Ben spotted this little fella right in front of the house this a.m. If you look closley you can see where some @554073 shot him hi in the back. Hope he makes it. He wasn't walking to good and wasn't startled like he should have been when Iopened the kitchen door to take pictures. I'll keep an eye on him because it looks like he's going to camp out in the sage brush by the chicken coop. He'll have good feed and water close by. Ticks me off to see stuff like this especially with all the bad publicity we hunters get nowadays.

Ouch! Back legs working O.K.?
Cheezywan

they seem to be. he's not moving very fast tho and NOT jumping any fences

If he's eating and continues to stay up and moving, he'll probably be okay unless infection sets in. Saw a moose last winter that a wound about the size of a basketball on it's back similar to where that deer's wound is. He was bedded down next to my office and was acted very agitated for about a week. ADF&G came out and checked the animal (from a distance). We figured he probably got hit by a car and ripped the hide off in that spot somehow. Other than being aggressive, he stayed out there for most of the winter and recovered. Of course, he didn't have a bullet or broadhead in his back.

I am a little confused by the hostility toward the person who shot at the deer. Is there a rest of the story?

I am a little confused by the hostility toward the person who shot at the deer. Is there a rest of the story?
chief;
As a hunter we have an obligation to kill an animal as humanely as possible. There may be some extenuating circumstances here, But as a whole I feel the person who shot this animal and did not follow up and finish him is very irresponsible and needs a kick in the seat of his pants. Did he pull a shot? Maybe. Did he take a bad shot? Probably. We all hear stories every year of animals lost. Usually it is the fault of the hunter. Most do not take the time to practice with their weapon and become efficient with it at hunting ranges. I see this happen often this time of year. Guy buys a new gun and scope and has business mount and boresight it and away he goes. Result--- Wounded and lost animals. I have been hunting for over 30 years and have failed to find 2 deer out of the many I have killed. One I hit a branch with bullet before deer and found only a couple drops of blood and no hair. Tracked the animal for 4 hours and never found another drop. My guess would be a very minor graze. The second was shot at dark with a bow and it was cold enough to wait till dawn to track, Wolves claimed it before I got there. I hate to see any animal wounded in this way, But I guess it happens. I think that most of us here shoot enough and take pride in our hunting to not make a mistake like this. If so we would follow up and finish animal. To sum it up, I hope when my number is up God will take me in the swiftest most humane way possible, So as a human, I try to do the same for game I take. God Bless Steve

Added note;
I no longer bow hunt for these very reasons. I killed 2 deer with a bow and lost interest when I tracked them too far for me to happy with. I like to kill swiftly. Have nothing against bow hunters at all. Just not for me. God Bless Steve

Recoil, try giving fish and game a call. Locally we had a large bull elk hit by a car and its jaw badly broken. The homeowner where the elk was laying up called them and after checking it out, they darted him and had a vet wire his lower jaw back togeather. He hung around for 3 weeks and gained weight then departed for other parts. If a hunter ever gets him I wonder what he will think of that.

I thought that is where you may be coming from but I wanted to be sure. We all want to make a good clean kill and it is true that some put much more time and effort into their hunting and preparation for hunting. It is better that folks get out there and give it a try and they have to learn. I still am. The fellow that made that shot on that animal could have been just as sincere as you but had a bad experience as we all have.

Remember also that if you thought the deer was in bad shape you could have utilized it if game laws permit. Keeping a watch on it was a good idea too. Let us know if you see it again or if it does not make it.

Remember the words of Ted Nugent. "The worst death of an animal at the hands of man is more humane than any death they suffer naturally in the wild."

If he's eating and continues to stay up and moving, he'll probably be okay unless infection sets in. .

I agree with alyeska. I feed deer every winter, after hunting season. I usually have one or two with wounds that are trying to make it. It is hard to watch, but it happens, even to the best hunters. Backbone wounds are usually easy. If its a paralyzing wound, they usually show right off that they will not make it. Its the broken legs, broken jaws (I will not head shoot), and gut shots that are really sad. They can hobble around for a long time before dying, sometimes of starvation. In that case, I pray for a wolf to get 'em. But, I have on occasion called the warden to dispatch them.
This is a good reminder to wait for a good shot, to shoot well with a well-zeroed weapon, and to be a well-practiced shooter.

I haven't seen him all week so he must have recovered enough to jump the fence and go about his buisness.

