jhalfhill

don't llisten to this guy, he's just being on of those "oh my goodness dont harm a hair on their head" kinda guy. i've made the same shot twice and got both bucks. go back in te morning and give it your all you should find him. id say he went no further than 300 yards before bedding back down. ill tell you about my 2 situations.

1st had an 8 pointer walkin into a shooting lane so i drew. just as he got to the lane he walked directly at me. its thik where i hunt so my lane was at 10 yards. he closed into 5 and im only 12 feet off the ground. knowing i couldnt get a shot if he passed me, i put the pin at the center of the white spot on his neck and let him have it. now how the hell i didnt cut his windpipe in half ill never know, but he ran a little over 300 yards with really good blood.

other time i went for right between the 2 shoulders. hit a little left and the deer never bled, but he made it about 70 yards before getting hung p on some grape vines

wvbowhntr

Well that makes me feel better. Again I'm just uneasyand i've never had to wait overnight for a deer. If I would have been in my stand I would have let him pass and waited for another shot, but I was on the ground....not much of a choice in that situation. I much prefer a broadside double lung shot anyday. Thanks for all the help and i'll keep you guys posted.

Greg / MO

You've got to be kidding me!?! A "don't harm a hair on their head kinda guy?" I sit 70-80 days on stand per year for the express intention of killing deer. What I don't condone is stupid shot selection. Sounds like you do.

Ethical bowhunters never take such a shot. wvbowhntr sounds like he's fairly new to bowhunting at least, and allowed his emotions to get to him. You, on the other hand, brag about and condone such shots? Incredible. May you never end up in a hunting camp with me.

wvbowhntr

Actually, i've been bowhunting for 7 years. Again, I never take a shot like this but considering the circumstances and equipment (I shoot a buckmasters G2, 70 lb, carbon express terminator hunter select 6075with 100 grain rocky mountian snypers) I thought it would have been a decent shot. Maybe a mistake on my part. That's why I backed out and came here to seek some opinions. We'll see what happens...

atlasman

You say you took the shot because you feared he may walk right past you??

So what???........so he walks......there are plenty of deer out there.

What if the only shot he offered you was a Texas Heart Shot???......Would you have taken that one too just because it was the only one available??

If all you have is a head on shot............you have no shot. Sometimes the deer win......accept it and move on. Don't take stupid shots and then try to justify them.........there is no good reason to take the shot you did.

Hopefully you will find him and this will not be a total disaster.


Why people take shots they KNOW are bad is beyond me.

wolfen68

No doubt it is not an ideal shot and is not one I would want to be faced with...I probably would have held until he turned broadside or busted me. It could likely kill the deer but it also likely won't be quick and anytime that is the case you run the risk of losing the animal entirely. Good luck and lesson learned.

DaveC

Good shot or bad, I'll leave that to other to discuss.

This should ease your mind a little though- I witnessed a 160" buck brought into camp wearing the same wound you described. The hunter was fairly new to the sport and this was his 3rd harvest & didn't know this shot wasn't ideal. They said the blood trail was spotty at best, but his buck piled up within 150 yards.
He was using a jennings buckmaster looking bow with rocket sidewinders.

Good luck to you in the morning
Why wait until 10:30?? Whatever is holding you up can certainly be skipped or postponed for something of this magnitude.

wvbowhntr

Thanks for the input and encouraging words. I definitely won't be taking this shot again. Just in the moment it seemed like the thing to do, but I agree, not so good after thinking about it. Guess I was thinking it was a better shot than it actually was.

The reason I have to wait til 10:30 is that I have a huge test in my capstone class for my management degree (i'm studying for it now, or trying to actually, probably going to be an allnighter since I can't sleep anway)...otherwise, i'd be skipping class and everything else. I'm leaving straight from class and going to look for him.

In reply to atlasman. I'm not trying to justify anything and there's no way in heck i'd take the Texas heart shot...just in the moment I took this shot because there are vitalsin the front(heart, lungs, etc). Also, he wasn't going to walk past me, more like right to orthrough me. The ASAT 3D works, that's for sure. Again, I know, my mistake, but read my posts more carefully. I realize the mistake and won't be taking it again.

I realized it wasn't a good shot afterward and I didn't post here to be told that over and over. I was posting to seek advice and some helpful input. Not get bashed by everyone. So, if all you have to say is how bad of a shot it was, don't bother replying.

cardeer

Hope you find him. Myself would not take a front shot on a deer with any weapon.

DaveC

I stand corrected, 10:30 it is!

You may want to bring a spray bottle with some hydrogen peroxide in it to identify any iffy blood spots. After sitting for 14+ hours the blood spotswill be hard to pinpoint, but the peroxide will foam up on blood no matter how old.

Good luck and we'll be waiting on the pics!