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High Shoulder Hits, be ready to finish the job....
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<blockquote data-quote="Pdvdh" data-source="post: 869811" data-attributes="member: 4191"><p>If the eyes aren't open, the animal isn't dead. That's my belief.</p><p></p><p>This is an old thread. I re-read some of it and over the past 45 years of hunting and trapping experiences, have come to believe eyes-closed is always a '<em>hunter beware</em>' warning signal. Every animal I've shot, to the best of my recollection, expired with its eyes open. I think because of TV and movies, we've been trained to believe death is often eyes closed. I don't believe I've ever observed an eyes-closed dead animal. </p><p></p><p>Because of this, it's something I always look for when approaching a downed animal; be it brown bear, moose, deer, sheep, coyote, fox, or muskrat. If the eyes happen to be closed, I expect the animal to still have life in it. If the eyes are open and glazed, I expect a dead animal.</p><p></p><p>I recall a memorable experience I had when I was 13 years old. While checking my fox trap line in Michigan, I found a live possum in one of my leghold traps. I didn't have my .22 with me, so I found a stick and clubbed the possum on the head several times. He finally quit moving around but I watched him for awhile, having heard the well-known trait of possums playing dead. Finally convinced the animal had expired, I released him from the trap and carried him by his tail about 1/3 mile away from the trap site to dispose of him along a ditch bank. The whole time I was carrying him I kept him away from my leg and continued to keep an eye on him. After setting him on the ground, I went on to check the rest of my trap line. On the way back out to the road I passed by the possum again. He was gone! There was no snow on the ground for tracking, but I spent a fair amount of time snooping around. Gone. I don't know if the animal was truly unconscious from the blows to the head, or simply playing dead. The only purpose of this trapline story is to point out - <em>the eyes were closed</em> the entire time I carried him away and set him down on the ground. Come to think of it, this experience is probably what taught me "eyes closed - alive" - "eyes open - dead". This is my rule of thumb. Be interested to hear if anyone has experiences that differ from mine.</p><p></p><p>While approaching a large downed brown bear in 2001, even though the eyes were opened and glazed, I still found the longest stick I could locate and slowly approached with rifle at the ready, while touching an eye with the end of the stick. Was glad he didn't blink at me. He was 6-7X my weight...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pdvdh, post: 869811, member: 4191"] If the eyes aren't open, the animal isn't dead. That's my belief. This is an old thread. I re-read some of it and over the past 45 years of hunting and trapping experiences, have come to believe eyes-closed is always a '[I]hunter beware[/I]' warning signal. Every animal I've shot, to the best of my recollection, expired with its eyes open. I think because of TV and movies, we've been trained to believe death is often eyes closed. I don't believe I've ever observed an eyes-closed dead animal. Because of this, it's something I always look for when approaching a downed animal; be it brown bear, moose, deer, sheep, coyote, fox, or muskrat. If the eyes happen to be closed, I expect the animal to still have life in it. If the eyes are open and glazed, I expect a dead animal. I recall a memorable experience I had when I was 13 years old. While checking my fox trap line in Michigan, I found a live possum in one of my leghold traps. I didn't have my .22 with me, so I found a stick and clubbed the possum on the head several times. He finally quit moving around but I watched him for awhile, having heard the well-known trait of possums playing dead. Finally convinced the animal had expired, I released him from the trap and carried him by his tail about 1/3 mile away from the trap site to dispose of him along a ditch bank. The whole time I was carrying him I kept him away from my leg and continued to keep an eye on him. After setting him on the ground, I went on to check the rest of my trap line. On the way back out to the road I passed by the possum again. He was gone! There was no snow on the ground for tracking, but I spent a fair amount of time snooping around. Gone. I don't know if the animal was truly unconscious from the blows to the head, or simply playing dead. The only purpose of this trapline story is to point out - [I]the eyes were closed[/I] the entire time I carried him away and set him down on the ground. Come to think of it, this experience is probably what taught me "eyes closed - alive" - "eyes open - dead". This is my rule of thumb. Be interested to hear if anyone has experiences that differ from mine. While approaching a large downed brown bear in 2001, even though the eyes were opened and glazed, I still found the longest stick I could locate and slowly approached with rifle at the ready, while touching an eye with the end of the stick. Was glad he didn't blink at me. He was 6-7X my weight... [/QUOTE]
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