Is it just me, or does it seem like there have been several poor hits made on deer this year? Seems like a new post is popping up every day about somebody not able to find their deer or making a really bad shot. I'm not trying to single anybody out or make anybody feel bad, I was just wondering if anybody else is noticing this.
Bad hits happen every year. I think maybe with the increase in new members more people are talking about it
Happens every year. More and more people on the forums every day so its going to seem more apparent. Nature of the beast. The best we can do is try to help find their deer and hope they, and everyone else learns from the experience.
Bumping them up too early after the shot is what makes me crazy. If you spend any amount of time at all learning this sport you should learn first and foremost to let the animal lay if you did not see it go down. I just don't understand how anyone misses that very basic lesson of this sport. It takes 10 seconds to google about tracking and recovery. Then, when they say, "I know I should have let the deer lay, but.....", then I just want to beat them with a hose. Or, maybe a ridge hand strike..... Rant over.....
I agree 100%. I don't think that near enough people shoot their bows during the season. They just shoot it all summer and call it good. There are a lot of things that can happen to your bow to make it hit somewhere other than where you intend. But, there are a few circumstances where it does become a bad hit from a good shot. Two that come to mind are an unseen branch or the deer taking a step forward as you release.
Look how many deer have hit the scoreboard compared to the bad hits. That's not the 50% success ratio per some crack head study that was on here not to long ago.
Most new bowhunters rush the shot. When most of the time they have plenty of time to wait to draw focus and make a good shot.
Great thread on here about retrieving your deer. I have been doing this a while & still found it VERY informative. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Agree with bumping the deer.... If I do not hear the tell tale crash, then I sit and continue to hunt.. If its at last light, I will quietly head back to camp and put my gear away. Relax and head back to look for the deer about an hour or so later.. Both of my deer this year have been found within 40-50 yards. And I attribute that to not getting on their tail right after the shot..
I had a deer last hear shoot blood out from his side like a busted fire hydrant. I watched him go into the thick stuff and I still waited about 45min. Then I made a call, and talked over the hit with a buddy, and what I observed. When I was on the phone, I saw another buck come bolting out of the area my buck went he ran across the river about 50 yards turned and looked back. At that point, I knew my deer was laying dead just inside the thick cover. Observe other deer in the area after a hit, they can tell you where your deer is laying. As far as the OP, no it doesn't seem like more than most years. the season is still early though. I'm sure there will be more.
I'm guilty of making a bad shot this year. Twin fawns were around my stand for maybe 10 minutes before I drew and placed an arrow through a 4" lane. I waited 30 mins and climbed down to inspect my arrow (pass through) sticking 4" in the dirt. Climbed back up and my buddy arrived 2 hours later. We picked up a huge 3-4 foot circle of blood at the foot of a major trail. At that point we are both thinking easy recovery...we were wrong. Tracking along the trail was fairly easy, but blood was starting to Peter out by the time we reached a bean field (still green). We lost blood for a long time, so I ranged out further, while my buddy looked close to last blood. I found blood 200 yards away from last blood near a dog leg in the bean field which contained a large switch grass bedding area. I glassed the switch grass from on elevated position...nada. We regrouped at last blood and a deer bolts out of the bean field and makes a John Deere leap at maybe 40 yards. My buddy says, that must be your deer. I said I saw it pretty good when it leaped and there was no blood. We continued looking for 3 more hours and packed it in for a late lunch. Lessons learned: - The lane was large enough to put an arrow through, but too small to get a good view of the kill zone. - The deer was mortally wounded and was bedding down not 40 yards from the hit...climbing down to inspect the arrow likely bumped her. - The deer that jumped out of the bean field was likely the twin of the deer I killed. The beans were nearly 4' high, but we should have pushed into the field near last blood where the deer jumped out. - It was only after returning home that I recalled a similar situation where a bumped deer lead us directly to a dead deer. My buddy killed a fawn that evening and we had to get it home and cut up fast because it was so warm. I killed a deer and failed to recover it...I now know that it was in all probability laying dead not 50 yards from last blood in the beans.
