philoshop

Strap it to a gurney so that it doesn't kick the crap out of ya' while you work to get it away from the 'sensitive' types, and kill it in the parking lot. Euthanizing in situ would be a bad call. Don't anthropomorphize the critter. A hospital ER, the sliding door on your deck, or the windshield of your car, the deer didn't 'know' what it was doing. It's incapable of that level of thought and decision-making.

In all honesty, the items in question are great for scent drags.

I had a shepard/husky mix many years ago that would leap into the air to catch fire crackers. She also liked to retrieve rocks thrown into Lake Ontario, and she learned how to turn a doorknob so she could 'let herself out'. She once brought home the baby Jesus from the manger scene of the church next door. Not one of the wise men or one of the animals from the scene but the leading man himself. The priest laughed when I humbly returned the figurine. She wasn't neurotic, just flat out crazy and way too smart for her own good.

Sorry to hear GF. I'll have a vape-toast in her honor.

I can't help you with the cat my friend, but sincere condolences on the family loss.

Discharging a firearm at the side of the road is illegal. You can go to court and explain the situation, and maybe get a pass from the judge considering the circumstances, but it's not worth the risk. Tough situation TurkFeathers, and I won't play Monday morning quarterback on you. You did what you felt was right at the time, and I'll support that.

I once had an injured deer walk into my yard. After 2.5 seconds of deliberation on whether it was 'seeking help', I killed it and eventually ate it. The Disney-Brains are voters. That's the scary takeaway here. On the other hand, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Almost as good as the woman asking to move the deer crossing signs. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=%22move+the+deer+crossing+signs...%22&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

I was pelted with stones by anti-hunters on state land in the mid 1980's. There were no serious injuries, but it was a little scary being alone in the dark, carrying a bow, and having 10 angry people surrounding me. There were no cell phones then, but I called the local police about it when I got home. The police and DEC insisted on escorting me to my hunting site the next day. There was no rock-throwing, but they took a half dozen nitwits into custody for verbal harassment. I don't think any were charged, but the cops wanted to make their point. I've often wondered if any of those people grew up to be serious enviro-terrorists, or if it was just a fad because some loony professor from Alfred University told them it was cool.

Excellent link Grow! Thank you. When you're young you feel indestructible. I certainly did. When you get older, you realize the maintenance required to remain 'indestructible'.

What they don't do is compromise with gun-grabbers who would like to see a disarmed citizenry. For that, I'm a supporter. Never give an inch.

I'm with 'this group' who are against the ankle-biting tactics of the gun-grabbers.

I'm curious about this myself.

I've had that happen a couple of times over the years when it was just excitement/adrenaline or whatever. In recent years it became a persistent problem because of the cold or the inactivity from being in a stand for hours. Now I can't even bring my arm into position to pretend that I'm going to shoot a bow and it's the first time in 38 years I'll go without an archery tag/stamp on the license. Too many of my years spent pounding nails. Isometric exercises in the stand can help a lot to keep the muscles warm. Interlock your fingers and pull against them. Doesn't require nearly as much movement as drawing the bow, and it's very effective.

I have "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" as an 'ear-worm'. Traffic circa 1970 or so.

May your camel spit nothing but dates! (From Klinger in a M*A*S*H episode)

Sabot rounds only. The soft lead of a Foster slug will be a nightmare to remove from a rifled barrel, and your accuracy will likely be short of a smooth-bore because they're not cast very well to begin with. The plastic from the sabot is bad enough to scrub out of the bore, but the lead build-up can actually become dangerous pretty quickly.

Your views on this issue are precisely why we need the NRA, now more than ever. A little 'softening' is what the anti-gun folks are looking for. The "nose in the tent" concept.

I'm compiling a list of people not to hunt with! :-]

I have a good friend who is a licensed guide out of Livingston Montana who carries a .243 for elk hunts. He won't let most of his clients carry a .243 because most don't know how to shoot accurately. Then again, he shoots 5k rounds a year at prairie dogs so that he knows how to hit with a gun that he's carried since the mid 1970's. I'm quite certain he would never be laughed at for having his .243 in an elk hunting camp. But you're absolutely correct. Firepower is the best alternative to proficiency. I mean that sincerely.

The entitlement mentality. Pretty scary understanding of basic rights.

The law is very clear with regard to hunting deer at night, but I personally don't consider retrieving a wounded animal 'hunting'. It's part of hunting for sure, but it's not the essence of hunting. There is certainly a gray area here between law and ethics. My moral compass will compel me to find and dispatch a wounded animal as quickly as possible. If that means a follow-up shot in the dead of night, that's what I'll do.

I spent a lot of time hunting swamps in my more adventurous youth, often with a canoe and always with a complete change of clothing and basic survival gear sealed in a dry-bag. Not so much any more. It's dangerous and a lot of work. One thing you might do is find the entry/exit routes and wait for a thin skin of ice. They're good swimmers, but the deer won't use the swamp when they have to go through shin-barking ice to do it. They'll go around and pick up their usual trail on the other side. Even if they head into the swamp after the shot the tracking is pretty easy. Just follow the holes in the ice. You'll probably still want the dry change of clothing after the retrieval though.

It's a consumer-driven market and a throw-away world. The average hunter probably shoots 5 rounds a year and doesn't care about quality as long as it goes bang.

The biggest problem I had with state land was in the early 80's, before cell phones and the current laws, when the hippy PETA folks would harass me. I wondered often what roast PETA would taste like.

Somehow it comforts me that I'm the ugliest of the bunch thus far. Step up your game.