I was hunting with my dad in northern NM. We were sitting on the south rim of a narrow canyon glassing the opposite benches & rim. I spotted a buck laying down at the top of the rim. After I shot at it, I could see it try to rise but it could only get its front legs up. It was trying to drag its hind quarters which were apparently paralyzed. I fired another round & it went down. So I hiked down to the canyon bottom & up the other side. When I found the buck it was still alive so I gave it a "coup de grace." When my dad caught up to me we gutted it & dragged it down the canyon where there was a two-track road. After reaching the canyon bottom, we hung the carcass in tree & began to skin it. We found only two bullet holes in it. One was in the chest which I believe was my second shot. Pretty sure I missed my first shot. All it did was alarm the deer which tried to run off but couldn't because of its broken back which was probably caused by some other hunter who couldn't find the deer after shooting it. Blood around that wound had dried up some. The only other hunters in the area that we knew of were in our group & none of them shot at any deer that day. The deer may have been laying there more than a day. Surprised coyotes didn't get him.
An interesting thing about that buck was it still had velvet antlers in November. The antlers were also thin & mis-formed (non-typical). Most likely cause: No cajones! Yup, it was missing its testicles! There was a scar where they should have been. Wonder how that happened?!
An interesting thing about that buck was it still had velvet antlers in November. The antlers were also thin & mis-formed (non-typical). Most likely cause: No cajones! Yup, it was missing its testicles! There was a scar where they should have been. Wonder how that happened?!
I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous behavior.