I was on my way home from a property hunt in Pr. William county on December 13th. The wind had been whipping at about 30 mph and the wind chill was 19°. Needless to say I didn’t see any deer anywhere. On the way home there was a doe laying on the pavement on route 619 right off of route 234. As I was passing by I saw it's head was up and it was alive and alert. I immediately jerk the truck onto the shoulder of the road. As I started approaching the doe it tried to get up and run. It was obvious it's hips were broken. By this time cars were slowing to see what I was going to do with the poor thing. In my mind there was only one thing to do, put it out of its misery. I raised my hunting knife and plunged it into the rib cage. Just as I struck, blue lights came on! A state trooper in an unmarked car opened his window and asked me "do you have it under control, are you ok"? I looked up and said "it's mine now, do you have any tags"? He said he already called it into his sergeant, just walk across the street to the substation and he'll give it to you and thank you very much for taking care of that for me. The trooper waited with his lights on and shined his spotlight for me while I gutted it on the roadside. I threw the deer in the back of the truck, crossed the street and got the tag. At least I got my deer for the day. My only worry is that someone with a cell phone might have been taking pictures or video for the Potomac News of the nice guy going to rescue the poor deer, when there was a flash of steel and then...OH MY GOD!!! or perhaps, Concerned passer-by saves deer from agonizing slow death. I wish I could have done this in a less open area but a kicking deer can hurt you so I had no choice.
Lol Rob. My sister in law works at that sub-station if that is the one over by the mall. I had to do the same thing to a doe about 4 years ago in PW county. Her back legs were broken and she was crawling on the side of the road when I drove by....I couldn't let her suffer anymore.
Brett, I was on Independant Hill Rd, heading toward Aden Rd and Joplin at the top of Quantico not too far from 16G.
Good thing the cop knew about it beforehand. Around these parts I question whether or not you still would have been in trouble. I could see some type of by-law that was broke and some common senseless cop turning it around and pointing the finger at you. But glad everything worked out for you.
Finishing a deer by hand, even if crippled is nothing to take lightly. Kudos for putting her out of her misery.
I knew I was well within my legal rights to do what had to be done, in the manner in which I did it. Also VA has something called the "good Samaritan law" that I think would apply as well. Now if I pulled out my .45 ACP (which I always carry) and put the deer down with it I might have some serious explaining to do. Although I am a legal hunter, in a firearm county, using a pistol that is legal, during firearms season. It was after dark, I was too close to a road, I did not have permission to hunt on that property. Not to mention reckless discharge of a firearm, etc.
