I choked

[cspot]

That sucks. One of the toughest things to do is to wait after a shot before tracking. I still struggle with it. With a gut shot I usually try to give at least 12 hours. Liver shots can be funny too. Some die quickly and I have seen them alive 14 hrs after the shot.

 

[Lucky]

Like everyone said.. Its happened to all of us who have hunted long enough. Its a tough one to stomach, but it happens and youll learn from it. Like others have said , i doubt u miss on next one. Many others mite not have shared your story, but maybey it'll help get past it. It just wasnt meant to be. Sometimes there just not meant for you. Next one will be.

 

[switchhitter]

I told someone once "this year I'm gonna try to shoot one on the ground with a trad bow". his response was "Fuck yeah, gut shot a half dozen of them, You'll get the hang of it, its a blast!"

With that said, you have 5 more

Sickening
Worst post I have ever seen here



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[Jackalope]

Sickening
Worst post I have ever seen here

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You must not read much then. I can and have done better. Not to turn this into a ethics or morals thread but such is reality. To sit here and pretend otherwise is laughable. I can't think of a single archer who ever released an arrow intentionally gut shooting an animal. It does however happen, and quite often I might add. Far more than anyone cares to admit. It happens to gun hunters, compound, crossbow and trad hunters. It happens more when a person is just starting out but can still happen at any time. Any yahoo can go pickup a crossbow or compound from the shelves of wal-mart and be in the woods flinging arrows tomorrow. They can, and do, wound a lot of animals. While we all try to be as proficient as we can with our gear, it will and does happen. The potential for it to happen increases as we begin to push the limits of our skill and rely less on gadgetry such as we do with that gear. Creamer was drilling the foam consistently in the yard but ended up wounding the first one. Shit happens, shit will happen again, that's a risk we take. We can either site here and pretend it doesn't, or that its some astronomical sin that it happens, or we can be honest and admit that it happens, learn from reality, and move then hell on to shoot at the next one that we fully intend not to shoot in the gut.

I took his statement to me as an honest upfront piece of advice. If you want to push the limits of your skill you better be prepared to fuck it up, because you will, many times.

 

[finelyshedded]

Hang with it Jeff and don’t be too hard on yourself. We all as hunters have done it at one time or another. From my view, had that doe came by 15 minutes later she’d be in your freezer now as well as you’ve been shooting this summer. Good luck the rest of the season...

 

[Dustinb80]

Sickening
Worst post I have ever seen here



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You haven't looked around much then have you?

 

[cotty16]

That sucks. One of the toughest things to do is to wait after a shot before tracking. I still struggle with it. With a gut shot I usually try to give at least 12 hours. Liver shots can be funny too. Some die quickly and I have seen them alive 14 hrs after the shot.

That's the truth! It is so hard to wait to track.

Sorry to hear about the lost doe. As others have said, we've all been there and it's a shitty feeling.

 

[Big_Holla]

That sucks. One of the toughest things to do is to wait after a shot before tracking. I still struggle with it. With a gut shot I usually try to give at least 12 hours. Liver shots can be funny too. Some die quickly and I have seen them alive 14 hrs after the shot.

That's the truth! It is so hard to wait to track.

Sorry to hear about the lost doe. As others have said, we've all been there and it's a shitty feeling.

I agree, that is part of the learning when it comes to tracking. I'd say the only thing that could have been done better in this situation would have been patience. Recognizing the hit as one that was back and the resulting blood dictated waiting. That is where pages and posts like this are good for learning and a great reminder if in doubt, back out. 10-12 hours and that deer might have been there in the bed. Shit does happen though and we all make mistakes to learn from.

 

[Jackalope]

That's the truth! It is so hard to wait to track.

Sorry to hear about the lost doe. As others have said, we've all been there and it's a shitty feeling.

I've always said "its not where you hit em, its how long you give em that matters.

And before someone gets their panties in a bunch thinking I'm condoning just flinging one and then waiting. What I'm saying is waiting the appropriate amount of time is critical, more so than the location even. Even with a nothing but guts hit a good 9 hour wait will usually produce that deer dead in a bed within a couple hundred yards. Providing nothing bumps them.

 

[giles]

I had a thread something like this a couple of years ago. I was torn down because it happened twice in a row. These guys built me back up and I didn’t want to listen. I had zero motivation to go out. I ended up buying new equipment and everything because I no longer had faith in my equipment or myself. I basically started over and these guys coached me. In the moment, I couldn’t believe these guys were telling me to go back out...I was ready to sell everything and stop hunting.

Later that same year I killed a BB the day before the season was out and a nice 8 point on the last day. That BB might rate higher than my first kill in the memory bank. I’m sure most members here remember this story. I took a lot to get me back out.

I guess what I’m saying is, take it at your own pace. Put some tension on that string and if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That second failure ain’t worth it. Trust me.

 

[Chass]

Dont worry dude. I whiffed one last night. Nearly positive I only hit one lung. If it was both I don't see him making it as far as he did. Gave him 3 hours, blood was easy to trail until it vanished. Called it quits then. Went out this morning. Couldnt find anything past where I lost it so started meandering his line, then grid searching. Stumbled across more blood, not nearly as easy to trail. Was mostly following his tracks coming across a spot here and there. Lost it again so started looping around and around. As I called it quits and started back to the house found a bed with next to no blood on it right before an ATV trail, he was still on his normal line. Couldnt find another drop after. Followed his line all the way down to the road well over a half mile. Swung back around followed the creek back. Then started grid searching everything north of last blood. Never found the rest of my arrow either.

