Would you shoot it?

I'd most likely not bother him, him being a hang-around deer. Fun to just sit and watch him. If you shoot that kind of a gentled-down deer, then you don't have something neat to look at. Makes for a barren landscape. Boring. Wouldn't seem like fair chase, for sure.

His brother or his daddy, out in the pasture somewhere, though, would be a whole different deal. That's a bang/whop/yummy-tasty thing, that is. :)
 
as is No. This antlered fellow more than likely has a large following of observers during the day and a safe place to browse after dark. But caught off guard in a legal place to shoot. Say a tad beyond the town boundaries__"In a heart beat!!"_ He'd be downed, tagged, and in my pickup box in less than 15 minuets if I could drive up too or close to its kill site. Weight is not a problem. I have a small 2000 lb winch on a temporary mount hooked up in the front of my 4x4 P/Us box during deer season. {Just for this purpose.} Use my ATV wood loading ramps to help in the animals slide up. Piece of cake! Gut him on the gamble while hanging in the Hard Maple in my back yard and be eating barbequed loin steak wrapped in a piece of Hickory smoked bacon in less than a hours time. But not this time.
This one pictured belongs to another hunter some day. Which no doubt I hope happens. Better to be harvested than run over by a cross/eyed whack-a-do joy riding around in his favorite> 1985 Yugo. Don't y'all think?
 
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We had a turkey in the town next to us and stayed liked to look at its self in a abandoned banks windows it would walk in to peoples homes and offices and they would feed him police had to stop traffic all the time when he crossed the road they named him Rodger and finally one day
He got hit by a car it was all over the news and the poor guy that did it got an ear full from some people
 
Nah, there's more important things than getting a buck. When we have deer and antelope that get used to being in town around people, they wouldn't be much fun to hunt anyway - half tame. If I was out of money and hungry it would be a different story of course.

Nailed it. If it's not a matter of survival for me, i'd let it walk.
 
If it's staying inside the city limits then it's not legal to hunt.

Don't think waiting outside town for it to come out or driving it out would be a good idea.
 
No I wouldn't. Maybe it's just me, but I enjoy seeing wildlife up close from the comfort of my home. So, any deer that hang around my place wouldn't become a target. Heck, I've had some by my back door that I could whack with a broom handle, but I don't bother them. Besides, it wouldn't be legal in any case.
 
As pictured, standing on a RR track in town, absolutely not. If I was deer hunting and he happened by my stand, I would nail him.

People who enjoy treating wildlife as pets should go out into the wildlife habitat to to their viewing. This is safer for wildlife and for humans. Sometimes deer wander through my subdivision and meander from house to house, probably looking for food. Sometimes they crash thorough patio windows and gallop through homes.

Once I saw a large buck standing on a neighbor's front porch down the street. I often wonder what reaction the homeowner would have if he opened the door expecting someone else and saw bucky standing there. :eek: Deer are definitely not meant to be pets.
 
Nah, there's more important things than getting a buck. When we have deer and antelope that get used to being in town around people, they wouldn't be much fun to hunt anyway - half tame.

^^^This. Besides, most animals like that are totally tame and have no natural fear of humans. Shooting it would be no different than shootin' someone's barnyard Tom during turkey season. Pets like dogs and cats get hit by cars all the time, no justification to shoot them just cause they might. For those folks makin' the "he's meat" argument. Doubt if there's anybody here in the lower 48 that can afford a computer, internet access and has the time to post on internet forums, that needs to shoot a tame deer to keep from starving to death......:rolleyes:
 
I'm amused by selective ethics.

It's either ethical to shoot a deer for eating purposes or it isn't.

No matter how many people think that thing is a "pet", a great many folks with similar opinions have been proven wrong in very painful ways.

It's a wild animal. Just because it's not afraid of people anymore doesn't mean there's some new moral code introduced that prohibits shooting it.

How does effort or the animals stupidity factor into the ethics of shooting it?

Who decided that it only counts if it takes a certain number of hours or if you have to try hard enough?

Is that kid who walks into the woods on his first day of hunting and 15 minutes later has the 10 point standing in front of him supposed to pass on it because it wasn't hard enough for him?

I participate in a hunting program that's run by Cornell University. The first couple of years we hunted, many of the deer in some areas paid no attention whatsoever to people. One time, I had a doe and hers fawns within 15 feet of my stand. I had a new rest on the bow that a friend wanted me to try. I didn't like it and it didn't contain the arrow. The arrow fell off the rest when I drew. She heard the arrow hit the riser and looked up at me. I couldn't get the arrow back on the rest so I had to let down. She stood there looking at me. I reached out, put the arrow back on the rest, drew the bow again and shot her.

Guess I shouldn't have shot her since I'm sure someone thought she was a "pet".

Oddly enough, she tasted just like every other deer I've ever eaten.
 
Differing Hunting Ethics !!!

I'm amused by selective ethics.
It's either ethical to shoot a deer for eating purposes or it isn't.
Yes, I suppose some might find it amusing but you have to agree, it's predictable and acceptable as we all have differing "Hunting Code Of Ethics". I have never had any reservations on killing any animals but I set the rules for me. As stated before and pertaining to this scenario, I would have no reason to shoot this particular deer. However, I have no issues with anyone else who would do so, legally. I have seen some folks who turn wild animals, into pets and personally feel it would be wrong for me to do so .... :rolleyes:

Recently have seen where folks in Syria, who are starving, have been shooting Lions at the Damascus zoo, for food. That sure works for me and if faced with that situation, I'd fight you for every scrap. .... ;)

"Hunt" and;
Be Safe !!!
 
