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shooting deer....

Discussion in 'Bowhunting Talk' started by michaelp, Jul 13, 2009.

  1. michaelp

    michaelp Die Hard Bowhunter

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    To avoid a hijack of how long would you hold out for a buck I want to start a new thread on this...do you need to kill deer to learn to kill deer???

    I got a buddy of mine into bowhunting 2 years ago...he got all the latest and greatest equipment and shot with me for 3 months straight. Inside 40 yards he could smoke my 3-d target at any unknown yardage, or hit the small orange dots I put on my block...he was as ready as any hunter I have seen for such a short period of time. He started living and breathing deer. His 3rd hunt, 12 yard chip shot on a doe, smoked her right...well I could never find blood and he could only remember the area he heard her run to. I spent all night until around 4 Am on a work night looking for that deer and most of the next evening as well. Several months later I went to help him pull a stand and stumbled upon her less than a hundred yards from the stand. The yotes had taken care of everything except the arrow and some hair. The deer would have been easy to find if he had me looking in the right derection:bash: I cannot help but think that several kills would help the other essentials we often overlook, where did I hit, which way did the deer run, did it turn...etc. He later told me that he did not remember the shot, looking for the impact or watching the deer. He simply expected the doe to drop in sight because he knew he hit her "good". Imagine this scenario being 5 years down the road on the buck of a lifetime, if he has killed plenty by then I think he handles it differently and finds his own deer...he killed the deer and could not find it because he got excited and forgot to watch it all the way...

    So what are your thoughts, do you need to kill deer to know how to kill deer???
     
  2. michaelp

    michaelp Die Hard Bowhunter

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    Agreed Jeff, I am of the opinion you need to kill em to learn to kill em. My buddy referened above had never shot a deer with a bow, he got a nice buck on camera and said it's that deer or bust. I told him more power too him, but I would personally kill any deer until it started to become second nature.
     
  3. Vabowman

    Vabowman Grizzled Veteran

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    Have to kill em and kill em often in my opinion if you are allowed by your local...We can shoot all the does you want here in Va and that's what i do a lot of the times with the decent buck mixed in.. There is no substitute for shooting, tracking and recovering an animal. The more you have done it the better you become and then you can slow down a bit after several under the belt... when I shoot an animal I watch the animal after the shot until it's gone then I listen and then I wait. It usually ends up being a short track job if go to the last place I actually saw the deer and take my time.
     
  4. virginiashadow

    virginiashadow Legendary Woodsman

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    I believe hunting is like any other physical activity. You have to practice, then put your practice into play over and over until you become proficient. I remember playing football and hitting the practice dummy over and over and really drilling him good. Does the skill of running up to a 150 pound practice dummy and hitting it with great form translate into tackling a 230 pound fullback running as fast as a cannonball? No. The practice was great on the dummy that did not move, yet the experience gained by actually tackling those monster fullbacks is what made my skills increase to a proficient level. I would not have become a good tackler if I just would have said "just wait until I hit that fullback" over and over and not doing, as compated to actually getting into the game and making the tackle in a live environment.
     
  5. rybo

    rybo Grizzled Veteran

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    I thought about this for a little while…I’ve always been an advocate that a new person should shoot the first legal game that gave them an opportunity. Actually shooting at an animal whether you miss, kill or wound will teach you more about shooting at an animal than letting it “walk” will. NOW that doesn’t mean to say that someone who’s never killed anything isn’t capable of making a shot, BUT there is no substitute for actually killing an animal in regards to gaining THAT particular piece of experience.

    With the amount of information available today via internet, video, print, etc the learning curve can be reduced a little bit in some situations for a new guy, but a lot of it still has to be seen/experienced to learn it.

    I think a lot of people are very touchy with this subject but just because we are saying that killing an animal makes you better prepared to do so, doesn’t mean that we feel those guys who have passed on numerous animals will automatically crumble when they finally attempt to do.
     
  6. Txjourneyman

    Txjourneyman Die Hard Bowhunter

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    How can you learn how a deer reacts when hit unless ya hit it?
     
  7. GABowhunter

    GABowhunter Moderator

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    When I first started hunting my cousin drilled into my head to watch the deer as long as possible after the shot. With that said when I came down the tree I had trouble remembering exactly where I had seen it last. I remembered it the next time though.
     
