Harvested Septic Deer-(long)

[jnsn]

My wife and myself were out hunting today for MA. shotgun deer. I had just put her in a tree and walked a few hundred feet to find a place to sit. My plan was to make a slow stalk about daylight to either see one myself and/or push one by her. This is her first year!! and it has been going great. I was walking down a tote road and saw the scene of a recent buck fight and crouched down to look at the prints. I heard a branch snap off to my left and immediately went to hunt mode from the daydreaming mode I was in. I stood up slowly and saw three flags go up and saunter off a distance. I had no illusions about catching deer by following them so I just continued on to my planned start point. The deer kept raising their flags and making small runs ahead of me, but kept moving parellel to me. It was starting to get light and I could just make out their bodies. I checked my watch and I was legal, it was just overcast and darker than usual. Since they had been leading me for about 200 yards in the same manner, I decided to try to close the distance at the next bend in the road. When they put up their flags and started to move, I saw my chance- I crouched down and hurried ahead to the bend. When I stood upright again I was closer than I had hoped and suddenly on of the deer turned and cut through the woods in front of me. I shouldered my gun , followed the deer as it bounded, and when there was an opening I took my shot. (I later paced it off to about 35 yds) (also I thought I should add I was shooting a Winchester 1200 with a 22 inch smooth barrel, rifle sights and shooting Brenneke 2 3/4 slugs)
The deer ran about 40 yards and put its tail down. I thought- Man I got it! It has to be hurt!. I moved a little more to get a better view and it repeated the same short run. I waited about a half hour and saw no further movement.At this point I went back and got my wife, got the car etc. I was psyched! However that was nothing compared to when I found it. The deer was another 30-40 yards from where I last saw it. It was a heavy-bodied 8 point buck. It was the largest deer I have seen dead around here. Most run 120 lbs for a thee year old, this had to be 140. It was a great shot , right through the boiler-room, with a gallon of blood where it came to rest. I was in heaven until we rolled it over. I at first wasn't even sure what I was looking at, but the whole underside that is normally white, was a shade of blue. The skin had a definite blue-green cast to it, and when I parted the fur to get a better look, the fur just fell off. There was a distinct odor also. The deer was somehow septic, maybe gangrene from an arrow injury?I looked for a wopuld but didn't see one. After a while the smell was giving us the willies, and it was clear that we could not eat it, so I cut off the antlers and dragged it into a ditch. I am sure the hunters here can understand my disappointment.

Have you ever heard or seen anything like this?

[ATTICUS]

That's too bad, at least you put the poor guy out of his misery. He probably got gored sparring with another buck.

[Subby]

It's probably not a good idea to be carrying around fresh antlers during deer season, the warden might frown upon that. Here in PA, if you kill one that's not fit for eating, you're supposed to tag it and present it to the warden, and he'll give ya a new tag. Of course, that seems like a whole lotta work for something that's going to rot anyways.

Sub

[Sisco]

Several years ago my Dad shot a Whitetail, when they recovered it they found part of an arrow sticking out between it's shoulder blades. Meat was gangreneous, stunk to high heaven.
The landowner was with him, he suggested they drag it off into a draw and forget they ever saw it.

[Will Beararms]

You accomplished one of our purposes as hunters -------- to help in eliminating the weak and lame in our wildlife populations. Who knows? God may have used you to fend off an epidemic. Good job and good story.

[Will Beararms]

This one of the reasons I prefer not to bow hunt in lieu of a 150 grain .30-06 slug. In the futrure, I would suggest if feasible and allowable that you burn such a deer just as we did when cows came down with various ailments as I was a child to limit the spread of disease by scavenger animals.

[ERRainman]

I have always felt that the responsible thing to do in a situation such as this is to find the nearest game warden and communicate the circumstances prior to ever removing any part of the deer. The nice thing about SC is that you don't have to tag deer down here (unless you bought antlerless tags and it is antlerless), so there's no concern with "replacing a tag". Game wardens usually work with wildlife biologists who can use the data gathered from a necropsy on a deer such as this in the event there were significant health problems in a herd later.

A necropsy could have shown the source of infection and I bet the local wildlife folks would thank you for cooperating above and beyond the norm.



ERRainman

[JosephBoeckner]

i dont think bow hunting is unlike any other hunting..

1 ? for u will-How did the Indians get food "bak in the day"... they didnt have guns... they had sticks and arrows-they belived in humane kills and not wasting anything-i dont belive they just sprayed and prayed with a bow

i belive EVERYONE-including gun hunters-should watch when they lose a deer-thats just one situation on a bow hunter-he actualyl didnt do what he was supposed to do-u r NOT supposed to aim for bone as u would with a 30-06 with a bow-ur supposed to aim behind the blade-dont put down all bow hunters!!!

*also-some people use BP for deer hunting-because they find it more challenging and exiting for them to call a deer within 50 yards and shooting them with BP rather than a high tec rifle-same with bows but u shoot them at much shorter ranges and ur shot always counts*

[biganimal]

five years ago I bought a new contender in 45/70 and couldn't wait to kill a deer with it. next to the last day of the season I spotted a huge deer walking slowly towards me. when it was 35 yards out I fired and down it went. I got about 10 yards away from it and had to stop breathing or I'd puke !!!! The dang thing had been gut-shot 2 or 3 times and would have died in half an hour if I hadn't shot it when I did. It was a ten point about 175 lbs. The DEC gave me a new tag and let me keep the rack, but I didn't see another deer that season. I hate folks that don't make kill shots.

[HankL]

[Hunting Rant Mode On] When you are hunting a specific animal you should know EXACTLY what you are shooting at and know that you can make you shot. Shooting at shadows in the predawn or dusk light in the woods has cost human life as well as wounded game. I am fortunate enough to hunt on a place where we have agreed to only take a mature 8 point or better or doe whitetails. Putting the does into the equation makes selectiing your quarry a very precise task. On our place, we need to thin the doe population. When trying to kill does, mistakes can happen but if an obvious spike is shot at close range the member of the hunting club is out of action for the rest of the season and with another infraction of the rule the following year, the shooter is not invited back. Harsh rule? NO. Safe and ethical rule. YES! You need to know exactly what you are shooting and exactly where you are going to shoot it. If you can't do this pass on the shot.[/Hunting Rant Mode Off]
That said, all of us that hunt know that sh?t happens, a bullet or arrow can be deflected by a twig etc. and miss it's mark and the game will run. It is every hunters duty to do their best to track the wounded animal down. Once in a while you will find an animal that has run afoul of a fence or an antler and if you do please put it down.

[Al Thompson]

Peer pressure works to a degree, but rules about stands and precise deer to be taken have to be enforced or they are just idle thoughts.

Zero tolerance is a bad idea too. On my club, we've popped a few button bucks by mistake. Hard to spot'em at distance.

Strangely enough, this makes the third time this season that someone has killed a previously injured deer. The first was this thread, second was shot about two weeks ago with an infected back - probably a sparring injury. Third was a doe, no idea on what inflicted the injury.

Giz