When you “miss” a deer.

[caribou]

Please stop harvesting Deer, they plug up the Combine and bale... LOL!!

Just an offhand comment, but in my mind, Cane was a hunter, he hunted wild things and killed them, Able was a Farmer, he raised things in pens and fields and harvested them. I just cant understand how those two got mixed up...perhaps we will hunt down and kill some Wheat someday...LOL!!!

Wanton waste can only happen when man it is involved, and it does, indeed happen, but thats on purpose, not a Deer escaping a diligent Hunter.

 

[troy fairweather]

Please stop harvesting Deer, they plug up the Combine and bale... LOL!!

Just an offhand comment, but in my mind, Cane was a hunter, he hunted wild things and killed them, Able was a Farmer, he raised things in pens and fields and harvested them. I just cant understand how those two got mixed up...perhaps we will hunt down and kill some Wheat someday...LOL!!!

Wanton waste can only happen when man it is involved, and it does, indeed happen, but thats on purpose, not a Deer escaping a diligent Hunter.

I know.for a fact a deer will make it through a round bailer, I've seen a few bails with feet sticking out.

 

[MacAR]

I hate when that happens. But, as others said you've done your due diligence. Same thing has happened to me. Heck, just last year I shot a young antlerless buck and it took me an hour to find it. Deer was shot at 45 yards with a 180 grain round nosed 30-06 bullet. There was a small puddle of blood where the deer was shot, two drops 10 feet away, then nothing. The deer traveled across 100 yards of open hay field to pile up dead under a cedar tree with low limbs. When I found it, it was in a puddle of blood the size of a pickup box! Heart and lungs were destroyed. Had it not been for instinct, I don't think I'd ever found it. And, had it gone another 10 feet, it would've wound up in a briar patch so thick itd have never been found.

So yea, crap happens bud. Just have a little faith, and a little bit of confidence in yourself.

Mac

 

[daniel craig]

I hate when that happens. But, as others said you've done your due diligence. Same thing has happened to me. Heck, just last year I shot a young antlerless buck and it took me an hour to find it. Deer was shot at 45 yards with a 180 grain round nosed 30-06 bullet. There was a small puddle of blood where the deer was shot, two drops 10 feet away, then nothing. The deer traveled across 100 yards of open hay field to pile up dead under a cedar tree with low limbs. When I found it, it was in a puddle of blood the size of a pickup box! Heart and lungs were destroyed. Had it not been for instinct, I don't think I'd ever found it. And, had it gone another 10 feet, it would've wound up in a briar patch so thick itd have never been found.

So yea, crap happens bud. Just have a little faith, and a little bit of confidence in yourself.

Mac

Thanks Mac

 

[JohnKSa]

Some thoughts from a completely different perspective.

Hunting with a suppressor (where legal) can make it easier to hear impacts which is a good way to confirm that a hit was made. The sound of a bullet striking meat is pretty distinctive and surprisingly loud. The same can apply to some kinds of active hearing protection. You want the kind that limits the level of the noise, not the kind that cuts out completely since it can stay cut out for too long and suppress the sound of impact.

Using an optic with video capability makes it possible to review your hunt and see exactly where the game was when (if) hit, where the crosshairs were when the shot broke, etc. It can help you confirm a hit and also help with locating downed game.

 

[Skoghund]

A few years ago I shot a roe doe at about 120 mtrs. I was sat in a high seat with a clear view of the deer and knew the exact spot the deer was standing. I took a steady aim and shot and to my surprise the deer just calmly trotted off showing no sign of a hit. I looked at where the deer was stood and could see no hair or blood. So I wondered home and had a cup of tea and could not believe I missed the deer. I do have a fully trained tracking dog who is used for tracking wounded boar. So I dusted of the dog and went down to the shot site, put his tracking harness and long lead on him and set him on the track. He picked up the trail and found the deer about 80 mtrs away in some thick cover. The shot was good and with a good chest shot the doe had gone that far. How many deer are lost every year but lay not too far away dead. I had a long legged Jack Russel terrier who was my hunting companion for 15 years. That dog found hundreds of shot deer in his life and saved a lot of time looking for shot deer.

 

[Glockula]

Man, IME losing deer by not being able to track them is heart breaking but thankfully infrequent. Picking shots and angles is important and reduces the risk for losing game. But as others have mentioned it happens and as long as you are ethically hunting it is a part of it. I will say even with no blood its good to look. I have found shot game with no blood by knowing their trails and directions of movement

And yes surprisingly a suppressor really helps in knowing if you have hit the animal.

Don't beat yourself up. Happy hunting!

 

[CraigC]

Please stop harvesting Deer, they plug up the Combine and bale... LOL!!

Just an offhand comment, but in my mind, Cane was a hunter, he hunted wild things and killed them, Able was a Farmer, he raised things in pens and fields and harvested them. I just cant understand how those two got mixed up...perhaps we will hunt down and kill some Wheat someday...LOL!!!

Wanton waste can only happen when man it is involved, and it does, indeed happen, but thats on purpose, not a Deer escaping a diligent Hunter.

I think use of the term "harvest" has been in an effort to put a prettier face on hunting. The same has been done with the 2nd Amendment in general. I don't think either are effective or desirable. People have been killing critters and each other for tens of thousands of years. I don't know why all of a sudden we can't be honest about it.

 

[daniel craig]

Some thoughts from a completely different perspective.

Hunting with a suppressor (where legal) can make it easier to hear impacts which is a good way to confirm that a hit was made. The sound of a bullet striking meat is pretty distinctive and surprisingly loud. The same can apply to some kinds of active hearing protection. You want the kind that limits the level of the noise, not the kind that cuts out completely since it can stay cut out for too long and suppress the sound of impact.

