I shot a button buck today. On purpose. -And- I'm not even going to eat it. (I did tag it tho') I don't have a problem with people shooting buttons... in fact I've killed several... But I reeeaally didn't want to shoot one this year. (even tho' I'm on earn-a-buck property and need to shoot any antlerless deer before I can kill an antlered buck) I saw it feeding my way and spotted the nubs on it's head pretty quickly. Then I noticed it was gimping. Then I saw it's hind leg dangling. It was emaciated. It's busted leg was badly infected. It's other leg was missing bits of hide and had punctures in it.... (actually both legs had bite marks and even most of it's tail was stripped off) I'm sure a coyote had tried to take it down. I'm guessing a vehicle was responsible for the fracture. It was smashed. (an open, comminuted fracture for you medical types) I'm not going to eat, it's beyond 'fit for human consumption'... but my dog and chickens will. Pictures follow. Be warned. They're gross.
Well this isn't all that gross. But look at how bony the poor thing was. He's been hurting for awhile. He's very small too. (much smaller than he looks in this picture... if it helps with size.. he's laying in the back of my prius.)
That's sad, but I've done that before. I've shot a deer before that had a club like back leg which made it limp. When all the others crossed the fence by jumping, he had to walk the fence row to find the low spot or high bottom. I just shot him out of sympathy.
Good Job. I never like to see animals suffer. He got it pretty bad on the hind legs. That is too bad. You did the right thing. I would have probably done the same.
Good work! Can you tag him with an "antlerless tag"? In Oklahoma if the antlers or spikes are three inches or less from the top of the hairline, you can use a doe tag.
Bambi killer !!!! Been there and done that. Had to use my only tag and the meat was bad. It was last day of rifle season so I would have probably ate the tag anyways. Good job !! Tim
Nice job Christine. Hate seeing a deer in that condition and I know of several that would have let him walk just to not waste a tag.
Way to go, girl ... tough little guy ... I shot an older buck 2 seasons ago that had a bullet hole thru its leg ...antlers were off already (mid December) ... the wound was gangrenous... I could not bring myself to eat it....the wound smelled so bad....deer was extremely emaciated (east drag for an adult buck) .... he was my fifth deer that year that I was shooting for a church I was going too .. I am glad I was able to end his misery ... bummed about the meat tho...
