Off Topic: Hit a Deer

Sorry I know this isent really hunting but..

I was doing 60 (the speed limit) down a lane last night and two deer ran right out in front of my car. I hit the brakes but buy the time I had stopped I was a good 200 feet away from where I had hit it. I span the car round and got out, one deer in the road the other running down a feild.

Oh please let that be dead I though. I went up to it and the deer was very mangled (I wont go into details) but still alive. I had a look around and found a very heavy lump of log and smashed to poor things head in with one blow.

What I want to know is did I do the right thing? Was there a better way I could have finshed it of, should I even have finshed it off? Does anybody know if what I did was legal?

did you take it home? In some states it illegal to take it home. If that the only thing you had to put it out of it's misery(SP?). Then I agree if it was to far gone. If you would have put a bullet in its head that would probly be illegal.

Depends on local laws where you live. Here in Delaware, I could have killed it, taken it home and made deerburger. In neighboring Pennsylvania, I would have been arrested if I took the deer. Personally I would not have done what you did and have enough venison that I don't want or need roadkill.

In replying to a post about a deer hit by a car,

the deer.

Only because you are not a Pennsylvania resident. Page 17 of the 'Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting & Trapping Regulations July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004' states 'Pennsylvania residents may possess deer killed by a motor vehicle if they secure a permit within 24 hours after taking the deer.' Possession of other animals killed on a highway is prohibited and antlers of salvaged deer must be turned over to the PGC.

You could have called the game warden/s and told them that you had just hit a deer with your car and that you was going to go ahead and put it out of it pain and suffing. unless the 'gw' told you other wise. Most game warden's are very understanding when it comes to these type of thing's.he/she prolly would have just asked for a little info from you and then told you to do what you thought was right,and that you could keep the deer.But then again,he/she might have told you to wait there until he/she got there to take a lookie,but still your chance's of keeping the deer is still high.you chance's of gettin into any kind of trouble is very slim to none.

smashing the head in with a hunk of log is kinda cruel,but if it was the 'only' thing that you had,,then yes you did the right thing.No need to let it lay there and die a long painfull death.

BTW..how do you feel about what you did? deep down,do you feel like you did the right thing?

Smiply Me

I think pretty much all the organized religions currently in vogue would agree with your actions.

A gun, perhaps, but that's a whole nuther ball of wax.

'Should' by who's definition? By any of the major gods, yes. By your own conscience, probably. By local game laws, dunno, maybe not.

Dpends on where you are, I suppose. Alot of places, no, it wasn't legal of you to do that. Supposed to 'let some official' come do it for you.

You inconvenienced yourself to end the suffering of another.

As I remember the religious education of my youth, that counts for alot.

If you were able to finish it off with a single blow from a log you found beside the road, I suspect it would have died soon anyway (deer have very hard heads).

Legal - probably not. Was it the moral or ethical thing to do - arguably so.

Q: did you call the game warden or sherriff to come get it? If it's fresh, they will often come get it, take it to a processor, and have the meat donated to a needy family.

Sorry I know this isent really hunting but.. I was doing 60 (the speed limit) down a lane last night and two deer ran right out in front of my car. I hit the brakes but buy the time I had stopped I was a good 200 feet away from where I had hit it. I span the car round and got out, one deer in the road the other running down a feild. Oh please let that be dead I though. I went up to it and the deer was very mangled (I wont go into details) but still alive. I had a look around and found a very heavy lump of log and smashed to poor things head in with one blow. What I want to know is did I do the right thing? Was there a better way I could have finshed it of, should I even have finshed it off? Does anybody know if what I did was legal?

<<You could have called the game warden/s and told them that you had just hit a deer with your car and that you was going to go ahead and put it out of it pain and suffing. unless the 'gw' told you other wise. Most game warden's are very understanding when it comes to these type of thing's.he/she prolly would have just asked for a little info from you and then told you to do what you thought was right,and that you could keep the deer.But then again,he/she might have told you to wait there until he/she got there to take a lookie,but still your chance's of keeping the deer is still high.you chance's of gettin into any kind of trouble is very slim to none.>>

Be careful of what people tell you, even the LE folks.

In this area over this summer, some people have had bear trouble, in that there are bear that will actually wander up to your house/yard, and start rambling around for something to eat (these are black bear).

The guy in the local paper had this happen to him. He called the sherriff's department, told them a bear was on his property and asked what needed to be done to get it out of there. The sherriff's dept told him that he could shoot it only if it attempted to get into the house, or menaced him or his family or livestock.

The guy calls back (on 911) a few minutes later saying that the bear is on his deck trying to get into the sliding glass door. He tells the sherriffs dept that he is going outside to shoot it, and that they should notify whoever they should regarding this incident.

He goes out, shoots & kills the bear, its lying on his deck with scratch marks all around the door, weather stripping torn up, etc. and the sherriff comes out, along with the state police and the game warden.

The guy ends up losing his hunting license this year (for everything, including deer), is subject to $1500 fine, and gets charged with: hunting a bear out of season. Even though the whole notice and report and description is on the police's 911 tapes.

While this doesn't have anything to do with what happened to you, just be sure that you are talking to THE authority in your area, and not just one of the authorities. In this case, the sherriff's dept was unaware of any hunting law on this animal, and it is up to the game warden to assess the circumstances of the kill. Basically the aninmal was taken without any other physical damage to it, and he assessed it to be an unlawful hunt, even though it was on this guy's deck.

Regarding your case, I don't think it was advisable to club it to death, as I've heard stories about people being disemboweled by a deer's hooves or antlers when they are in the throes of death. But I don't condemn what you did. If you'd used a firearm, that might have been a crime in itself. I know it's against the law here to shoot within so many feet of a public road.

***First of all, don't blame yourself, this happens all the time in my neck of the woods. About the only thing you can do is slow down in known deer areas. Not all of them are marked by deer crossing signs. One thing you NEVER want to do is swerve to avoid a deer. As a firefighter/emt, I've treated too many severe injuries and seen too many deaths from people losing control of the vehicle trying to miss a deer. It's better to apply firm pressure to the brakes and just hit the darned thing.

***If it's any consolation, the deer's nervous system was probably so overloaded and adrenaline charged that it wasn't feeling any pain anyway. I've treated patients like that. I couldn't believe they were even alive, much less talking calmly, but they told me that they didn't feel anything.

***Did you do the right thing? From a humanitarian standpoint, probably, you eliminated its suffering. As far as the legality of the act, that's going to vary from state to state and you'll have to check local laws to find out for certain. All I know is that had you shot it, you probably would have been arrested or fined for doing that. Probably the best thing to do would be to call the local law enforcement office and have them come out to dispatch the animal. They should be notified anyway and you'll probably need a copy of an official accident report so that you can file an insurance claim for car repairs.

Whether it was legal would depend on the laws of your state. Did you do the right thing? Yes!