Cutting a deers throat..

[wooly]

Wondering if any of you guys have ever had to do this.

Few questions for those who have.

1- What were the circumstances that led to this being your first/last resort?

2- How effective was it..how long before the deer expired?

3- How 'bout tecnique- any do's or donts?

4- What was the deers reaction?

5- How did you feel afterwards?

I'll post my experience later.

[nyantler]

I would personally only do it if I absolutely had to... fortunately I have never had to.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Did it once!!!

1.Broke its spine on a 200 yd shot with a 300 wby mag just at dark and didnt want to shoot it with a canon at close range!!

2.Did the job. Took way to long to do the job!

3 Sharp knife and go deep!!

4.Lie there way to long.Would rather not go that far on public fourm.

5. Was the worst feeling i have ever had in my life. They are way to noble of a creature to ever have that done to them. I made a promise to myself that i would never put an animal through that again. I love raising whitetails.I love hunting whitetails and i think they deserve to be dispatched faster and more humane no matter the reason. I will shoot again no matter the size of the weapon.

[132 eight pointer]

Never have and hope I never will.A second shot ends any suffering quickly.

[Pygmy]

I did it once about 40 years ago.

I was using a Rem 1100 skeet gun with the double bead...It was still common practice for many hunters at that time to use a simple bead sight with slugs... I killed a fair number of deer with that setup, until I discovered the superiority of telescopic sights.

I had about a 70 yard downhill shot at a buck. Holding on the chest area, I fired, and in a stellar display of marksmanship, I hit the deer in the head..The slug entered the right eye and exited on the left jaw.

The deer, of course, dropped like a rock. When I got to him, I could see that he was still alive..Unconscious, but breathing normally. He was probably in a coma. Rather than shoot him in the head AGAIN, it just seemed logical to cut his throat and let him bleed out well, since his heart was still pumping. So I did. He made no reaction, since he was in La La Land. I sat back on the bank and watched.. After about 2 or 3 minutes, he kicked a few times and it was all over. I am confident to this day that he never felt a thing after that 20 gauge slug hit his head.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Pygmy

[fasteddie]

My father in law got me started with deer hunting . He introduced me to an old friend of his from Leicester , NY . He asked him to show me his scars . Apparently he had shot a buck and knocked it down . He straddled the deer to cut it throat . The deer kicked like heck and the man required over 60 stitches .

My father in law said ," Ed , don't ever slit a deer's throat . If you knock one down , get to it quick and put another slug in his neck ."

[wooly]

1- What were the circumstances that led to this being your first/last resort?

Had to put 2 down using this method. One was hit by a car and all I had besides a tire iron was my 4" belt knife.

The 2'nd was a hunting situation with a high back hit. The deer had dropped in it's tracks. After a 1/2 hr to get down from my stand I walked over to see him raise his head and begin trying to crawl off on his front elbows.

I hadn't reloaded the ML and left my extra loads 100yds back in my stand pouch.

2- How effective was it..how long before the deer expired?

For me, not nearly as fast and painless as I'd expected. My best estimation after sawing through the thick coat before giving up and plunging the blade as deep as I could....probably around 3-4 minutes of watching him blow bubbles out the new blowhole.

3- How 'bout tecnique- any do's or donts?

My second time- grabbed the buck by the horns and pulled his head back. Slid my blade up under the hair and sliced with all my might in one fluid swipe. I had a very new, very sharp Kershaw blade but it has a flat tip on it(by design) so plunging into the deer was not an option.

4- What was the deers reaction?

Both deer threw their heads back and let out a God awefull bawl over and over. I could hear them suffocating/drowning with every gurgle.I could see the fear in their eyes. Just a terrible experience all the way around.

5- How did you feel afterwards?

Guess I felt releived when it was finaly over but overall, felt horrible it came to that. Deffinately will try to be better prepared in the future, but knowing beforehand what to expect, I think I'm thankfull to have been able to block my emotions and do what needed to be done without hesitation.

[pawle76]

Well this is a very interesting set of questions. While I have never done it myself I was present when my father did it so here goes : We were bow hunting on private land in Ulster county in a little town called High Woods. My Dad and I got back to the house around 4 pm. The house was set way back in the woods so basically once you stepped out of the front porch you were hunting and deer would come out of the woods and on to the lawn on a regular basis. So a doe came out, my Dad grabbed his bow and crept out the door drew his bow back and let it fly. The doe unfortunately jumped the string and the arrow hit her right in the head. The doe dropped immediately but didn't die. She kept kicking her legs but couldn't get up. So we waited a few minutes thinking she would expire but she didn't. My Dad didn't want to waste another arrow so he decided to use his knife. He cut her throat and what I saw after was something that I never want to see again and thats all I'll say. A word of advice if you have to use a knife don't cut the throat just walk up to the deer, judge where the heart is and sink it in with a firm quick plunge. This will kill the deer very quick and it's nowhere near as graphic or messy as cutting the throat.

[SteveNY]

Never done it, but thought about it on two occasions... Actually had the knife in my hand about to do it, then thought about that rack hitting me in the face, decided it wasnt worth it to risk my safety.

[Rev Ev]

every time I have come up on a deer that wasn't dead, 4-5 times, i have shot it again. i don't think i could or would want to risk it, cutting its throat.

