What is the best way to dispatch a deer after a spine shot?
Thanks Charlie
You will get many ideas here. I use my knife and two quick blows to take out the lungs. Cutting the jugular is good too, but I think lungs are faster and easier.
I've only spine shot one deer.I was in a tree when i did it.I shot the deer again through the lungs and another arrow through the heart.At the time it seemed less tramatic for the animal.Thanks,Jim
If he aint a kickin and wollering I do what Jerry does and take out the lungs with a sticker.
If he is a thrashing at all, I put another one in him and walk away.
Stiks
Way less traumatic to me and the deer if I shoot him ASAP!
I hate the thought of a deer looking me in the eyes as I walk up to it. I'd rather just shoot it again so it doesn't even know what happened...just me...
It's also pretty dangerous to walk up on a buck...
Ive never had it happen to me, or anybody I was with. I hope it never does. I have done the deed to cattle, hogs, chickens a so on but I dont think I could stab or slice my beloved whitetails, it would be very hard for me. I like the follow up shot the best.
Cutting the throat seems like a good idea at the time but it can have consquences. My hunting partner once spined a fine 8pt and climbed down out of his stand to do the deed on his prize. When he lifted the bucks head the buck kicked hard to try and gain his feet, but only connected with my friends shin! When I got to him after a frantic call for help, it took me two hours to get him and his deer 200 yards to the truck. That was probably 8 yrs ago and he still wears the scars. SHOOT THEM AGAIN FROM A DISTANCE!!
GLENN
I would put an arrow in the the boiler room. Take out the lungs or other major vitals like Jerry said. My brother hit a moster muley one year in the spine. He walk up casually and when he got close it stood up and was gone. It must not have penetrate enough and just stund him. It's tough on the arrow when they are on the ground but I like to make sure they are down. It easies their suffering if they are still alive too. I have had do this more than once.
Put another arrow in them quickly. That works for me anyway.
I would have to totally agree with Curt on this. Even a doe can hurt ya if she gets a leg moving. Better safe than sorry guys.
I've done that once and I hated it. It's never pretty or easy, that's for sure. However you pull it off, practice your shooting so it doesn't happen to you anymore.
A second arrow is the way too go. I've got down from a tree to get into position but getting close enough to knife it is not very smart. I too have a friend that got 62 stitches in his leg from a dead deer.
Mike
I've spined my share of whitetails. More often than not they are not laying still and the thought of cutting ones' throat with a knife seems like it would be risky. I simply walk up behind them trying not to disturb them any more than necessary and shoot them in the lung area. I walk away for a while, then come back when I am sure they are dead. I once shot a nice big doe a bit far back and got liver with an exit low in the belly...she took a step foward as I shot. I left her for the night and when I found her she was still alive. I had to shoot her in the lungs to finish the job. I hate it when that happens.
A second arrow is the way to go. A deers hooves will slice you and dice you! Why tempt fate or put yourself in danger?
Yes, second arrow! You don't have to do it from the tree. Get down and approach cautiously, then take a 10 yard coup.
Second arrow in the lungs.....the only way to go! Cutting a deers throat or stabbing it in the lungs is not the way to go and could be dangerous. Plus that's what the arrows are for!!
The first time I hunted with a muzzleloader, about 10 years ago, I spine shot the biggest buck I've seen on my property while hunting from the ground. When I approached him, he kept turning away so I couldn't put the finishing shot in the lungs, so I shot him in the neck. I sat near him for a few minutes waiting for him to expire, and to my great surprise his back legs started to work, and he lunged forward, almost getting me with his antlers. I didn't have another round (learned THAT lesson), and by the time I got back to him with more ammo he had moved about 50 yards. He got up and ran like he was unhurt, flagging and snorting, and I haven't seen him since. I followed his running tracks, no blood I could see, for about a quarter mile before I lost the trail.
My ex wife once shot a young buck near the spine with a rifle. He went down, kicked a bit, then got up and ran off. The second shot hit his chest and did him in. Oddly enough she had nicked the same buck in the neck two weeks before from the same stand.
