Use your bayonet when hunting deer and bear

George Larrabee in an article "The Flintlock Musket in War and Peace, Part III" (Muzzleloader Magazine, March/April 1982, page 47-50) said it might be a good idea to bring your bayonet along (if you have one for your Bess or Charleville) when hunting deer and bear.

He said: "Should you knock down a big game animal, you could reload (from a prepared cartridge) and fix your bayonet before approaching the beast - of course approaching so as not to be seen, so it won't jump up and run off if only stunned.  Probing at last, if it should suddenly jump up you can dispatch it with a round, but if you suffer a misfire, with the bayonet you can stab the beast to death instead of of springing back impotently to avoid its lashing hoofs or ripping claws.  The long blade and the musket it is affixed to will give you plenty of reach."

Maybe this is a good advice given the number of close calls and injuries sustained by hunters when approaching supposedly dead deer and bears, as documented in an article "Woods Sense and Wilderness Danger" by John Woolfolk (Muzzle Blasts Magazine, September 1999, page 51-54).