Glad I was there to be able to take him before he suffered too much.

Hung up https://imgur.com/a/zaq4E

MouthBQ98 said:

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Good on you for saving him suffering. Some coyotes are probably pissed tho.

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We left the offal out for them. If they show up, they will no longer be concerned about being pissed.

Nice lion and landscape.

Wow, definitely a good deed on your part.

ursusguy said:

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Nice lion and landscape.

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Thank you?

If that buck hadn't been a legal buck to take, but you took a picture of it hung up, would the game warden give you a pass?

@slick Your fence? Fence height?

OutdoorAg said:

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If that buck hadn't been a legal buck to take, but you took a picture of it hung up, would the game warden give you a pass?

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I'd go with no. Not hard to hang a buck up in a fence after its dead for a quick picture. The GW will dispatch the animal themselves and likely would give it to you with the needed permit to posses it if you call them. Saving your tag and giving you meat.

cheeeseburger said:

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@slick Your fence? Fence height?

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My fence. Believe it is 7 ft. We have only owned the place just over a year. Not high fenced anywhere else.

FatZilla said:

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OutdoorAg said:

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If that buck hadn't been a legal buck to take, but you took a picture of it hung up, would the game warden give you a pass?

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I'd go with no. Not hard to hang a buck up in a fence after its dead for a quick picture. The GW will dispatch the animal themselves and likely would give it to you with the needed permit to posses it if you call them. Saving your tag and giving you meat.

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We shot video as evidence that he was alive when we found him. Also, close up image of the wire on his leg. Unbelievable tangle up. No way to fake it.

Assume his leg was busted up (broken/dislocated) or he was in poor shape, otherwise was freeing him an option?

lazuras_dc said:

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Assume his leg was busted up (broken/dislocated) or he was in poor shape, otherwise was freeing him an option?

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That's what I was wondering.

lazuras_dc said:

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Assume his leg was busted up (broken/dislocated) or he was in poor shape, otherwise was freeing him an option?

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Deer was very active. Would have been very dangerous to try and free him. Plus, wire was so tight around the leg that it didn't come off when we cut it. He would have lost the foot.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.... but I believe that even though it's the right thing to do, this situation still qualifies as taking by illegal means (even if the deer is legal to take otherwise). I would definitely call the GW before shooting a deer in this scenario.

I was thinking the same thing.

From TPWD FAQs

If a deer is hit by a vehicle or caught in a fence, what can be done with it?
A deer may only be reduced to possession after it is lawfully hunted and tagged on private property and certain public hunting property. Additionally, it must be taken by lawful means and methods. It is unlawful to retrieve and possess a deer that has been hit by a vehicle or caught in a fence.

I agree with you, Todd, and I would have done the same in a similar situation years ago. I would hope a GW would understand, but we've all heard stories of things like this not going the way common sense would dictate.

I actually can't find where I thought I had read/researched that before, so hopefully someone will chime in that can set me straight.

If I come across a similar situation, I would immediately call the GW and offer to send pictures or video to help them arrive at the decision to allow me to dispatch the animal. If the GW doesn't want me to dispatch the deer... then I suppose I'd just wait on them to arrive and take care of it themselves.

Poor guy

You did the right thing

It's certainly in the FAQ on the TPWD website, but I haven't found a law or regulation that states as much. (That doesn't mean such a law or regulation doesn't exist.)

I'd bet dollars against pesos that the "rule" exists as a way to prevent shooting deer caught in fences that were specifically driven into the fences. It's likely more of a rule against shooting entrapped deer to discourage entrapping deer than it is rendering aid to a suffering animal. Guess that's where the innocent until proven guilty is supposed to come into play.

I believe I've read on here before the opinion that scavenging wildlife off of the highway (i.e. collecting a deer that's been hit by a car) is more of an issue of traffic safety than wildlife conservation.

Seems to me that we should respect the value of the animal (i.e. as a food source) rather than waste it.

Common sense isn't all that common anymore.

Todd 02 said:

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It's certainly in the FAQ on the TPWD website, but I haven't found a law or regulation that states as much. (That doesn't mean such a law or regulation doesn't exist.)

