Ethics question about suffering animals

[sticknastring3]

So tonight I was driving home from my brothers house in Eagle Mountain. As I turned onto the main road out of his neighborhood I came up on a car that was pulling over and it flashed its lights at me. As I drove by the car I could see a body up in the road ahead. As I came to the body I stopped my car next to it to see what it was. It was a doe and at first I thought it was dead but then it raised its head up and looked right at me. I felt so bad because it was obviously suffering and it could not stand.
So my question is...in this situation what would you do or what would you consider the ethical and right thing to do? I did not have any guns in my car or I would have probably put the deer out of its misery. Would that be wrong to do and could you get in trouble for doing so?

 

[sageadvice]

I may not have a gun with me either but i would have a hammer or similar. Maybe not for everybody but if it was stopping traffic and similar as you described, i'd have used the hammer and drug her off the road.

Joey

 

[D13er]

you coulda just backed over its head.....works on dogs in my driveway


JB

 

[sticknastring3]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-10 AT 00:34AM (MST)[p]Yeah well fortunately it was on a backroad that doesn't see much traffic late at night but still. I unfortunately don't even carry a hammer or anything similar in my car and although it would be the humane thing to do, it would be hard to bring myself to take her out in that way.
I thought about trying to back over its head but I wasn't sure if that would work because she could still lift her head. I also did not want to damage my car, I drive a honda accord. Maybe if I was in my toyota truck I would have done that but I also usually have a gun in my truck.

 

[sageadvice]

Pick up a big rock??

Don't feel bad, many people just drive on by. Like most of us, I hate seeing a deer suffer and though maybe not so much a ethical question as a legal one, i'll usually do as i feel right and face the music if there be any.

Joey

 

[sticknastring3]

Yeah I should have done something about it. It has been bothering me that I drove off because I wasn't sure what to do. But if I do encounter this situation again I will just man up and do the right thing by ending the poor animals suffering.

 

[one_dryboot]

i've found the best thing to do is get going about 50mph and hit its head while it is sitting up. i tried a hammer and had to beat the Shiz out of it and it still wouldn't die. or just slit its throat but don't sit there and watch. its kinda sad

 

[bucklover]

Sorry, a serious subject, but you guys make me laugh. Some of you really have a way with words. To be legal, I think you are supposed to call law enforcement, or Game and Fish, to come deal with the situation. For me it would depend on where and when. Years ago, on my way to college, about 10:30 at night, another car had hit a doe deer, way in the middle of nowhere, about half way between Beaver and Cedar City. She was still alive and a guy was trying to kill it with one of those angled tire irons. He was standing behind it, just kind of quarter swinging the iron, bumping it on the head. All it was doing was pissing off the deer. I ended up walking up, taking the iron away from the guy, and doing my best to hit a home run. It took several innings, but I finally got the job done. I really did feel bad for the deer, but what else do you do? I almost always have a 22 or something with me, but not that night.

 

[hornkiller]

LMFAO I relly olmost pissed my self! D13er that was the best thing i heard all week! Dryboot next time you see somthing your going to try your trick on could you film it for me?

 

[JACO]

I always have a gun and a knife on me, but I would not shoot it. I wouldn't want to deal with any trouble that could get me in. I wouldn't want to wait for fish and game to arrive either. I think the best solution would be to cut its throat. That is probably the quickest and most painless way for it to die, other than shooting it in the head. If you are afraid of getting kicked or it fighting back, man up and do it anyway!

 

[huntindad4]

When I was about 14 I shot a nice 4 point blacktail in the bottom of a unit and when I got to the deer I realized that the deer was still alive and I had just broken his back at about the last rib and he was pinned under a small log at about the wound. So having emptied my gun to shoot the deer (long story short big buck, young kid, bad buck fever) I reached into my pocket to find I had lost my extra shells.

So I tried sageadvices trick with the big rock! I would hold his antler with one hand to steady him and swing away with the rock! Didn't work! That buck was still VERY alive and shook me like I don't know what and was still able to swing his front hooves pretty well and got my shin once or twice. Well , I finally got smart and VERY CAREFULLY cut his throat with a nice stab and slash.

Another time I saw a buck get hit and went to my father in law's house to get a gun to finish him and when I got back there was a Park Ranger there watching this buck with two badly broken compound fractured back legs get more and more tangled in a barbed wire fence. So I ask him why he doesn't finish him and he says he can't only Fish and Game can, so I ask him if I can and he says NO so I ask him to leave for a bit and still NO.

