Had to shoot a deer last night after it was hit by a car. This was in a neighborhood so I needed to get close to it for a downward shot, and missing was not an option. I had to use ambient lighting only, as when I approached the deer the first two times and shined it with a flashlight, it would start dragging itself to get away.

Looks like the bullet hit maybe max one-half inch below my POA. Working with so many neighborhoods, I'm going to check into a suppressor for the pistol for these types of situations.

Night sights were extremely useful in this low light situation where I couldn't use a flashlight.

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MSP - Retired

YIKES!!!

Looks like it was Bambi's mom

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But then, what do I know?

Yeah, I don't hunt deer.....I've only shot them in the line of duty......maybe 100 in the last 25 years. All but this one were on the side of an open highway.

This one was a button buck, but looked like a doe from a distance.

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MSP - Retired

Too bad you had to do that but you were doing the right thing to put the animal out of it's misery.

What becomes of the meat, do you donate it to a food pantry?

Do you have an option of using a .22LR gun to dispatch wounded animals up close?

Thanks for what you do.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

Much better than letting them suffer on the side of the road!

My uncle who leaves east of Topeka is on a list to be called by the sheriff to collect road kill deer for processing.

People around here love venison.....they literally line up at the scene of a fresh kill to get a permit to possess. They one lucky person gets to take it right from the scene.

I've never though of using a .22 on a deer.

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MSP - Retired

[QUOTE=Bob O;138789040]...Looks like the bullet hit maybe max one-half inch below my POA....[/IMG]

At close range that's normal, impact hitting below the top of the front sight. Take a close look at a service size handgun. Better yet, find a yardstick and place the yardstick so the bottom touched both the front and rear sights. Hold the barrel parallel to the ground. You will note the yardstick pointing quite high. The reason is, the front sight is put in place with the effect of recoil taken into account. Recoil is instantaneous, starting the moment the projectile begins its movement out of the cartridge casing.

This means that upon firing, you are pointing your handgun some distance below your intended target and the bore of the handgun rises to the proper location just as the projectile is leaving the muzzle of the sidearm.

When firing upon any target at very close range (a few feet or so) you must take this phenomenon into account or you will miss your target. This is why you hear the occasional story from police officer of; "I had to put down this injured racoon and the *** needed every round in the magazine and it still wouldn't die!" Yeah. The officer was either missing his/her target or just winging the animal.

If you doubt this, please consult Hatcher's Notebook and look at his chapter fully discussing recoil.

I used to teach this stuff when conducting the NYPD Police Firearms Instructors School and am a font of useless knowledge as a result. :-/

Rich