thought "Oh boy, here we go" but they generally agreed "It's so full of holes you can have it."

When I gutted it I found one shot broadside through both lungs, no other wounds - and I went back and found the hair beyond where I had shot so I know it was mine. :rotf:

And no, it didn't taste strong of adrenaline. I think that is a wive's tale. That, or I like the taste of cooked adrenaline. :grin:

 

[d.thomson]

If it makes you feel beter I have a friend that dosnt hunt and he saw a doe that had been injured draging a hind leg one fall , in the winter the leg had sriveled and when he saw her again the next fall the leg had fallen off, and she was getting along just fine. The next fall he saw her with a fawn, and for two years after she was a producing doe, than he stopped seeing her, thter were a lot of wolves that year and he figured she go taken by a pack. this probabley dosent happen to often but it might make you feel better. Chances are if ther are preditors around they would have gotten her, but nature is usualy more cruel than a well placed slug. Dave T.

 

[barebackjack]

I agree halftail, coyotes get shot on sight, year round here. They are the worst thing to happen to deer, ducks, upland birds, pets, livestock, etc etc etc.

I have shot cripples before, and I have let them slide by.
I think alot of people think that a broken leg or similar injury is always lethal. Sometimes it is, but I think alot of people would be amazed at what animals can live through.
Point: My old man killed a nice buck with his bow a few years ago. As I was skinning it, i felt a lump in his spine just forward of his hips. There was a broadhead lodged in his spine all encrusted with calcium. It had been there at least two, and most likely three or more years. As a skun further I noticed a hunk of scar tissue on his front shoulder, low and behold theres a healed up bullet hole on his front shoulder. Upon further examination we found his front shoulder had been broke, and healed. There was wound evidence on the inside of his chest cavity as well. My dad said this buck was moving as easy as could be and showed no evidence of ever having been wounded.
My girlfriend shot a crippled doe last year, she had a crater of a wound on her right hip. We couldnt tell untill we had her on the ground, again, she was moving just fine. It was infected, and smelled, we ended up discarding her due to the infection factor and not knowing if it had gone systemic, but there was no bone damage, and I maintain she had a very good chance of surviving.

I have called wardens on cripples and vehicle injured deer, all I get is "we'll let nature run its course". (Which is a bunch of BS when dealing with car hits with all four legs broken)

If it was just a single leg injury, that animal has a better than 50/50 chance of making it.
I wouldnt worry about it, if you see the deer again, and notice maybe that its a little more serious of an injury, than Id finish em off.

Boone

 

[Moose_Meat]

Sorry this is a little long winded.
Around 15 or so years ago I took a deer in NY that had been wounded she was limping badly and I felt it was my duty to take her so I did, she had been wounded during archery season and still had the broad head and part of the arrow in her front shoulder, it was infected and smelled bad after skinning.

The processor who was a friend of mine suggested that we contact the DNR and get a new tag, he felt the meat was unfit for human consumption.

We called, and 2 DNR people showed up a Guy and a Witch, to inspect the deer. The Witch then quite frankly said I would not be issued another tag and if I felt an animal was not fit to eat I shouldn’t have shot it.

When I tried to say something I was cut short as she got right in my face and gave me a scolding and I mean a SCOLDING for shooting a wounded animal without first contacting the DNR she then threatened to fine me for who knows what, If I didn’t process the deer that the processor refused to process.

I have to say she was very lucky probably me too cause I was a hair trigger from losing it big time, as it was I filed a complaint with the DNR, my friend and his wife as witness, I never did get a response.

From that day on I am quite picky on what I harvest.

You do what you think is right and don’t second guess yourself, nature has a way of taking care of its own.

 

[Protrucker]

Well, I got home from work today & had about an hour of hunting time left, so I grabbed my gun & went out back again. I got to the tree that I wanted to stand by & stood there for a few minutes. Checking the area, I turned & looked itno the woods behind me & was surprised to see a deer bedded about 25-30 yards away looking at me. I could tell by it's short face that it was a small deer & I wondered if it was the one with the bum leg. Knowing that it was a small deer I left it alone & kept watching the area for other deer. After a while the little one decided to stand up. Instantly, I could tell that it was the deer that I started this post about. It didn't look healthy & I tried to get a shot at it to put it out of it's misery, but it disappeared into some pines before I could move enough to get a clear shot. :shake:
Now I really wish that I had put it down the first time that I saw it.

 

[PreglerD]

Bad luck, but next time you will be wiser and cerainly make a clean kill to this ill deer.That's hunting, sometimes you win, but the other times the deers win.

 

A couple of years ago, I saw a little buck with a broken front leg. He was trying to eat, but having a really hard time of it. So I shot him, though his rack was smaller than I would have preferred. Turned out the break, just above the knee, was quite recent -- no infection and no lost meat. In this case, I had time to watch the poor guy for a few minutes and to make a decision. Don't know if I would have shot him if I had had only a few seconds to decide. Tough call.