My boundary fences are all either 5 wire bobwire or 2 wires over 40 inch page (woven) wire and fiddle string tight. A tight fence from what I've seen is less likely to trap a deer or an elk in it. They also break easier when a whole herd of elk run thru :mad:

Chief that was the point I was trying to make. I myself have lost a couple of deer and an elk due to poor judgment on my part. The elk was shot while running at about 250 yds with the 35 Whelen and a 225 Sierra bullet. I'm sure I hit her in the guts because the blood trail was real dark and petered out after about 1/4 mile. Tracked her till dark and went back the next day and tried to find her again but couldn't. :( One of the deer was when I was 14 and I was using the 30-30. Dad eventually finished her off and decided it was time for me to start using the 06 with a scope. Even at that age my glasses were so thick (coke bottle bottoms) I had a hard time with open sights. Contact lenses are a GREAT thing!! :cool:

I try not to feed deer in the winter. I only feed the horses what they'll eat in a day and make them clean that up. At $90 a ton I'm pretty stingy. Don't get me wrong, the horses do all right in the winter. They get grain to supplement the hay and they make sure there's none of that left. I've seen too many deer and elk get hit on the roads around here because of people "feeding" them. A couple of winters ago a feller left some big round bales of alfalfa right beside the hiway for 2-3 days . I think there were at least 4 deer hit there before the jondarms made him move it. :rolleyes:

I almost gave up hunting when I was young. I was wounding alot of deer. I was so discuraged. I had a 12gauge pump. The first round was a slug and the following were 00 buck. I gut shot a doe with a slug at about 70 yards and pepperd a couple of others with the buckshot. Never finding the animals made me feel very bad for the pain they must have felt. I then bought a 444. Learned a little patience and shot placement. I have yet to shoot a Deer more than once ever since and none have gone farther than 20 yards or so. I do pass up alot and my success rate is probably less than most but I feel better about it all this way. I would have shot that deer in the picture around here the yotes would get him for sure.

At my farm there are always a couple of wounded deer after season ends. I call game and fish and they always say to put them down. So now when I see them wounded I put them down quickly and humanely.

I know I hate to see an animal wounded and though we all have a bad experience at one point in our lives and learn from it, it seems to me a lot of it is coming from hunters who don't know their limitations.

A few examples is my brother has a friend who shot at a deer with his bow at 80 yards. Amazingly he hit it and later found it dead. His brother regulary practices for 100 yards with a bow. Gun season the same guy took 4 shots with a 7mm Rem Mag @ 400 yards at a buck and hit it and later found it as well. His luck only encourages further behaviour like this.

Another neighbor just last week was saying he took a shot @ 300 yards at a buck with his 270 Win and he found blood then it ended. I found out today another neighbor shot that buck and it had a bullet hole in his rear leg. These shots are made by guys who do not shoot at all other than at deer during rifle season and both to my knowledge do not even shoot to verify their zero.

And they, like many others are attempting 3 and 400 yard shots because they believe they can because they are using calibers that can do the job not realizing it's like everything else, they have to practice to be proficient at it. To me this is irresponsible, unethical and plain and simple, disrespectful.

Jim I'd do the same thing around here but you just don't know who's going to be driving down the road in CO. This close to Steamboat Springs you can never tell who or what is going to be out for a joy ride.

I got into a tiff with a game warden in MT who was a good friend of mine when he saw me put down a wounded doe a couple days after general season was over. We both got over it and I talked him out of a ticket. I know he'd a done the same thing.

I called the local fish cops to come take care of an antelope that got hit and was taking refuge out by the chicken coop last spring. I had to go to work (swing shift) before they got here and didn't see the goat the next am when I went to do the chores. I did find the goat the following day dead right by the gate into my alfalfa patch. They said they'd "be right out" . Yeah right.

I can't agree more with M1. Practice ,practice , practice and then practice some more. Get to know your weapon front to back, in and out and upside down. If you reload you should strive to develope the most accuate load possible with a bullet designed for the game you intend to take.

I Agree. Practice and prep and handloading is part of the process for me and sometimes i think I like it more than the hunt but if it were not for all the guys that just hunt we would not have the support needed to keep this thing going. Let's remember that we need everyone these days to keep sport hunting alive.

I was going to get way off topic here. I had to edit before posting. Sorry.

We find 4-5 a day when we're hunting birds with the labs on public or BLM lands, dead where they bed in the nastiest bottomland or brush. Same in PA, ND and MT.