A "spine" shot is not necessarily lethal, if it misses the spinal cord. Sometimes it just stuns them, so a follow-up shot should ALWAYS be taken.
QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Way less traumatic to me and the deer if I shoot him ASAP!
I hate the thought of a deer looking me in the eyes as I walk up to it. I'd rather just shoot it again so it doesn't even know what happened...just me...
It's also pretty dangerous to walk up on a buck...
Exactly how I was gonna say it.
Yep put another arrow in them.
put another arrow in him.
Safest and I think humane.. Joe
Second arrow thru the lungs. Unfortunatly, I had to do that very thing this year. Dispatches quickly after the lung shot.
A second arrow is warranted. We are taking an unecessary risk when we choose to stick or slice a wounded deer with a knife. The consequences could be severe. Dangerous game are not the only quarry to pose a real threat when wounded.
I have been on my share of hunts where the hunter dispatched a deer with a knife. One long ago particular incident remains embedded in my mind that makes this choice a no brainer for me.
I spine shot 2 deer during my hunting career. Both times I came down and gave them a second arrow. I feel it's the right thing to do.
I spine shot a doe last sat evening and the second arrow is deffinitely the way to finnish things in my opinion. I think its easier, safer, and much more humane.
QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Way less traumatic to me and the deer if I shoot him ASAP!
It's also pretty dangerous to walk up on a buck...
I agree with Curt and want to add, it can be dangerous walking up to a kicking doe too. Another shot will keep you safley away from flailing legs or antlers.
I once listened to a moaning deer as a youngster when my dad slit the throat. It was a hard thing to witness. I thought to myself a second shot may cost a little money but will make me feel better about the situation.
in almost 40 years of bowhuntin, and close to 100 critters, i spined my first deer this year, then i was able to put 2 good arrows in her quickly from the stand. she passed quickly after that.. but like said above not pretty or a desireable outcome...
Ya I got beat-up good trying to cut a deers throat. Put a arrow thru the lungs as soon as possible.
I carry and old beat up "kill" arrow just for this purpose.
do it the way you prefer but do it quickly !
Less trauma for the animal means less adrenalin, and better tasting meet. Give em another arrow.
Why someone would slit the throat is something I didn't understand when I first saw it done 25 years ago, and I don't understand it any better now. Just walk up close and put an arrow through the lungs -- just as effective and much safer.
Second arrow quick, I have actually spined deer and had them get up after the initial shock. I am no doctor so do not ask me how but they did it albeit in a limited state.
This is what i told my son to do if it happens, If you spine shoot a deer calmly get another arrow ready make sure you are calmed down and shoot the deer in the lungs then wait till it's dead before you get down. This is what I do and it is the only safe way to handle the situation. Worse case you may have to get down and shoot the deer from the ground to get the right shot angle. If you have never tangled with a deer you have no idea the power that they have, I can tell you this from foolishness of my youth.
Using a second arrow has worked for me. The potential risk of getting within knife range of a injured deer is to great. Here lately I seem to be blood kin to Murphy ( Murphy's law - anything that can go wrong will ).
Yep another arrow is the best option.
A few years back a guy that use to work with my Dad when to slit a deer's throat with a knife. Well, the deer kicked him and he ended up putting the kife right through his hand - in palm and out the back.
2nd arrow as quickly and safely as possible, why take a chance of getting kicked. Owe it to the deer to finish what we start humanely.
Used knife to the jugular. Much prefer good shots to the kill zone to start with. My bad. None since.
Second arrow for sure. My three inch blade folder will do the job, but I have no desire to get that close to a wounded whitetail. Where I hunt it is normally to far to the truck to take any chances.
second arrow from point blank range to make sure it goes in the right place. You will find out whether your broadhead tip is susceptible to curling ...
I say that because the first time I spine shot one I tried the "put another arrow in them" approach on a thrashing deer while still in my treestand, and it wasn't pretty ...
If the dang deer wouldn't duck this would never happen !
I've spined two deer. I learned after the first time to get out of the stand, stay a safe distance and get a second shot in the lungs.
