Would you take this?

[AaronM]

Minnesota deer. For some reason I can't quite remember where I saw it.. Photo's aren't the best, but what can you do!

[DTro]

I'd give him another year

[plannerman]

I'd give him just enough time to get his toes on shore.

[walleyehunter80]

i would have shot him in the water, they float

[Ray1]

I agree with Darren. Id wait another year.

[gatorhunter]

Big enough for me!

[Gordie]

BANG nope wont make it another year

[vister]

id shoot him, but its illegal to shoot a deer that is swimming!

[Svinekotelett]

For those that say that they would wait another year, ud prolly never get another chance

[shintz]

id shoot him, but its illegal to shoot a deer that is swimming!

Good to know!

[vister]

wait a minute, it may not be illegal, but it is against the rules of fair chase, and i thought i read last year about some people making drives on islands, while the posters were in boats to take deer that were swimming/fleeing, and they were fined heavily for it!

[Svinekotelett]

definatally againts the rules of fair chase to take a defensless animal.

[elkhuntingfan]

This reminds me of a year I was hunting at Sherburne Refuge. A friend of mine and I were standing near a small pond with a bit of ice on it. A doe came running across a field toward the pond. Jim ran down a hill to get a chance at the doe. There was about 4" of snow on the ground. Jim is about 5'9" tall and weighs about 260. He slipped and slid down the hill on his belly through the wet snow. The doe ran out on the ice and broke through. She started swimming toward shore, breaking ice as she went. Jim was going to shoot while she was in the water. As I was laughing at him, I told him he can't shoot her in the water. It's not fair, and how are you going to get her out of there anyway. He waited for her to get to shore, but because of brush and trees blocking his view when she got to shore, he didn't get a shot. It was worth a good laugh.

[rbs]

I don't know about fair chase...they can swim awfully fast lol

[AaronM]

I don't know about fair chase...they can swim awfully fast lol

Just to clarify, I wasn't referring to taking this deer while in the water, just taking it if you had a shot in a stand. As for swimming fast, they sure do!

[LightningBG]

I'd take it.

I cant say I've ever read anything in the regs about it being illegal to shoot a deer in the water.

My buddy shot one a couple years ago that jumped into Lake Michigan (after being hit, bowhunting). Everyone made him strip down to his shorts and swim out and get it. Wouldn't want it to go to waste.

[Svinekotelett]

Why would you shoot any defensless animal?

[fishinfey8]

The only ok time to kill a defenseless animal is to put it out of its misery...like one year I found a half-eaten fawn while pheasant hunting, it was in horrible shape and was bleeting and screaching at the top of it's lungs. I felt horrible for it and so I felt the need to end her painful horrible death. I'm sure we pushed a coyote off of her while walking a thick slough.

[bigbucks]

Guess I don't understand how they're any more defenseless while swimming vs. running away. Either way they're moving fast & either way they're not carrying a gun & going to be firing back at you. I would agree if you were going to boat up to them with a motor while crossing a lake, not too tough, but swimming across a pond or a channel vs. running out of the woods from a drive what's the difference. It's the escape route they chose.

[Meat-Run]

"Babe" did a show a few years back called Island Hopping bucks in the LOTW and the legality was that the deer could not be harvested while swimming but when supporting its own weight with land it's fair game.

mr

[Odonata]

I believe that picture was in the Duluth Tribune Outdoors earlier this summer. (?) Get a lasso!

[Svinekotelett]

No offense againts Babe but he may not be the most ethical hunter out there. Deer are defensless in water because they are so much more vulnerable in the wide open, people could just get up at night a wait to see swimming deer then shoot them. That would be real fair!!

[BucksnDucks]

Where in the regs does it say its against the law to shoot a deer swimming in the water? This photo looks an awfully lot like the pics I snapped of a bruiser swimming out to an island on Kab 2 years ago. Concidence??? I know I never posted those pics!

[lawdog]

I don't believe there is anything in the regs about shooting a swimming deer. Shooting from a motorized boat may well have been the issue in the above referenced matter of fines.

HOWEVER, shooting at a deer swimming in water is beyond unethical its down right dangerous. I was always taught when I was young never to shoot at water under any circumstance due to the possibility of bullets ricocheting...

As for the buck, the second he got out of the water, I'd smoke him! He's a dandy.

[Svinekotelett]

In the regs book there is an ethics page that says it is unethical to shoot deer that are swimming or restricted do to large amounts of snowfall. None ever said it was againts the law, just unethical. U shouldent even have to qustion why its wrong.