# Situation question



## ericridebike (Mar 22, 2009)

Not sure if this is exactly the right section for this, but here it goes. Tonight while on the way to the grocery store, I saw a truck that had just hit a deer in the middle of a semi-busy road in a business area of town. The deer was alive and trying to get up, but obviously very seriously, if not mortally injured. My question is, if you were carrying concealed and came up on this, what would be the legality of humanely putting the deer out of it's misery with your CCW, rather than letting it suffer? I would guess probably wouldn't go over well with law enforcement and I'm sure that some passerby would see it and call the humane society, police, news, etc... and be sending a lynch mob after you. There were plenty of people already stopped when I passed & not sure what they ended up doing. If shooting is out of the question, what would you do, especially if maybe you were the one that hit it.


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## rccola712 (Aug 26, 2008)

im not sure if this exactly applies, but i was driving back from a friends house one night, and on a back country road i saw a deer that had been hit, another guy had stopped who lived near by, he had a friend who was going to grab a gun and put the deer out of its misery. hope that helps. i had never thought of a legality issue, my guess would be that it would depend on the firearm laws in that area, like in city limits, ect.


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## zhurdan (Mar 21, 2008)

WARNING!!!!!

Many legal issues!!!!! 

-Discharging a firearm within city limits (if you're in the city limits)
-Poaching (yes, they will charge you with that)
-Endangering others

It's best to call the local sheriff. 

Now, having said that, my dad and I were on our way back from riding our horses and a gal hit a deer ahead of us. We called the sheriffs dept and asked them to come out. It's about a 10 minute drive, and is outside of city limits. We asked if we could just put the deer down. The sheriff called the county game warden and got approval. We shot it, gutted it, threw it in the back of the truck and took it to the local butcher. It was donated to the food shelter. Smaller towns are much MUCH different places than most. We know the sheriff and the game warden and the lady had already called in her accident to the Sheriffs Office, so all that together led to a totally different outcome. 

In a bigger area, I'd just call the sheriffs office. It's sad to watch them suffer, but I'd rather you not end up in jail for your compassion.

Zhur


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

In Arizona you need to contact LEO's or Game and Fish personell before applying uthanasia or you can be charged with a crime.

It used to be a crime to hit a Game animal but that was changed and these days a LEO or G&F can issue a tag allowing you to recover the meat if you want it. They have to inspect it carefully to determine it was not shot (poached) prior to issuing the tag.

Regrettably a lot of Elk meat is wasted in our area by people not recovering road kill. It may sound gross but there is nothing wrong with it if taken care of in a timely manner and is better than beef. We average at least 1 Elk per week in the ten mile stretch of highway near my home.

The coyotes and bear prefer we leave it for them though. 

tumbleweed


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## literaltrance (Dec 24, 2008)

Somewhat offtopic but a friend of mine had brought in some Elk steaks for another co-worker. I have never seen "red" meat so....purple? It looks like slabs of liver but my friend assured me it was plain Elk meat. Had me curious...!

Concealed is concealed. If there is no danger to human life, it needs to stay in the holster.


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## lechwe (Dec 14, 2008)

In Michigan you are not allowed to dispatch that animal without approval and most will not give it. Let them handle it when they arrive.


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## Growler67 (Sep 8, 2008)

I'm all for not letting the animal suffer, but find out what the law requires where you live. I would also opt first for a knife to the juggular before discharging a round. I can't always carry because of where I work, but I am NEVER without at least one knife.


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## zhurdan (Mar 21, 2008)

A knife to an injured animals throat is a great way to get yourself either cut to hell or disembowelled. An injured deer is very dangerous.

Zhur


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## literaltrance (Dec 24, 2008)

zhurdan said:


> A knife to an injured animals throat is a great way to get yourself either cut to hell or disembowelled. An injured deer is very dangerous.
> 
> Zhur


I would not have realized this until the deer hoof cracked my skull. Thank you for the humbling reminder.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

ericridebike said:


> Not sure if this is exactly the right section for this, but here it goes. Tonight while on the way to the grocery store, I saw a truck that had just hit a deer in the middle of a semi-busy road in a business area of town. The deer was alive and trying to get up, but obviously very seriously, if not mortally injured. My question is, if you were carrying concealed and came up on this, what would be the legality of humanely putting the deer out of it's misery with your CCW, rather than letting it suffer? I would guess probably wouldn't go over well with law enforcement and I'm sure that some passerby would see it and call the humane society, police, news, etc... and be sending a lynch mob after you. There were plenty of people already stopped when I passed & not sure what they ended up doing. If shooting is out of the question, what would you do, especially if maybe you were the one that hit it.


I live in a rural area. Cars and deer collide all the time, mostly to the fatal detriment of the deer, but sometimes the deer live through it.
I was on my way home from our village one night, a couple of years ago, and saw a friend's car stopped by the side of the road. I pulled over to ask if anything was wrong, and found that my friend had hit a deer.
The deer was too badly injured to move, but still alive. Neither of us had a cell phone with which to call the local sheriff's deputy, but I had my .45.
I apologized to the deer, and shot it through the head, killing it instantly. The bullet exited, but went in a very safe direction (as I had planned it).
When he got home, my friend phoned the sheriff's office to report the dead deer and to ask for a pick-up of the carcass. The sheriff's deputy said that we had done the right thing, notwithstanding that I had fired my shot a whole lot closer to a public road than the required 300 feet. Putting the animal out of its misery quickly transcended the letter of the law.
Although many people retrieve road-kill deer, most of the meat is spoiled due to contusions and organ damage. Some of it may even be dangerous to eat, according to our medical center.


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## SaltyDog (Jan 1, 2009)

In Ohio there are many whitetail road kill annually. They do have game recovery here also but approval is required.

Dispatching the animal is considered hunting and without a license and out of season well you know the rest.

As many others feel I hate to see an animal in duress but to me it is not worth paying fines or going to jail over.

Like literaltrance said it is a concealed weapon for your protection. 
Can you imagine as someone drives by - some guy or gal (PC) standing in a cornfield next to a road shooting a deer? What would you think he was doing?


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

People will shoot them in that situation here in Ky but the law is not on their side. If you shoot a deer it's considered hunting. A call to the state police post or dept of fish & game can get you an OK but most around here don't do it. Living away from the city and the many many back woods roads the people don't have much use for the police. They just deal with it themselves. 

That being said I don't think I'd be comfortable putting an animal down without talking to someone first.. No I don't see much if any police around here but I could reach a game warden and at least ask what he wanted done to have my rear covered. Concealed weapon or just have a weapon in the car like some people do it is still killing a game animal that might not be in season and I do not have a license to shoot it. 

Always best to know the laws in your area before doing anything like that. In most city limits discharging a weapon can get you in trouble weather you hot something or not.


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