Sadly, I dont think he is a troll. I think he is completely sincere and I am afraid there are a lot more of these guys out there than we want to know. Some are just young, others are just clueless. You can help the young ones. You cant fix stupid.
Alright, if this is a serious post, then lets try to prevent this again. Or at least help a new hunter that may read it. I'm not a a-hole all the time, you know. Bad hits happen in bowhunting. Its just part of the game. If you make a bad hit, wait a minimum of 4 hours. Depending on the weather, 8 hours would be better. When you do begin tracking, track slow. Bring another set of eyes if possible, and have your bow with you (if legal hunting hours). Always scan ahead of you looking for the deer if bedded. If you find it alive, try to back out if you don't have a clear shot. Jumping a bedded deer would be a big mistake here. If you do jump a bedded deer, back out. Mark the area and back out as quietly as possible. Depending on the deer's condition and how long it was from the original hit, you will need to wait at least a couple more hours. If you lose the blood trail, you will need to start a grid search. You are looking for either blood, or the deer itself. Slowly cover the entire area, including backtracking. If nothing turns up, search the most obvious places a wounded deer would run in your area. Water, thickets, bedding areas, etc. Some side notes...deer have usually lost less blood than you think. A half pint of blood looks like a lot when its spattered here and there. In reality, a half pint of blood really isn't that much. A deer can easily survive that if the wound itself is not fatal. The amount of blood loss you see really isn't a great indication if the deer survived. Sometimes a lower leg hit can leave a great blood trail, and the deer is just fine. Other times, the deer is bleeding a lot internally and leaves very little in terms of a blood trail. I made a quartering away shot on a doe that dropped within sight (ran about 40 yards). I followed her path and did not find a speck of blood. The deer could die of organ failure, or a septic wound, while bleeding very little. More side notes...it may not be a popular opinion, but they are just deer. If you tried your best kill the deer, and then your best to recover it, don't beat yourself up. If you made mistakes, learn from them. I don't believe in remorse and all that other crap. This is hunting. Hunt ethically and do your best to make quick/clean kills. If things don't go your way, its not the end of the world. Best remedy for making a bad shot is to make a good one. You can make a good kill on a deer if you are sitting at home sulking. Sulking is the worst thing you can do.
Well said Vito. I have ran into a couple people over the years that wanted to get into hunting so badly but if they didn't know anyone who hunted, it can be quite the challenge to learn. At that point, asking questions like this is the only way to learn the right way to do things.
I don't know about you guys, but I can't help it. I'm hardly worried about ethics and all that crap, as when it comes to killing stuff, I probably stop more heartbeats in a week's time around the farm than most do in a year. Yet I still feel like **** for days after losing a deer. I can't help it. I constantly think about what happened, and how I'll do it different if that situation presents itself again. That ****ty feeling is what makes me calm down and be patient in the stand. It's not so much that I'm caring about there being a deer suffering or something... but its more of the other stuff. Like what if someone finds that deer, and it's got an arrow hanging out of it or a broadhead hole through it? Then there is the "you idiot, you've been bowhunting 15 years and you can't put a shot together?!?!?" factor. For whatever reason, and a combination of all reasons... if I lose a deer I feel disgusted with myself for days. I'll usually look for the deer for days, doing grid searches and circular searches. I'll sit in the area and scout live deer just to see if I can find one injured. I'm even disgusted when other people lose deer. It's just something that I pride myself on as a hunter. I do not want to lose deer.
And there is nothing wrong with that, or that feeling you have in your gut when you lose a deer. You have to get over it though and get back out there. I see hunters talk about hanging up the bow and not hunting for a while. Thats fine too, hunting isn't for everyone, but I still believe getting back out is the best cure. Its bowhunting. Lost deer happen. If a hunter did everything "right", and still lost a deer, I certainly wouldn't be "disgusted" about it. Taking poor shots and making tracking mistakes when they know better, is a different story.
Thanks Vito. I think its absurd that you all were not even present for this situation and still feel the need to get worked up over it. No, I did not give every detail of my search or feelings because that was not the question. I asked a simple question and was looking for a simple answer. If it really matters to you all I'm an accomplished hunter and this is the first deer that I have ever lost, and do in fact feel quite poorly about it.
You are absolutely right on that. Quit bowhunting? If that thought even enters a person's mind, maybe they should quit! My point was that feeling crappy about losing one is perfectly natural and any good hunter should feel that way when it happens.
