I didn't recover 2 deer this year. one i got on video, one i did not. Both times, i miss-judged the range...plain and simple. These were the first two deer i ever lost in my 7 years of deer hunting.
Fess up and hope to be able to learn from what happened. Chances are, I did something that caused the shot to be off location. Rushed it, flinched when the trigger got pulled, etc. And hopefully be able to laugh at the situation later on. I don't like wounding an animal, then not being able to recover it because of my mistakes, but realise that once in a while it does happen. If it's a lean miss, though, I try to figure out what I did wrong, get a chuckle out of my inabilities, and move on...
I would have to go with choice A. And nobody else should be saying otherwise. Because if you picked choice b its your fault for not taking care of your equipment. If you pick choice c then you shouldn't be bowhunting with out knowing if your Broad head can do the job. And if you pick choice d then you made a wrong decision in shooting, because you chose to shoot at a alert deer or a deer that is to far away for your arrow to hit the mark in time. Please nobody take this to offence this is just me ranting.
Hell yes I'd own up. I've wounded one animal (Mn Bear). I dropped my bow arm after I shot, no ones fault but my own. To many people shove the blame somewhere else It seems.
I'll buck the current. There are times when losing or missing an animal can be out of your control. Those times are extremely rare. But they exist. Calm feeding animals can duck at very close ranges. Even those with the absolute best vision can't see some limbs small enough to defelct a shot. What makes the big determination is when a miss or mistake is made, admit the real cause & do everything needed to keep(or drastically reduces the chances) of it ever happening again.
I own up, no questions asked. I have had one thus far and it came last year. It's still an unknown. I wish I could, as Duke says it "let go" of it, but I still catch myself looking for him even though others think he is aliveand well.
I've made all sorts of mistakes/idiot moves in my bowhunting exploits. At the very least I try not to repeat the really stupid ones and at best hope to learn to anticipate/avoid making future mistakes. I've had arrows go astray from smacking my top limb on stuff, bottom limb on stuff (44" ATA compound). Hit a branch that was right in front of my arrow when the bow was drawn but below my line of sight. (duh) Nearly taken my boob off shooting at too sharp a downward angle. (actually I think I hit the woodchuck I was aiming at but, honestly, what I remember was jumping all around in pain.) Anyhow, nowadays, I'm pretty darn picky with my shoots. I could blame floods and locusts and plagues for an errant arrow, but in the end, I'm the one that dropped the string.
It depends... Most of the time it is my fault. But I can see how in some instances something else may end up with the blame... The last (both of 2) deer I lost, was because it was a bad shot. In normal circumstances, I would be able to give fair chase. In this case, I could not because there was a Federal property across the road, and they won't let you tresspass to retrieve, unless you can physically see the downed animal from the roadway. Even then it is touchy, on if they will even come out to give permission. I did almost loose my first deer ever, but I was lucky enough to have spoken to the neiboring property hunter. He found him after sunup, about 20 yds behind his lawn chair (rifle hunter). He came over to get me and my dad. It was still warm, so from what they said, it looked like he curled up that night, and passed in his sleep. Like I said, my first deer. I was extreemly heartbroken about that. It was undoubtly hunter error. I hit a twig that I didn't see, and ended up too far back. Never had problems with "C". All of my arrows have been pass throughs.
We are the ones making the shot. If equipment fails it's our fault for not checking it probably. No excuses it does happen and if you hunt long and often enough there is a good chance it will happen.
We all pull the trigger/string, definitely our fault. Once in a blue moon a deer might duck under, but far & few between. Put the blame on my fingers.
I'm just surprised at how many people unequivically took 100% of the responsibilty here regardless of situation, yet you see SOOOO many threads where people list a million & one excuses as to why it wasn't their fault. Maybe I am just used to HNI having a MUCH more varied population distribution. Plus I feel that there are occasions where the outcome is out of your control...granted they are very few & very rare, but they exist. Almost nothing is ever 100%.
I have lost 4 deer in my life. I cannot think of one that could not have been avoided with better decision making on my part. They were all either A. Just bad shot placement or B. Taking a shot I knew better than to take (deer was spooked or bad angle).
It's kind of like this..... If you have killed deer with a set up and then shoot one with it and you don't find it...can you say then that it was the set up?? Braodhead? Bow? not enough KE?? etc.. Or you could say...it was a bad shot angle, a rushed shot, deer was was quartering too away or too forward, etc...could it be YOUR fault? I have killed deer with a set up- muzzy head, 70 lbs, whatever, and then I have shot deer with it and not found them... it wasn't the set up at all....it was my BAD. 100% of the time it was my fault not anything else.. I shot 2 deer in the guts, I shot one in the shoulder socket, I shot one in the hind quarter, and one in the tenderloin...all my fault, b/c when I made good shots with the set up I was perfect with it.
I like this thread, because I always find it odd when people blame everything under the sun besides themselves. I've thankfully never lost a deer, yet. I nearly lost a doe that ducked dang near a foot on the shot (which I have on slow mo video) and resulted in a spine hit, I got lucky...and I know it. Would that have been my fault? That is more along the lines of my fault/out of your hands. Maybe I should have noticed it was on high alert although appearing relaxed, Maybe I should have shot a tad lower (my shot would have been a hair high even if it stayed perfectly still), but when its all said and done...I have NO ONE to blame but myself. If I am the blame, I will admit it. If something else TRULY is the blame of a situation, I'm not against bringing that up either.
