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mercy shot question

3K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
Last year I had to do a mercy shot on my whitetail deer and used my .270 rifle. I think at close range it didn't work as good as I would have liked. This year could be different but a little preparation is in order. What is considered an ethical method of doing this? Can I use my side arm 9mm? If yes, do I use hollow point or round nose FMJ? I know, bigger is better but this is all I have for now.
 
#2 ·
The one time I had this happen to me I used a knife. Cut the deer's throat.
 
#6 ·
The 9mm is not a legal round for deer in Oklahoma. You might check your local hunting regulations to be sure it's legal in your area.

In Oklahoma, if you dispatch a deer with a handgun, the game wardens can (and will) charge you for using an illegal weapon. A few years back I saw a deer in the ditch that had been hit by a car. I went back to my car to get my .380 pistol. An OHP trooper stopped and I explained what I was doing. The deer was screaming in pain. I wanted to put it out of its misery. The trooper said to stop or he would arrest me for hunting out of season. I pitched a small fit so he called it in. The reading from his watch commander was to let the deer die on its own.

Next day I called our fish and game rep. He verified that what I wanted to do was against the law. If you use a pistol as a grace shot you have effectively hunted with that pistol and they will charge you if they find out about it.

It sucks, but that's how they interpret the law.

Aarond

.
 
#7 ·
Several memories come to mind.
We had been driving different areas and had downed a nice size doe. Several of us gathered by the deer and it was still alive. One of the older members said "stab it" and proceeded to walk up by the deer's legs and as he was bending over the deer, the deer WHACKED him in the shin with his front leg. He promptly shot the deer in the heart with a shotgun and limped for a week.

On the way home I came across a vehicle accident where a doe had been struck and all of it's legs broken. There were state police and county police on the scene and several of them recognized me and said "You hunt these things, what do we do?" As the deer had all of it's legs broken I said it has to be put down. One of the county officers un-holstered and handed me his weapon. We drug the deer to the side of the road and one 9mm round later it was done. (Two troopers picked up the carcass and dumped it in the back of my truck). It was delicious.

I've seen dead deer jump up and turn into gone deer. I prefer to blow out some ribs and the heart with what ever weapon I'm hunting with opposed to trying to track a wounded animal.
 
#8 ·
A few years ago when my son was a county deputy sheriff, he came upon an automobile accident involving a deer. He pulled his service weapon and finished the deer off with a shot to the head. The driver of the car did not want the deer so he left it in the ditch. When he told me about it a few days later, I got on to him for not calling me to come get the deer. What a waste of good meat!!
 
#9 ·
Once you put the deer down with the 270 then I think the legal matter with cal goes out the window when you need to finish it off. It could be as simple as a 22 in the ear. Small simple quiet cheap and very effective.
 
#10 ·
I would eat road kill only as a last resort. Not because the meat is bad, but because it's so bloodshot. I've skinned, and butchered a couple down thru the years. The meat is so bruised, and blood shot that I don't want it on my plate!
 
#12 ·
Had a friend of mine call me and told me about a deer his son killed. The deer ran into the side o the truck and broke her neck. He called me and I went and picked it up and like you I skinned it and saw all the blood clots / shot through out the meat and just said no way.
 
#11 ·
When I use to use a 12 ga. I would carry my .44mag to finish it if I got up to it and it was still alive.
Now that I use the .50 Beowulf I NEVER have to worry about it they just drop ware they were standing.
If I am on the road and a deer needs to be put down I use my side arm. A .45 1911.
I have never had a problem with LEO when I have done this and I am in NY.
Mike
 
#13 ·
Maybe I don't understand the question? You shot a deer, walked up to it, it was still kicking so you had to finish it off?
Your question is will a 9mm pistol do a better job than a .270 rifle? A .270 probably has 5 or 10 times the energy of a 9mm, am I missing something? Did you mean the .270 from close range did too much damage?
 
#14 ·
My concern is at basically point blank range the .270 goes clean through. That's my suspicion. Should I then use FMJ or HP in the 9mm for a head shot? I hear people say to cut its throat. But the animal could kick me or worse. This year I'm going for a buck. Those antlers could hurt me a bit

I think I'll have to verify with the game wardens if a handgun is legal for this purpose
 
#15 ·
If that deer you shot is still kicking hard enough to hurt you, then you need to put another bullet in it, asap. I've had deer kick a lot when first hit with 00 Buck, but they didn't get up and run. I just let em kick it out. Only takes a minute. I've also seen hunters shooting 00 Buck that experienced the same thing. The deer is down, but still kicking, and they emptied the magazine into that deer, thinking that it would get up and run.
 
#17 ·
I have carried a 357 while hunting for several years-used only to dispatch if necessary.Carried a 22 before I got the 357,22 did the same thing.No law about what you can carry in Colorado,only on the hunting rifle.While hunting with a handgun,see regulations.
 
