If it's dying and I KNOW for a fact that it would not survive, I'd put it out of it's misery. I'd be tempted to clean it but, I don't want to risk it.

It's not about ethics, cause I don't give a hoot about that. That's just what I'd do. And I'd be using my knife so I know a shot wouldn't be heard.

JMHO

-Ike

Being a law abiding citizen is to do what the law says when nobody is watching.

No, I call that INTEGRITY

Good question. Not a hunter myself but I have to say If I could easily see that the animal was mortally wounded, and I had the means to put it down, I would.

Once, while delivering pizzas, I came across a deer in the road that was messed up by a car, but still floundering on its feet. I would have dispatched it by hand by it was too dangerous to approach, so I called it in.

Another story: My buddy (an avid hunter) was driving down the road when he came upon what looked like an accident. As he got closer he saw that it had involved a deer, so he decided to stop. As he approached he realized that the mangled deer was very much alive and in terrible pain, as evident by the gut-wrenching noises it was making. So my buddy asks the cop on the scene if he planned on putting it down and the cop shrugged off the question.

Well long story short, my buddy walks to his car, grabs his knife, walks back to the deer and with one quick slice puts it out of its misery. He said as he was wiping off his blade, the cop and the driver stared at him wide eyed like he was nuts. He walked back to his car and drove off, and that was that.

Sometimes you have to do whats right.