What would you do if you hit a deer?

I thought about this last night, my wife and I were driving to my friends house and we where going to our stated lodge meeting. It was dark out and we were driving and out of nowhere 3 deer ran in front of the car that was ahead of us. I slowed down quickly and put my four-ways on and the minivan that hit the deer pulled up and on the side of the road. One more deer ran in front of us and there was one about 5 feet off the road just standing there. As we drove past the deer that got hit it was convulsing and you know it wasn't getting up and running off it was just going to suffer. We stopped and made sure the person that hit the deer was fine and then once he said yes i we made sure then went on our way.

So my question is provided you are in an area that doesnt have a lot of houses and it would be safe would you put the deer down? If so what would the legality of that be? Would you have to call the game commission? Would you call the police first? I really never thought about this until last night. I would not of at this location because there are houses pretty close to the accident.

In that situation, i would use my pistol to put it out of its misery. If it were a populated area, a knife would be used. I know its against the law but i don't like to see animals suffer due to humans. Sue me.

Personally, I'm not leaving an animal to suffer while I wait around for the police or game commission to get out of the donut/coffee shop and show up. I have the necessary resource to put the animal down in a humane manner, so I will do so.

That said, I have been very, very lucky that in 20 years of driving overall, and fourteen years of professional driving I have yet to strike a deer (knock on wood). A couple of stray cats (why do people INSIST on letting their housecats out?), two rabbits, one groundhog (deliberate...distemper and I wasn't old enough to carry at the time), and a suicidal bird who actually hit my car, rather than the other way around...

On a side note, when insurance asks....the deer hit YOU. Makes the claim a bit easier to process.

Call an ambulance, administer first aid (maybe CPR) while waiting.

Ride along in the ambulance to the veterinarian's office and pray for the recovery of this fine beast. Offer to give blood if necessary.

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Sorry.... couldn't resist...:p

Oddly, a similar thing happened to us last night going to visit my Dad.
I had my 2 kids in the car. The car in front of us struck a deer and it flipped up onto the guard-rail. It lay there twitching.

We just called 911 as it may have posed a traffic safety issue.

I gave the driver my info in case he needed it for insurance reasons and we left.

Make a phone is what I would do.... I would NOT discharge me pistol for this!

Ago years ago I had bought a Chevy Blazer, a month later a deer ran out in front of me and i hit it in the rear quarter and sent it spinning. I was furious since I only had the truck a month. I turned around and was going to hit him again. But he had ran off suprisingly.











No I wasn't really going to hit him again. Thought about it, but wasn't going to.

Illegal to put it down. Call game commission. Stick around and process the deer under special deer tag.

It sucks, but it is legal thing to do. Don't put your carry rights in jeopardy for a good tenderloin.

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Originally Posted by PowerPM

Illegal to put it down. Call game commission. Stick around and process the deer under special deer tag.

It sucks, but it is legal thing to do. Don't put your carry rights in jeopardy for a good tenderloin.

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Hey, that quote has the makings of a new bumper sticker.:p

Call police and wait until they come to put it down. I'm not risking my LTCF and my future ability to defend myself and my family for a deer. I don't like to see animals suffer but life can be cruel.

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Originally Posted by PowerPM

Illegal to put it down. Call game commission. Stick around and process the deer under special deer tag.

It sucks, but it is legal thing to do. Don't put your carry rights in jeopardy for a good tenderloin.

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That is also my tack if the situation becomes my reality. I really, really hate to see the suffering but I also can't in good conscience jeopardize my lawful ability to defend my family, and myself. Between state game laws and municipality regulations you potentially have at least two criminal acts to answer for. The untagged deer and discharge of a firearm.

I'll answer the question like this, police have to report when they discharge their firearm, I don't have to tell anyone.

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Originally Posted by ray h

I'll answer the question like this, police have to report when they discharge their firearm, I don't have to tell anyone.

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They do? Sometimes? Maybe? The reason I respond thusly is because I was at a deer strike site (say that three times fast). The deer wasn't dead, nobody on scene had any way of dispatching the seriously-wounded deer (illegal to do so, but this is out in the middle of nowhere). Anyway, a state trooper showed up (hadn't been called) on his way back to the barracks (end of shift). He checked to see if everyone involved was okay (they were), he proclaimed the damaged vehicle capable of making it home (the headlights were lighting up the roadway immediately in front of the vehicle). Someone pointed out the deer wasn't dead, yet. "Oh!" "BLAM!" "You folks have a nice night, bye." Off he sped, into the darkness (who was that masked man, we asked). I helped load the carcass into the owner's pickup. Anyway, I seriously doubt any paperwork was done over this firearms discharge, seriously.

