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Disaster

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Eric Krewson:
Anyone who hasn't lost an animal hasn't hunted for very long, I have felt that same mental anguish 4 or 5 times with whitetails in the last 50 years.

I shot at a young buck on a food plot years ago, selfbow, wood arrow with my first try with a Snuffer head. It was a 15-yard, a broadside chip shot, or so I thought. When I shot the buck spun, did a complete 180 and ducked, I hit him in the neck on the opposite side from the one that was facing me when I shot. Had I been shooting my normal Zwickey 2 blade I would have killed him on the spot, the large 3 blade Snuffer barely penetrated his hide. He ran off with the arrow flopping out of his neck. I looked that evening and didn't find any blood, I came back the next day and did a grid search and didn't find any blood or the deer. Even though I knew he probably lived, 30 years later I can still see that shot over and over. I never took another shot at deer on a food plot with my selbow, where I live they are wired to the max, I never shot a Snuffer at game again.

I know people that wound a bunch of deer, it doesn't seem to bother them like it bothers me.

People like us file our failures away into our memory bank and look for a way to not make the same mistake twice, but don't stop hunting.

After my bad neck shot, I changed how I set up my selfbow shots, I only take close shots now and only at relaxed deer that don't know I am in the area. I don't take as many shots now as before but every deer goes to the freezer.

I found the same thing when I took up flintlock hunting, I found you can't take a shot at a deer that has you pegged and is looking at you, when the pan flashes they can react faster than the gun going off, "jump the string" and will not be where they were when you pulled the trigger.

Although you feel rotten now, the sick feeling will go away over time but not the memory. Go back with your selfbow and kill an elk.

 

WhistlingBadger:
Thanks a lot, gents.  Your perspective means a lot to me.  I have been hunting (and admiring) these animals for so long, and shot opportunities are so few and far between, it's hard to learn from it or even put the experience into any context.  The perspective of people who have taken a lot more shots really helps.  Thanks.

bjrogg:
Well said Eric

I feel exactly the same way. Granted I have taken some tricky shots, but I just don’t shoot at deer that are on any alert.

I personally would rather shoot at a deer slowly walking past me than one standing broadside. Getting close isn’t the hardest part. Getting the shot off is undetected is.

It is not surprising that people through the ages have had a significant relationship with their food. Plant or animal. We are in many ways losing that relationship.

Bjrogg

JW_Halverson:
The very fact that you are gut sick over this is heartening. It tells me that you have empathy for the animal and arent just some sicko killer.

WhistlingBadger:

--- Quote from: JW_Halverson on September 03, 2024, 05:00:51 pm ---The very fact that you are gut sick over this is heartening. It tells me that you have empathy for the animal and arent just some sicko killer.

--- End quote ---
Thanks.  I am a great admirer of elk, and not just during hunting season.  They are amazing, majestic animals.  I admire their stamina, stealth, strength.  The fact that they also happen to be delicious and one of the foremost challenges for the hunter just adds to their mystique.  Wonderful critters.

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