Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: El Destructo on December 01, 2010, 02:52:18 am
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I was out this Morning in wait for my Monster Mule deer that I keep getting fantastic Pictures of on my High Dollar Game Cameras...SD Cards don't taste for Crap...LMAO...anyways...I sat till I could not handle the frigid temperatures any longer...13 degrees with 35 mph winds will go right through You...so I packed it up and decided to drive the Lease Roads...and stop and glass all Canyons along the Roads...well I did this for about three Hours and was all warm and toasty with a Hot Cup of Coffee in my Hands...when I parked at a big Draw...got the Binoculars and was glassing the Canyon Walls...and I see this Mule deer Buck on the side of the wall ...eating some Sage Brush....and He had no Clue I was even there...He was just a young Buck...2 1/2 year old...maybe 150 pounds...8 pointer with one Brow Tine broke off at the Base...I was just about to move on and glass the rest of the Canyon when this Guy went to move up the side of the draw...I noticed that he had a pronounced limp...so I decided to watch Him a bit More to see what the deal was....He would step with His Left Hoof...and the leg would stop ...but then He would sink down about 4 inches..then he would move His Right Leg...and it just moved all Wrong...there was too much movement at the Shoulder...He looked like He was really struggling to stay Mobile...I watched Him a bit more..when finally He was out of the deep grass and I could see Him Better....He was walking on the Side of His Left Leg...the Ankle Bone was sticking out...and the Hoof was at a 90 degree to His Leg... I still could not figure out from this distance (300 yards) what was wrong with His Right Side...So I decided that He needed to be put down...there was no way that He would recover from this broken leg...and He was going to suffer for a long time until he either got infection and died...or the Coyotes had a meal of Him alive...I grabbed my Weatherby 7mm...steadied the Gun on the Window frame...and put Him down... I walked over to where He fell...and rolled Him over to look at His Injuries...The Bone was protruding from His Leg...He was walking on the Joint itself...and on the Right Leg...His Shoulder Blade was broken...the Leg just twisted like it was not even connected...I gutted Him...and drug Him back over a half mile...did I mention that this was a 300 yard+ shot...across a deep Canyon...not a straight walk for sure.... I loaded Him up...took Him Home...and when I skinned Him...I could see that there was no Bruising...and the Shoulder was trying to Heal...but being that he was moving all the time it would not...I figure that He must have fallen off a slope or Canyon Wall a while back and broke the Leg and shoulder...I was first thinking that He may have gotten hit by a Car...but I am leaning more towards the Fall...the way the Injuries looked...anyways...He is no longer in Pain and suffering now...wasn't the Buck I wanted...but was the Buck the Good Lord seen fit to give Me.
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Looks like you did that poor guy a favor. Nice shooting. Were the front quarters ok ? I'd be afraid of infection.
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Good job, Mike. Glad you and him were made to cross paths for mutual benefit.
CP
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Thanks CP..so am I....He didn't deserve to suffer...
Ryan....I skinned out and sliced open the left arm...the meat all looked good...and smelled fine....but will not risk it it with my Family...the right shoulder had no open wound...and the broken shoulder blade was not cutting into the tissue...so I am keeping it....the heart....liver...and that left quarter are all cut up...and I am going to make doggie jerky out of its....My Basenjis love Venison too...
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Good for you Michael. You're an honorable sportsman! 8)
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Great post.
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Thanks Parnell...He would have been a Beautiful Buck in 2-3 more years...but Nature can be cruel at times...I was just glad that I was there to see how He suffering...and even though there was nothing I could so to mend Him...I could end His slow and cruel death.
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Good on You michael! Steward of the month ;) No animal should be left suffering.Many a hunter woulda said ahh hes not big enuf and coyotes will get him,makes me sick!Hats off to you ;D
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I'd of done the same thing Mike. I shot a small doe putting on a drive a several years ago that had her one hind leg blown off by another hunter from several days maybe a week before hand. She jumped up in front of me and just tried to limp off so I put her down. She was all full of infection, stinky and nasty. I was going to leave her in the woods, but my bother took her and was able to get a little bit of good meat out it. The smell was enough for me to not want to eat any of it...
