Germ

At what point do we become confident in a shot placement on a whitetail.

Just like BowhuntingFool did with his doe, if I donot seethe animal go down I stay in the tree. Even if I know Inailed it, I stay in the tree.

Is the visual of the deer going down more importantthan visual of the shot placement?

Jim_IV

I know whether it is a good shot or not as soon asI release my arrow. As far as seeing the deer go down, I think that is is just as important as seeing where your arrow enters the animal. I know ittakesthe question of whether or not it was a good shot, downto "I made agood shot".

mauser06

for me, being new to the game, if it aint above 60 degrees, im going to wait atleast a half hour if i KNOW i double lunged it...an hour if i can stand to sit there an hour...

if its hot and i KNOW i double lunged it i will be on the track within a half hour...

my thinking is a dead animal aint going anywhere till i tie my rope to it and pull. but if im unsure, im waiting. half hour or so, get down and read the arrow and sign i can find at the POI...then make a judgement call.

if i see it go down, i will be there shortly...

take last year for example...my left and right was dead on...i knew that. knew the deer didnt drop from a spine hit. thought i had a pass through...i about fell from the tree so i climbed down queitly and slowly and went to the POI. i was confident it was a double lung hit and id be draggin shortly. looked 5yds from the POI and theres my arrow...3-4" of shaft missing...a couple inches of blood on the arrow. i knew it was a double lunger and i got bad penetration or i hit too high and hit the spine. gave it another hour, hour and a half and started tracking. still cant belive that wasnt a double lunger. 400yds later and no beds or anything he went about his life as a live deer...not a mounted one

i had the confidence....but was shown otherwise...i knew the shot was a tad high because he lowered his body about to bolt....but didnt think it was THAT high.

RTA47

I took a doe saturday 8:30am at 12yrds. The shot was right on target she mule kicked and took of running very fast but i didn`t here her go down? I sat back down but not only to give the deer more time to die but as i have many other occations, sat back down only to have another deer walk up. and end up with a double. But if its late in the morning or late in the afternoon and the shot i made is good i will most of the time waitmaby 20-30min.
Absoluty not!Sometimes a gut shot deer will walk out a ways and lie down within sight.
A lot of time a deer shotperfectly through the vitils will take off running very fast and can cover a lot of ground quickly but make no mistake about its not going farTo me a deer laying down within sight don`t mean anything unless it is maby spine shot ect..

Germ

Funny thing is one of my worst shots ever the deer took 2 steps and died.

She moved or I missed by a foot[&:], died right there in front of me. Buck I hit perfect and knew it, but I stayed in that tree

rybohunter

If I don't see it laying on the ground, I'm waiting. No matter what my brain tells me I saw. If I thought the hit was good, 1/2 hr & sneak down to check arrow. If I think the hit was bad, 1 hour and sneak down to check arrow or back out completely depending on how bad I thought the shot was. I hope I continue on the streak I have of seeing them fall.

Germ

So seeing the animal go down is more important than seeing the shot?

If so I would have to agree

mobow

While knowing where you hit the deer is vital to the recovery process, it can also be misleading. Usually we just don't hit them quite where we thought we did....Personally, I'm not comfortable until the recovery is made, and if I happen to see the deer fall, all the better.

GR8atta2d

If I hunt locally.. and I know it's a good hit. I'llstay putfor 1/2 hour, then I back out, to the truck, take everything thing home, change clothes, jump on the ATV ride back sometimes with help in tow.

rybohunter

Yes.

I have a tough time trying to explain to newbies, to try and see your shot placement & how the deer reacts and everything you can about the hit....but then, don't believe everything you see. [8D]