PLEASE! Stab or knife your deer!

[Franklin]

Neck, neck, neck, NECK for crying out loud. They don't die any quicker with a heart stab, and could actually take longer specifically because it's difficult to hit. If this is while hunting, you definitely want the heart to pump out as much blood as possible.

There's a reason when you slaughter an animal you cut their jugular and not slash their heart. Also, don't twist, thrust in to the hilt, then pivot the blade along the skin making for a nice smooth cut.

you do what you do and i will do what i do.! since i help on a beef cattle farm and grew up on that farm all my life, we slice the jugular not to kill it faster but to use the heart as a pup to get the blood out because it taints the meat. so you do what you do hoss!

 

[6Den]

Easy there judge. It was his first encounter with a decent buck so he got a little jumpy. He was not intending to make a bad shot. He left his cleaning equipment in my truck and I was hunting about 25 minutes away. As he was drawing back to take his second shot his jacket got wound up in the cam and popped the string so he could not take any additional shots.

You really think that the next best option is to take an arrow and try to stab the deer in an effective way to put it out of its misery? How many times would you have to poke that pointy object in the deer to get the result. I don't encourage any hunter to try and man-handle a 170lb wild animal that is wounded. You suggest he should have got him in a headlock and choked him out?

What would you have done "hunter" he did not chose to take a bad shot so the fact that it had 8 points doesn't make anything worth while.
Yours truly (self proclaimed Hunter)

This makes no sense to me. I understand that sht happens and sometimes less than perfect shots are made. When this happens, do your damnedest to put the animal out of its misery. Yes, even if it means stabbing it with an arrow. Isn't that what he tried to kill it with in the first place? "His gear was in your truck and you were 25 minutes away", so he watched the deer suffer for an hour. Not an ethical hunter in my book.

 

[Erno86]

For big game that are spinal hit towards the rear of the body, the front legs will still be able to flail --- and for species like deer --- the flailing legs can easily break a human's arm.

For pig stickers...I would suggest not getting close to any legs and hooves.
If the head of the animal is to be mounted, it might not be a good idea to go for the jugular.

If the downed animal has his eyes closed...he's still alive. My preference for putting down a beast for downed wounded wild big game --- is a double lung hit --- which will usually cause the beast to expire in 30 seconds. Approach the "assumed" dead animal from the rear and tap him on the rump with an arrow, stick, or muzzle of your barrel.

 

[6Den]

Another suggestion is to throw a jacket or something over the animal's head if you can. Tends to calm them down some to allow you to get in to finish it off.

 

[TxAggie]

you do what you do and i will do what i do.! since i help on a beef cattle farm and grew up on that farm all my life, we slice the jugular not to kill it faster but to use the heart as a pup to get the blood out because it taints the meat. so you do what you do hoss!

And for someone who doesn't know how to target the heart, you tell me which is easier to get on a struggling animal. The heart is a difficult target, the carotid is much easier to hit. And since the post is based on a deer wounded from hunting, you are correct that you want the heart to pump out the blood OUTSIDE the body cavity to reduce tainting the meat.

So you agree with me, thank you.

 

[Kevp]

This thread is unbelieveable.

 

[Twanger]

Early in my archery career I had only 3 arrow and shot them all into a doe I had spined.
All were broken.
She gave no indication of dying any time soon.

I didn't know what to do, so I found a big rock and bashed her head in.

That experience mentally scarred me a bit. Ugh.

Now I carry more arrows, and also a larger knife.
A buck 110 knife between the ribs will do them in pretty fast.

 

[MonkeyPunch]

When this happens, do your damnedest to put the animal out of its misery. Yes, even if it means stabbing it with an arrow. Isn't that what he tried to kill it with in the first place?

While I agree with you that he should have opted to dispatch the animal quickly rather than let it suffer (why he wouldn't have a decent knife on him is beyond me), it is perfectly rational to avoid doing so if it puts his life in danger. If the deer was clearly still in a position to harm him, and he had no reasonable way of finishing it off, then it's just a really bad situation.

That said, stabbing a wounded animal with an arrow just seems ridiculously stupid to me - you won't have the grip to penetrate any vital organs and the blades aren't ideal for cutting through the neck (especially stiff hide, if I remember correctly). You're far more likely to only increase the animal's pain, cut yourself, and endanger yourself around a wounded animal - it's stupider than pistol-whipping an animal to death with a handgun.