There's city, there's suburbs, there's country, and then there's out in the middle of nowhere. Each has its own set of rules depending on the circumstances.

I have a small baseball bat and a knife in both my SUVs. The only deer I ever hit got up and ran away before I could use either. I also have the wardens phone number in my wallet. I would just dispatch the deer and then call the warden.

i ATTENDED hunting license seminar with My SOL a few years ago. Here s what they say. If you hit it and kill it. You can keep it. But you have to get a permit to have it butchered. But you must call them. If you hit it and injure it. You are not to put it downeYou are to call the game commission. (their words)

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Originally Posted by ironhorse

i ATTENDED hunting license seminar with My SOL a few years ago. Here s what they say. If you hit it and kill it. You can keep it. But you have to get a permit to have it butchered. But you must call them. If you hit it and injure it. You are not to put it downeYou are to call the game commission. (their words)

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Plus, if it has a rack, its 8 or 10.00 a point if you want to keep the rack.

Lightsaber its head off...end its suffering, then slit the belly open like it was a tantan, and hide inside until help arrives...

Dispatching a wounded deer is poaching, pure and simple. That's what the law says, and there's no getting around it.

Officially, all the authorities can tell you is to let it die on its own, call the game warden, but do nothing yourself. If the law made any exceptions, you know full well there are those out there that would exploit it to no end. So, the law says what it says.

Again, there's city, suburbs, country and boondocks. What's done unofficially is unofficial. Not to say it doesn't happen, but.....

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No I wasn't really going to hit him again. Thought about it, but wasn't going to]

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http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo...m551o1_500.jpg See rule 2.

To those of you who are talking about using your LTCF over dispatching a deer...what would be the reasoning behind that?

I hit a deer just this past fall. It wasn't dead so I drove to the WCO's house to see if he would come dispatch it. He basically told me to take care of it and make sure to call the GC if I was going to keep it. Regional GC director goes to my parents church, and had told them it was 100% legal to dispatch a deer AFTER hitting it. The only time hey're really going to question it or look into it is if it really looks like you just went out and poached it.

Take it for what it's worth. I live in the sticks. No way I'm calling the cops or GC. It's a dead deer after the shot if it wasn't already prior to.

i think of this alot. When i was 18 and did not own a gun, i stopped because i saw a deer acting funny on the side of the road. i saw that it clearly had been hit by a car becuase its jaw was broken and hanging off its face. I felt so bad for it and there was nothing i could do. this was in 1993 when most of us didnt own a cell phone. i couldnt kill it cause i didnt have anything to do it with. Had it been today, I would have dropped it with my carry peice and just drove off before anyone could have reported a gun shot. Even if i got caught, i would proudly go to court and if the judge had a heart at all i would be let off.

It's a shame, but, in this case "doing the right thing" is illegal. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by hacimsaalk

To those of you who are talking about using your LTCF over dispatching a deer...what would be the reasoning behind that?

I hit a deer just this past fall. It wasn't dead so I drove to the WCO's house to see if he would come dispatch it. He basically told me to take care of it and make sure to call the GC if I was going to keep it. Regional GC director goes to my parents church, and had told them it was 100% legal to dispatch a deer AFTER hitting it. The only time hey're really going to question it or look into it is if it really looks like you just went out and poached it.

Take it for what it's worth. I live in the sticks. No way I'm calling the cops or GC. It's a dead deer after the shot if it wasn't already prior to.

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That's just it, we live in the sticks (with the same GC). The 'rules' appear to be different the farther east you go in PA. Just another reason to stay on my own side of the mountains, yeah?

In Reading or Scranton, they probably have a far more anal-retentive GC (and definitely more anal-retentive cops), so they have to be far more concerned with losing their LTCFs than we do here in the far more civilized west...

If anyone is familiar with the bridge linking NJ to Portland, PA up in Northampton county by Bangor, one time about a decade ago i was driving home on it and this deer was on the bridge. It saw me coming and panicked, and climbed up and over the concrete wall, and jumped. To its death, 2 stories below onto a road underneath. It was horrible,because it didnt die right away. I was in shock and stopped the car and ran out to look over,and the thing was on the road below, badly injured, kicking its one leg. I told the toll booth operator about it and went home. Awful

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Originally Posted by brsims

That's just it, we live in the sticks (with the same GC). The 'rules' appear to be different the farther east you go in PA. Just another reason to stay on my own side of the mountains, yeah?

In Reading or Scranton, they probably have a far more anal-retentive GC (and definitely more anal-retentive cops), so they have to be far more concerned with losing their LTCFs than we do here in the far more civilized west...

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I got ya. I guess I've never really thought too much about it to be quite honest...and certainly never thought it would = losing my LTCF.

