Residents rescue white-tailed deer

From The Lindsay Post in Ontario Canada:

It was a lucky rescue for a white-tailed deer that had been shot with a cross-bow bolt last month.

On Feb. 2, north-east of Nogies Creek, John and Elaine Fritz noticed that a doe was three-legged lame with a shaft protruding from her right side, just behind the elbow. Hunting season had been over six weeks earlier.

They contacted Bobcaygeon Veterinary Services and Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Rosseau, near Huntsville, and plans for a rescue were made.

The Fritz’s then watched and fed the deer to routinely get her close enough on a regular schedule so that she could be tranquilized.

Once they established a routine, arrangements were made that Ben Cox from Aspen Valley and Dr. Kerstin Kelly would drive to Nogies Creek and attempt the rescue.

They met at the Fritz residence on Monday at 6 a.m. after getting up in the dark wee hours of the morning. A temporary surgery was set up in the garage.

The trap was set and after an hour of patient waiting, the doe was tranquilized. The razor-sharp bolt head and shaft were surgically removed from the chest. Antibiotics and analgesics were given and a few hours later, the pregnant doe staggered back to her feet and off into the bush.

She lost considerable weight throughout the ordeal, but has been seen eating and using her lame front leg again in the past week.

It was extremely unfortunate for this poor doe to suffer so long this winter with the bolt lodged in her side. An ethical hunter would not have allowed this to happen.

The Ministry of Natural Resources (M.N.R.) and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.) state in their web-site that:

“Good hunters have a deep respect for the animal they pursue. Their interest in wildlife extends beyond the field, and their concern for wildlife and the environment extends to non-game and endangered species.

The responsible hunter is prepared, confident in their abilities, and aware of their limitations. They shoot only when a quick, clean kill is assured, and forgo the long-range or obscured shot that may wound an animal or be unsafe. They make every effort to avoid injuring game, and go to great lengths to retrieve a wounded animal.”

This did not appear to be the case this time.

Studies have shown that the whitetail deer as a species is the one most likely to “jump the string”. This means jump at the sound the string makes when an arrow or bolt is released.

Studies show that the whitetail can drop down to the ground in less than 2/5ths of a second.

Deer have been known to whirl around before the arrow reaches them and end up with the arrow in the opposite side from where the bow hunter intended the shot to penetrate.

This means that an alert deer has the ability and has the time, even at the close distance of 15 yards, to drop down below an arrow aimed for the vital area. This can happen even if the arrow is pushed by a very fast bow (300+ fps), and it may even escape unscathed. Chances are, however, that the animal will not and a non-fatal wound or a “gut shot” could be the end result.

To avoid this, some hunters use some kind of silencing system and don’t shoot at a deer that shows signs of being alert. With all this taken into consideration, an ethical bow hunter should make a decision as to where to set the maximum distance for bow hunting and stick to it.

The animal is too important a resource to attempt a shot at if it has a good possibility of only wounding that animal. It’s better not to shoot than to take a shot that will not put the animal down.

Perhaps a camera would make a better shot.

If you are archery hunting, (or for that matter, using any legal firearm) you must follow up on any shot you take at a deer.

A responsible hunter, who is also an ethical hunter, will be prepared to spend hours trailing a wounded deer, even to come back the next day if needed.

At times a wounded deer will not show any signs of being hit.

In some shot deer the bolt or arrow had passed clear through, and the deer did not show any immediate sign of distress – no jump, no shock, not even a higher sense of alertness.

You must not assume you missed just because you didn’t see the deer fall. Sometimes a wounded deer will not leave a blood trail for the first twenty or thirty yards.

At times they will bleed heavily for the first hundred yards or so, and then just a drop of blood here or there. An ethical deer hunter will then mark every spot of blood, get on their hands and knees, look and look again.

You should have a day-pack with hunting supplies; or in your hunting gear, have items that you can mark the blood trail with.

You must make every effort to retrieve a wounded animal. It’s the right and ethical thing to do.

One of the most ethically irresponsible things a hunter can do is to not follow up his or her shot.

Hunters may well find that in the not too distant future that the non-hunters and the anti-hunters have become the majority when it comes to voting time.

This is exactly the type of ammunition that will be used against hunting of any sort and bow-hunting in particular.

No animal should be forced to suffer such a terrible disabling wound and left especially in a winter such as this one.

Story By Dr. Kerstin Kelly