The thread about deer coming back to life reminds me of an experience a couple of fellow Conservation Officers had back in the 80's in northern lower Michigan.
Sgt. Dale Schwartz and CO Mike Rademacher were on night patrol near Newaygo in separate vehicles. Dale watched from his parking spot as a couple of poachers in a station wagon drove up, shined a spotlight over the field, shot a deer, jumped out and dragged the deer to their car, threw it in the back and drove off.
Dale tried to stop the station wagon and the chase was on. Dale called Mike for backup as speeds reached 80 mph on several back roads. Suddenly the station wagon began to swerve violently and Dale could see what appeared to be a fist fight going on in the passenger compartment. After 30 seconds or so, the passenger door opened and the deer flew out and landed on the road.
By this time, Mike had caught up and was following Dale fairly closely. Dale managed to avoid hitting the deer, but Mike was not so lucky. He couldn’t help running over the hapless animal.
The deer had been shot with a 12-gauge slug, but had been hit too high for a lung shot and too low for a spine shot. The slug had not penetrated a vital organ and had stunned the deer rather than killing it. The deer regained consciousness in the back of the station wagon and flopped into the front seat, onto the laps of the poachers. What Dale thought was a fist fight was the driver trying to kill the deer with a tire iron while still driving at high speed, as the passenger was trying to throw the deer out of the getaway vehicle and the deer was kicking both of them to ribbons in the process.
The poachers finally stopped and were arrested. They were both cut and bloody. Mike went back to retrieve the deer and it was still alive, after being shot with a 12-gauge slug, beaten with a tire iron, thrown out of a moving vehicle and run over by a patrol car. Mike had to shoot it again to put it out of its misery. The poor thing should have been taken to the emergency room so that it could survive to sue the poachers for pain, suffering and emotional trauma.
Last edited by wildhobbybobby; 09/02/22.
