bad hunters, wounded deer, and a woodsman's mercy

[Dakota Kid]

My father harvested a deer(antler-less) yesterday morning in New York on their first day of rifle season. I got the call to see if I wanted to do his butchering this year. He's been asking ever since I did one for him five or six years ago. It's amazing the difference in quality when the butchering is done by those who will be doing the eating. I enjoy it and if I'm not overbooked with work I usually accept. Well things are slow and I have yet to fill a tag so I said okay. I'm running low on sinew and am in need of a couple ulna bones so that sealed the deal.

When I got to his house this morning to do the skinning he told me it looks like someone had shot one of the deer's ears off(well almost off). He assumed it had been someone poaching a day or two prior that had taken a head shot because the wound was too old to have happened that morning. The deer was a 1 1/2 year old buck that had dropped his antlers already. He wouldn't have killed a buck in place of a doe but he said it wasn't acting right and looked like the injury would eventually cause his demise in one way or another. After I got it skinned I decided to inspect the head to see if I could figure out what exactly had happened. It took a few minutes and some folding of the hanging skin back into place, but then I saw the "X". Someone had taken a head shot with a bow or crossbow. The broadhead hit right on the nub where the antler used to be. It glanced off after removing a chunk of skull and took most of the ear off leaving it hanging and matted to his head with blood. What would posses someone to take a head shot with a bow? When I was a jr. hunter I saw a deer take a head shot from a rifle and run off with half their snout missing. I haven't considered the head as possible kill shot since.

I can't believe some of the things other "hunters" do. It's no wonder that many people view hunting as a cruel activity with things like this happening yearly. On the plus side the injury wasn't more than a few days old so at least the suffering was minimal. Several years back a friend of mine called because a deer had died in the creek by his house on the last day of archery. He assumed the deer had been shot that morning and made it far enough the hunter couldn't find it. Not wanting it to die in a wasteful fashion, I headed over to cut it up. I field dressed the deer taking note that the organs seemed emaciated. After I got the skin off I knew why. The deer had been shot weeks earlier right in the white patch under his chin. It had completely severed the trachea  but missed the veins. The veins throughout the entire animal were black with infection and all of the meat had the smell of death. The poor thing had died of thirst face first in the creek trying in vain to get a drink it couldn't swallow. I take pride in the fact that I am a real hunter, a ethical one. I can't stand it when I am grouped in with the people who do things that cause undo suffering through complete ignorance and stupidity. I may not fill every tag but I have never shot a deer that I have not recovered(knock on wood). If it did happen one day, I would consider my tag filled for the season and that would be it until next year. The thought of my actions causing suffering on that level makes me ill and quite sad. I suppose that's why I don't take shots I am unsure of.

[chamookman]

Sad - These days, there seems to be ALOT of People "hunting" or in the woods in general that just don't belong there  ! Bob

[Eric Krewson]

I shot at a deer on a food plot with my osage bow that spun around and dropped, it was a long time ago but I think I hit it in the opposite side from where I was shooting and in the neck, I didn't recover the deer.

The head shot might not have been where the shooter was trying to put an arrow.

[Buffalogobbler]

