What would you do: Kill elk with wounded leg on border of private property?

[RTR]

Lots of good thoughts, here... Thanks y'all for sharing.

 

[LazyV]

You can legally do what need be done with your dog. Not so with elk on your neighbors property. The more analogous question wouldn’t be “would you let your dog suffer” but rather “would you shoot your neighbors’s dog if you though it was suffering.”

Yeah, that was one of my thoughts as well. I was thinking of it more from the standpoint of an animal is an animal is an animal standpoint. Maybe I've seen enough suffering and choose not to allow it when I don't have to.

 

[mtmuley]

By some of the the logic being expressed would you let your dog suffer beyond the point there was no hope of correcting whatever issue was killing it? Would you wait for nature to take its course and let it suffer a few extra days to let the "natural" thing occur?

Bad analogy. mtmuley

 

[ElkNut1]

There are situations in life that may be tough to deal with, it may even pull on our ethics & personal feelings but in the end the decision is not ours. It may suck but life goes on!


ElkNut/Paul

 

[Randle]

Most of the time F&G would say , no, let nature take its course. But it would be worth a call

 

[ElkNut1]

Is it worth a call? Not really. F&G could really care less about a wounded critter. Can you imagine them focusing on all wounded animals in the wild be it from Bears, Lions, Wolves, etc. They do not have the personnel to focus on these things nor the personal feelings to worry about a 3 legged elk or deer running around. Unless there was a law broken they will turn their heads the other way, nature will take its course. Emotions do not come into play.

ElkNut/Paul

 

[Randle]

Yep you are probably right Paul.

 

[LazyV]

Bad analogy. mtmuley

Fair enough, do you have one? Is there any circumstance where you would dispatch an animal in conflict with the law? How about if a dog , cat whatever, that was not yours was hit by a car, was in misery and death was inevitable but some time away? If a ordinance said you couldn't dispatch it does that change anything? You really just going to stand there or drive away and say it's not your decision? Personally I think the situations are closer then some of you fine folks obviously do.

I realize we/I have strayed from the OPs question, I apologize if he feels I've derailed his thread.

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Fish and wildlife officers/ law enforcement officers kill wounded animals frequently, of that I am 100% certain. Not everywhere/state no doubt but some places for sure.

 

[slick]

Having worked for a few different state wildlife agencies both parties are correct. Yes, bios, law enforcement, etc. will put an animal down especially if it’s a public safety issue ie: a deer hit, still alive, and can’t/won’t move from the road way or laying on someone’s porch. But ElkNut is right, majority of it isn’t worth our time. Especially if the animal is mobile, nobody is going to try and hunt down a 3 legged animal.

Also comparing a domestic dog hit in the road, to a wild animal still on its feet moving on private property aren’t the same. Ungulates live with 3 legs all the time.

 

[jmez]

Private land, no permission, I wouldn't shoot the elk.

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm not even sure how people function in life on a daily basis with all those emotions running around in their heads.

 

[mtmuley]

Fair enough, do you have one? Is there any circumstance where you would dispatch an animal in conflict with the law? How about if a dog , cat whatever, that was not yours was hit by a car, was in misery and death was inevitable but some time away? If a ordinance said you couldn't dispatch it does that change anything? You really just going to stand there or drive away and say it's not your decision? Personally I think the situations are closer then some of you fine folks obviously do.

I realize we/I have strayed from the OPs question, I apologize if he feels I've derailed his thread.

- - - Updated - - -

Fish and wildlife officers/ law enforcement officers kill wounded animals frequently, of that I am 100% certain. Not everywhere/state no doubt but some places for sure.

Nope, I won't kill a wounded animal in conflict with the law. A dog or cat? Probably, because there is no ordinance and I don't care to deal with "if" scenarios. I could have legally killed two wounded elk this past season. I didn't. I had a hard to draw permit, and it's not up to me to clean up someone else's mess. mtmuley

 

[juan trueno]

A buddy of mine one time- this going back to the mid 90s... and we were under quite a load- and a buddy of mine was driving and hit a possum as it attempted crosss the street and it sort of was dragging itself off the road with its arms while it’s crushed back half Dangled and dragged along usuelessly behind. This is a residential area in a college town- in a neighborhood with lots of houses rented to students. And my cohort felt the full weight of moral responsibility and ethical dilemma, no doubt, as he retrieved the club anti theft device from the back seat of the civic and proceeed to beat the possum into a state of suspended suffering- while 4 dudes with beers standing around the grill in front of there driveway and listening to a local favorite band of the period yelled “dude- that’s hard core” over and over again while laughing hysterically like Children at their first public hanging

 

[LazyV]

Nope, I won't kill a wounded animal in conflict with the law. A dog or cat? Probably, because there is no ordinance and I don't care to deal with "if" scenarios. I could have legally killed two wounded elk this past season. I didn't. I had a hard to draw permit, and it's not up to me to clean up someone else's mess. mtmuley

Perfectly valid. Thanks.

 

[bluesulphur]

Walk away and contact the land owner.

 

[justin davis]

Sounds like a good way to get into trouble. I’d contact the game warden in the area and the land owner and leave it at that!

 

[CX5Ranch]

I shot a small buck deer that came by me one morning. He had a leg completely shot off. Bone hanging out.

I killed him. Everything was legal. I called the warden and he reimbursed my tag, and let me keep the deer. I told him I would not have shot the deer otherwise.

He told me very sternly to not do that again

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[chindits]

Well if her lower jaw was hanging off her face I would see where you are coming from. A terrible way to go and I know people who have taken that mercy killing. Thanks Scott for doing that in MT on a nonresident tag.

A limp, no way. She might die and she might not. We have all heard stories and I've seen one. A buddy of mine took a 6x6 bull. It had a knot in it's leg. The knot was the bone encapsulating a bullet. Huge built up wad of bone around that bullet. You just never know til they are down and bears and yotes are ripping their guts out.

 

[Neverenoughhntn]

Nature and Emotion do not mix well

Hit the nail on the head there... honestly, allowing emotion to convince yourself that morals/ethics trump law in the realm of wildlife management is a slippery slope.... at what point do you draw the line? ... what happens when the next person convinces themself that they are doing a morally/ethically right outside of the law, and their ideas of morals/ethics don’t align with yours? Someone could just as easily consider you a poacher, and be justified in their position just the same.

On a slight tangent, but I think it relates in some ways... not trying to offend anybody... I do believe emotion often works to the detriment of best game management practices.... look at what happened in Colorado with bears (along with several other states and issues)... when a game management agency deems baiting and/or hound hunting as an acceptable management tool and the people at the ballot box (some sportsmen included) allow emotions to vote for them and disregard the science, management objectives become obsolete.

Bottom line, be wary of taking a moral/ethical high horse when at odds with the law or science. Even though it might seem like the right thing to do at the time, it can do more harm than good in the long run.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Impossible to tell, but how long had the Elk been in that condition? Could be it's been a season or two, and she lived through her injury. Or it got injured recently, and what are the chances for it to make a full recovery? Things we will never know. Tuff decision, but I would not shoot it, and I would make an attempt to contact the landowner. If I happened to see a Wildlife Officer while I was leaving the area, I would notify him, but I wouldn't call the office and expect them to send an Officer out to "look for" the wounded Elk.