[Caveman]

Nearly did it this bow season. Came up on my deer thinking it was dead and it started kicking some more and couldn't get up. I had my knife in my hand but decided that I didn't want to take the antlers to the face or get kicked with those sharp hooves so I put another arrow in him and listened to him drown in his own blood. A few years back my uncle made me do it to a deer he had spine hit. If watching another animal die from only a few feet away doesn't bother you may want to make an appointment with a mental health professional and be checked out. I'd do it again rather than back out and wait but killing with your own hands if a lot different than pulling a trigger.

[wooly]

Yes, I'm glad nobody here has actually enjoyed this or acted like a barbarian in their descriptions. I left a lot out myself.

I guess if it didn't still bother me to some extent, I wouldn't have brought it back up.

It sticks with ya for a while, especially when you have such a deep respect for these animals as we all do.

[erussell]

Just do yourselves a favor and shoot the deer again. Bullets are cheap and when placed in the correct spot will not waste anymore meat. Just walk up and shoot them in the neck where the head connects. Instant death, severs the cord and all motor functions cease.With bow place one in the chest and walk away for a bit, it can get a bit grisely. Yeah you " waste " an arrow but its not about you anymore its about quickly dispatching a suffering animal. You at least owe them that.

[RifleSharpShot]

Never done it and im thinking i will never have to!!

[First-light]

Did it once in my early days of hunting. Spine shot a doe and she went down a revine. Got my friend to track her in the dark with me. We left the guns at home and brought a big knife. Found her near the bottom with no power in the back legs. My friend grabbed her ears and I slit the throat. She tried to bite both of us. It wasn't a good scene but she did die quickly after the throat was cut. I felt a whole lot better after she was down and out of her misery.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Did it once on a car hit doe. It didnt take long for the doe to die, but I wasnt a big fan of doing it, it was just one of those had to be done things. The only reason I did it was because the knife was all I had with me at the time. Id much rather just put a bullet in them and get it over with. Hopefully I dont have to do it again.

[Paula]

my husband did it 3 yrs ago. deer was screaming he said and panicked and jumped on it and slit its throat. He hated that he had done it and now that i am tell this story i think this is why he doesn't hunt so much anymore

[pawle76]

Yes, I'm glad nobody here has actually enjoyed this or acted like a barbarian in their descriptions. I left a lot out myself.

I guess if it didn't still bother me to some extent, I wouldn't have brought it back up.

It sticks with ya for a while, especially when you have such a deep respect for these animals as we all do.

Wooly I'm actually very glad you posted this because this is something that definitely left a mark and I wondered if other hunters had experienced something like it. I think if a hunter reads this thread he/she will have learned something valuable and the fact that we can use a negative experience and help other hunters avoid a similar situation is a good thing.

[Deerthug]

Never have and hopefully never will! I agree with erussell, put a second bullet or arrow in the deer. The suffering will end much faster.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Deerthug

[steve863]

I personally think it's something every hunter should experience. Killing an animal with a gun or bow does not give a person the same sense of what they have just done, which is taking a life, as if you actually have to put your hands on it and kill it with a knife. The sense of what one has just done and the finality is far greater and more personal when cutting it's throat or stabbing it in the heart or lungs. I think it is a good lesson for hunters. Killing with a gun or bow can remove us some from the brutality of killing, and make us forget what we are actually doing, which IS killing. It is good to be reminded once in a while the realities of it all, just so we don't start taking things too lightly.

[Doewhacker]

The key is to go for the jugular, this cause's a rapid bleed out death. Its not a story I care to share on a public forum.

[ny hunter]

I never had to do this.I have had to put a deer down with my pistol.I have yet to score a deer with my bow.So it might happen.You never know.

[tughillhunter]

Ive never had to do it, and, if there were a time i had to, i couldnt. im just not built that way i guess.

[wooly]

I personally think it's something every hunter should experience. Killing an animal with a gun or bow does not give a person the same sense of what they have just done, which is taking a life, as if you actually have to put your hands on it and kill it with a knife. The sense of what one has just done and the finality is far greater and more personal when cutting it's throat or stabbing it in the heart or lungs. I think it is a good lesson for hunters. Killing with a gun or bow can remove us some from the brutality of killing, and make us forget what we are actually doing, which IS killing. It is good to be reminded once in a while the realities of it all, just so we don't start taking things too lightly.

Steve, that makes all kind of sence to me and I do agree it would make some reconsider why they're truely out there.

That would deffinitely seperate the hunters from the target shooters(which I personaly feel many have become).

Even though at bow close ranges we as bowhunters feel so close to our quarry, there is still so much seperation from the way nature intended a kill to happen.

Unfortunately I like to see everyone enjoy their time afield as much as possible so I couldn't wish this to happen to everyone to gauge where they're at with their own hunts or mental preparedness.

[steve863]

Steve, that makes all kind of sence to me and I do agree it would make some reconsider why they're truely out there.

That would deffinitely seperate the hunters from the target shooters(which I personaly feel many have become).

Even though at bow close ranges we as bowhunters feel so close to our quarry, there is still so much seperation from the way nature intended a kill to happen.

Unfortunately I like to see everyone enjoy their time afield as much as possible so I couldn't wish this to happen to everyone to gauge where they're at with their own hunts or mental preparedness.

Glad you are making sense of what I am trying to say. I don't want to get into the gun debate here either, but I have always believed that it's also a whole lot easier killing another human with an easy available gun than it would be by knife, strangulation or otherwise. Of course the gun lovers don't want to hear this, but there is a hell of a lot of truth in it in my opinion. There would be MANY people rethinking murder if the only means of doing it was without a gun.