Dakota,
You are spot on when you say "real hunters" take pride in the hunt and do so ethically and you are right also, there are slobs out there pretending to be hunters but you can't ever be sure what happened to a deer from wounds on it's body.
If you ever watch a deer "duck the string" they do it pretty much the same way every time, the front legs contract, the front part of the body goe's down, the head swings around and the arrow which was flying directly into the kill zone goe's over it's back and right past the deer's head.
Here's a story that might change your mind.
I have a stick blind in an old apple orchard that I have hunted from for more than 25 years. about 15 years ago I shot a doe,this was back in my compound bow days, she was standing right in my best shooting lane, about 25 yards out. In previous years I have killed deer standing in the same spot. I aimed for the lungs and heart and took the shot, I heard a loud CRACK! and the doe went down immediately, my first thought was, wow I hit it high in the backbone. It was down anyway and from my blind it appeared to be dying so I sat back down, happy to have a deer for the freezer. After giving her some time and enjoying my success I went to tend to my deer who appeared to be dead, not having moved for the last 20 minutes or so.
When I first walked up to the deer my thought was again "Wow, that shot was really high", she was laying on the arrow and it appeared that the arrow was coming out of her neck(she was actually laying on top of the arrow, it had come out of her body). Now I realize that I brought this doe down with a badly errant shot and wondering what happened I reach down and pull my arrow from under the deer so I can examine it. As soon as I do that the doe explodes to it's feet, almost knocking me over, and runs blindly head first into the pile of branchs that is my blind. Recovering my composure I nock another arrow and get closer to the deer that is now stuck head first in the brush pile. Before I could shoot again she pulls herself free and runs again head first into a tree, she kept her feet and staggered in front of me at 10 yds and I shot her in the heart and finally killed her.
As I took some time to settle down and allow my heart rate return to normal I'm realizing something really went wrong with my first shot, I looked at the arrow, it was'nt bent, it looked good, there was no blood on it and only a bit of hair and flesh on the broad head, what happened? did I hit a branch? it could'nt have been a branch, I clear my shooting lanes every year.
I went over to the deer pulled my arrow out and with my eyes and hands examined every inch of it's body, I could'nt find a wound anywhere...What happened? I could'nt figure it out... for some reason I looked inside the left ear and there was a perfect "X", the CRACK I heard was my arrow cracking it's skull!!!
To this day I still do not know exactly what happened but I probably hit a branch that I failed to notice.
What I learned that day was that things happen despite the best intentions, there is no rhyme and no reason, they just happen  and we may never understand what happened or why, deer move, the wind blows you hit a branch and an animal is wounded, that's hunting.

Kevin

[JoJoDapyro]

I once antler shot a buck with my .54. or so I imagine. After the shot he went down, relieved himself of all waste and did the death wiggle. I sat waiting for a few, not reloading as I had a lifeless buck on the ground. After about 15 minutes he staggered to his feet and stumbled off. I went to the spot he fell and there wasn't a sign he was there besides his waste and a bit of hair. No blood, nothing. I can only figure I jerked and hit his antler.

[Dakota Kid]

I suppose it could have been accidental. I thought an accidental head shot was nearly impossible but after hearing a few stories from you guys, I see it might not have been that far fetched. I guess sometimes things don't go as planed. Thanks for sharing those semi-embarrassing mishaps. It gave me a bit more understanding. No need to get upset at an imaginary slob hunter that exists in my mind, when I have no idea what really went down. For all I know, there might be a guy still looking for the deer he wounded.

Thanks guys

[mullet]

Marc posted a picture a few years ago that spun on him when he released the arrow, he killed it with a head shot.

[riverrat]

maybe the first deer that was shot in the head was shot by someone relying on sights on a bow. maybe that person didnt take it out and practice to adjust them. anyone can plop down x amount of dollars, buy a modern bow, buy a few arrows, and a licence and tag. its not so much about hunting in the traditional sense anymore. now of days it seems its much more about money to be made because of the "sport" . i dont care to kill anything actually . however, food is a priority. but a lot of people out there want a big rack to put on a wall. ive seen deer in woods whole thing just laying there minus a head.my thoughts on this are as follows. o.k. so you want this big rack to put on a wall to make up for something. great. but how about just giving the rest of that animal to someone. maybe a homeless shelter or something? i hate going after gun season opens. if you ever go on "public" lands to hunt youll know exactly what i mean. you have folks accross a creek aiming toward the main road they cant see past the woods, other guys on the other side of that same creek aiming the other way following the law. guys up in trees hoping to spot a deer a little further out than the fellas who dont have a stand, and others yet still just roaming around hoping to spook something out.my friend thinks im nuts, paddling my kayak out to a island to hunt. but i tell him it gets me away from all the sporting guys. Tony

[JoJoDapyro]

I agree to a point. If you want horns, you can buy them. If you want to kill, at least have the courtesy to at least eat some of the animal. I have family that like to kill to kill. It makes me sick. I also have friends who shoot deer every year and don't eat a single bite. 

