Author Archives: TMM

Last night was not one of my best nights.  Mainly it was compounded by one very sad annoying fact.  A woman who loved animals wouldn’t just take the hint to drive on and leave.  It would have eased and prevented an extra 40 minutes of suffering.

Let me start at the beginning, on my way home I rounded a bend on the highway and at the top of a hill there was a car on the side of the road with it’s 4 ways on.  At the last minute I saw the yearling lying in the middle of the road and swerved to avoid it.  I immediately pulled in in front of the car, grabbed flares out of the tool box lighting them up.  Some how in the process I burnt a shirt lighting them.  

While laying out flares for the deer it became quite clear to me how the night was going to end.  Broken spine, blood dripping from it’s snout and mouth.  The deer was trying to stand up but it’s rear legs wouldn’t move.  It was a bad situation for the deer.

I told the woman driver to go ahead and go home and I’ll take care of calling it in and reporting it.  She insisted on sticking around.  So the option of just dispatching the deer and moving it off the road is now out since I’ve got a witness who won’t be supportive.  I call Whitcom, inform them of the location and what’s happened, they attempt to connect me with WSP.  Every time they transfer the call, the call was lost.  I call Whitcom back, inform them the call was lost, and ask for the number for the WSP office handling the incident.  They tell me not to worry about it and just stay away from the deer.  I tell them again the deer is in the highway, alive, attempting to move, and needs to be dispatched.  He tells me to just wait for the officer.

I now begin the wait in the cold, the deer is obviously in a lot of pain and attempting to pull itself off the road whenever a semi rolls by.  It eventually pulls itself off the road and rolls down the embankment.  Wailing as it tumbles over.  Now that it’s off the road I kick the flares off the road.  The woman gets out of her car to ask what happened.  I tell her and suggest that she just go home.  She suggests that WSU could take the deer, I know that will never happen.

A firefighter rolls up on his way home.  He calls in and gets authorization from State Patrol to dispatch the deer.  At this point he comes back with his revolver and the woman decides now is the time to leave.  One of us got authorization from the state for what needed to have been done 35 minutes earlier.  He fires one shot hitting the deer in the head.

About 45 seconds later the WSP officer arrives.  The firefighter informs him he just dispatched the deer.  The cop is elated because he won’t have paperwork for discharging his service arm.  At about this point the deer starts groaning again and thrashing.  Now often animals will go into the death throws but this wasn’t just the twitch of the nervous system shutting down.  The firefighter had already put his weapon back in his vehicle.  The officer said, “I’ll go grab the shotgun.”  Without missing a beat I said, “Would you like me to save you the paperwork?”  His response was, “That would be great.  Need a flashlight?”

I walk down with my tac-lite and pull my XD.  I plug two at the base of it’s brain stem with the second making a obvious entrance wound.  Immediately it falls dead silent and only one leg continues to have a minor twitch.  At this point it’s been about 40 minutes since I arrived on the scene.  The deer has been removed from any pain that it did have and the whole way home I was nothing but pissed off because it took 40 minutes to get me permission from the state to do what was ethically best for the deer.

Had the woman left I would have just dropped the deer and pulled it off the road into the ditch.  From talking to the officer after, had the dispatcher given me the number I would have been authorized to dispatch the animal.

Thanks to this whole mess, I now have the Colfax State Patrol number in my wallet.  This is by no means how I wanted to end up shooting my first deer.  Doubly so since I got to listen to it suffer for 40 minutes.  40 minutes of suffering for the animal so someone could feel like they’re being a good Samaritan trying to save it.  

Blogging might be a bit light today and tomorrow.  I really wish I had just killed that deer on the spot.

Earlier last week an article was printed authored by a fudd who ended up being a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.  That fudd has been thoroughly beaten to death and it does nothing to beat a horse further after death.

However often there are times when I wish celebrities would keep their mouths shut.  That way they won’t put their foot in their own damn mouth.  Today was one of those days.

It appears that Mr. Engvall is a fudd and doesn’t think people should own semi-automatic firearms.

First of all, firearms are not only used for hunting but for other purposes as well.  These purposes range from competitive sports to self-defense.  Note at the end he claims to support the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment completely.

Ahh, so now he believes in the rights of all firearms owners and just doesn’t care for the AK-47.  It appears though he has made that statement not with regards to full auto but semi-auto given his tweet to Michael stating he doesn’t need 60 bullets to shoot a deer.  While that is true, you may need two.  Depending on the game you’re hunting you may want 5 rounds immediately accessible to deal with a group of varmints.  Lastly what about the defense of your home and family.  We come back around to the variety of different purposes for a rifle.

His statement though hits harder and farther with me than most people.  For those who don’t know, The Minute Woman has radial nerve palsy
.  This limits the ability for her to lift and open her hand.  Given those limitations you can probably guess that for her to operate a bolt action rifle is a difficult exercise.  Doubly so given the multiple axes required to charge the weapon.  An AR-15, or any of my other semi-auto weapons she can handle and use with very limited effect from her disability.  With an AR-15 she can easily go hunting with me and shoot a follow up shot quickly and accurately.  Where as with a bolt action rifle the time and awkwardness of cycling the action makes a second shot almost impossible.  

My wife can enjoy hunting through the use of semi-automatic firearms.  A sport that Mr. Engvall likes and enjoys, but apparently he wishes those to enjoy it just like him, disregarding technology that makes the sport safer and more enjoyable.  Mr. Engvall I can hunt the muzzle-loader season, does that mean all modern cartridge firearms should be banned?  Or I could go even further and just hunt bow, should all firearms be banned then?

Mr. Engvall, you have provided ammunition to the enemy.  You have attacked the rights of fellow hunters and citizens, intended or not.  Lastly your statements and beliefs serve to remove many from the sport of hunting.  Given those three pieces of information it is obvious that statement was as idiotic as reaching down and grabbing a muffler after test driving a car.  Here’s your sign Fudd!

*It should be noted that he can redeem his position by realizing the contraindication in his statements and coming back to actually support the Second Amendment.  That will take more than words though, actual action will be required.

h/t Bitter

Given how depressing my State Sponsored Criminal Count is, I do try from time to time showing those who aren’t sponsored.  Sadly these stories roll through my inbox much less frequently.  However tonight I got one that is perfect to kick of the Accountabilibuddyable sister series to the State Sponsored Criminal Count.

I say accountabilibuddyable because the public has a responsibility to ensure that officers who misbehave are held accountable for their actions.

The rules are simple, a police officer has to do something wrong, either by breaking the law, or violating someones rights, and then be held accountable for their actions.  The more accountable, the better, this first one is down right awesome.

A former Oakland police officer must pay $40,000 out of his own pocket to two men who were illegally strip-searched in public and have already been awarded at least $100,000 apiece in damages.

(Emphasis mine)  Given how often and how easily qualified immunity is thrown around it’s rare you see an officer being held accountable for something he did.  Honestly I think he should have to repay back the funds to the city as well but I’m more than pleased to see at least this much of a result.

Officer Ingo Mayer has been held accountable for his actions.  More like this please!