Ending the animal's life...

[BP Hunter]

OK, I have a question for big game hunters. If you dispatched an animal and it was not an instant kill and you approached it and it was still alive. Would you let it die slowly or kill it instantly? And how would you do it?

 

[brainwake]

I have done this twice, and both ended with a bullet to the brain and a prayer of thanks.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Depends on how much "still alive" we're talking about. If it was trying to get up and looked like it might trot away, I'd go for the heart lungs, as I had previously tried. A head shot would be an option if I came up to it and it's head was up, but it wasn't trying to leave.
Luckily, with the close shots that I take, and using a large, all lead, patched round ball... they've all been dead.
LD

 

[courtgreene]

I've done it with a .45 to the head when another person called me because they'd wounded a deer. I've done it with a .22 to the head when a kid poorly hit a squirrel. I've done it with a .223 to the neck on a doe I shot too high. I've done it from some distance on a buck that threw his head back at the moment I squeezed the trigger to shoot his lungs and it blew his jaw off, knocked him down, but he was trying to get back up. I had to act quickly so it was THREE shots to the lungs just to be sure. What I'm saying, I guess, is that I let the situation dictate what I do. The important thing is to complete the intended original act (killing the animal you wanted to kill) quickly. So you do what you have to do to get that done.

 

[der Teufel]

The hogs that I've shot over the years have usually been dead when I get to them, but not always. I carry a .22 pistol specifically to quickly finish the job in those instances where they're still living when I arrive. I don't know of a reason to simply stand aside and watch them suffer.

 

[BP Hunter]

I always have some form of remorse when harvesting deer, but knowing that it will feed us its meat. The deer I shot did not die immediately and I had to dispatch it with the .40 to the head. It looks like I am keeping the Glock 22 for life...

 

[wleggart]

I am surprised that no one puts their foot on the shoulder, grasps the horn or muzzle and slits the jugular veins high on the neck. The danger of close range rifle or pistol is ricochet or splatter. I take a high shoulder shot whenever possible, and the animal goes down immediately. They often require a little assistance to die.

 

[Captcurt]

I am surprised that no one puts their foot on the shoulder, grasps the horn or muzzle and slits the jugular veins high on the neck. The danger of close range rifle or pistol is ricochet or splatter. I take a high shoulder shot whenever possible, and the animal goes down immediately. They often require a little assistance to die.

I did this once. It was a gruesome, slow death. A bullet in the head or the back of the neck is what they get now. It is sad enough to take a life, but to prolong death is cruel.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The danger of close range rifle or pistol is ricochet or splatter.

Are your deer made of concrete?

Soft lead from the .530 round ball and no worries. If it hit something hard enough to bounce a modern bullet.. it would fragment on the far side of the animal without enough force to come back through the deer and hit me.

LD

 

[illinoisburt]

I am surprised that no one puts their foot on the shoulder, grasps the horn or muzzle and slits the jugular veins high on the neck.

That's the popular method for small deer and goats in some middle eastern countries where they hunt with shotguns to intentionally incapcitate but not kill. Here in the US, I have heard of it from many years ago with "bleeding" an animal but honestly have only ever seen it twice at the deer check stations and one included a guy that needed many stitches after the deer was kicking around and he jammed the knife into his own forearm. Frankly it's a whole bunch safer and easier to simply shoot again with the same gun you used the first time.

 

[WestKentucky]

I put a shot into the neck for critters that are still lively when I get to them. Usually ends the suffering pretty quickly. If I do use a finishing shot I typically back off 20 yards or so where the deer can't see me and wait until all signs of life are gone. That way the deer doesn't see me as a predator and die a more stressed, scared death. If they can't see a threat they tend to die rather peacefully.

 

[thewillweeks]

I've had great lucky hunting with a 6mm Remington CoreLokt in the past, almost all deer are deader 'n dead by the time I can get to them.

Once and only once have I made a follow up shot on a deer, mostly because I thought I'd only nicked him. He staggered and then proceeded to try to discern where to run to get away. I followed up which knocked him down, but he immediately came up to run again. Sadly, were so close to land we couldn't pursue on to I shot him a third time, thinking some how I was missing, or nicking him. The third shot put him down for the count. In butchering we found all three holes, all three penetrating the main chest cavity, but we never did find any evidence of lungs or a heart anywhere, they were pretty well just gone.

In retrospect on that count, I kick myself. He was pretty well dead on the first shot, he just hadn't realized it yet. The level of shock he was in he couldn't feel anything. Unlike humans, he didn't know that when you get shot you're supposed to die though so he kept trying to run, and I being inexperienced at the time thought that meant I hadn't placed my shot well enough.

So, long story short, I only follow up if they're still trying to get up and run. Any kicking on the ground, etc, is simply the nervous system shutting down and the result of random synapses firing due to shock and not an actual sign of life.

