x2 as I also do the same. Not just on mine but every animal someone else takes too If I'm with on the bloodtrail.
I've lost 3 3/4 deer in 5 years. 3/4 one coyotes got to within 4 hours of the shot. I knew it was a kill and got greedy for a double never again. 3 I've lost have been 2 shoulder hits and a gut shot. Last one I lost was 2009 season. 2010 and 2011. 2010 I had a deflection hit way back and sliced the femoral arteries, dropped within 30yds. Last year I was worried about camera mounted on bow and pulled the shot. She was bedded and nearly expired 20yds away 45 minutes later when I put a 2nd arrow in her. I've stated it numerous times, I don't have the luxury of leaving deer lay overnight. Anything on the ground longer than 3-5 hours will be scavenged by coyotes. For that reason I never hunt evenings on days when I work the next day and rarely do I sit until dark, deer are usually through the property by sunset anyhow I've successfully recovered 15 deer, 5 shotgun and 10 bow.
Actually thats a good example. He went over night and had to put a second arrow in him the next day. Didn't do the autopsy but the shot looked good so I'll never know why the second shot was needed. He was about done the next day but still moving around. Here's the hunt. A little long, its was the editors day off http://www.huntvids.com/video/3811/bow-hunt-for-nz-red-stag
Among others, four things 1) Realistic practice, from treestands, wearing your hunting clothes. Especially practice close shots. 2) Only shoot at relaxed deer. Too much can go wrong if a deer is nervous and ready to bolt any second. I just will NOT shoot at a nervous, alert deer any more. Some guys will tell you to aim low at a nervous deer anticipating the deer to drop. And what if it does not drop, you have a low hit. No thanks. 3)Only shoot if you KNOW you can make the shot. If it is not a "slam dunk" shot to you, don't take it, become a better shot first. From a stand, in my hunting clothes, I can keep 5" or so groups out to 50 yards, but it is not easy, not a "slam dunk". At 30yds however I can hit a baseball every time without effort, so THAT is my effective range. 4) Shoot does! The experience of doing is priceless.
its a life, no matter how you define, defend, or like it. The deer is a life and if we are to take that life we owe it every chance to be quick and ethical. So people just think that as long as you hit it the deer will die. That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. I don't think that the case with most of our threads on lost deer, but it does happen. I don't trust my eye sight past a 30 yard shot, and so I've passed on several deer at the 30 yard line (in the woods). I'm great at 30 with a target and also at 40, but I'd have to be complete blitz to take that shot on a deer (in the woods). open fields I feel 100% on taking a 30 yard shot. I've lost plenty of deer in my past. several of them were big bucks. One was when i was about 16 or so and I was on the ground at less then 20 yards perfect broadside shoot but I couldn't see my pins. I guessed and shot anyways. guess what no blood found arrow with no blood and I never saw that buck again. lessoned learned the hard way.
I would just like to say after just recently losing my first deer to a pulled shot, S#%T happens. I was completely confident in this shot but for reasons unknown to me I pulled the shot or the deer moved at the last second or maybe my string brushed my jacket to much.... Point is it doesn't matter. I would like to meet a person who has been hunting for a considerable amount of years and has never lost an animal. Also everyone needs to remember that wounded animal is not going to waste either. It could possibly survive and if not will become food for countless other animals in the woods.
But it does matter. You should at least try to figure out what you may have done wrong so that you can try to prevent it in the future. Yes, bowhunters lose deer but if they don't learn from each lost deer then there is a problem.
What I find atrocious is how many people lose deer in states that allow tracking dogs but don't utilize them, even when there are free services available... ( Just one's observation in the forums )