I was PI$$ED he wouldn't even let me cut its throat!

Bill

 

[msy]

I keep a knife in my car. They are always handy to have. When a friend of mine called the police after hitting a deer, the cop just stomped on the deer' head. Said he would have to do paperwork if he fired his weapon. You could always just pull a tommyboy and put the deer in the back of your car and drive around for a while.

 

[rodsroost]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-10 AT 08:10AM (MST)[p]About 30 yrs.ago while working on right of way fences on I70 up Salina canyon,my coworker and myself tried to get a fawn that had gotten its leg caught in the fence out of the fence.Its shoulder was out of place and the leg was broken.We ended up hitting it in the head with a hammer to kill it.It wasnt 30 min.later that we got a call from dispatch to come back to the shed.When we got there,a Fish and Game officer was waiting for us.We had been turned in by traveling public for killing the fawn.We told him what we had done.His answer to us was that he could have our jobs and give us tickets.He proceeded to tell us that it was his judgement call to put the fawn down,not ours.I am sorry that any animals have to suffer this way.Since that time if I see an injured animal I have called dispatch to get a Creek #####,aka Warden,to handle the problem.Sorry about the rant but it still p####es me of the way the warden handled the situation.(ROD)

 

[rodsroost]

>LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-10
>AT 08:10?AM (MST)
>
>About 30 yrs.ago while working on
>right of way fences on
>I70 up Salina canyon,my coworker
>and myself tried to get
>a fawn that had gotten
>its leg caught in the
>fence out of the fence.Its
>shoulder was out of place
>and the leg was broken.We
>ended up hitting it in
>the head with a hammer
>to kill it.It wasnt 30
>min.later that we got a
>call from dispatch to come
>back to the shed.When we
>got there,a Fish and Game
>officer was waiting for us.We
>had been turned in by
>traveling public for killing the
>fawn.We told him what we
>had done.His answer to us
>was that he could have
>our jobs and give us
>tickets.He proceeded to tell us
>that it was his judgement
>call to put the fawn
>down,not ours.I am sorry that
>any animals have to suffer
>this way.Since that time if
>I see an injured animal
>I have called dispatch to
>get a Creek #####,aka Warden,to
>handle the problem.Sorry about the
>rant but it still p####es
>me of the way the
>warden handled the situation.(ROD)
I ment to say Creek #####,aka Warden

 

[sticknastring3]

Yeah one of the reasons why I did not finish it off is because I was afraid to get in trouble. I usually have my really sharp buck knife in my car but I didn't last night, if I had I would have possibly slit its throat. I have had to do that before with the first deer I shot with my bow, I hit it high in the spine and it dropped in its tracks but it was still very alive.
Thanks for the advice though guys. I am still curious as to what happened to the deer. Since it was late at night a game warden wouldn't have showed up til today I imagine. Hopefully someone else was able to end its misery.

 

[440sixpack]

I don't know about every state but here in Oregon we shoot road hits all the time. I've probably done 20 myself, including a couple on the freeway in Montana.

It's illegal here too, but I don't know of anyone who's ever been ticketed for it. most cops would be ok with it and those who wouldn't would have to show up and admit in court the deer had been hit by a car and had serious injuries. I'll take my chances with the judge if it comes to that.

 

[Castnshoot]

One good shot to the head with a big rock usually does the trick. Cutting the throat works fine but can be messy. I don't know what the big deal is, it seems like common sense to put a suffering animal down. A rock worked just fine on this poor little gal.

 

[36moose]

slitting the throat of an injured deer is risky as heck . i have had and seen some close calls . critters are strong and a sharp knife and a thrashing deer are bad news.

 

[troutsniffer]

If it is a buck that gets hit, most of us Utards would finish it off by slitting its throat from front all the way through with the sawzall you keep under your seat.

 

[pookiebar]

If it's in city limits you will get in trouble for shooting a gun, no matter the situation. Fish and Game officers may be jerks if you get turned in for finishing the thing off, in any manner.

I love all the stories about whacking them in the head!!

But being where you were, you should have called the police and they can get a game officer out there to finish the job.

It sucks, but that is the best way to avoid trouble for yourself.

 

[nv_hunter]

That is a tough decision to make. Do what you think is right i guess?

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