I had to put a second arrow into mine, through the lungs. My son was going to slit its throat, but I said no and put the second arrow through the lungs. That's the arrow the buck broke when it fell over on it.
I spine shot a doe earlier this season and I shot her through the lungs on the 2nd shot. I hate it when that happens. I have never liked slitting a deers throat. Unsafe and just does not seem right to me.
Knife to the jugular!Hold the antlers and give it a good jab.
Ipcjon2, that's a good way to get hurt. Badly.
Don if you approach opposite of the feet(back) and grab the antler he cannot kick or poke you with his rack.I have done this many times and never had them move.
second arrow for me. Done it once already this season.
another arrow.
you knife guys are working too hard. let the tool do the work. less chance of getting eviscerated as well.
If I'm close enough and have a clean shot I take it asap. The moral obligation to dispatch an animal as quickly as we can is something we can all agree on. Doing this does a service to both the animal and the shooter. Our first humane act in killing should always be to kill as quickly as possible. The second shot most always does it.
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schafer silvertip
Custom bighorn
Curry maddog
The second arrow is the best way. I have talked to the animal to calm myself and them. It is not fun, we know that but it has to be done quick. I don't like the fact that the knife could get lost, put in my body, or that I have to get close to the animal.
I've had one during Muzzleloading season, a group of Does come up to me nearly running me over but turned at the last moment.
I brought my Hawken down to bear but my aim wasn't right for that short of distance & hit the middle Doe in the Spine. :(
I jumped up & grabbed my knife & stood on her legs as I run my knife into her lungs.
Was the hardest thing I had ever done.
Definately shoot him/her again.
When I was young, not as smart, and a whole lot faster, I did in a couple with a throat cut. You need a really sharp knife for that, handles on their head, and a rope or harness strap to get there head under control so you can pull them on their side and head back helps a lot. Now I just use an extra arrow. I think I have had spine shots about 5 times in 30 years. Unfortunately I have typically broken two arrows when it happens, and I shoot them again. They usually flop over on the first and often from a tree the second sticks in the ground and breaks when they jump after the hit.
I think many times the animal doesn't know what happened, and a second shot could be much the same. It would be much more stressful on the animal to be attacked by its killer. I know I would rather get a second shot without knowing it was on the way than have someone jump me and knife me to death.
what i did when ever i shot me first deer (i doubled up on a shotgun)i shot one in the spine and the other was a clean kill but anywys what my hunting neighbor told me to do if that happened was to stand to where the deers back its at your feet take your foot and put very firm pressure on the neck and and do the deed with the knife
If I feel I can double lung it from where everything is I will, otherwise I'll approach it and send an arrow into the lungs.
Second arrow through the lungs.....they don't mind it.
Here's how it worked for me last Saturday. I spined a young buck. I'm on my knees at 6 yds when I shot so the arrows angled up. I immediatly stand and try to shoot him again before he crawls over an embankment and gets into a creek. Right when I release he flops over and the arrow goes under the right shoulder and into the bone and falls back out. Over the bank he goes. I step up to the creek bank and he's still not in the creek so I get another in him from a steep rear angle with his belly toward me. This is a good shot and goes up into the chest cavity for a fatal hit...., but not immediate. He flops at the hit and now has his front feet hooked over the bank and his head is out over the water. You can guess that my goal was to not have to wade into the water after this deer. I grab a hind leg and try to pull him away but can't do it. So I hook his antlers with my bow tip and try to pull his head around while still pulling on the leg. Thats wortking until he gives a last effort and yanks the bow out of my hand and flips it 30 feet away on the opposite bank. I'm pulling hard so when that happens I fall on my butt hard. The deer slides into the creek and.... Dies.
That worked well, don't you think!
Oh..., and all three arrows were broken in the battle.
A second arrow through the lungs or a knife to the heart or jugular will kill them in the same amount of time one is not quicker than the other.Its what your comfortable doing that is the difference.When I shot wheels I spined one and went for the second shot,and when I released it my lower limb hit the shooting rail on my climber and through off the string. The arrow missed and the bow was broke so I had to use the knife.