Murder Scene

@Observing: Perhaps especially for wild ones --though I do think most people would try to avoid hitting animals like this if for no other reason than to avoid damaging their vehicles. However, we encroach so deeply upon their habitat that this is inevitable. Fortunately, I have never hit a deer, or any other animals so far as I know, but I've come close a few times, when coming home at night on a rural road, a deer has darted out in front of me. During the winter I sometimes see them along the road in herds --and they tend to freeze in the headlights, even when they're in the middle of the road.

@Julian Kilsby: I was probably there trying to get what I wanted for long enough to convince my wife, who was waiting in the car, that I have truly gone off. None of the other shots seemed to convey the same feelings; or they were considerably more gruesome without making any particular point.

@Margie: Thank you. As gruesome as it appears to be here I don't think it conveys just how disturbing the actual scene was. Normally when I come across a sight like this the animal is long dead and shows signs of scavengers. Although the buzzards in Monday's shot were nearby waiting for me to leave, I don't think any scavenging had taken place, and I had the sense the animal had only recently been killed. What's worse is that, for reasons that are gruesome enough not to go into, I had the impression that this animal did not die from the initial impact from a vehicle, and may have suffered quite awhile before dying. Thankfully it was not alive and suffering when I arrived. However, my thoughts of its possible suffering troubled me greatly.

@bm: Thank you.

@JoeB: It's mostly deer and smaller animals like possums, armadillos, and raccoons that I see dead along the road. At night around here, especially in the winter, I sometimes even see deer in herds along the side of the road, but in the entire time I've lived here, I've only seen Javelina's from my car twice: here, and once inside a fence about two weeks before this was taken. I guess it's possible that some change in habitat is forcing them more out in the open.

@Alun Lambert: Thanks.

@Anthony: That's interesting. I'm not aware of any such law anywhere in the US. Does that law apply only to boars, or all animals of a particular size, or all animals? I have a Great Dane and when I think how he was bred in Germany to hunt animals like this I have a very hard time picturing him doing it --though I have had the very disagreeable task of having to make him give up a possum and an armadillo he caught in our yard at night.

@danthro: As gruesome as it appears to be here I don't think it conveys just how disturbing the actual scene was. Normally when I come across a sight like this the animal is long dead and shows signs of scavengers. Although the buzzards in Monday's shot were nearby waiting for me to leave, I don't think any scavenging had taken place, and I had the sense the animal had only recently been killed. What's worse is that, for reasons that are gruesome enough not to go into, I had the impression that this animal did not die from the initial impact from a vehicle, and may have suffered quite awhile before dying. Thankfully it was not alive and suffering when I arrived. However, my thoughts of its possible suffering troubled me greatly.

@Mortola: That effect probably came from my flash. If I ever get good I'll be able to plan results like that in advance.