#18 ·
The 9mm is not a legal round for deer in Oklahoma. You might check your local hunting regulations to be sure it's legal in your area.

In Oklahoma, if you dispatch a deer with a handgun, the game wardens can (and will) charge you for using an illegal weapon. A few years back I saw a deer in the ditch that had been hit by a car. I went back to my car to get my .380 pistol. An OHP trooper stopped and I explained what I was doing. The deer was screaming in pain. I wanted to put it out of its misery. The trooper said to stop or he would arrest me for hunting out of season. I pitched a small fit so he called it in. The reading from his watch commander was to let the deer die on its own.

Next day I called our fish and game rep. He verified that what I wanted to do was against the law. If you use a pistol as a grace shot you have effectively hunted with that pistol and they will charge you if they find out about it.

It sucks, but that's how they interpret the law.

Aarond

.
i'd either move out of a communist state like that.. or not stop till every one of them nazis in office was voted out and working a street sweeping job...

i'm not a proponent of more laws on the books.. but that one would be worth chewing on a reps ear about. IE.. a provision in law for the merciful destruction of a suffering animal, with a provision for immunity to being charged / prosecution / decriminalize it.
 
#19 ·
No restrictions on firearms in Texas except that it can not be rim fire. What jerks my chain here is that this deer is illegal!
Head Line art Deer Snout Elk
 
#20 ·
This is a GREAT question!!!!!!! Unless it is a head shot, the odds of an instant kill aren't as good as most folks assume. When I used to hunt, my first objective was a clean, quick kill so the animal wouldn't suffer. If it doesn't bother you at all if the animal screams in agony, you don't have a heart.

I used to carry a .22 revolver when I hunted big game, and always put one beind the animal's ear at point blank range to make sure it was dead. Some States have assinine laws that won't let you finish off a wounded animal with this-or-that caliber. Kind of like Forrest Gump's "Stupid is as stupid does".

Bottom line is check with a Warden in your State before you go. That .22 pistol worked for me for many years, but if it had to be a centerfire, I'd opt for the smallest caliber they'd let you carry. One shot behind the ear with about anything at point blank range will put the critter out of it's misery. Good luck with your hunt!!! I really miss it.
 
#22 ·
When I shoot a deer, I usually wait about 15 minutes before I go after it, if it runs off. Deer are free bleeders. They won't go far when hit solid, before they lay down. When they do they usually bleed to death in a short time. Going after them to early will just make them get up, and run some more. A good way to loose a blood trail, and a deer.
 
#23 ·
Real good advice right there. I always sit for 10 or 15 minutes after the shot just to let the adrenaline subside. Go rushing out of your stand and that's when people get hurt.
 
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#24 ·
I don't deer hunt anymore.. usually just hog now. And yeah.. instant kill shots are hard to get unless it is the head. I blew the side of a hog out last hunt. lost left ribs, right front shoulder too, the projectile entered at r shoulder and travled straight across and down exited thru left ribs. took lungs out with it. I was at a slight higher elevation than the hog, shot was maybee 85 - 100 yds, light underbrush, sparse trees, I was setting in a multi cluster of trees, no stand, but perched a few feet off the ground wher ethe trunks converged. i had a perfect head or heart straight on shot lined up and that darn thing either smelled or saw me move and turned just as i fired. Even way past mortally wounded he still did the kickin'chicken' for about 10 seconds with his back running gear.

I was using a rem 700 30-06 bolt gun.. more rifle than i needed.. but i like it, i know wher it shoots, and it usually knows where i want to shoot..e tc..

impact thru the hog down and rolled him at least once. i thought for sure it would still hav ebeen an instank kill as the lungs physically blew out, and damaged the back side of the heart.. yet that flight instinct kept him going a few seconds. ( piney woods rooter he was.. not as big as i wanted.. but my buddy had already killed out and we were just burning daylight waiting on me , so i took him ).

My buddy got a cross between a russian ( i think ) and a rooter, as it had plenty of brown hair. he used a browning SA 30-06, and was in a tree blind stand .. perfect shot 45 yard.. ( go figure eh? ). ( i told him his hog must have been deaf or blind ;) )
 
#25 ·
forgot.

After first shot, I resighted him just in case for he darted for the trees, as he fell in a say 5 yard by 10 yard clearing, with dense tree and brush behind him. no way i wanted to track him in that. if he looke dlike he was gonna get up i was gonna pop him again.... didn't have to.
 
#26 ·
I talked to a game warden yesterday. His wording goes as follows.

9mm is not legal for hunting deer. It must be factory rated at 500 foot pounds energy at muzzle.
A warden ~could~ raise a stink if he saw me doing such. But if he was shown the large rifle shot hole things would most likely be different. So much so that I would be given a pass. He also agreed that a rifle at close range would likely pass through and continue suffering. He continued to say that throat slitting on a buck is a very bad idea for my safety.. Finally he told me that hollow point would be the bullet of choice but it might make a mess
 
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