[Ranasp]

Ugh, how wasteful!  In Iowa you can bring your deer to a meat locker and donate it to the needy.  It's ground up into hamburger and given to those who need the food.

[sleek]

Jojo id sure like to meet these guys. Id take all the meat they dont want.

[JoJoDapyro]

Jojo id sure like to meet these guys. Id take all the meat they dont want.

I am not a big fan of Deer. Now if it were Elk I would be first in line. When I do shoot deer, I do something with them that I enjoy. Summer sausage, Jerky, and Ground.

[riverrat]

JoJo i could live on nothing but deer, rabbit, and squirrel meat. lol that and the wild plants that grow here that i like. i could eat good. matter of fact i do do that quite a bit. lol but i mix it up with more common grocery items the rest of my family likes. but i even got them to eat deer burgers, nachos, squirrel { like chicken} soup, fried rabbit, ect.Tony

[Dakota Kid]

I find that when people claim they don't like the taste of deer it's usually because of one of the following reasons.

1. They had the deer butchered at a processing facility. This has a negative effect on the taste because the meat isn't aged. A carcass should be hung in a dry ,cool place for at least 3 days(I prefer 5). It takes this long for the rigor to leave the muscle tissue. Also a butcher isn't going to be eating the meat he's preparing so he has little concern about the final taste. Meat taken from the body cavity can taint batches of burger if not properly rinsed and cleaned. I thoroughly rinse the cavity after field dressing even if I have to go out of my way to find a water source. often times there are still pieces of meat that are discarded because they failed the sniff test. Most of the "gamey" taste associated with venison comes from improperly rinsed meat. Venison does taste different that beef but that "gamey" taste isn't supposed to be there. Simply adding a little cumin to cooking venison helps to make that slightly "not quite beef" taste harder to notice.   

2. The meat was cooked like it was beef. I don't like a 100% venison burger. It's dry and tastes different than the 1000's of burgers that formed the expectation of what a burger tastes like. I typically take a portion of my ground venison and mix it with ground chuck prior to freezing. I'll use this for burgers and other dishes that aren't heavily seasoned. I still use straight venison for chili, tacos, and meat sauces.

3. It's because they know it's venison before they eat it. This one is all psychological and easy to overcome. Just don't tell them until their plate is clean.

When I hear someone say they don't like deer, I invite them to dinner. If they eat my offering and their opinion doesn't change I'll accept that they don't like deer. This hasn't happened yet. Once I had to resort to venison jerky, but you can't not like jerky. You just can't. If you don't like jerky you're not human.   

[riverrat]

ive found a few things on taste myself. a buck in rutt tastes gamey.any deer not processed quickly and cleaned properly isnt going to taste good. i soak mine after butchering it myself in a sink full of ice cold water ,salt, and a 1 part vinegar to 10 part water solution. let it soak a little while before further processing or freezing. i like adding beef fat to deer for burger. not pork fat. a lot of processing shops do that. its nasty.but i also like it 100 percent just deer.hence, tacos and nachos. it falls apart. i like the fact theres no grease i have to drain out.after i process all the meat, make my burger and sausage out of the tidbits.{if im not making jerkey} , i then boil up the bones and whatevers left on them in the pressure cookers. i save the broth to cook down and save the ity bity pieces for soup.can that all up.i like deer soup.i save the fat. makes great candles, soap with wood ash, and works well with burnishing as a finish on my bows and arrows.also once in a great while i take a little out camping. find a clam shell and some cordage and presto got a candle lamp/oil lamp. lol  i dont leave much to waste. Tony