Death Bed

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted November 11, 2010369 views4 comments

As I walked into a heavily frost-covered field that I am familiar with, I noticed a patch of brown below the early morning white. I approached it cautiously, not knowing if it was a deer still bedded down, or an injured animal. Unfortunately, it was neither.

Apparently it is archery season in PA, and someone must have shot this beautiful doe and lost it in tracking. :( It looks like this must have happened last night or afternoon. Put me in a very down mood... reported it to the PA Game Commission just in case. Larger posted too.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on November 11, 2010 at 10:07 AM

Judging by the indentations in the grasses, it appears these were her last steps.

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Hank Pennington on November 13, 2010 at 9:39 PM

Ugh. It's hard to imagine that she wasn't found with an injury like that. Perhaps property boundaries prevented pursuit? Dunno. I faced a similar situation last year with a deer I hit a glancing blow with my truck. It was seriously injured but made it into the bushes. I searched for her for over an hour without luck. On my return trip later in the day I saw magpies, so stopped again, and there she was. I had walked within 10 feet of her earlier.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 226 Posts, 1532 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on November 14, 2010 at 6:44 AM

Hi Hank, I struggled with whether to post these photos at all. But I thought the message they deliver made it worthwhile. I understand the importance of hunting, but this deer was no more than 30 feet from the road, and though in a field, it was still very noticeable from that road. I have a feeling it was a shot from that back road (there is only one home near this field) and someone got scared and took off. Pity, it was disturbing.

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Fischer on November 23, 2010 at 8:14 AM

My take on this is:
1) Real hunters don't waste animals and especially so for archery.
2) This deer was arrowed from a tree stand because of the arrow's angle of ingress.
3) This ingress location does NOT allow for rapid bleeding, the method of killing with an arrow. This arrow did not penetrate much beyond the transverse processes of the thoracic vertebrae judging from the amount of shaft visible. Had the arrow penetrated deeper the posterior lungs would have bled and a more rapid and humane death would have ensued with a significant blood trail.
4) Archers are trained in ethics more than most hunters. I think this hunter probably tracked the deer as well as he could [hope so anyway] but the lack of blood as evidenced by no drainage down the side of this doe would have have made it almost impossible to do a good job.
5) Downward shots from a tree stand are NOT the best situation. I hope the archer learned to wait for a better angle from this experience.
6) Nothing goes to waste; coyotes and birds fed well.
7) Cars kill a lot of deer, too.
the fisch

Registered on July 28, 2008, 155 Posts, 874 Comments