Hopefully you dont mind me sharing this here, not trying to hijack just throwing it out there that it happens to us all. Doesnt even matter what implement you use. Now let's get back in the horse.

 

[Chass]

I had a thread something like this a couple of years ago. I was torn down because it happened twice in a row. These guys built me back up and I didn’t want to listen. I had zero motivation to go out. I ended up buying new equipment and everything because I no longer had faith in my equipment or myself. I basically started over and these guys coached me. In the moment, I couldn’t believe these guys were telling me to go back out...I was ready to sell everything and stop hunting.

Later that same year I killed a BB the day before the season was out and a nice 8 point on the last day. That BB might rate higher than my first kill in the memory bank. I’m sure most members here remember this story. I took a lot to get me back out.

I guess what I’m saying is, take it at your own pace. Put some tension on that string and if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That second failure ain’t worth it. Trust me.

Bout 6 years ago when I lived in athens still, I did it two nights in a row as well. Same exact stand, same exact time. Nearly identical bucks. Stepped out at the same spot. Drilled both in the shoulder I messed those up myself but even when we do everything right it can still happen.

 

[giles]

Bout 6 years ago when I lived in athens still, I did it two nights in a row as well. Same exact stand, same exact time. Nearly identical bucks. Stepped out at the same spot. Drilled both in the shoulder I messed those up myself but even when we do everything right it can still happen.

I remember that. I mostly remember you looking at the ground telling the story while dad and I ate all your jerky

 

[Cogz]

Sickening
Worst post I have ever seen here



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I don’t want to pile on, but have to say that Jackalope wasn’t advocating gutshots or celebrating wounded deer. It was an ode to the trials and tribulations of this sort of hunting. To say “not the last time it’s going to happen young man”. It’s sickening to think about wounded animals, yes, but the post wasn’t celebrating that at all, just being truthful and honest with someone during a difficult time. Better than sugar coating it.

 

[Chass]

I don’t want to pile on, but have to say that Jackalope wasn’t advocating gutshots or celebrating wounded deer. It was an ode to the trials and tribulations of this sort of hunting. To say “not the last time it’s going to happen young man”. It’s sickening to think about wounded animals, yes, but the post wasn’t celebrating that at all, just being truthful and honest with someone during a difficult time. Better than sugar coating it.

Agree, not sure why anyone would take that literally. I believe he was just trying to bring the spirits up of someone who wasnt successful and probably is kicking himself for it. Same as telling your kid to get back on his bike and go get some more cuts and bruises. You dont really wish your kid to get hurt, but you know mistakes will occur while learning to ride and you're letting them know now that its okay and has happened to us all.

 

[Cogz]

Agree, not sure why anyone would take that literally. I believe he was just trying to bring the spirits up of someone who wasnt successful and probably is kicking himself for it. Same as telling your kid to get back on his bike and go get some more cuts and bruises. You dont really wish your kid to get hurt, but you know mistakes will occur while learning to ride and you're letting them know now that its okay and has happened to us all.

I just went back to page 1 and it looks like someone else had a similar interpretation. We all think and feel the same way, but a couple of us interpreted it differently. No harm no foul, nobody attacking anyone, just a couple misinterpretations which is bound to happen when you’re not face to face. Still better than Twittergram

 

[Schu72]

I would certainly recommend finding and establishing a relationship with a local deer tracking houndsman. You never know when you will need one. Even tracking a doe will keep the dog working and some $$ in the trackers pocket.

 

[Chass]

Was thinking about archery hunting on my 3rd trip to the DontDoItCenter today. And how good we have it now, could you imagine persisting on archery hunting with traditional equipment that someone you know personally made it all from bow to arrowhead. I wonder how many deer and other critters natives stuck with archery equipment and just gave up and moved onto the next one. I'm sure they also had excellent trackers but you have to think of it like they did, risk vs reward. I dont see them spending an entire day trying to find one animal. They most likely said screw it and moved onto the next one and didnt beat themselves up on it like we do. Poor shots might of not even been followed up on. Better chance to just find another animal. Now I'm not saying we should all start doing this, just damn do we have it easy.

 

[Jamie]

I don’t want to pile on, but have to say that Jackalope wasn’t advocating gutshots or celebrating wounded deer. It was an ode to the trials and tribulations of this sort of hunting. To say “not the last time it’s going to happen young man”. It’s sickening to think about wounded animals, yes, but the post wasn’t celebrating that at all, just being truthful and honest with someone during a difficult time. Better than sugar coating it.

nobody thinks he was advocating gut shots. making a joke like that about it is crass and is in extremely poor taste in my estimation. nothing even remotely funny about it at all. seems to me we should be considerably more dignified about such things.

 

[Cogz]

nobody thinks he was advocating gut shots. making a joke like that about it is crass and is in extremely poor taste in my estimation. nothing even remotely funny about it at all. seems to me we should be considerably more dignified about such things.

Seems like a very strange reaction to me.