Just my .02

 

[Franklin]

And for someone who doesn't know how to target the heart, you tell me which is easier to get on a struggling animal. The heart is a difficult target, the carotid is much easier to hit. And since the post is based on a deer wounded from hunting, you are correct that you want the heart to pump out the blood OUTSIDE the body cavity to reduce tainting the meat.

So you agree with me, thank you.

the OP was for a quik kill, not to drain the animal. but thinking about it now sounds like a good idea to remember if i ever screw up a shot again.

 

[TxAggie]

the OP was for a quik kill, not to drain the animal. but thinking about it now sounds like a good idea to remember if i ever screw up a shot again.

I'm a bit direct at times and don't always fully explain myself. In the situation given that you have a wounded animal that is probably flailing/ thrashing and no firearm, back home the general consensus is to go for the neck. You out yourself in too much harms way with the hooves to go for the heart and it's too easy to miss on a moving animal.

Generally it is easier and safer for you to hold the head just enough to get in a good slice to the neck.

 

[6Den]

While I agree with you that he should have opted to dispatch the animal quickly rather than let it suffer (why he wouldn't have a decent knife on him is beyond me), it is perfectly rational to avoid doing so if it puts his life in danger. If the deer was clearly still in a position to harm him, and he had no reasonable way of finishing it off, then it's just a really bad situation.

That said, stabbing a wounded animal with an arrow just seems ridiculously stupid to me - you won't have the grip to penetrate any vital organs and the blades aren't ideal for cutting through the neck (especially stiff hide, if I remember correctly). You're far more likely to only increase the animal's pain, cut yourself, and endanger yourself around a wounded animal - it's stupider than pistol-whipping an animal to death with a handgun.

Just my .02

If the animal is still so strong that you can't approach him without putting your life in danger, then a knife wouldn't do much good either would it? Then this thread would be pointless (pun intended). I guess one could possibly lash a knife (or an arrow) to a stout stick and spear it! Hell, Twanger bashed one with a rock! The whole idea is to try to dispatch quickly any way possible....not sit and watch it suffer.

Interesting that they ended up knifing the buck instead of shooting it with son's bow....despite its 170lb size and fearing for their lives. My heroes.

 

[UNcommon Arms]

One thing I noticed was different between living in the West and in MD. In the West, if someone hits a deer/antelope with their car, the right thing to do is to put it out of its suffering. In MD, they either call the cops to do it for them, or they drive off and complain about the "deer problem" to their mechanic (mostly the latter).

If this happened to me, I would personally shoot it twice; the only real reason I see towards using a knife is if you want to save the hide for leather/mounting.

As a MD CCHP I've shot 2 deer in the past 20 years when happening upon accidents. Then called police who then called the local butcher to serve to homeless.

 

[Kbroc2]

All you crack shots who could never miss the heart of an animal make me laugh. There are a thousand different variables that would make some one miss by a few inches, we aren't bench rest shooting we have foliage, strange angles from elevated positions, varying distances that are hard to judge or hard to practice shots. For instance I've had one instance of needing to kill a doe that I spined with a bow she was below my stand about ten yards out, well its hard to practice shots twenty foot up a tree and ten yards out and the kill area is quite a bit smaller at that angle, anyhow for whatever reason my arrow went higher than I aimed maybe she flinched or I flinched or I may have held to high for the distance or angle, don't know but there she was crawling on her front hooves and making a hell of a sound so I climbed down and had to make a decision on what to do, hardest thing I've ever had to do as a hunter. do I try to hit it in the heart which is small and somewhere in the chest cavity in a real life 3d space with a 6 inch blade or cut its throat while is calling out and kicking I decided to step on its neck and cut the throat. It was a very hard thing to do but needed to be done. Missing a couple of inches high is very easy to do in the real world of hunting conditions aren't perfect the deer don't stand still like your target have some empathy

 

[SOMDSHOOT]

I've dispatched a number of wounded deer over the years (wounded for many different reasons and no, not all my wounded... lol).

The last one was laying in the middle of the road on Rt 2 South down below Edgewater in the middle of the afternoon after it bounded over the northbound traffic and landed on the roof of a cab on the F350 going south at 55mph. I had been bowhunting that day and had my bow (went to get lunch and was on my way back to hunt the evening). I pulled over to help out when I saw the deer laying alive but with a broken back and unable to get up from the middle of the road.

Waited for traffic to clear out and snatched the small buck by the rack, dragged him off the side behind the truck (and a front end loader/trailer behind it) in the ditch on the side of the road and knelt on him and gave him the ol Colombian necktie. Then helped deal with the driver and his face full of glass...