Originally posted byBrian Pfleuger:

I'm amused by selective ethics.

It's either ethical to shoot a deer for eating purposes or it isn't.

This thread is not about the ethics of shooting a deer for eating it. It's about shooting a deer that other humans have befriended and fed, that is no longer a truly wild animal but an adopted pet. While I agree, training a wild animal to look to humans as a source of food and protection is not the most intelligent thing to do, it happens more than we care to admit. Too many times there are stories in the local papers about a similar situation and the amount of negative feedback hunters receive....even tho shooting the animal was legal. I believe we as hunters should always present the most positive image we can. Like it or not, it is what we need to do to preserve our traditions. As I said before....nobody posting here needs the meat that bad. That 60 lbs of venison is not worth the amount of negative publicity we as hunters would receive. Can't imagine being proud of or even justifying a kill like that, as long as the animal is healthy and not a threat. Anyone getting some form of enjoyment from shooting a tame animal has got bigger problems than what they eat. As Pahoo stated, we all have our own personal code of hunting ethics. But this is not about hunting, it is about shooting a tame animal. In Hunter Safety class we tell our students that ethics is doing the right thing when no one else is around......and sometimes, even when legal, it might not be the "right" thing.


I'm sure for every one of us that claims we would not shoot the animal, there is some one out there that would, just because it's easy and they can. These same hunters would either brag about shootin' the "pet" deer before someone else did or make up some wild story about how they stalked it for hours. The type of hunter one wants to portray to others is entirely up to them. Your choice.
 
More selective ethics. You get enjoyment from killing a wild animal you're ok, you get enjoyment from killing a tame animal you're sick. Or does being happy when you shoot one just mean you're sick no matter what?

Appeasement, eh? Don't shoot it or the anti's will be mad.

Yeah, they're pretty mad already. Rather than agreeing with them, I'd rather tell them to get real.

It's not a pet. It's a wild animal. It makes no difference if they think it's Bambi or not. It isn't. Shooting it under legal hunting conditions is no different than shooting ANY other animal under legal conditions.

Where is this line, exactly? I keep hearing so much about it from all kinds of different angles. If an animal isn't wild enough, or if you don't stalk it far enough or you hunt from tree stands or if your shots are too long.

We need a book with all the rules.

You're not a real hunter unless:
1)You don't hunt from a stand
2)You don't shoot over 100 yards
3)You don't shoot animals that like people

How many more are there?

You're a sick, psychopath is you:
1)Shoot animals for any reason other than food.

etc
etc

Please.:rolleyes:
 
I suppose if you don't know how to hunt or don't have a decent place to hunt it would make some sense to take whatever you could. But, apparently for most of us it would not be interesting, satisfying, challenging, or whatever, at all.
 
No I wouldn't. Maybe it's just me, but I enjoy seeing wildlife up close from the comfort of my home. So, any deer that hang around my place wouldn't become a target. Heck, I've had some by my back door that I could whack with a broom handle, but I don't bother them.
You may change your opinion when you come out to your truck, one day, and find that the deer have eaten all the weatherstripping and rubber and plastic seals.

If they're lacking certain minerals in their diet, they've been known to eat everything from car tires, to weatherstripping, to plastic body panels, and even the paint (scraping it off with their teeth).

In one of the places that I lived in Florida, there was a gated community just over the fence from me, where one of my friends lived. They had a small herd of the tiny little Florida Coastal Whitetails that had taken up the habit of chewing on the fake, plastic storm shutters on all of the houses, and had damaged several of the community's covered gazebos. After a few months, and many thousands of dollars in damages, the HOA that had previously protected the deer quietly arranged for the local rednecks (on my street) to "make the deer go away" as soon as deer season opened.

The residents complained that the deer were gone, but NONE of them complained that their houses and community property weren't being damaged any more.

Stupid deer = Easy meat! ;)
 
FrankenMauser said:
You may change your opinion when you come out to your truck, one day, and find that the deer have eaten all the weatherstripping and rubber and plastic seals.

If that happened, I may.

But in the five years I've owned this property, none of that has been a problem.

If they're lacking certain minerals in their diet, they've been known to eat everything from car tires, to weatherstripping, to plastic body panels, and even the paint (scraping it off with their teeth).

In one of the places that I lived in Florida, there was a gated community just over the fence from me, where one of my friends lived. They had a small herd of the tiny little Florida Coastal Whitetails that had taken up the habit of chewing on the fake, plastic storm shutters on all of the houses, and had damaged several of the community's covered gazebos. After a few months, and many thousands of dollars in damages, the HOA that had previously protected the deer quietly arranged for the local rednecks (on my street) to "make the deer go away" as soon as deer season opened.

The residents complained that the deer were gone, but NONE of them complained that their houses and community property weren't being damaged any more.

Stupid deer = Easy meat!

Fill your freezer, then. This isn't a "one size fits all" situation, obviously. ;)
 
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