I'd bet dollars against pesos that the "rule" exists as a way to prevent shooting deer caught in fences that were specifically driven into the fences. It's likely more of a rule against shooting entrapped deer to discourage entrapping deer than it is rendering aid to a suffering animal. Guess that's where the innocent until proven guilty is supposed to come into play.

I believe I've read on here before the opinion that scavenging wildlife off of the highway (i.e. collecting a deer that's been hit by a car) is more of an issue of traffic safety than wildlife conservation.

Seems to me that we should respect the value of the animal (i.e. as a food source) rather than waste it.

Common sense isn't all that common anymore.

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I totally agree with you... but because it is easy for me to call the GW, that's what I would do.

Odd that he tried to jump a high fence. I would bet he was being chased or driven by something on the other side to cause that. We have rescued a number of deer caught in a low fence with a strand of barb wire or smooth horse wire set at about 2-3 inches above the net wire. Sometimes they heal up and sometimes they die as they usually dislocate the hip, however animals are very resilient, and are surprising of what they can live through and heal up. Surprisingly, if they are exhausted enough, they will usually stay relatively calm as you cut them out, but you usually need a small pair of bolt cutters or good heavy side cutters to cut the wire......thus needing to repair the fence of course. All of our low fence has the barb wire at the same height as the net wire. This keeps a deer from catching the barb strand with his back hind legs when it doesn't quite clear the fence when jumping.
We have called the game warden and every time he tells us to do what we need to do....but he is a good friend as well.

Common sense is certainly not an excuse to disobey the law! Or at least it's not necessarily a defense to prosecution.

Definitely should know the rules best you can and follow them to the extent to which you're willing to bear the consequences.

My guess is you'll be getting a call from game warden soon.

A defense against prosecution? No. But that doesn't mean you should follow the blindly. Somethings are worth the risk. Not a lot, but some.

Found this too
Sec. 61.060. DEFENSE TO PROSECUTION: HUMANE DISPATCH OF CERTAIN GAME ANIMALS AND BIRDS.
(a) In this section:
(1) "Dispatch" means to kill by any humane method.
(2) "Game animal" has the meaning assigned by Section 63.001.
(3) "Game bird" has the meaning assigned by Section 64.001.
(b) It is a defense to prosecution for a violation of this chapter or of a regulation adopted or proclamation issued under the authority of this chapter by the commission that the actor dispatched a game animal or game bird that:
(1) was mortally wounded, not through the actor's conduct; or
(2) behaved in a manner that:
(A) is inconsistent with the manner in which a game animal or game bird that is not diseased typically behaves; and
(B) leads a reasonable person to believe that the game animal or game bird poses a substantial risk of serious harm to itself, a person, or other wildlife.
(c) The commission may adopt rules, including rules concerning the disposition of a game animal or a game bird that has been dispatched under this section, to implement this section.

ETA: so it looks like it would be a defense to prosecution to dispatch a game animal in this type of situation... but may not be able to possess it.

slickwilly107 said:

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lazuras_dc said:

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Assume his leg was busted up (broken/dislocated) or he was in poor shape, otherwise was freeing him an option?

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Deer was very active. Would have been very dangerous to try and free him. Plus, wire was so tight around the leg that it didn't come off when we cut it. He would have lost the foot.

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Eh, cutting him out with y'all standing on the other side of the fence wouldn't have been dangerous. A few cuts with wire cutters and the deer is down and running. And no way to know if he would have lost a hoof or not and even if so, there's definitely no way to know if it would kill him. I've seen numerous pictures of all sorts of animals missing feet/hooves/legs and they've been just fine. Animals are tough. Not saying what you did was necessarily wrong, but killing that deer definitely wasn't the only option. Fixing fence is just another part of land ownership.

You just never know until they are free what kind of condition they are in.

Here's just some random videos I found. Can't listen to them on this computer so not sure what they are saying, but you can see how the deer react when freed.

Wire cutters and stand on the other side of the fence and you're good. Just saying "I had to shoot it" isn't right.