The American White Tailed Deer is the most deadly animal in North America. This is of course due to auto-strikes. But not always.
A Fort Wayne man was apparently killed Monday by a deer he’d shot during a cull at Chain O’Lakes State Park, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said….Tuesday, Smith called his son at 9:30 a.m. on Monday and left a voice message informing him that he’d shot a buck. Smith’s son returned the call at 10:30 a.m., at which time Smith said that, after descending his tree stand to tag the deer, he’d found the buck still alive and, in a scuffle, had dispatched it with a knife…A park employee sent to retrieve the deer found Smith unconscious and seated against a tree, DNR said…“The coroner’s autopsy revealed lacerations on Smith’s liver that were in line with internal bruising,” DNR said.
This is why many deer hunters carry a small .22 with them while they hunt. Not only does it give them a smaller piece to harvest small game or nuisance species, but also allows them to deliver a precise blow to the head from a distance in case the deer still has some good kicks left in him.
A shame this man died in such a way.
Not a “Gun Death” despite the hunter having a gun…but like many stories presented here a gun could have saved his life.
Is why I carry my .357 in the field whilst hunting…
And make sure those sneaky Whitetails are really dead right there!!
I dispatched more than a couple deer at close range with another slug prior to having my permit. Now I carry a .44Spl wheelie. I don’t know ANY hunters who carry anything so small as a .22. (Besides, a .22 in the bean messes up that antler plate something fierce – much easier to put something a bit bigger in the boiler room.)
Amongst my usual crew of hunters, .38s, .357s, and .44s rule the woods.
Interesting. I know a ton of guys in Maine and Vermont who always pack a .22 of some sort for one-in-the-hat. None of them mount their racks, they just freeze the meat. Also Commander Zero’s wife dispatched her first white-tail with a .22 NAA mini!
Makes just as much sense to put something more substantial through the lungs…and that will leave the deer still trophy worthy.
hmmm
Weerd, I respectfully disagree that this is not a gun death in the eyes of the antis. As you pointed out, there was a gun, or gun-like object, near the victim. A recent perusal of the Joyce Foundation website (i needed a laugh), reveals a new joint venture between them and Greenpeace to limit legal deer to those with 5 points in their antlers or less.