Dispatch problem (not for the faint of heart)

J

JBHandJr

New member
Here was my dilemma:

Went hunting for chukar at a local preserve here yesterday. We had good luck, it's been dry and windy but the dog found 5 of 6. I was more than proud.

We walked for probably 30 mins after the last bird was shot. When I asked my buddy to take a picture of the dog, birds and me, he said, "No problem." We took the birds from our vests and one was still alive. No big deal, it had just been shot with #5 prairie storm from 20 yards...it happens! So, I grab his head and do my best indian jones impression and pop his neck, hearing it pop. We position the birds and my buddy lines up the picture and that same bird sits back up and starts flapping a wing!

This time, my buddy grabs it by the head and spins it 3-4 times. No way this thing is alive now. We take the picture, put the birds in the bed of the truck (with tonneau cover) and start our 1 hour drive home. About thirty minutes into it I hear some rustling in the bed of the truck but both of us look at each other and with our best cheesy line say, "Nah...couldn't be!"

When I drop my buddy off at his house, sure enough the bird was still alive. Not only did he sit up but he had flew/jumped/sashayed across the bed leaving a nice white string of bird doo on everything in the bed! Not being happy at this, I grabbed the bird by the body this time and whacked its head on the tailgate 3 times with "matter" spreading across the open tailgate. Dispatched!

I drive another 20 minutes to my house. My wife and 3 year old daughter pull up at the same time I do. My daughter loves to help me clean birds (weird, I know) so I tell her I've got a surprise. I open up the tailgate...this bird is sitting back up, eye open, looking at her. "Daddy, its looking at me," she says. I'm baffled at this point. I tell her to go in while I attempt my bang-the-head-on-the-tailgate method.

After this attempt, I went to grab the leg and carry it down to the freezer, these blows were pretty severe after all. When I grabbed the leg, it pulled it into it's body and flapped a mother f'ing wing! The look on my face must have been priceless!

So, what did I do? I put it on the bottom shelf off the freezer door, piled the other birds on top and shut the door. I didn't know what the hell else to do! I still haven't opened the door but I think he's probably in there eating my deer sticks!

After all this, and I explain the whole thing to my wife, she says, "Why didn't you just shoot it again?" Why are they always right...

*********************

Anybody ever had a "Superbird" like this? Should I be worried about my deer sticks? What else could I have done? There has to be something more humane! I've killed probably 150 birds in my time, never once seen anything like this!

-Barry-
 
Next time just pull its head off, by placing under boot and pulling on legs. Never had an upland bird survive after ringing its neck.
 
Super Chukar

Nearly the same thing happened to me last month, the last time I put out birds for my 11 mo old lab. There was one chukar who just refused to die. Despite the neck wringings, when I opened up the bird box back home to start cleaning the birds, he was still walking around. Call me foolish but I took him out and let him go in the open area.
 
a few years ago i shot a rooster around noon. i ruthlesly rung it's neck till he had no feathers head to shoulders and put him in my vest. at 4:30 that afternoon back at the truck (with the dogs put up) i reached into my vest tossed the bird to the ground he jumps up flaps his wings and starts running off:eek:! lucky for me the gun was still loaded so i blasted his ass again and sicked the dogs on him:thumbsup:.
 
few years ago hunting doves at the end of the day my buddy went to pull birds out of my vest. When he opened the pocket a little, a dove flew out of the bag to live another day!

BB
 
I heard a horror story from a farmer friend. One of his buddies on the Highway Patrol found a deer in the ditch with broken legs and internal injuries after being hit by a car. The officer tried to do the humane thing and dispatch the deer with his sidearm, but it just wouldn't die. It took a full magazine from a 9mm to the head and vitals, but still held its head up and stared at the officer. He ended up calling my friend, the farmer, to bring HIS rifle, and it still took multiple rounds from a 30-30. Just the thought of that turns my stomach. I think if I ever witnessed anything like that while deer hunting, I would give it up.

They thought that the deer may have just been in a state of shock or really jacked up on adrenaline. The farmer also speculated that it may have been laying there for days before they found it, so that may have also played a role in its behavior.
 
On the flip-side of that, I do have a funny story about this joker we used to hunt with.:D This isn't related to your chukar story exactly, because the bird did die, but the guy just didn't realize it before making an azz of himself.

This joker would always brag about all the pheasants he had shot, but we hunted with him for several years and he would shoot boxes of shells and never get a single bird...

