Tuesday night I had to run up to Chicago from Indianapolis. About 4:30 p.m. at mile marker 150 on Interstate 65 we spotted a live buck laying down in the median. To see a live deer laying in the median on a busy highway is very unusual, so we assumed he was probably hurt. We came back through that same stretch of highway at 10:30 p.m. and looked for him. Well we found him, a 6 point buck, still alive with 2 broken legs. In Indiana it is not gun season yet, and discharging a hand gun so close to the highway and shooting a deer would have certainly gotten us arrested. So I called 911. A state trooper and a county deputy both showed up. I was parked down in the median with my lights on the injured buck. I offered to shoot it but the deputy said that he would. I asked if he had any deer slugs, he said he did. I had a model 26 Glock, 9 mm, with hollow points that I could have used and wanted to use. The deputy brought out a 12 gauge with 5 deer slugs in it and promptly missed 5 times with a dirty junk 12 gauge that jammed over and over again. He finally threw the 12 gauge down and grabbed his service pistol, I think it was a .45. He shot 4 more times at the deer and only grazed the back of the deer but still no kill shot. Finally picked up the 12 gauge, put in another slug and shot the injured deer in the back of its skull. All of his shots were from 20 yards away. I would have just walked up to it and shot it in the lungs but oh well.
The deer took about 4 breathes and his pain was over. I was happy that he was put out of his misery but I cant believe that it took a trained officer 10 rounds to do what should have been done in 1. Anyways we brought home the 6 point buck, about 2 years old, cleaned him, butchered him and now we are going to have roadkill back straps from the deer for Thanksgiving. I will spare you guys the pictures.
How's that for a Hoosier story? I would much rather the deers life be put to some good, feeding me and my family rather then just lay there and suffer. My moms boyfriend helped us butcher the deer and he is an old school farm boy. When we take deer to the local processor we never get that much meat. We got at least 50 pounds of meat off of him. I kept the antlers but the skull was no good. Indiana deer are delicious.
