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So, I hit a deer tonight with my car while carrying and shot the deer..

TheManInBlack

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
54
Location
Wi
Well, it didn't go so well. I got cited for 167.31 (2) (d) and got a $100 dollar fine.. The fine is not a big deal... I wasn't going to wait till police came (which was 20mins later) to shoot the deer.. I don't hunt (My prerogative) but I didn't want this thing to suffer.. I don't mind paying the fine but I think this is not right.. I'm kinda pissed because of the bad rap that 2nd amendment gun owners face... I was told that I was "Lead Happy".. May I add that I took 2 rounds of my .45 acp... I make a good living and wonder what court would think.. What side they would take.. Die now or suffer longer.. Sorry for the vague post, still shaking...

The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham
 

MilProGuy

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
1,210
Location
Mississippi
You certainly did a noble thing to dispatch the wounded deer that was struck by your vehicle.

Please keep us posted on the outcome of this situation.
 

TheManInBlack

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
54
Location
Wi
here is the thing.. I know what I did was "SKETCHY" in the eyes of the law so what I did was Spent 2 rounds, Unloaded my gun and placed it on the roof of my G6 (which I stood about 10 yards away from).. I think I did the right thing by reporting it and making the cop feel safe but he was not so pleased.. I'm well mannered and took my licks... But I think I did whats right.. My Clock 30 did the same as his.. but quicker which = more humane..
 
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SourKraut

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
113
Location
Wisconsin
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the 50' rule applies to hunting. Incidently, the day before the opening of gun deer season it is ileagal to hunt most things in most areas with anything. If you choose to fight the ticket you might want to get a lawyer. An over zealous proscecutor might want to add charges.

I realize that you were NOT hunting. I hope you kept the venison and that your vehicle is o.k.

Edit: Was there a lot of traffic? Maybe you were afraid that the deer obstrucing traffic was a threat to saftey.
 
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TheManInBlack

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
54
Location
Wi
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the 50' rule applies to hunting. Incidently, the day before the opening of gun deer season it is ileagal to hunt most things in most areas with anything. If you choose to fight the ticket you might want to get a lawyer. An over zealous proscecutor might want to add charges.

Just great....


I realize that you were NOT hunting. I hope you kept the venison and that your vehicle is o.k.

(Covering My Bases) I Let the cop have the option, I said I have someone that would take it unless you had a better option in-mind.. In the end, My Brother In-law took it..
 

E6chevron

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2011
Messages
528
Location
Milwaukee Wisconsin
Act 35 has provided some protections for use of a firearm in legitimate self defense situations.

However, it it is drawn or discharged, and it is not for a legitimate self defense purpose, you may encounter concerns about 947.01 "disorderly Conduct", 941.20" endangering safety" and maybe some others.
 
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wisturkeyhunter

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
24
Location
Janesville wi
A few years ago I watched as a cop struggled to slit the throat of a car hit deer because for some reason he didn't want to use his gun. It was a fiasco at best and less than quick. You did good.
 

BROKENSPROKET

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Messages
2,199
Location
Trempealeau County
You did good. I have seen deer-car accidents turn from minor to much worse with cars on the side of the road, deer down in the road and oncoming traffic. Much worse. Get it down and off the road as quickly as possible.

I would plead not guilty, let it go to pretrial. I will bet that the DA will drop it in the pretrial conference. If not, and you want to fight it on prinicipal, go for it. If you can afford it. At what point you 'lawyer up' is up to you. It has to be on principle, because the lawyer will cost more than the ticket.
 

scm54449

Opt-Out Members
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
220
Location
Marshfield, WI
Sorry about your G6!

It was been twenty years ago but I had conversations with three different DNR wardens in my part of the state on the subject of what to with a wounded deer following a collision with a motor vehicle. Each one responded without hesitation they would cite me on the spot and confiscate the firearm if I shot the deer. I'm not saying they were correct nor am I saying that any applicable rule might not have changed, just that I still think of the Wisconsin DNR as Damned Near Russia.

In one community where I lived the LEO's carried trap loads for their 870's for exactly this type of situation. A close-range shot to the base of the brain was immediately effective and the light load of #8's posed little risk of ricochet.
 

