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Hi All,
I understand there is a statute dealing with shooting across a road, and you can shoot a wild animal that is attacking someone. I was wondering about if you hit an animal and maim it. Wild or domesticated. If it is suffering, is it ok to help it along?

Legally, you have a necessity defense, which is the weakest defense.

IMHO you're better off calling the authorities. Too many people have cameras these days, and you're likely to end up on the front page dispatching Bambi with extreme prejudice.

If you're out in the middle of nowhere, shoot, shovel, and shut up.

- Jim

Understood. I would just hate to see a dog or cow or whatever suffer is all. Almost hit a deer this morning and got to thinking about it.

seamusTX wrote:Legally, you have a necessity defense, which is the weakest defense.

IMHO you're better off calling the authorities. Too many people have cameras these days, and you're likely to end up on the front page dispatching Bambi with extreme prejudice.

If you're out in the middle of nowhere, shoot, shovel, and shut up.

- Jim

Just remember that no good deed goes unpunished. While your motives may be pure you are stuck with the possibility of being charged with hunting from a roadway, hunting without a license, hunting out of season, poaching or any other host of nastiness that can be cooked up. Though one may think that common sense might prevail it has been my experience that justice and the legal system are two very separate and entirely different entities.

for what it's worth (and I assume very little), my best friend called a local game warden a couple of years ago about a deer on the side of a rural road that had obviously been hit by a vehicle. The game warden asked if he had a weapon in his vehicle to which my friend said "yes, a .357 mag revolver". The game warden then asked my friend to relieve the deer of his misery and he would be there as soon as possible, and told my friend "thank you for your trouble".

Yep, there are laws on the books about shooting inside the rights of way of public roadways, but apparantly there are cases/conditions that may be overlooked out of perceived necessity.

Quite frankly, I am finding the suffering of the animal right on up there with a court appearance.

george wrote:Game warden told me it would not be legal for me to dispatch a wounded/maimed deer.

If we're talking about a dog, how would you know the owner would not have rather taken it to the vet's? Are you ready to testify that you are an expert, and that the animal had no chance of recovery?

If it was a pet, I'd try to locate the owner and take it to a hospital--as that's what I hope someone would do for mine. If it was livestock, I'd locate the owner and call authorities. If it was a wild animal ie; deer, hog, pteradactyl, etc, I would put it down (have done this twice before with a pocket knife). Once, I came on a woman and two kids just bawling and screaming. There was a doe with a broke back bleating her head off in the ditch. I put it down and would do it again. When the trooper showed up, he told me thanks, but would not let me cut off the backstraps. I think situation, location, and circumstance has everything to do with this situation.

DSARGE wrote:... If it was a wild animal ie; deer, hog, pteradactyl, etc, I would put it down (have done this twice before with a pocket knife)...

Took down a pteradactyl with a pocket knife? And my kids think I am old!

llwatson wrote:

DSARGE wrote:... If it was a wild animal ie; deer, hog, pteradactyl, etc, I would put it down (have done this twice before with a pocket knife)...

Took down a pteradactyl with a pocket knife? And my kids think I am old!

LOL, I had to do the same thing last summer when the wife and I foolishly took a trip to Jurassic Park!

seamusTX wrote:Legally, you have a necessity defense, which is the weakest defense.

IMHO you're better off calling the authorities. Too many people have cameras these days, and you're likely to end up on the front page dispatching Bambi with extreme prejudice.

If you're out in the middle of nowhere, shoot, shovel, and shut up.

- Jim

If you are on the coast, 'gators need food too.

Anygun

llwatson wrote:

DSARGE wrote:... If it was a wild animal ie; deer, hog, pteradactyl, etc, I would put it down (have done this twice before with a pocket knife)...

Took down a pteradactyl with a pocket knife? And my kids think I am old!

It was probably a "small" one.

Pterodactyl backstraps grilled over mesquite.....Mmmmmmm!

IIRC, Zatarain's makes a Creole Seasoning to go with this.

I was told to call the Game Warden via 911 if necessary. I hate to see any animal suffer as well. But, will not lose my rights, freedom, and/or money for their sake. I can't imagine a Warden or LEO that would haul someone in for an act of mercy but, I will not chance it for the sake of an animal that will probably die anyway.

That said, I think I would if it was a person who was trapped and about to be consumed by fire or such without hope of rescue. Not really relevant but, something to think about.

I had a friend that ran over a dog and he went back and picked it up and took it to a vet. A couple of weeks later he got a bill for it and it didn't even live. The people that owned it had been found but they said they wouldn't have taken it to the vet so they didn't get the bill.

BrassMonkey wrote:Hi All,
I understand there is a statute dealing with shooting across a road, and you can shoot a wild animal that is attacking someone. I was wondering about if you hit an animal and maim it. Wild or domesticated. If it is suffering, is it ok to help it along?

Don't you have a tire iron or a large crescent wrench?

I've fisinhed off more than one hopelessly tread-marked animal that way, and didn't have to wake the neighbors.

Besides, if you were able to kill a wild animal with a tire iron, it goes a long way to show that it was either badly injured or attacking you.