DQ your right they were not allowed to have firearms on the base I believe

Ok boys nobody get caught using a gun, bow or knife on a deer after legal shooting hours. Well now that I think about it using a knife isnt "shooting". So does legal shooting hours include a knife????

I asked the "finish off" a deer with a knife question to TPWD "Submit a Question" and they said that it was fine to do. I brought up the Bullis Buck and they said that it was illegal because the deer was actual hunted with a knife, not "finished." I erased that email.

Hunting with knife = illegal,
finishing off a shot, wounded deer with knife = likely not illegal

They're never going to tell you it's legal to finish a deer with a firearm after dark, or there'd suddenly be thousands of people "finishing" deer off right and left after the sun went down. If you have witnesses and/or call the game warden in advance, they're typically pretty reasonable, but they may tell you if the deer is active enough that it's not going to stay put and die, it may very well live and you may not shoot it after dark.

The main point is that GWs are good, reasonable people for the most part, so just call them and ask or take your chances that they hear the shot and bust you (extremely unlikely).

X2

I say it depends on if its high fence or low fence, and if the shot that didn't kill him to begin with is a neck shot with a 22-250

Some things TPWD just won't answer. They fail to give a distinction between hunting, pursuing/recovering and dispatching. A huge gray area that they try to avoid.

Below is resent email that I sent to TPWD. I was surprised that they did not give me a legal answer. But the cop-out of contact the game warden when in my opinion the game warden should contact them. And as normal, they did not answer all of my questions. I think it odd that they leave so much to be determined by the game warden in the field.

Comment or Question:
With archery season having already started, I am a bit concerned about a situation that occurs every year.

Hunting in the afternoon sometimes leads to an evening tracking a deer down. And this often leads to a night looking through the woods with a spotlight trying to find an injured/dead animal.
Is this legal? I do not believe we are hunting, only trying to recover an animal at night with artificial light.

At times an animal has been found injured and not dead, and it needs to be dispatched. Can we "finish" the animal, or this considered hunting at night? If this is legal, what is the legal way to dispatch the deer, archery only? Or can we use a knife or even a firearm as the deer was legally hunted and we are only dispatching?

I am not trying to split legal hairs; we just want to do what is right.

Sorry to throw a few questions at you, but thank you for your guidance.


Answer:
The question you posed comes up from time to time. We ask that you involve your local game warden in the process by giving him or her a call prior to forming your search. You can contact your local game warden by accessing the following link which will provide cell phone contact information for game wardens by county.

I hope that never happens. Some things are better left unsaid.

I always make sure a deer has a bullet hole in it somewhere if I kill...er uh finish one off with a knife..
Not sure I would want to try to finish off a mature buck with a knife. That is 150#-250# of raw power and when you grab him he won't be playing around if he is still got any fight left in him.

Here is the best I could do on short notice. It appears on one hand, I could be right and on the other, I could be wrong...

61.060 section states "by any humane method". I knife could be used because it would fall under this section. The kicker in this section is the statement "was mortally wounded, not through the actor's conduct". So you need a buddy to do it?

The next section that I have posted appears to allow for the the animal to be dispatched by "any humane method." Granted, this is a broad stroke of a brush for possibilities and allows for retrieval after "legal hunting hours."

From the information below and from what I am reading, it would be legal to shoot the animal after legal hours or use a knife to dispatch it. If there isn't other statues that provide clarification (this was a quick search, so I have not looked), that would also mean that shooting an animal after hunting hours with a rifle during bow season would also be legal....think you would be walking on shaky ground due to burden of proof and evidence of a gun shot wound. Knife is different because it would be hard to argue that the knife wound came first

So, based on the information below, I would say that my initial comment was wrong and I retract it

Good info txhntr

I called the Austin TPWD office and spoke to a GW there. He said that while they definitely want you to recover any and all animals that have been shot by gun or arrow, they understand that there is a difference in recovery and hunting. However, if a GW gets a report of or sees someone walking through the woods at night spotlighting and found to have a gun it could be a potential problem and they highly recommend that if you are going to be trying to recover an injured animal, please contact your local GW and just give him/her a heads up first. They do understand that this happens and they have no problem with you shooting and putting the animal down when it is found under these circumstances. If they are aware of the situation and hear a shot then see you dragging out a deer, they know what's going on. Local GW cell numbers are online. Keep it handy just in case.

good to know YOte

I'm thinking this is a blurry line and would be largely up to game warden discretion...

on the ethical side....if a deer has obviously been wounded and you've found him to the point that he need only be dispatched and loaded up....this is a very simple process. deer was recovered probably shortly after dark...quickly dispatched. done deal.

if its a deer though that is not wounded enough to the point that he's slowing down much. and you're tracking him extensively late at night and taking shots at him trying to finish what you started....I think this is in danger of being perceived as night hunting and probably should be let to wait until morning.

its hunter discretion though just like its game warden discretion...you may not have the liberty of waiting until morning. at which point you have to make a decision. and sometime live with consequences.

in my experience though....most deer that are wounded well enough to die from the initial wound....will be dead when you find them. a deer with a more superficial wound though....leg shot off....graze wound on the neck.....this deer might die or he might not. its not a definitively mortal wound. I think chasing after a deer at night with its front leg shot off....or a non-lethal neck wound would probably be night hunting.

like was said above....It goes a long way to know your local warden...know his tolerances and make him aware of what you're doing.

That just might be a new question for this forum, I haven't seen it before. You get a different answer from every GW you ask on that one.

My weapon of choice.

Without reading anything other than the title of the thread, I'll say...Yes, I can.

I shoot deer at night sometimes. Especially in the summer when it's cooler after dark. Too hot during the day in July and August.

My camera doesn't have that capability.

Luck would have it I happen to have a game warden who works for me part time when off duty. I just posed this question to him and the quote is as fallows.

" DO NOT for any reason look for a deer after shooting light without calling your warden! Most of the time they will not come out but also will know who you are and what you're doing so if a neighbor or passersby calls thinking your a poacher than he will be able to act accordingly instead of you possibly being fined or going to jail.". Also stated that off the record, its something they are encourage to use discretion on. as far as using a firearm to dispatch during bow season it is definitely illegal and should never be done.

My 308 with a kill light does.

Even with 3 broken legs and a 300wm hole through the top of both shoulder, it'll drag a 250lb man around like a rag doll...or so I've been told.


I also think we should have a primitive knife season.

So by what I'm reading, just call GW to give the heads up, then go night hunting. Sweet

Any game warden worth his salt can tell a fresh wound from one a couple of hours old... or more. It's a courtesy call.

And yes you can hunt deer at night, just not Whitetail Deer.