MKEgal

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
4,383
Location
in front of my computer, WI
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/RSB/STATS.HTML
167.31(2)(d)
Except as provided in sub. (4) (a), (bg), (cg), (e), and (g), no person may discharge a firearm or shoot a bolt or an arrow from a bow or crossbow from or across a highway or within 50 feet of the center of a roadway.

167.31(4)(at)
Subsections (2) (c) and (d) and (3) (b) do not apply to the discharge of a firearm if the actor's conduct is justified ...

I think you absolutely did the morally right thing,
and I can't imagine any prosecutor or judge trying to argue that preventing suffering isn't justified, so it's probably even legally OK.
 

MKEgal

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
4,383
Location
in front of my computer, WI
scm54449 said:
...three different DNR wardens... Each one responded without hesitation they would cite me on the spot and confiscate the firearm if I shot the deer.
Since it's a forfeiture (ticket), not a crime, there's no legal authority for them to confiscate anything (except maybe the deer... dunno those sorts of regs).
But you're right, they'd probably do it & leave you to sort it out w/ a judge later.
And unless the same judge saw enough of those abuses, the probability that the warden would be punished is miniscule.
 

Brass Magnet

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
2,818
Location
Right Behind You!, Wisconsin, USA
"Lead happy"!? No, the enforcer was just mad that HE didn't get to use his gun. Obvious case of projecting. I would have stuck it personally (as long as out wasn't too lively). I would call the sheriffs deputy to help me put it in my truck.

And hey, doesn't castle doctrine apply? The deer attacked you in your car.

ETA: BTW, I'm sitting in my deer stand right now...haha.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
 
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SFCRetired

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,764
Location
Montgomery, Alabama, USA
1. OP, you did the right, humane thing in ending the deer's suffering.
2. Since I'm not in Wisconsin, I don't have a dog in this particular fight, but I will be checking with our local game wardens.
3. I cannot imagine a prosecutor in his/her right mind pursuing this.
4. I do agree that the only reason a ticket was issued was because the LEO was mad he didn't get to pull the trigger.

Sorry about your car and glad you're OK. My last car/deer incident was in Germany in the eighties. Totaled out a perfectly good Mercedes and a very large doe. The German Polizei responded and, first of all, made sure that I was not hurt. The deer died on impact with a broken neck.
 

scm54449

Opt-Out Members
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
220
Location
Marshfield, WI
Since it's a forfeiture (ticket), not a crime, there's no legal authority for them to confiscate anything<snip>

Legal or not it happens. I know individuals whose firearms were confiscated when cited for violations that were only forfeitures (they were told it was "evidence"). When they protested they were threatened with confiscation of their vehicles.
 

Old Grump

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
Messages
387
Location
Blue River, Wisconsin, USA
I;m sorry you learned the hard way but it's pretty common knowledge. At least for anybody who has ever taken a Wisconsin Hunters safety course. We have had 3 instances where a deer was hit in front of my house or near the front and the deer down call was answered by 1 state trooper and 2 deputies over a 5 year spread. We wanted to shoot but knew better, the trooper did allow the neighbors boy to cut the throat of the 3rd one and I got the meat but humane or not none of us needed the criminal strike against us since we all hunt. Legislators left no wiggle room and that was the DNR's call, they would rather see a deer suffer needlessly then tempt a poor guy to hunt out of season with a non-sporting firearm. They just know we are all criminally inclined and they took that temptation to do the right thing away from us. It's enough that we get to deal with the insurance company and body repair shops for a reward, heaven forbid we also get a cheap thrill from shooting a dying deer.

Sorry again you learned the hard way but that is Wisconsin law and one you should have known. Now you know why a large number of people turn away and put their hands in their pockets instead of intervening in a situation where they might have been able to help. The authorities who cannot be everywhere at once and have no constitutional obligation to be your personal body guard are going to rake you over the coals for doing what they should have. I do not blame the police for this, blame their bosses and the petty tyrants in office who think they are rulers instead of our representatives. No good deed will go unpunished here in the Dairy State.
 
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