When do ethics out weigh the law

I'm thinking some here are correct, if it happened to be a really big rack the outcome would have been different. But making a poor shot just before end of legal, what should have been done is mark where it was and come back in the morning. If dogs got it so be it, if not you have your deer. For the animal suffering, would imagine this happens a lot, people just don't see it. How many people have waited till the next day or for several hours. The animal would have suffered for that time. You are to make reasonable effort to retrieve your game. What is reasonable. Years ago a CO who was hunting shot a deer tracked it for 6hours, until it passed my father. CO came along asked if he had seen a deer. Dad said yes, my son is tracking it. CO said well I wish him well and turned around, he had put in his effort. I track deer till almost dark when it crossed a river. Next day dad and I borrowed a canoe and found spot where it crossed. I carried on tracking it. My dad eventually shot it after it crossed back across the river. That deer would have suffered for many hours.

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Originally Posted by sabmgb

I'm thinking some here are correct, if it happened to be a really big rack the outcome would have been different. But making a poor shot just before end of legal, what should have been done is mark where it was and come back in the morning. If dogs got it so be it, if not you have your deer. For the animal suffering, would imagine this happens a lot, people just don't see it. How many people have waited till the next day or for several hours. The animal would have suffered for that time. You are to make reasonable effort to retrieve your game. What is reasonable. Years ago a CO who was hunting shot a deer tracked it for 6hours, until it passed my father. CO came along asked if he had seen a deer. Dad said yes, my son is tracking it. CO said well I wish him well and turned around, he had put in his effort. I track deer till almost dark when it crossed a river. Next day dad and I borrowed a canoe and found spot where it crossed. I carried on tracking it. My dad eventually shot it after it crossed back across the river. That deer would have suffered for many hours.

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We all know animals suffer from poor shots. Gut shots, liver shots, that sort of thing. These animals should be left overnight. Its the only way you have a chance for recovery. I use the 100 yrd rule, it really does work. Go 100 and pull out if you dont recover.

What your missing here is these guys knew the animal was going nowhere. They could have put it out of its misery but chose not to and left it for the yotes. Big difference in strategic tracking vereses being lazy and just plain cruel.

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Originally Posted by sabmgb

I'm thinking some here are correct, if it happened to be a really big rack the outcome would have been different. But making a poor shot just before end of legal, what should have been done is mark where it was and come back in the morning. If dogs got it so be it, if not you have your deer. For the animal suffering, would imagine this happens a lot, people just don't see it. How many people have waited till the next day or for several hours. The animal would have suffered for that time. You are to make reasonable effort to retrieve your game. What is reasonable. Years ago a CO who was hunting shot a deer tracked it for 6hours, until it passed my father. CO came along asked if he had seen a deer. Dad said yes, my son is tracking it. CO said well I wish him well and turned around, he had put in his effort. I track deer till almost dark when it crossed a river. Next day dad and I borrowed a canoe and found spot where it crossed. I carried on tracking it. My dad eventually shot it after it crossed back across the river. That deer would have suffered for many hours.

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Nice work on recovering that deer you didnt shoot. Sounds like it took alot of time and effort. I would have done the same even if i lost a day hunting.

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Originally Posted by fishfood

The law is the law but then you still have a wasted animal. Again you are leaving it to let the meat spoil. I believe this fine could be more. So I guess you need to figure out what is worse. Shooting after dark or leaving it to spoil.

Take the lesser option as they are both crimes. So basically if you follow the law you now break another and so on. So both options are breaking the laws it is your choice but hear it's a hell of fine to let it spoil. Take your pick your screwed either way.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

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There would not be grounds for a "spoilage" charge as you have not recovered the animal.

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Originally Posted by longpointer

Like I already posted, the best answer to this question is not to let it happen in the first place !

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Sometimes it is completely out of your control.

Yep. Got a deer square in the chest. For the next 60 minutes it ran anytime we got close to it. Gave it a bit of time at first to bed down and hopefully die, but it just didn't. Not a lot of blood either, so think it somehow missed all vital organs. Couldn't get a good shot at it until about 60 minutes later, after it covered a ton of ground.

The shot was the best one possible based on the way the deer was standing. If it had been a bit later in the day, the deer would have still been running from us after dark. Until the final shot was made, it was capable of running from us. I know what I would have done if dark had fallen. I just can't fathom letting an animal suffer any longer than it has to, if I can help it.

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Originally Posted by brent

Sometimes it is completely out of your control.

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If you choose to hunt the last bit of legal light, a CNS shot can save chasing game in the dark.

Ethics don't out-weigh the law. They should overlap one another.

Find a way to dispatch without using a firearm, or call the CO, and report situation, and ask if they will permit an out of legal discharge in order to dispatch. Note the COs response, and their name and badge #.

Otherwise, stay out until legal light and dispatch when law allows.

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Originally Posted by canadaman30

If you choose to hunt the last bit of legal light, a CNS shot can save chasing game in the dark.

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I guess you have never watched a deer not dead with the jaw blown off it, was pretty nasty.

Maybe you can stop judging the shot, you have no idea, you were not there, you do not know the situation. Besides how you act on here, you are not perfect, if you have never missed where you were aiming you must not have hunted much as it happens to everyone.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I guess you have never watched a deer not dead with the jaw blown off it, was pretty nasty.

Maybe you can stop judging the shot, you have no idea, you were not there, you do not know the situation. Besides how you act on here, you are not perfect, if you have never missed where you were aiming you must not have hunted much as it happens to everyone.

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Can't say I have blown the jaw off anything in 30+years. You seem to be the one judging people here, based on your comments. I'm not judging anybody, only suggesting an alternative to a broad side chest shot behind the shoulder, if you hunt to last light. If you think a head shot is the only way to shutdown an animals CNS, you should do some research....:o