Funny how people change when they need a gun, or, I had to draw and fire last night

[dc dalton]

No it's not as dramatic as it sounds (but I got your attention didn't I? )

As many know yesterday was our son's graduation party, great time, lots of people yadda yadda.

Among the family there was Tootie's next oldest sister, a die hard Jerseyite (swears she will never leave) and an AVID anti gun person. We have had many an argument with her and her "I don't see any reason to own or carry a gun" and "Only police should have guns" .... well last night the shoe was on the other foot for a brief time.

Everyone left just as it was getting dark, I was cleaning up some stuff in the kitchen when Patty's son came running to the door yelling "Mom hit a dear bring a gun". OK, I guess?!?

I walked down the street, gun in hand to the intersection of our road and 447 and saw her car sitting there with the flashers on. Asked her what happened and she said a dear bolted out and literally went over the roof of the car. Looked at the car with a flashlight and only minor scuffs. She said the dear made it's way into the woods there so off we trudged through bushes and pricker bushes, 20 feet back, nothing and the brush was getting thick. I stopped and said are you sure it didn't just run away? She said it looked hurt. Just then the brush rustled and we flipped the flashlight in the direction of the sound ... nothing.

I stopped for another minute to see if I could get a bearing on the noise (was really dark by this point), it was behind a huge thorny bush we had to get through (oh joy). We pushed through bitching and cursing the whole way and as I came through I saw her. A small doe pushing herself across the ground with her back legs, it looked like her front legs were both broken. It fell into a small stone filled hole and couldn't move so I raised the Glock and fired twice into the heart area (could barely see her head). She went still almost immediately and I knew she was dead (then again 2 XTPs from that range couldn't very well miss).

We trudged back through the brush and I told her to drive the car back up to the house while I walked (no wallet or LTCF on me, and after two shots fired in a semi residential area I wasn't chancing it).

When she got back to the house it was the normal post accident yabbering and excitement but in all that I heard Patty say "He had to shoot it, it was in serious pain"

I didn't talk to her much before she left and had to explain the whole thing to my mother who was staying with us but I just HAVE to wonder if maybe, just MAYBE Patty might look at things just a tad differently. I plan on calling her tonight to make sure the car is OK, it will be interesting to see what she has to say.

[knight0334]

[cropped to save space]


I didn't talk to her much before she left and had to explain the whole thing to my mother who was staying with us but I just HAVE to wonder if maybe, just MAYBE Patty might look at things just a tad differently. I plan on calling her tonight to make sure the car is OK, it will be interesting to see what she has to say.

Its a good opening, but slowly and softly approach. I've been in similar situations where the "anti' was in a vulnerably position to convert, you just have to avoid pointblank pushes of the pro-gun stance - otherwise you'll push them back across the line.

[Pa. Patriot]

While I agree it is the right and moral thing to do, dispatching a wounded deer in Pa. is unlawful.

[dc dalton]

While I agree it is the right and moral thing to do, dispatching a wounded deer in Pa. is unlawful.

Really? I didn't know that nor did the cop that shot one in the road in front of my house last summer. Oh well too late now, what's done is done.

[338winmag]

what the hell you did not keep it to eat damn man that would have been dinner in my house.

[camper]

The real question is, what law-abiding person needs an assault car to hit a deer?

Seriously, good work with the deer. Don't know if it's legal or not, but I would have done the same.

camper

[Pa. Patriot]

Really? I didn't know that nor did the cop that shot one in the road in front of my house last summer. Oh well too late now, what's done is done.

From PGC website:

Roadkilled Deer/Possessing Wildlife: It is unlawful at any time to
possess live wildlife, except foxes for which a permit has been issued,
or animals, or parts of animals, killed on highways. Pennsylvania
residents may possess deer killed by a motor vehicle for personal
consumption only if they secure a permit number from the Game
Commission within 24 hours after taking the deer; call the appropri-
ate region office. It is not legal to kill “put it out of its misery” any
injured wildlife; again, call the region office. It is unlawful to give the
whole or edible part of a deer killed on a highway to another person.
Holders of a valid furtakers license may possess a furbearer killed on
a highway, except for bobcats, fishers or river otters. Persons taking
possession of any furbearer killed on a highway during the closed
season for taking that furbearer shall within 24 hours contact any Game
Commission region office to make notification of said possession.

HOWEVER...

I am looking at title 34 right now and found <ahem> conflicting info .. will post an update in a bit.... reading....

[dc dalton]

what the hell you did not keep it to eat damn man that would have been dinner in my house.

Way too small to be bothered and WAY too many pricker bushes to drag it out through ... besides, having just 'dispatched it' (illegally from what Rich says) dragging it home could have made things 10 times worse had the police shown up. I can see the conversation now:

Cop in cruiser along side me: Why are you dragging a dear up the road with one hand while you have a gun in the other?


Me: Erm, well, you see it's a long story. I just shot it after it hit my sister in laws car.


Yeah that would have gone over well.

[-JD-]

While I agree it is the right and moral thing to do, dispatching a wounded deer in Pa. is unlawful.

This is the kind of thing that direct mind-link VR would be great for. Hook up those rule makers up that pushed for such a ill-though-out regulation and let them experience a death of thirst and starvation. Might be rethought.

[41 Redhawk]

Really? I didn't know that nor did the cop that shot one in the road in front of my house last summer. Oh well too late now, what's done is done.

I'm with PA on the moral part of this. The cop was legal when they shot the deer. You are not. What you are supposed to do is call the PGC and they will have a officer handle it. Personally, I think it stinks.