On a side note, with small game, I was taught if you're going to butcher them, but the twitch isn't gone, use the rear legs as a holding point and smartly smack the skull in to a solid object. Less meat damage that way, but brings a more abrupt final nervous system shut down.

 

[huntsman]

Instant kill? Even with good hits I'll bet it happens a lot less frequently than most believe. Son shot a big buck it ran about 60 yards dropped and was doing a death kick when I put a 50cal roundball into the spine, Deer was dead but didn't know it yet even though there was lung tissue all over the ground.

 

[gspn]

The few I've had still alive when I arrived got a second shot at no cost to them. I don't want to see an animal suffer.

 

[cammogunner]

i have had that exact same thing happen to me on a doe i shot with a rifle i hit her she went down but was dying slowly so i put another shot in the heart to reduce suffering

 

[jmorris]

Doesn't matter what size it is, if I shot it once, it is worth another shot to kill it. Some things like Dove for example, I just pop the head off and bag them and carry on.

Be safe though you don't want to wound and animal and just run up on it to see if it needs another shot. A bear would be a good example, might let them expire than "go in" for a finishing shot.

 

[caribou]

First off, if you didnt blow its brains or spine out, its always going to take some time to die. Given a minute to lay down and die after any .30 cal hole is put through it, and its a good hit, is simply gonna need the passage of time to have its effects.

Too many keep shooting an animal untill its down, but if its not running or makeing its way away, then let it settle and die.

I approach and when I could, I would shoot them again if they were getting up and leaving, or ,if they are alive and 'down', with say a double shoulder hit, I cut the Caribou's throat and bleed them out more than the bullet holes done so far.

One exception is Bears . ALL Bears get two shots as standard course. Even 'dead' ones get a brain shot to finish the deal. I once had one "Dead" Bear roll over to run off on me when I walked up, his eyes closed, I noticed, and if he had rolled tward me, could have been quick trouble.

 

[d2wing]

it happens once in awhile. Usually a shot to the joint of the neck and skull. I will not try a brain shot at close range again unless I have a pistol. What a mess.

 

[Davek1977]

Depending on circumstance and tools available to me at the time, I've cut throats, I've shot again with the rifle I was hunting with, or I've dispatched with a headshot from a .22 pistol. While I now realize that its not necessary to "bleed out" most deer by cutting their throats, thats the way I was taught to do things growing up, and if nothing else, makes removing the windpipe easier when it comes time to field dress. As far as the danger in doing this...common sense applies. Don't attempt to cut a deer's throat when half his body is still mobile due to a spine shot or something similar. If its struggling enough to prevent cutting the throat, another shot is certainly in order. AS far as cutting throats beiing "grusome" and taing awhile to kill the animal.....grusome, maybe, but its always been a VERY efficient way of killing an animal, taking seconds usually.

 

[guyfromohio]

I've cut the neck while bow-hunting.

 

[JohnM]

Sounds like a question from someone who shouldn't be hunting in the first place.
No one should let animals suffer needlessly. Dispatch your game as soon as you can, including fish and fowl.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Anyone who's done any amount of hunting is going to have to finish off an animal sooner or later. My preferred placement is right under the ear if possible. But I've had a couple get up and take off after being hit too. On those ones you do what you got to do. Cutting the throat/neck of a still live deer or elk is a fine way to get your sorry butt whipped real good. Grab a hold of one that still has some fight in him and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Shoot it again. There's no need to let it suffer. Many hunters carry a pistol for this reason alone.

 

[guyfromohio]

Unfortunately, in Ohio the options are limited. To end a deer with a pistol shot during bow season is illegal. During gun season, we are limited to shotgun slugs and straight-walled "pistol" cartridges (larger non-pistol cartridges are also accepted) in guns with 5.5" barrels or longer. If I'm hunting with a .44mag, I'd finish quickly with a shot to the head. If I'm hunting with a slug gun and only have my CCW on me, my only choice is to use a slug to the brain or cut the throat. I then need to use my judgement. However, I've never been attacked by the half-dead animal and I've never take a head completely off with a close-range slug to the brain. I certainly don't enjoy that part of hunting, but it's the right thing to do.

 

[BP Hunter]

Sounds like a question from someone who shouldn't be hunting in the first place.
No one should let animals suffer needlessly. Dispatch your game as soon as you can, including fish and fowl.

Sir John, many hunters even the skilled ones will one way or another will injure the animal before it expires. Unless you are an extremely good shot shooting in any position. in any terrain, and create the pefect shot and perfect kill, then my hats off to you. And I speak for all the other posters who had to shoot the animal the second time to end the animal's life, I guess by your post, we all "shouldn't be hunting in the first place".