Would You Take a Wounded Animal on Your Tag

[longbow51]

I shot an unlucky cow elk one year who had wounds in her backstrap and a wound in one of the hindquarter. Lots of pus. So, got essentially 1/2-3/4 an elk. Meat that was not infected was good. Called the game warden and let him know what I was leaving in the field and where, and he was fine with it. Offered a new tag, but end of my time for hunting anyway. Maybe folks shouldn't shoot at running elk, and most (not all) probably shouldn't try those 900 yard shots they do on TV.

 

[wytex]

I have a few times and will in the future. I have also purposely pursued wounded animals to put them down and never hesitated to tag them . Have had a couple of animals be in really bad shape with infection and called GW to come see, he allowed us to not salvage the meat. I still put my tag on them and didn't ask about a replacement tag.
Spouse once told a guide on a hunt he won that he wanted to pursue a wounded elk after they crossed a blood trail, the guide was shocked he said and told him it wasn't his responsibility. A nice raghorn came home with him and the meat was fine. Guide told him he was welcome in his camp anytime.

 

[2rocky]

I don't tell many folks but I did it on an elk hunt. We ran into the hunter who had mortally wounded a bull with a quartering away shot in the morning. My friends knew him. That evening we come up on him in his bed barely conscious heaving labored breaths. One arrow though the lungs and he slumped in his bed. We called the hunter, and made a marking tape trail out to an opening. He recovered and tagged his bull that night. I killed my own bull 2 nights later.

When we know other people hunting an area it has always been "First fatal blood". Especially if we know someone hit a buck but hasn't recovered it yet. when you have dogs, you do tend to recover a lot of other folks cripples.

 

[JustinsDad]

I have put wounded animals down that I have tags for. I almost killed a doe once that I had no tag for. She was badly wounded, hardly able to walk. Barely breathing. I think she got injured breeding. I let her go but I doubt she survived. That was a tough call.

 

[Corn king 60]

A bunch of years ago I was watching a big hollow in deer gun season. Perfect conditions calm winds and about half foot of snow. Down through the hollow comes maybe a dozen deer running and I noticed a buck trailing and injured to far and to fast to get a shot. He turned to his left and went up the opposite hill from me. I made a plan to circle around and come back to him from over the top as I didn’t think he would go very far before bedding down. I shot him just as he was trying to get up. He had a bullet through lower front leg. It’s still one of my favorite hunts.

 

[belshawelk]

Not even a question, but I would question any hunter who would not.

 

[gouch]

I would definitely take and tag a wounded animal. I would even tag a dead animal if I knew it was fresh. That happened to a friend of mine. He was hunting in the morning and heard two shots nearby. He went over and found a guy tagging a big buck. The guy told him that he missed the first shot but the deer ran a short ways then stopped so he shot it. My friend went on his way but came back to that spot later on that day and found an identical buck to the one the guy shot, laying dead. Apparently the guy didn't miss the first shot and there were actually two identical bucks together and he had shot them both. It had been several hours but it was a cold day so he tagged it and took it home.

 

[F250]

With today’s cell phones, many times contact with a Game Warden can take only minutes. Permission to put down a wounded animal can happen quickly. During my 36 years as a Warden, I gave many folks permission to put down suffering animals. No one wants to see an animal suffer and potentially wasted.

 

[ovis2]

I'm in with the have-done-it crowd. Aside from finishing off a few critters wounded by folks I was hunting with, I still vividly remember hunting the far reaches of the Missouri Breaks way before it was on the national radar and similar to others' stories, a couple of hours after hearing a flurry of shots from another draw, my buddy and I came across a small buck out of a chokecherry jungle and watched as it struggled to stand. It stood there and looked at us for a long pause, and that's when my buddy said "Look at its rear leg", which was hanging by a few strands of skin and tendons. My season ended right then. That was 43 years ago, amazing how some memories stick around.

 

[Sask hunter]

One time I saw a nice mulie buck with his jaw broken. Not sure if it was from fighting or shot off. Mulie season was closed neither did I have a tag. I never shot him but regret to this day. Should have shot him and he’ll even left him for the coyotes at least he would have been done suffering

 

[nastynate]

My friend came across a badly wounded Muley when elk hunting- but he'd already filled his deer tag. He did not shoot it, because he did not have a tag. I understand why he did not, but I would have. I've killed animals wounded by vehicles that were non-game animals or out of season. Seems like the only choice when I come across a suffering animal.

 

[David658]

Never have done it, but would without hesitation. Not sure how NM game officers would look upon putting down a wounded animal I had no tag for, but certainly would if I had the tag.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Depends on the situation. I've done it several times, though. Mostly without even realizing it. Buck I shot this year was wounded, but I didn't know it at the time. He showed up 30 yards behind me on a scrape. I never got to see him walking, otherwise I would've likely seen a limp. I was on the fence of whether or not to shoot him since there was a bigger one we were trying for. If I saw him limping, there would've been no hesitation in shooting. Ultimately I decided to shoot anyway. After getting him, we discovered he broke his foot a year or more earlier, and it had healed over (it was still bent sideways though). While processing him, we found another hole in his hind quarter where somebody had shot him earlier in the season. We tossed that whole hind quarter because it was filled with a disgusting green puss where the bullet went through. The rest of the meat was fine.

Another buck I shot a few years ago had an apparent broken leg at one point because the leg bone was huge from where it healed. He didn't show any limping.

After we shot our two bucks this year, my dad saw a 13 pointer we had passed up a few times come limping past him. It was able to jump the fence in front of him still. We basically have unlimited tags now, so he could've shot it, but he decided to pass in hopes that he would survive. I would've done the same thing. Checked the cards recently, and he was still alive about a month after my dad saw him. He did lose his antlers already as of December 13, though, so I don't know if he'll make it since we don't normally see them starting to lose their antlers until January. I'm hoping it was just a broken leg, and he'll survive.

It is amazing what an animal can survive through. If a deer is limping, there is no reason to assume that it won't survive. It could only be a broken leg and heal over again. I just wish people would take more reasonable shots. I understand that mistakes happen, and bad shots happen. It was just very discouraging to see two good bucks wounded wandering on our property this year and knowing those probably weren't the only ones the people shot at.

 

[FAIR CHASE]

What about walking up on a freshly killed large elk with the lion on top of it? One of my coolest days in the mountains.

 

[gouch]

What about walking up on a freshly killed large elk with the lion on top of it? One of my coolest days in the mountains.

Did you tag the elk, the lion or both?

 

[SaskHunter]

Yes I would.

Never happened during hunting season but I did spot a bull moose and beautiful whitetail buck that were wounded out of season. Called the CO's who gave permission to kill them. Got the whitetail but never managed to get a shot at the moose after getting the Okay...