Shooting a deer that seems friendly/injured. Thoughts?

[Saltwater60]

I was at my parents property and will hunt gun season there. They like the deer but said I could take one. My dad has been building an addition and was using a circular saw when I pulled in and he said did you see the deer when you pulled up? I said no where was it? He pointed to the area and it was 50-60 feet away. I thought man you’re crazy no deer in the country gets that close. Then my son was riding the four wheeler and he said he saw a deer in their driveway. That wasn’t far from all to commotion and could definitely hear us. I thought is my kid crazy now too? Pulling out of the driveway I see a coyote so I stopped to check it out and sure enough a medium sized doe it standing there just staring at me. She must not have been more than 10-15 feet away. I watched her for a minute or two and she barely moved. I was checking to make sure the coyote wasn’t coming for her and the guy at the end of the road shot a doe and it wandered on my parents property. My parents gave him permission to search for it but I’m wondering if it’s the injured one.

Say it’s still there gun season do I take it or leave it? I guess I feel bad taking it since it will be an easy take but if I don’t some one else will? Also seems off to me as the deer out there run at first sign of humans usually. Wondering if it’s sick or injured.

 

[Blimey]

Place I hunt gets deer in the guy's driveway. They do get used to people. I've very often been walking along and they will watch me if they are eating and I don't see them and they'll let me walk up to around 50 yards as long as I'm not moving directly toward them.

I get the hesitation. I would not want to shoot a friendly deer like that, though realistically 99% of the time you'll see it in the woods and it will look as skittish as anything else and you won't realize it's their friendly deer.

 

[Nighttrain]

Injured deer are easy prey for coyote, if you have never seen a deer taken by coyotes it's a hell of a thing,

It much more humane to make it quick.

 

[Saltwater60]

I don’t know that it is injured or not I’m just guessing that is an explanation. It was in a very thick wooded area and I could barely see what it was. After a while I made some movement and it took two slow slightly stomping steps. If it’s injured badly it won’t make it to gun season and I don’t now hunt. It’s not a large deer but not a baby by any means.
I just don’t want to be that guy. I’ll bet it was slightly over my trucks length away at most. I just found it very weird. Normally walking around I’d get a glimpse of the deer while it’s turning to run and they bounce away. It just struck me as very odd that it just stood there. This has happened while I was hinting and sitting still but I was diving my truck and moving around.

You can’t see it in the picture but it’s just beyond the green in the brown area in this picture. This is with an I phone.

 

[meketrefe]

Injured? Take it. If it is sick vs lets say a cut leg call wildlife and game.
If the deer is simply friendly that is an easy one. I am not interesting in killing game but the actual hunting, two different things.
So unless there is a good reason to kill bamby (the need for the meat could be one or to mitigate some type of risk) then I will move on and find a a place and game where there is a challenge and the opportunity for a fair chase.
I enjoy the hunt and dont care much about the killing but when done must be done right with the right weapon/caliber or whatever.
And nothings goes to waste.
We owe that to the animal.
No matter what always tag it.

 

[Saltwater60]

Injured? Take it. If it is sick vs lets say a cut leg call wildlife and game.
If the deer is simply friendly that is an easy one. I am not interesting in killing game but the actual hunting, two different things.
So unless there is a good reason to kill bamby (the need for the meat could be one or to mitigate some type of risk) then I will move on and find a a place and game where there is a challenge and the opportunity for a fair chase.
I enjoy the hunt and dont care much about the killing but when done must be done right with the right weapon/caliber or whatever.
And nothings goes to waste.
We owe that to the animal.

I’m certainly not broke and not looking for an easy kill. There plenty of deer and traffic around there. I’ll try to get a better look at the deer next weekend if I head down to better assess the situation.

I just have a sneaking feeling that the scumbag in the trailer shot and injured the deer this last week and never caught up with it. I say scumbag because he doesn’t work and I’m nearly positive he was sitting in his trailer watching the deer eat apples on my parents property and shot it through an open window on my parents property. He has no permission to hunt on their property. I guess I’ll never know for sure but that’s my thoughts.

 

[C3D]

When a deer acts that way you can't rule out CWD or rabies as a cause. Better to call the local ENCOM out to check out the situation.

 

[mca90guitar]

I have shot badly injured deer. One that looks like it might have been hit by a car and the other had his jaw shot and couldn't use his mouth. Not deer I wanted to take but both would have died horrible deaths.

 

[tony]

If you shoot an injured deer and are not prepared to tag it you will be in violation of game laws in NYS. At one time I taught Hunter Safety for NYS and posed that question to an Encon Officer I had asked to visit my class. His reply was if you shoot it you tag it. So I then asked " how about from an ethical standpoint"? His reply " if you see a wounded doe and drop it you'd better have a DMP ", " If you shoot a wounded buck you'd better tag it ". If you leave it and someone reports to Encon they will hunt you down and most likely arrest you...

From my own experience. I downed a nice buck (with that M 70 in the classifieds) and upon skinning found a broad head and 3 inches of shaft inside the shoulder blade but outside of the rib cage. Under the hide was all kind of yellow looking rather than white on that front quarter. I brought the deer to five rivers ( Delmar) and Ward Stone (Encon Biologist) said the yellow was white blood cells converging on the wound to fight infection (which there was none). He said it was safe to eat if cooked well done.

Ward also offered to take the deer and give me another tag or carcass permit. I would have had to turn in the deer with antlers so I declined his offer...

From NYS stand point " If the deer lives, it lives. If it dies it dies " . Good luck and be careful.

