Finding your lost buck after time .......

Did I say the bolded part??..........if so please show me where..........if not please stop attributing quotes to me that I didn't say.

A wounded or lost deer is a failure, plain and simple. How anyone could label it a success on any level is a mystery to me.

Forgetting for a second that I never told anyone to be ashamed...............let's not pretend that what happens in the woods is "out of our control". Seeing as how WE are the ONLY ones that decide when and where our lethal projectile of choice is launched I would say we are in complete control.

The notion that we are all just innocent victims of circumstance and bad luck when things go bad in the woods may make some people feel better but it is pure BS.

We take all the credit when things go well.............but when it hits the fan suddenly we all become innocent bystanders.

 

It's not just you.


Well said.

 

I find it very impressive as well. That's an accomplishment in itself. But don't tell some people that. He may be called a liar by some.

 

A. I agree with this

B. I agree with this .... for most hunters

C. I would dare say that is not what I heard from everyone here, tho I sure do...

D. Again ... agreed

totally agree

 

Another good point. It always bothers me (somewhat cause I could kind of care less in a way) when people say "it happens to us all". Like atlas said we are in COMPLETE CONTROL of what happens. We are the ones that decide that the moment we shoot an arrow is the perfect moment to kill that deer. Was it?

First half of my bowhunting life I would not take a shot past 20 yards at a still deer in a wide open lane. I simply would not take anything than a perfect situation. Don't know why but I really did NOT want to lose a deer.....ever. And it worked. Can't even phathom how many shots I passed up that a lot of people would have taken. And you know what they/me probably would have killed the majority of them. Not saying anyone taking the shots I've passed are right, wrong or indiffferent. But that's quite the blanket assumption out there. Hell maybe I was wrong for passing up some of them.

Nowadays I've stretched my limits. I'm a zillion percent more confident with my shooting ability. Technology has come along way. I've become a better bowhunter. All of which allows me to be confident in shots that I probably wouldn't have taken in previous years. But .... the common denominator remains the same. Arrow leaves string = double lung dead deer (mindset anyway).

And no Jeff... before you jump in here calling me bowhunting Jesus or whatever you're coming up with these days that's not what it's about. I'm not proclaiming to be anything. In fact I still don't think I'm all that good at this game. More lucky and fortunate with the time I put in than knowledgeable (especially compared to the company in here). I'm just saying it is possible to have a VERY good recovery rate over hunting a lot of years without being a liar.

 

Not sure why the truth bothers you.

 

We all mess up shots and lose deer on occasion, ok 99.234% of us.

 

Christine,

You need to hunt in New York. The deer stand perfectly still....never duck, never dash, never bat an eye on a shot. It's a heck of a lot easier to distinguish competence from incompetence there.

New, you asked, "Why not beat yourself up about it?"

Well, what exactly did I do wrong-pray tell? What if your kid did nothing wrong and the deer eluded you until Xmas? The kid found him after searching everyday (after school) for a month? Is he still a failure?

Like in Christine's situation, if I could control every aspect of the hunt and I still screwed up, then I would have no problem with beating myself. Tell me where on this planet such a thing happens though?

That’s simple enough. It provides a launch platform for the next chain of events.

Did the Wright brothers stop trying and learning when their first glider crashed? Hell no. They refined the controls and the landing gear.... Wow, have you seen those jets we have today! That's something to celebrate!

Exactly! Every piece of the puzzle "gained" is a "positive". That translates into "success".



Come on Atlas, tell me exactly what Christine did wrong. She shot a deer and the bloody thing fell into a river. I shot a deer (with perfect arrow placement) and the buck was totally consumed by pigs. How is that a failure? Do-do happens! Find the rainbow and grow from the experience!

When you say "you" are you making reference to me? I didn't realize I shot something through the gut. Let's see, I've made a perfect shot on an impala. The PH refused to let me look for said animal. It was found four days later. This was an unfortunate situation over which I had no/zero control. I made a perfect shot on a desert mule deer. Pigs consumed the entire thing after I made the decision to back out until the morning (you’ve never done that?). I never found that deer. I did find the spot where the pigs ravished it though.

I shot a cow elk one time from five feet away. The arrow blew right through her chest-in and out both sides-lickety split. I never recovered her. What exactly did I do wrong? If I would have attempted a stupid shot, then you beat I would be upset with myself. That has never been the case…

A while back, Sticknstring1 presented a great photograph of a doe with an arrow wound on each sides of her chest (perfect shot placement by anyone’s standard). The picture came from a trail camera two weeks after he shot her. Again, what exactly did he do wrong?

Total anticipation…another day of connecting the dots…coming face to face with those things wild.

I never said that…

Yes, you should care, but that care should be taken prior to your arrival in the woods. If you do not want animals to get away adjust accordingly. Assess the risks involved! Do they move? Do they jump? Do they duck? Is this the right tackle? Is this tackle heavy enough? So on and so forth… Care enough to mitigate the risk as much as possible before hand.

It would be the end of a battle well fought- a battle where both gladiators refused to give up!

And if they did everything right, by the book?

See above……

If it’s found dead, then how can it be lost or wounded?

Chief, There's a huge difference between screwing up royally and doing everything right and experiencing misfortune. According to Atlas, these are one and the same.

 

Really? Did you ask the deer if it wanted to die? Ten bucks says you cannot sell that line to SticksnString1

 

You can tell the season is winding down....

 

Exactly New!! That's the point I've been trying to make all along. Failures can turn Into success for someone or some people. Depends on THAT person though If he/she learns from their or someone elses failures/misshapes.

 

I tried that back on page 2.

 

Or try hunting in fantasy land where nothing is EVER the hunter's fault........they are innocent victims of bad luck, circumstances beyond their control and always get praised for a job well done no matter how many animals they wound or lose.

Didn't recover a shot deer..........this thread is not about her so don't make it seem like people are singling her out. She knows she messed up, if she thought otherwise she wouldn't have started her thread by saying "I suck". Thankfully she is mature enough to accept responsibility for her actions and not blame them on mysterious forces beyond her control.

No recovery=failure. 100% List any reason you can think of and that won't change.

Yes.......I put "you" in a hypothetical situation because you said you wouldn't beat yourself up over losing an animal. Read it again it should make sense.

No recovery??............see above.

See above. If the shot placement was "perfect" she would have died quickly.

Wow.

What does that have to do with failure vs success? Commend their effort all you want but refusing to acknowledge and address failure is delusional. Some day when that kid is in college and they get a 40 on an exam they won't understand why the professor didn't congratulate them and the university won't give them a degree even though they did everything right, by the book.

 

Why not pat them on the back and say chit happens, and keep ones sarcastic remarks to ones self?

 

Were not talking about no recovery, were talking about recovery after the meat spoils This would only be true if your strictly a meat hunter, Just because you say so, don't make it so!

 

I'm pretty sure compairing a failed future collage exam to a trophy buck recoverd after the meat has spoiled is Delusional. Could be blamed on a over active imagination.

 

I'm done with trying to prove a point in this thread....

But out of shear curiosity Atlas, what are your thoughts on when people shoot a deer then give away the meat/carcass for whatever reason, whether it be donating it to a meat drive, giving it to a buddy, a family in need, someone more willing to take on the task, to save oneself hundreds and hundreds of dollars vs flying it all home....

I guess my question is are the people who find the deer in time for the meat to be edible but don't utilize it, are they failures as well?