It is quite effective, but... it does take a few seconds for them to expire, they are not happy campers and you best have a sharp knife on your belt to cut all the way to the spine. Keep them pinned down and let them expire, quick and effective.

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Cut the neck.. don't try and be a knifing hog hunter and punch at the heart, just take the sure route with one good cut.

I do agree thought that one well placed shot should be all that is needed to put a deer down quickly, gun or bow and that is what every hunter should practice every time they draw a bead on an animal.

That's all fine and dandy, BUT, you fail to give an example of experience, in two replies non-the-less, where you had a gun in your hands hunting. I can understand someone not killing the Deer after hitting them with a vehicle the first time, but, we're not talking about a car. We're talking about using a Gun.

 

[SOMDSHOOT]

If you have a bullet, then yes you are correct. The discussion is if you DON'T have one.

Also, I actually DID grow up on a farm and have a Bachelors in Animal Science. I certainly have done my fair share of slaughtering everything from rabbits, pigs, sheep, and cattle. When you slaughter an animal, you intentionally DO NOT kill them before bleeding them out. You need the heart pumping in order to facilitate the bleeding. In commercial slaughter plants they use a captive bolt gun to the head to knock out the animal, but they are still very much alive when they are stuck.

As I said in my first post, we always carried pistols for this reason, but Maryland and bow hunting are different situations. If no firearm, knife to the carotid.

- I'll be nice this time everyone...

I'm not sure which part of the conversation you came in on, but, I came in at the beginning. I have simply followed the program.

The OP stated, "Well, if your shot is not an instant kill,You have to kill the deer. Spined? Lung shot?..."

I don't recall the OP stating he shot the Deer with a Car...


No offense, but, that Batchulure dacree thingy from kollage was obviously not in Language Arts / Reading... I barley passed the twelf grade of hi skool and I am keeping up just fine...

BAZINGA !




PLEASE! Stab or knife your deer!
Well, if your shot is not an instant kill,

You have to kill the deer.

Spined?
Lung shot?

I spined 2 deer,

the 2nd i straddled (it was moving) then thrust
the knife into the heart.
Gerber 4" drop edge 30 yrs. old.

The first kinda gave out in 15 secs.

 

[campns]

Shoot it again or be really careful. Good way to get kicked or gored.

+1 on this one witnessed someone with that very painfull ending. or you could just wait more that 30 seconds to run after the deer.

 

[inkd]

This thread is unbelieveable.

Yep, experts everywhere. On the internet, no one makes a mistake.

 

[SOMDSHOOT]

you do what you do and i will do what i do.! since i help on a beef cattle farm and grew up on that farm all my life, we slice the jugular not to kill it faster but to use the heart as a pup to get the blood out because it taints the meat. so you do what you do hoss!

Thanks Franklin.
I appreciate you backing up my claim. I owe you one my friend.

 

[inkd]

OMG I am laughing my ass off reading some of those stories!

I know, that one about the hippie had me in tears again!!!!

 

[Sticky]

That's all fine and dandy, BUT, you fail to give an example of experience, in two replies non-the-less, where you had a gun in your hands hunting. I can understand someone not killing the Deer after hitting them with a vehicle the first time, but, we're not talking about a car. We're talking about using a Gun.

Okay, I can do that... shot a deer with a muzzleloader several years ago, actually shot two that morning and when I went to recover them, one was gone... well, not where is should have fallen, so... I start to track the trail it left. It headed straight for the property line, under the fence and into a neighboring farm's cattle field, where the cows are always roaming.. it wasn't dead, but laying about 50yds from the fence. Not wanting to shoot around the cattle and having an agreement with our neighbors about recovering wounded deer on the adjacent properties, it was my decision then to do the same thing. Walk out into the field, be sure the deer wasn't gonna go nutso on me when I straddled it and slit it's throat. Took less than 5 mins, cows didn't care and the deer went home to be butchered.

I didn't want to discharge my gun on the property next door unless I really had to and no, I didn't need to shoot it again to dispatch it. The knife is just as humane as another shot to the kill zone. Unless it's a doe that I can put a head shot on to finish off without ruining more meat, I will almost always opt for a good sharp knife and a throat slitting (I would have to think about that if it were a wall hanging buck, but luckily I have never had to face that decision. Then I may use a second shot).

The OP was about shooting a deer.. didn't specify with a gun...To be honest, I rarely hunt deer with a gun, I mostly bowhunt and this is all the more reason to know how to dispatch a deer that is suffering without having to keep flinging arrows at them until they die. I have seen that all too much around other bowhunters over the years, its just not my style.