 

[Saltwater60]

Thanks for the legal side of things input. I did know that and understand that I do know most times if you call with something like this they will provide you another tag but they usually do require the deer surrendered. I don’t bow hunt and would just shoot it at this time since no gun hunting at this point. It’s also too close to the three trailers on the property next to us so shooting it at that spot is not even an option for me at all. I do follow the rules.
I’ll talk with my mom tonight since it’s their land and see what she wants to do. I do think something is wrong with it and they won’t want it to suffer either.

 

[meketrefe]

Of course you need a license and a tag no matter what.
I would imagine anyone hunting has gone through the minimum requirements and hunting education classes and know whatever laws apply in the state amd area you intend to hunt.

 

[Saltwater60]

My mom said there are two deer that just hang around them and look at them and she feels they aren’t injured or unhealthy. I dunno.

 

[Criticalt]

We have "yard deer" thatvI dont hunt.
They are almost friendly enough to touch.
They arent sick or injured, just accustomed to us.
Two years ago one was being chased by a coyote and she ran right to my side and layed down 1 foot from me. She was exausted and panting. The coyote was running her to death. The coyote saw me and took off.
Anyways, I love hunting.
I love the cool air, the sights, sounds and feeling in the woods. I also like the meat but thats further down the line than the hunt.
I would not think bad of you to shoot a yard deer, its food.....its just not my thing.
I will say this, if its sick or injured, dont eat it!!

 

[Criticalt]

Heres a story from about 1990 or so.
I was living with my parents in the boonies.
One day we saw a HUGE buck crosding the road in front of the house. This was first week of rifle season but this big boy had an arrow sticking out of its front shoulder. He was having a tough time walking.
My dad called the DEC and they sent a guy. He didnt see it and said it would die within a few days.
A week later my dad saw it again and called DEC....they came again but found nothing.
Another week went by and this deer was still walking. At this time he still had the arrow but now had black blood and puss streaming down his leg.
We saw him on our side of the road about 100 yards away. My dad called the DEC again. Just as the DEC guy was telling my dad to NOT shoot the deer.....because my dad threatened to.....I took a shot with a 30-06......deer down.
I tagged it.
The DEC guy came out and took the deer away. He got me another tag which I used on another deer a few days later.

 

[Acer-m14]

yrs ago .. old folks putting food scraps out in there yard in the trailer park ..

me trying to lure it to the freezer .. lol

 

[Acer-m14]

We have "yard deer" thatvI dont hunt.
They are almost friendly enough to touch.
They arent sick or injured, just accustomed to us.
Two years ago one was being chased by a coyote and she ran right to my side and layed down 1 foot from me. She was exausted and panting. The coyote was running her to death. The coyote saw me and took off.
Anyways, I love hunting.
I love the cool air, the sights, sounds and feeling in the woods. I also like the meat but thats further down the line than the hunt.
I would not think bad of you to shoot a yard deer, its food.....its just not my thing.
I will say this, if its sick or injured, dont eat it!!

Thank you .. if is not your thing that's good .. i respect that ..

i so hate seeing hunters shaming others hunters .. you should have let it grow ..

then a small spike get creamed by a car .. .. car you should have let it grow ..

few yrs ago hunting .. few hours of sitting .. tree rats bugging the hell out me .. see a flicker in the brush .. fkin tree rat i bet .. check with scope .. nope its got big ears .. deer .. boom head shot .. get to deer .. doe .. pewwwww wth .. she stinks .. her right hide quarters was all raw dried up meat exposed .. like a bad case of road rash .. may have been yotes ..

 

[Criticalt]

Thank you .. if is not your thing that's good .. i respect that ..

i so hate seeing hunters shaming others hunters .. you should have let it grow ..

then a small spike get creamed by a car .. .. car you should have let it grow ..

few yrs ago hunting .. few hours of sitting .. tree rats bugging the hell out me .. see a flicker in the brush .. fkin tree rat i bet .. check with scope .. nope its got big ears .. deer .. boom head shot .. get to deer .. doe .. pewwwww wth .. she stinks .. her right hide quarters was all raw dried up meat exposed .. like a bad case of road rash .. may have been yotes ..

On the "let it grow" thing.....im a let it grow hunter but in NO way do I tell others what to do. Last year my buddy took a 90 pound spike off our property.....it was tasty.
I would let that deer walk.
The one im eyeing now is a spike with just barely a 4 point break. His antlers are misshapen and just goofy. He is probably 130-150 pounds, so hes no baby....just bad genetics.
Im not a trophy hunter so antlers dont matter.
My wife asked me, "do we want to eat a deer with bad genetics?.
I said, "yes, they are more delicious!"

 

[Saltwater60]

Thanks. I’m surprised as I’ve never seen this and my parents only come down on weekends. It seems these two were born on my parents property. I was able to get closer to this deer than in the city.
I highly doubt I’ll shoot them as my parents kind of think them as pets and I think it would hurt their feelings. They are not with mom anymore so maybe I’ll take her. I guess I’ll see what happens.

 

[FrankenCub]

Friendly deer i couldn't shoot. We have some on the property that come pretty close. Sick looking deer I'd put down and call DEC. Seen a sickly doe one year, had all it could do to stand. Was walking into trees. By time the local DEC officer called me back I was still in my stand but doe wondered off. He told me not to hesitate to put a sickly deer down, he'd come pick it up.

On the let it grow issue. I try, I've givin a lot a pass. But if I don't have a doe tag and season is close to end, a 2" spike will go down.

 

[livingston]

When I was young someone had found a fawn and started bottle raising it.. It would walk into their kitchen. .. There is a photo of me feeding it a cracker... They kept it in a barn during deer season. ,, It had no fear of humans..