Guess I'm getting soft
#121870
11/13/2012 11:09 PM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 118
chiefbg
OP
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OP
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Posts: 118 |
This afternoon I was asked to respond to the interstate just outside of town where a bear had been hit by a car and was still alive. I arrived there along with a county unit and found the bear laying in a concrete ditch in the median. It was still alive with a massive injury to it's front shoulder. Her leg was nearly torn off and and she was just laying there looking around, not trying to get up but just slowly moving, rolling over and breathing extremely labored. She was obviously in bad trouble and I knew what had to be done. Where she was at in the ditch I was concerned about a bullet ricocheting with passing traffic so I asked a deputy to go back up the interstate and shut the road down a few minutes. When all was clear I moved into a position to put her down. As I readied for the shot she looked up at me with a look I can't describe. It was like she was thanking me and telling me it was alright. After I put her out of her misery, the other deputy there with me commented on the way she looked at me. So sad, she broke my heart. Sometimes I hate what I do.
Last edited by chiefbg; 11/13/2012 11:12 PM.
Be Safe... Barry
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: chiefbg]
#121891
11/14/2012 2:29 AM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556
junebug
Gun Slinger
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Gun Slinger
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556 |
Some jobs stink but you do them anyway,because someone has to. I guess it just comes with the territory and the job, you don't like it but you have to do it anyway.You know it was the right thing to do.
junebug
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: junebug]
#121899
11/14/2012 3:08 AM
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 566
mike.44
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But you did the right thing.....that isn't always easy
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: mike.44]
#121900
11/14/2012 3:25 AM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 830
rlb
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 830 |
We do what we have to no matter how bad it hurts. Never an easy thing to do.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: rlb]
#121903
11/14/2012 4:02 AM
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 5,057
Gary
Distinguished Master
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Distinguished Master
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Posts: 5,057 |
I hear ya and I feel for you too. I saw a doe this morning running across a 4 lane after being hit. She made it into the middle of the other lanes from where she was hit and fell and just rolled onto her back and lay there. I started to turn around and drag her out of the road and finish her with my pistol but I know if the wrong person saw it and got my license I would be in big trouble so I just kept going but I felt so sorry for her knowing she would probably suffer for a good while longer.
You can't wait any longer. Join the NRA and start writing your Congressmen and Senators.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gary]
#124155
12/14/2012 8:14 PM
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 6
Scott B
stranger
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stranger
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Posts: 6 |
Chief you did the right thing. I have had to do the same thing on duty with a coyote and and a dog, and off duty with a few animals. Never fun but it is sometime necessary. I had to finish a doe with a fence post one day when I was a teen because I didn't have a gun on me. That was not a fun day.
Be safe out there Sir.
Scott
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Scott B]
#124158
12/14/2012 9:38 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 168
358429
member
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chiefbg
Animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. I had to dispatch a number of moose in Alaska that had been hit by cars. I found that if you just talked to them for a little while they would calm right down, I never felt good about shooting them after that.
I have a lot of dealings with bears and if I can get them to stay away from my horses we get on just fine. I managed to reach an understanding with one of my bears this year by shooting him in the butt with my slingshot.
You did a good thing..
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: 358429]
#124160
12/14/2012 11:02 PM
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 463
Boot
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Good character is marked by doing the right thing, even when it's not easy, or what you want to do at the moment. You did the right thing.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Boot]
#124163
12/15/2012 1:08 AM
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 425
linebaugh
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Chief, I have alot of respect for you sir. I think it's a very honorabl to have respect for an animal like this. Too many people (including some hunters)out there now aday's could care less about the animals feelings.
//Psalms 42:1//
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: chiefbg]
#124166
12/15/2012 4:20 AM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,155
Gregg Richter
Distinguished Expert
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Distinguished Expert
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Posts: 4,155 |
I also have had to do the merciful kill on wild animals; deer and coyotes and foxes and even elk. And sometimes under the supervision of Game Wardens. It is a mind trip and sooo hard... Hurts me real baaaad; even though under different circumstances:
I am the Hunter and the Prey is my "trophy."
And in those times I am even PROUD of it. But maybe the difference is that I hunted for the animal with a license and on legal and even terms. And took it fair and square on it's own grounds.
...not laying on the highway with a broken leg or shoulder or spine...
Search hard and suck it up though, Gregg. Just a bit over a week ago I had to do the same basic thing but with a horse that belonged to my sweet wife Karen. This horse was not only sweet and loving but always amazingly vigilant and actually responsible for sighting (and me successfully shooting) elk many times before I did on a hunt...
Heck, this mare not only packed out elk for me but even put up with me one time when I tied a stinkin' coyote on the saddle horn and she packed it out for me also; probably thinking that I was crazy but she did it anyway for me because she trusted me.
Now that, folks, was Really Hard when I had to "put her down..." but thankfully the situation was under Professional Medical Care... but that didn't really make it any easier.
I cried. Hard and long.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gregg Richter]
#124182
12/15/2012 3:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 542
Rick
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What you did was the honorable thing. Her suffering was ended and that makes it ok. It is not being, it is being human
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gregg Richter]
#124189
12/15/2012 9:49 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 168
358429
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member
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Gregg Richter
I had to put down a mare, she had fallen and broken her back, the hardest thing I ever had to do.
linebaugh
Not to sound like a animal activist or "tree huger", but you are right, we share the planet with the animals and they deserve our respect. The opening scene in the Last of the Mohicans sums that up nicely.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gregg Richter]
#124196
12/16/2012 2:37 AM
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 45
480rugah
newbie
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newbie
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Posts: 45 |
Chief,don't confuse compassion with weakness...You did a good thing.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: 480rugah]
#124210
12/16/2012 4:16 PM
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,825
MIHunter
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I had a similiar incidnet a couple weeks ago. I was driving back to the city I work in coming back from court when I noticed a deer laying about 15 yards off of a major highway. I turned around and went back and sure enough it had been hit by a car and was still alive. Since I was several miles outside my jurisdiction I had to get permission from the state police to put it down. It started to drag itself away and then just stopped and looked at me like enough is enough.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gregg Richter]
#124526
12/21/2012 2:49 PM
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 177
DOAGuide
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member
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You did good! Yes it hurts nad your not getting soft. We care about the animals we pursue. Makes us human! Know that you helped her end her misery.
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Re: Guess I'm getting soft
[Re: Gregg Richter]
#124560
12/21/2012 8:34 PM
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 168
358429
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chiefbg
We all seem to be oriented around the "group hug" syndrome,just remember no matter how pitiful that bear may have looked, if you had of gotten close enough for her to get a hold of you, you would not have started this thread...
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