Using an optic with video capability makes it possible to review your hunt and see exactly where the game was when (if) hit, where the crosshairs were when the shot broke, etc. It can help you confirm a hit and also help with locating downed game.

I soooo wish suppressors were easier to get for hunting in this state. It would sure beat wearing my walker’s electronic ear pro.

 

[9x56MS]

It may help you to research and learn the call your shot method but as many have mentioned stuff happens when by ting. The simple fact that it bothered you means you are a conscientious hunter. The only thing you can do is learn from it and move forward. If anyone says it has never happened to them it just means they haven't hunted long enough. When I do have a miss I try to find where the animal was standing when I shot and then look back to where I shot from. Then walk it back looking for a clipped branch or tree with a hole in it. This has happened to me before and if I find that branch it puts my mind at ease. Good hunting in your future.

 

[jmorris]

I soooo wish suppressors were easier to get for hunting in this state. It would sure beat wearing my walker’s electronic ear pro.

Certainly beats have to wear them so you can hear once it’s too late. My hearing aids cost too much for me to take out hunting, electronic muffs are pretty important to me these days. They also keep your ears from getting cold and scratched by briars.

 

[GAF]

If a person hunts long enough they will probably miss a deer or two. In the last 17 years I have miss 3 times. Luckily I missed clean all 3 times.
It can happen to the best.

 

[wombat13]

I just noticed the mention of venison donation in this thread. It is not that hard to donate venison in NY (location of the OP based on other threads). Here is a link to find a processor who will butcher the deer and provide the venison to Foodlink free of charge. http://venisondonation.com/find-a-processor/

 

[wombat13]

My FIL, daughter and I have taken several deer with our crossbows in the last few years and most of the time they react the same way whether it is a good hit or a miss. They trot away. Not a run; a trot. We only know for sure we hit by finding our bolt with blood all over it (or twice no blood). I will be using lighted nocks next year to make it easier to find the bolt and confirm the hit.

 

[Thomasss]

"Indigenous People used most every part of an animal and there was little waste." It is true that indigenous people found use for almost every part of an animal, but they also had their share of "Wanton Waste." There is a place out west, found by archaeologists that indigenous people camouflaged a cliff and then caused a bison stampede to go over the cliff, several thousand at a time. They then went and collected only what that wanted, but not all. Also true is that bison were on the decline and were not wiped out by "the white man." The white man did accelerate their decline, but without him, the result would have been the same.
I don't believe in wasting game meat. Many times I have claimed geese and deer that were not taken. I even saw a hunter walk away from a wounded small goose.(no, i didn't report him, but I killed it, and claimed his goose and told him so. He wanted a larger one, but didn't get it that day.) My brother and I don't kill for the fun of it. In fact, he shot a crow on a bet and then plucked it and cooked it on a spit. Said the bird was quite tasty.

 

[Thomasss]

CraigC you are correct about pretty words, however the anti's are using our words against us. So we explain our actions with pretty words that they and the non-hunting public will understand. I'm sure I can make some people ill with the following examples. My grandmother once showed me how to make a whistle(more like a ca-zoo) out of the small intestine of a duck. Sounds yummie. Or when I was little, some 60 years ago, my mom would make Chanina, Polish blood soup. Wasn't I surprised to open the frig and see bowls of curdled blood for the next day's supper. Or how about Speltz, also known as blood sausage with all sorts of ground up innards mixed in.

 

[Hookeye]

In my area, a deer laying in the field is gonna be torn up so bad you wont be able to tell what killed it ( yotes ).

Did find a gut shot deer next day when hunting many yrs ago. Dunno who shot it

Found two another person hunting the property shot and lost....but yotes had em to bones.

If i didnt know he shot em i wouldnt have known.

Found many dead on that one farm. By a highway. Location at crest or below ridge, along road.....kinda told ya how most of em died. A couple might have been poached, but when I found em i couldnt tell.

 

[Hookeye]

I dont harvest critters. I kill them.
Nothing wrong with killing and refuse to sugar coat it for those that probably go well beyond the rules set forth in certain texts.

Learned way way back that one cannot appease those who are governed by feelings.

 

[Hookeye]

Also have found that those that would complain about a deer hanging in your garage.....have some wicked skeletons in their closets.

If one doesnt want to hunt, fine, dont do it.
And if they dislike it purely from an emotional standpoint, that too is fine.

But to lie about the facts just aint cool.

And to hassle other folks because they hunt.....is worse.

Somebody complaining about dead deer.....I am always suspect of what they really found and why they are relaying it.

 

[Hookeye]

You shoot a big deer and people will say all sorts of crap to try and make you lose your spot.

 

[Hookeye]

I missed a deer w bow 2 yrs ago.
Clipped a branch I didnt see.
The offending lumber was removed.

Missed one in 2010 w pistol. Killed him w followup.

Misses happen. Rarely. And they still.burn my arse to this day.

 

[Hookeye]

My bud owned a farm that got deer damage. His neighbor would not allow hunting or retrieval.

I asked what happens when a deer gets shot and makes it over the fence?

He said " shoot another deer ".

 

[9x56MS]

I don’t remember every deer I killed or even every buck I’ve killed but I do remember every miss I have ever had all 6 of them. Even worse the 2 I hit that I never recovered. I tried to learn something from every miss. That Is why I follow up so diligently. 3 of my misses I know we’re deflections as I found clipped off branches. The one that got away was the one shot I knew I shouldn’t have taken. Running buck through thick brush. I was young and dumb and he had the biggest rack I had ever seen to that point. Always figured that was fate teaching me a cruel lesson. The other hit and not found I don’t honestly know where I hit that one as the blood just petered out. I took my lumps and learned my lessons. I eventually gravitated to 35 calibers and specialized tactics and got much better at still hunting.