ANd for the record, I am certainly 100% content with sticking to my side of the mountains...

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Originally Posted by hacimsaalk

I got ya. I guess I've never really thought too much about it to be quite honest...and certainly never thought it would = losing my LTCF.

ANd for the record, I am certainly 100% content with sticking to my side of the mountains...

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You and me both. I've spent far too much time on the East coast as a trucker. My life would be perfect if I never saw the Atlantic seaboard again....

Call it in to the PGC, or the local PD, they will tell you what to do. Don't risk your freedoms over it, it sucks to see, but you've got to take care of #1. Some of the WCO's are pretty cool and will tell you to handle it, and back you that they did. They don't want to respond to every hit deer, they'd never sleep.

I'd swear and yell at it a lot after calling the game commission. But I swear and yell at things a lot regardless.

I would also like to bring up the possibility that many of our members live in an area where they would have to call someone to deal with a rabid animal.

While here in Crawford County the concensus between the Humane Society, the Game Warden, the Fish and Game Commission, and eventually the local police (they called me after the fact to ensure the situation had been dealt with) was that since I had a gun "on the scene" I was more than welcome to take care of the rabid animal rather than waiting for someone else to show up.

Sadly I would let the Game Commission handle it. I'm not risking my rights over an animal. I don't like it though.

Sadly if no response from Authorities,Let it go !

I had a friend that hit a deer in his truck he had just picked up from spending $4k on a custom paint job, he was that pissed he backed up to where the dear was and finished the dear off with the heal of his boot.

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Originally Posted by hacimsaalk

To those of you who are talking about using your LTCF over dispatching a deer...what would be the reasoning behind that?

I hit a deer just this past fall. It wasn't dead so I drove to the WCO's house to see if he would come dispatch it. He basically told me to take care of it and make sure to call the GC if I was going to keep it. Regional GC director goes to my parents church, and had told them it was 100% legal to dispatch a deer AFTER hitting it. The only time hey're really going to question it or look into it is if it really looks like you just went out and poached it.

Take it for what it's worth. I live in the sticks. No way I'm calling the cops or GC. It's a dead deer after the shot if it wasn't already prior to.

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So the tire tracks out across the corn field leading to the site of the incident AREN'T a good sign?

I would of pulled my K-Bar from behind my seat and cut it's throat, then called the game comission to get a tag for it. When they get there and ask why I killed it...sorry boss but i'm not going to stand here or leave an animal to suffer like it was. :)

This actually just happened to me yesterday, I was thinking about making a thread on the legalities.

I hit a small deer with my Crown Vic on my way home from work, busted up the driver side headlight and L marker light. The deer was not so lucky. I felt pretty bad about it. I shot it before a coal truck completely smashed it from my car. No houses around, good backstop. 12 hours later I went back into work and the deer was gone.

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Originally Posted by Storm88000

If anyone is familiar with the bridge linking NJ to Portland, PA up in Northampton county by Bangor, one time about a decade ago i was driving home on it and this deer was on the bridge. It saw me coming and panicked, and climbed up and over the concrete wall, and jumped. To its death, 2 stories below onto a road underneath. It was horrible,because it didnt die right away. I was in shock and stopped the car and ran out to look over,and the thing was on the road below, badly injured, kicking its one leg. I told the toll booth operator about it and went home. Awful

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Man, that is awful.

I dont have an comments on what I would do since we arnt allowed to advocate breaking the law....

But I was wondering where is the best place to shoot a wounded deer? For hunting I know vitals/heart shot but if it's not going anywhere would a head shot be better for it? Just a curiousty question. (and while we are discussing this what's the best knife target? If one can safely get that close)

The last time someone hit one by my house the dumbass cop put 3 rds into the "chest area" and we had to listen to her gasp for air as she slowly died. Dickhead was afraid of the deer so the shots were taken from about 15 feet away and he only managed to hit the "chest area". And it was like 11 pm in a residential area. Pissed me off so bad.

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Originally Posted by spartakis252

But I was wondering where is the best place to shoot a wounded deer? .

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The head (temple/ear area)

I've hit several deer over the last few years, I drive a lot. Luckily most die on the spot or run away. I wouldnt use my firearm but I have used a mini sledge that I had in my service truck.. it was like 3# or something.. used the wide side face so it wasnt obvious if someone like a GC came up and looked at it.. One big smack in the head and it was over. only sad part is it didnt have a rack or was in good enough shape to butcher.

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Originally Posted by MT1

So the tire tracks out across the corn field leading to the site of the incident AREN'T a good sign?

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That would be a good sign...unfortunately since I drive a sunfire I doubt you would see tire tracks across a corn field without the tires still sitting in them.

And trust me, i enjoy hunting them much more than hitting them with a car ;-)