  8. kickin_buck

    kickin_buck Weekend Warrior

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    The only possible way to learn how to keep your head in the game when taking a deer is by actually taking deer. I do not fault your friend for what happened. He is a rookie and is going to make rookie mistakes. Once he gets some kills/years under his belt, it will all start to become second nature.
     
  9. Cooter/MN

    Cooter/MN Grizzled Veteran

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    Certainly the more you do something...the more proficient you should become at it.

    Being a good shot doesn't mean you know how to hunt.
     
  10. Dr Andy

    Dr Andy Weekend Warrior

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    X2
     
  11. Rut Junkie

    Rut Junkie Weekend Warrior

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    I do not think you need to kill deer to learn. And in the same breath I would say that you need to kill deer to learn how to control your emotions. Really you do not have to kill deer, those lesion can also by learn be shooting small animal too.
     
  12. virginiashadow

    virginiashadow Legendary Woodsman

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    Rut..take this for example. A man practices Tae Kwon Do and spars in his local gymnasium against other well padded individuals for years. Now that same man says one day, "you know what, I am going to fight in the next mixed martial arts event in a couple of weeks and I am ready!". Do you really believe that?
     
  13. BowHuntingFool

    BowHuntingFool Grizzled Veteran

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    Good point TX!


    In my eyes, there's no substitute for actually shooting at or killing a deer. You can read, watch TV, DVD's or you-tube all you want but you need to kill a deer with your bow to gain the experience. JMO.
     
  14. Double Creek

    Double Creek Weekend Warrior

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    Is this really being discussed? Of course you have to kill multiple deer with a bow before you even have a clue what is going on. It really wouldn't be an issue except you have guys on an internet forum who have only killed a handful of deer but all of sudden want the same respect someone like GregH gets.. Typical instant gratification society.
     
  15. Rut Junkie

    Rut Junkie Weekend Warrior

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    Sure that man is ready to go fight. The question is how he will do in the fight. I think at that point is where he learns about himself. And I am sure in every fight he will learn something new. If he loses every fight is he still not a fighter?
    My point is that you can learn a lot about deer hunter without killing deer. You will not learn everything you need in a book or forum. The hunter will need to hunt to learn about themselves and how they will perform under the pressure of killing a deer. Yes, I think a bow hunter must kill deer and hunt to become a better bow hunter.
     
  16. Rut Junkie

    Rut Junkie Weekend Warrior

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    Do you get respect for shooting big deer? Or do you get respect for being a good hunter?
     
  17. virginiashadow

    virginiashadow Legendary Woodsman

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    "Sure that man is ready to go fight. The question is how he will do in the fight. I think at that point is where he learns about himself. And I am sure in every fight he will learn something new. If he loses every fight is he still not a fighter?"

    If the goal is to win the fight, then he is not ready. If you want to just enter into the fight and get your behind handed to you, then yeah he is "ready" to fight.

    That being said, I DO NOT care what other people do or how they hunt. I care not to judge anyone, but if we are speaking about reality then I am sticking to my argument that to become proficient at killing deer and everything involved with killing a deer....then you must kill deer many times over.
     
  18. buttonbuckmaster

    buttonbuckmaster Grizzled Veteran

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    Matt Hughes was on a hunting show last week (don't remember what show) on his first bowhunt ever. As a matter of fact, he just got his bow the same day of the hunt. Dozen or so practice shots later, he killed a really nice buck. Did he have experience bowhunting? Nope. Did it work for him just the same? I'd say so. It can be as simple as "see deer, shoot deer", we are all guilty of making this much harder than it has to be.
     
  19. Double Creek

    Double Creek Weekend Warrior

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    Both... Then again, I don't know any good hunters that don't kill deer?
     
  20. virginiashadow

    virginiashadow Legendary Woodsman

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    Matt Hughes and other celebrities hunt in some incredible areas where the deer appear to be stupid and easily killed. I have seen it on hunting videos time and time again where a celebrity joins up with a bigtime hunter and they put that guy onto a 400 acre farm they haven't hunted in 2 years during the peak of the rut. That really may be a "see deer shoot deer" type of environment. 99.9% of the hunting community doesn't have the ability to hunt those type of environments.
     

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