Tales from the Faulkner Files: Vehicle vs deer

In some jurisdiction's it is not legal for someone to "put the animal out of it's misery". One has to inform LEO or CO and they have to 'put it down'.

Probably helps with the poaching problem.

Like the gator guy found out, no good deed goes unpunished...
 
I guess you can't blame folks who grew up in the urban jungle for their ignorance. You did what you had to do and anyone who has had to do it knows there is no joy in it.

I live in east central Ohio, and we have an ever-growing deer population. Several years ago, I was heading out to go duck hunting and as I drove out of town at 3:30 am a very large buck is standing right in the middle of the road. I stopped and flashed my lights at him thinking he was blinded by headlights, well as he took a step forward, he collapsed on the road from what appeared to be a broken hip. I assumed he had been hit by another car earlier. I had a gun etc. but there was no way I was going to shoot him. I felt sorry for him as he struggled to his feet and stumbled away. I called the local PD, who said they would send an officer to the location.

I had a long drive to where I was hunting so I headed out rather than waiting. I have no idea what happened, but I always felt bad because I should have been allowed to put him out of his misery without fearing arrest.

Who knows maybe he survived.
 
A friend and I just finished a late meal, and we headed to our homes. A few minutes later my friend called and requested my presence at the local radio station. Seems he came across a frantic lady that had just hit a cow elk and broke its front legs. The lady was beside herself, however my friend assured her we would take care of it, and she went about her way with a beat-up new Ford truck. As soon as she left, my old Colt Woodsman was drug out from under the seat, and a quick shot at muzzle, to keep the noise down as we were inside the city limits of our little town. We quickly loaded her in the truck and took her to the barn and processed her and into the freezer she went. We did not lie to the lady when we told her that we would take care of her.
 
mckenney99 said:
I patrolled an area with a large deer population and we handled a lot of deer vehicle crashes each year. During the fall rut, again in the spring during the birthing season and the planting season, it was not unusual to handle multiple deer/vehicle crashes in an 8 hour shift.
For whatever reason, (Ohio loves to put up signs along their highways), the state/county puts up deer crossing signs, it's a huge waste of money. I've never been able to find anyone at ODOT or the County garage who can explain to me the criteria for where the signs are posted. It almost seems like the Road crews are sent out with a certain number of signs and they are told to get rid of them.
Like most LEO's who have handled deer vehicle crashes, it was not unusual to have a living, breathing adult, usually a woman, (seriously) ask why the deer were allowed to cross the road where there were no signs. When you try to explain to the person that the deer is a wild animal and is unable to read the signs, the person would just look blankly back at you with that completely confused head tilt. (Some times you really had to wonder how folks survived to be as old as they were and be so dumb.)
Click to expand...
What is just as scary is that a lot of them vote.
 
Faulkner said:
That is just a nod to another time early in my career. I was partnered with a very experienced FTO and we were always getting into stuff and the rest of the patrol deputies referred to us the dynamic duo. He has since retired and passed on and I use the moniker out of respect to him.
Click to expand...
He trained you right. He must have been a good man.
 
Most of the urban deer around here have learned to look for cars. MOST, but not all. Once out of town they are a lot more careless. I don't think I know of any long term resident that hasn't hit on or more. Both the wife and I have hit 3 at different times. Very few trucks don't have guards on the front. But, if you in to looking at eagles there is always some great viewing in the winter as they have learned that deer and highways can make for easy living.
 
Had a deer struck downtown in Elyria and it was hurt badly. We dispatched the deer and some unknown female in an office building across the street yelled at us for killing the deer. We told her to shut up and go back to work.
Another time a doe was struck near the Community College in an area where deer crossed the road frequently. I responded and saw the doe was hurt, so the Station called an off duty officer who liked to hunt and asked him to respond to the scene. He arrived, put a round in its head, loaded it on his trailer, and took it home to butcher it.
 
When I was a kid I lived in an area of Virginia with a lot of deer. One night, driving along, a herd of deer began to cross in front of me. I stopped the car to wait. Immediately a deer ran into my front right fender, flipped over the car, and into the ditch. I got out to look.

When I looked into the ditch, the deer, a doe, jumped up and ran off. I went over to look at my fender. Big ol' dent. Huge.

That dent cost me $50 to fix, a lot of money to me then.

Still, better than the article I read about the strangest, most unusual insurance claims: Guy in a similar situation to mine is driving down a dark highway but at high speed. Doesn't see any deer until one crashes through his windshield and lands in his back seat. And.... proceeds to give birth....

Now that would wreck one's day.
 
My friend Gerald was the designated venison getter for his constable's precinct in the Lake Houston area of Harris County. In Texas if you hit and kill a deer, you cannot pick it up or dispatch it yourself, must be done by State Game Warden or law enforcement with the GW blessing.
Lake Houston has heavily wooded areas and gets a lot of deer road hits. GW cannot respond to most, so if animal is fresh killed or wounded, Gerald would go get him on duty or not, take home and clean deer. Could skin and quarter a whitetail in less than 10 minutes. Kept his, and other constable's who wanted game freezers full year-round, surplus went to foodbank.

There was a new neighborhood built on the lake 25+ years ago. They had a park built on the lake and the mostly urban people started feeding the deer and waterfowl, who quickly learned it was easier to beg food than forage for it. Had a couple of wild greenhead mallards that got huge off of corn and dog food. They got very aggressive with park goers who did not bring food. Call was made to GW who referred them to the constable's office that the ducks were a menace and needed to be relocated. Call to Gerald in his unit, he stopped by his house picked up some bird shot shells, corn and his Jon boat and rowed out to lake away from expensive houses trailing corn and dispatched the 2 greenheads with his riot gun. Several calls were then made to GW/Constables office that they wanted the ducks relocated not killed. They were relocated; Gerald had them hanging in his home office until he died about 10 years ago.
 
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