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Great job El D! It's to see that hunters still operate this way and do honorable things when they need done. Would have been very easy to just say "eh I'm gonna wait for the big deer I've been hunting". Another thing this makes me think of, especially when you mentioned what was going to happen to the buck if you didn't take him. Either he gets infection, eaten alive by coyotes or starves to death because he cant get up around to feed himself. This is the side that the anti-hunters don't see, how cruel nature can be at times. Good work and look at the bright side, you have meat for the table and the big boy you were hunting will be older and bigger next year.
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Thanks Guys....yeah I just wasn't brought up to ignore anythings sufferings....I could no more have let this young Buck go...than I could have left the road hit one go three years ago...I had to stop and drag him off the highway ....when the truck that hit him....just kept going...and I put my Mulie Tag on him also....after I cut his throat....and ended the suffering.
And you are correct....that big boy 3 year old....will look a lot nicer next year as a 4 year old....as long as he makes her through this next week....
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Good deed Mike. My son put one down that some idiot shot with bird shot and a .22 riifle Some time the kid makes me proud.Ron
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Good deed Mike. My son put one down that some idiot shot with bird shot and a .22 riifle Some time the kid makes me proud.Ron
That's what Sons are good for.....I know I was one once too..... >:D
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It is almost a year ago I put down that three legged doe in my backyard, I still think of that poor gal and her overwhelming drive to survive. I look at these deer nowadays as powerful beasts of nobility and determination, very much worthy of serious respect.
Thanks for posting this El D. I know you aren't doing it for glory or a pat on the back, but as a way of challenging all of us to step up to a higher standard as the front line in wildlife conservation.
I deeply respect you for what you did.
-john
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Thank You JW....you know if people had half of the charicteristics as a wild animal does...what a different world we would Live in....
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Good for you.I came across a big mulie 2weeks ago.Some moron shot this buck in the spine and it was laying in some buck brush.
When I got there in the morning I seen this deer and it couldn't get up So I watched for a while and saw where it had been hit.
I shot it and tagged it brought him home.The poor guy was half froze-26C plus a wind it must of been a long night.Two bullet holes through the spine.Some idiot must of ground scored him.Lost a bit of meat but never forget the look on his face.One tough critter
Thanks Leroy
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Amazing that he survived at all, Looks like providence brought you two together for mutual benefit.
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Yeah...that compound fracture sure was nasty looking....but that right shoulder was the worst...only thing holding that leg together was muscle...
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It's suprising how tough deer are. I borrowed a gun I wasn't used to quite a few years ago and shot a doe with it in Georgia. I made a very bad shot and blew the front leg off at the elbow. I didn't know it at the time and blood trailed that deer for 2 miles. It wasn't hard with all the blood. The leg must have been held on with skin.
I had to quit trailing it as I was two miles into another high dollar trophy only lease. I was trailing and sneaking (trespassing) at the same time. I hated leaving that deer like that. The next year a guy was hunting out of the same stand and said that doe came in. Except now the leg had fallin off at the elbow and was completely healed.
You did good, Mike. That old boy needed to be put out of it's misery. Good luck on the big one next year.
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Thanks Eddie...I still have Hope for the Big One....My Son that lives in Houston is coming Home for Christmas....and He wants to go hunting...so just maybe...He can get him a Monster Mulie himself!
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Good job Mike, the right thing to do.
I've never had that situation with a deer but i did have to shoot a cripple goose when i was in high school. It was a wierd feeling cause i was pheasant hunting and didn't even have a waterfowl license, so it was illegal, but i still knew it was the right thing to do. Poor thing couldn't fly and could barley swim, but had lived long enough to basically rot from the inside out, it was nasty.
Was it 13 degrees in Texas! yikes.
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Yep...it gets down right cold here at times...have had it down as low as 27 below one Winter...but tday the Low was only 37...and its up to 58 now...so you just can't ever tell here!