[unclepaddy]

We had an incident in our hunting group where a guy killed a hog with a big nasty gash in it's leg. The hog was obviously pretty sick, and maggots were in the wound. The wound itself wasn't such an issue, nor the maggots. (Maggots are often beneficial in the respect that they keep the dead and gangrenous flesh pared away.) The hunter decided to leave the animal based on the fact that it was obviously systemically ill. It had a weird color to it's eyes that was kind of a cross between bloodshot and jaundice, and it's body looked like it had been inflated and then deflated. The skin was kind of too big for it. Anyhow, we all got talking on what might qualify for leaving an animal behind and what conditions might justify it. I thought I might ask around here and see what others thought.

 

[mattsbox99]

No critter is worth getting sick over.

Any animal that appears sick, such as; spotting in chest cavity, enlarged tongue, yellow or red eyes, bad smell, visible injuries, yellow baggy skin under forelegs (swollen lymph glands), or unusual behavior should not be consumed.

 

[Pawpaw Tony]

id have to be starving to take a chance on something that looked that sick..i don t know if swine carry rabies or not but you did say it had a bad wound.... theres a lot of other things that could be about as bad..jmo

 

[broom_jm]

I'd say your buddy made the right call, Pat. I was hunting at a ranch in CA one time and a guy shot an exotic that was similarly afflicted. Even the ranch hands didn't want it.

 

[45-70 nut]

several years ago in Maine a bowhunter my dad is friends with, shot a deer and when he went down to collect it, it looked as though the skin was crawling and ended up being covered with deer ticks. needless to say he left it. If it were me I would have goten some keroseen and burned it.

 

[jbee]

Anthrax was a herd disease long before it was a WMD. I would not eat anything that looked sick nor would I want the blood on me. It is the best reason, imho, not to eat predators or scavengers too.

 

[BarkBuster20]

several years ago in Maine a bowhunter my dad is friends with, shot a deer and when he went down to collect it, it looked as though the skin was crawling and ended up being covered with deer ticks. needless to say he left it. If it were me I would have goten some keroseen and burned it.

My last buck had about 75 ticks right in the center of his chest, well over 150 ticks on the entire deer, it was kinda gross but sometimes a deer thats 8 or 9 years old will have a lot of ticks, it was a perfectly healthy deer, and the meat was very good. Usually ticks wont be moving around so much. Thats pretty bad if the skin is moving with them like that though, but if the deer looked healthy then thats something i wouldnt agree with doing, of course i might throw some kerosene on the hide after i skinned it lol.

I would pass on any game animal that looked sickly, not to say i wouldnt eat one that had been crippled, sometimes its as simple as removing a shoulder or hindqaurter.

 

[Rugerfan0374]

Years ago a friend of mine shot a doe that had a huge lump on the side of it. Called the game commision to come and look at it. They took one look at it and handed my friend a replacement tag.

Game Warden said that the deer had some type of infection.

 

[MontyF]

I've run into animals that were obvously not healthy and was undecided if I should put them out of their misery or let them go. Later when talking about it to a game warden, I was told to shoot 'em and call it in.

I'm with those who stated if it don't appear to be healthy, I'm not going to handle it or eat it.

 

[Combat Diver]

Don't forget to look at the animals liver, if spotted don't eat either. I forgot the name of the disease that rabbits carry that can be passed if the liver is spotted.

CD

 

[MontyF]

Don't forget to look at the animals liver, if spotted don't eat either. I forgot the name of the disease that rabbits carry that can be passed if the liver is spotted.

CD

Yeah, we always just called it spotted liver disease. Always been told best not to hunt cottontails until after the first hard freeze.

 

[RossiRuger]

Had to let a large buck walk away after watching it approach and
noted it was loaded with ticks and after it passed I noted he was really
old and way past his prime. I couldn't bring myself to kill it for just the
rack, so I allowed it to die a natural wild death. He had fought many
fights, bred many doe and died a natural death. Couldn't make
up my mind if I should have put him out of his misery...........but, who
am I to say he was in misery? He is still a good memory to me.

Joe

 

[BarkBuster20]

Had to let a large buck walk away after watching it approach and
noted it was loaded with ticks and after it passed I noted he was really
old and way past his prime. I couldn't bring myself to kill it for just the
rack, so I allowed it to die a natural wild death. He had fought many
fights, bred many doe and died a natural death. Couldn't make
up my mind if I should have put him out of his misery...........but, who
am I to say he was in misery? He is still a good memory to me.

Joe

Not questioning your story, i am just curious how you were able to see the ticks on the deer? Was there a lot on his face/head?

 

[22 MAG]

Now if Bear from man vs wild was there he would have ate the boar and the ticks for desert. All joking aside. I would have left the critter in the woods. No sense in getting sick or getting the family sick. One thing that I will do is put a critter out of its misery if it calls for. Why make the critter suffer for no reason especially if the end is the same.

 

[MikeG]

I've never killed a pig that wasn't covered in ticks, even in winter. They are just tick factories, I guess!!!

Fleas, too, in warm weather. Wear gloves, salt the hades out of the meat as it goes on ice, and disinfect (internally) before going to bed

I did have to toss a ham that was about 10 lbs, once, due to previous high-speed lead poisoning. It isn't unusual to skin out a pig and find evidence that it's been shot at before......

 

[smokinfz1]

you did exactly the right thing, except maybe bury it or burn it. I have questions over burning it with the potential for airborne pathogens. I'm probably just overly paranoid when it comes to passing diseases, however several years of Micobios can do that to a person.

 

[mattsbox99]

Thats probably a little much... I highly doubt the next superpathogen that wipes out 20% of the world population is on a wild pig.

 

[smokinfz1]

I didn't say that matt.

 

[mattsbox99]

I'm just saying there is no need to burn or bury... its not like nature was going to do that anyway.

 

[BarkBuster20]

lol, if the only problem with the animal is excessive ticks you should be burning its flesh on the grill.