what would you do if you could only harvest one buck, you had been hunting everyday for three weeks waiting on a 150 or better. oops! funny part first, i hunted one stand all morning, saw a small 6pt., decided to hunt a different stand in the afternoon, went for a quick bite to eat, hurried to my stand, the wind was in my face, jumped a buck 40 yards from my stand, he didn't blow and didn't sound like he ran far, it was hard to tell, it was a little wet. i eased up my stand hoping he would come back through to get a better look at him. i was in my stand about a half hour and i began to nod off while standing, 4:30am came early, so i thought i would take a little nap. i woke up an hour and half later, got my bearings and began to scan looking for deer. i looked to my right and thought, that looks like a dead deer, shoot thats a dead buck. i eased down my stand and over to him, i took my bow with an arrow, i always hunt from the time i leave my truck till i get back, ( i've been surprised to many times) i was surprised again, he wasn't totally dead, he kicked a couple times but couldn't even attempt to get up. i couldn't see any signs of a wound. the only thing i can figure was he had been hit by a car. the road was only about 3 hundred yards from my stand. he had to be the buck i jumped and had to of come back to my right while i was asleep. i must have been really tired, he had thrashed around enough to make 4 inch deep crator. now what would do? would you shoot him and put him out of his misery, what if the law said you have to put your tag on him if you do. what if he was a nice 10 pt., but only a 120, and maybe 2 1/2 year old buck. would you tag him and tell everyone you shot him? ( from 2 yard away). if it were not againist the law what would you do? remember, there are no bragging rights, and no one will believe you when you say you shot him from 2 yards away.  

Shoot him to put him out of his misery, call the warden and explain. If he says I had to tag it .. well I guess I'm done, or hang up, quarter him up and take a chance..
I could not just leave him there flopping around.
Man you must be a sound sleeper.

As ethical hunters who are suppose to put their love for nature first I would put him out of his misery and tag him even if it was my only tag.
You see I feel it would have been meant to be for me, or you as it was to be their to stop the suffering. As for bragging rights I would feel none better then what had to be done for that animal.
What did you do?

I would have put an end to his sufferage, right then and there no matter what size I had been looking for.

QuoteOriginally posted by Kingstaken:
As ethical hunters who are suppose to put their love for nature first I would put him out of his misery and tag him even if it was my only tag.
You see I feel it would have been meant to be for me, or you as it was to be their to stop the suffering. As for bragging rights I would feel none better then what had to be done for that animal.
What did you do?

Ditto.

For sure, put him out of his misery whether it cost a tag or not.

I hate to see any of Gods creatures suffer. Definetly would end his suffering.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

QuoteOriginally posted by Kingstaken:
As ethical hunters who are suppose to put their love for nature first I would put him out of his misery and tag him even if it was my only tag.
You see I feel it would have been meant to be for me, or you as it was to be their to stop the suffering. As for bragging rights I would feel none better then what had to be done for that animal.
What did you do?

Well said...  

apparently thats the one god wanted you too have...

Put him down, and what a great story you now have to tell. What did you do?

put him out of his misery hope to god you don't have to tag him because Its a wasted tag and get meat and skull mount then if allowed keep hunting

No question - shoot and tag if required.

No dilemma for me.  My brother and I did this last year with a spike that had a badly broken leg.  He wasn't going to make it through the winter and was hurting.  We watched him bed down about 100 yds away and my brother eased out of the stand and stalked up to within 25yds and shot him where he lay.  He tasted just fine!

Stop his suffering. If this is a true story what did you do?

You could have just cut his throat, then called the game commission and explained what happened. I'm sure they wouldn't think you caught him and managed to cut his throat. They may then say if you didn't shoot it you don't have to tag it. Though you may not get to keep it.

id put him out of his misery and tell the game warden what happened.

My pholosophy has always been shoot it until it stops moving. Don't let it suffer. I would tell people I shot an injured deer. No shame in it. I figure most people would commend you for it.

Agree with everyone else. Put him down and call the warden.

QuoteOriginally posted by Kingstaken:
As ethical hunters who are suppose to put their love for nature first I would put him out of his misery and tag him even if it was my only tag.
You see I feel it would have been meant to be for me, or you as it was to be their to stop the suffering. As for bragging rights I would feel none better then what had to be done for that animal.
What did you do?

Could't have said it better.  As for bragging rights, I'm not worried about impressing anyone and feel sorry for anyone who would look down on me for ending this animals suffering.

That's your buck. Kill him and tag him. Sounds like a pretty good story as is. Especially the sleeping part, you must have a good harness system.

Threads like this always leave me scratching my head and at the risk of getting hammered I will disagree with the entire concept of "putting it out of its misery."

How in the world do we know what is wrong with any animal that looks like it is in "misery?" Somehow killing it is "better" than letting it live?

How many deer have you seen with 3 legs? half a leg missing? missing eyes? missing ears? tumors? I have seen all of these and at no time did I feel the urge to put them "out of their misery."

Who are we to decide when it is in "misery?" If you want to shoot him than do it but don't cloak it in some sort of "doing the animal a favor" thing.

The will to live is so strong that we don't know what MIGHT have happened if let live. We all know the answer if we shoot it.

I had a dog that slept in bed with my wife and I for years. One night in the middle of the night he just jumps up, falls off the bed, and can't move. He could not stand up or even move his legs? We didn't run out and shoot him. We took him to the vet and he had an inner ear infection that antibiotics cleared up and he live for years after that.

You just don't know. In very general terms (not referring to this story in any way so please be clear on that) the whole "putting it out of its misery" is just a cheap excuse to kill something.

Not trying to start any trouble but I don't agree at all with this concept as it pertains to deer and hunting in any way.