Anyway, the last year we ever hunted with him, he somehow managed to kill two roosters while walking a fence line. I can remember that our jaws all dropped to the ground. I would have bet heavy odds against him getting one bird, let alone two!!!

Anyway, the second bird was clearly head-shot. It was flapping its wings and kicking its legs on the ground, but the head and neck were limp. This guy thinks the bird is going to get away so he drops his gun and jumps on top of the bird like he's going to wrestle it. Then he picks it up, gives it a few lasso spins to break the neck, but it hasn't stopped moving yet. So then he twists the head around and around, but of course it is still flapping and kicking a little. So then (I swear this is true) he holds it by the neck and starts body-slamming it on the ground- imagine the motion of somebody splitting wood with an axe. He gives it a good four or five body slams, but it is still flapping a bit... So he walks back over to his gun, throws the bird down on the ground as hard as he possibly can, and proceeds to blow the head completely off at point-blank range!:eek:

Oh yeah, somewhere in that process he choked the bird for a while too, I think it was between the lasso spin and the head twisting...

Anyway, when we regrouped at the truck my other buddy and I were just biting our tongues and holding back the laughter. We wanted to be happy for the guy because he finally killed a bird, but at the same time... How do you NOT talk about something like that?:eek: So I said, "Way to go getting those two roosters, you're really shooting well today!"
And the guy says, "WTF was up with that second bird? That F***ing thing wouldn't die!"
So I say, "I've never seen anything quite like that...:rolleyes:"
And my other hunting buddy, who is never shy, says, "Look... that bird was dead when you picked it up, then you broke its neck for good measure. Everything you did after that was F***ing idiotic."
There was a very long, uncomfortable silence. And then I said, "Sometimes they flap and kick like that after you break the spine. Just stuff it in your game bag and keep going next time.":laugh:
 
OldDublin said:
Grab it by the back and squeeze....wings will beat, head will drop, let go.
Click to expand...

Yeah that usually does the trick and effectively shuts off the oxygen and blood supply to the brain and the bird just goes to never never land. I may take a minute or two, but it is effective.

As far as ripping their head off... We'll haven't you guys heard about chickens running around after having their heads lopped off? I forget what they call that, but it has something to do with the heart still pumping and nerves???

You guys may have seen this method perfected by Phil Robertson aka the Duck Commander: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c514RK3Ids4
 
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I pull the head off of every bird that shows signs of incomplete dispatch. I've had one fly out of my vest before so I like to make sure....
 
Man, you did your damndest to dispatch tha bird humanely. I prefer squeezing the bird behind the wings, collapsing its lungs. Within seconds the bird drops its head due to unconsciousness (and unconsciousness means it has no sensation of pain) and dies shortly.
 
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Went on a preserve hunt with my father over the christmas holidays. My 9-year old daughter loves to tag along and watch the pup hunt.

Daughter wears an orange hunting vest for safety while going with us and recently has asked to carry the birds. I always give the birds a thorough neck ringing and when obviously dead put them in my daughters vest.

This time I must have missed a sign of life. When we got back to the truck and were putting the birds on the tail gate I hear my daughter say "Daddy" in a very careful & slightly confused tone. Look up and there is my daughter and a very much alive bobwhite (clutched in both hands) having a stare down. Lucky for me she is a pretty resilient kid and has been hunting with us many times before. Didn't seem to effect her much even when I apologized, took the quail from her hands, turned my back and performed the above mentioned squeeze procedure.

Grandpa got a big kick out of the scene but mama was less than thrilled when the story was recounted at the supper table later that night.
 
My buddie was driving and I was almost asleep going down I90 in SD when a group of pheasants flew across the road, they all made but one big old rooster. We hit him with the very top of the roof line of the topper sending him high into the air and coming down so hard that it smashed the windshield of the State Trooper behnd us, man was he pissed--wrote my buddie up for flipping him the bird.:D
 
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Many of you have a lot more experience than I do, but I have found that breaking the neck/spine by holding the head and twirling the bird sharply around 2-3 times is 100 percent effective. The bird may flap for a little bit, but it's just nerves... It literally only takes 3 seconds or less and it never fails when done properly.

So... No offense, but why do it any other way? I'm just curious.

I have always done it the way I was first shown. Is there an even easier way?
 
For what it is worth I just step on the head, put all my weight on the ball of my foot which is on the head and twist about 45 degrees to the right. When I hear/feel the crunch I know it is over. I think that is as humane as anything.
 
surprises me how hard it seems here to kill a rooster

if I get one back alive I hold it under my arm and twist the neck 2 turns and hold it- soon quite dead
 
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