Sharing Failures

[Archie]

It's this kind of thread that makes me look forward to checking Tradgang...

Several seasons ago I was sitting on the ground in a brush blind in northern Illinois, watching a doe come right into my shooting lane.  She walked right in at me and started to turn broadside, and I started to draw.  The moment I got to full draw she was about 8-10 yards away, and she turned and looked me right in the eye.  We both released at the same time... I released the arrow and she released a whole lot of adrenaline into her legs!  She jumped and spun like lightning and disappeared into the brush.  I jumped up to try to lay eyes on her, and saw about 6 deer running in various directions. I never found her, nor a single drop of blood. I think I hit her in the shoulder blade.  Even though I hunted deer for 3-4 more seasons, I've never taken another shot at a deer, partially because I didn't like that and I didn't want it to happen again.  I live in Alaska again now and so my deer hunting has ended for the time being.

[JonCagle]

My first season shooting trad, I was 16 or 17, I walked up on a fawn standing in a field. When I drew to take a shot I couldn’t help but think about how it was looking right at me, when I released I was looking at the deer’s eyes. Being an instinctive shot my arrow of course went directly where I was looking. That red feathered shaft went right between the ears of that deer and off through the field.the deer hadn’t moved so I pulled another arrow out of the quiver I had made with poplar bark and drew again, looking at the deer’s side this time I released again, and missed again, over the back this time. The deer trotted off to the left and stopped, repeating the process, I drew, aimed and let fly with my last arrow, over the back once more. The deer had moved only a few feet and was gawking at the Fred bear wannabe but having no arrows left I had to laugh and scold the deer until it took off into the woods. I could hit targets with that bow but I had to miss more deer that entire season until I learned that deer tend to move at the sound of the shot (especially with the loud bow and light arrow combo I had at the time) I’m glad I missed those deer that season instead of making marginal hits on them. By the next year I had made string silencers from wool and made my arrows heavier to quiet down my bow, thanks to advice I had largely picked up here and those deer stopped turning inside out when i shot at them

[archeryprof]

James thanks for sharing your experience with a less than desirable outcome.I became IBEP Bowhunter Education Instructor in 1990.I have hunted exclusively with a bow for over 50 plus years.Over those years I have learned more from my failures than my sucesses.I am passionate about shot placement,when and where to shoot.You made it clear in your post your choice to take quartering toward shots and that it was not the point for debate.I respect that.By our nature traditional bow hunters are fiercely independent and I haved always strived to be a teacher not a preacher.Respectfully I would like to offer the observation that if perhaps you let that deer walk a bit further past its direct line of sight it may not have alerted to your presence and the outcome turned out differently.

[JamesD]

Hello Jacob,

    Thank you for the advice. Letting the deer walk further may have worked out differently in the situation. I do know I was already at full draw and holding when she looked up. I don't remember that. That's just what the video replay of the encounter shows. I don't remember her looking up at me at all.  I'm not even certain from video review that she looked up because of me, or if it was just her normal habit of looking for danger before proceeding forward. Either way, it wired her up to move.  I am frustrated that I did not read her body language the way that I should have, and as a result I hit her in a less than desirable location. One positive outcome has been the knowledge gained from videoing most of the shots I took at animals this year. Without a video of this encounter, I would not have been aware that the deer had looked up. Until I reviewed the video, all I could think about was how did I shoot that poorly. I would have gone back to the target and worked on form, versus knowing, that I have to pay closer attention to each animal's demeanor during the shot process. I also learned this season, maybe re-learned to pay more attention to possible shot scenarios (before an animal shows up) and when I can and can't draw back. I have another video showing me get busted by a mature buck that is quartering away at 5-6 yards, and not getting a shot opportunity two weeks after this encounter.

[JamesD]

This is what getting busted drawing back by an old deer looks like.

[Roy from Pa]

Jon, I don't feel so bad now about my 3 misses.

LOL 

[archeryprof]

Trust me James anyone who has bow hunted for any length of time has been in your shoes.I can tell by your response that you are truly dedicated to doing it right.It is refreshing to see that it concerns you enough to go back analyze the shot and take measures to insure a successful result.The most difficult aspect of shooting deer at close range is getting to draw without being detected by movement, sound or smell.An alert deer can dodge the fastest of bows,including compounds.

[JamesD]

Thanks Jacob. This past fall was my thirty-fourth season bow hunting whitetails, the past twelve of them with traditional gear. I'm probably the most frustrated that I repeated some of my past mistakes. I'm not complaining. Most of all, I wanted to share a mistake that I made, so others would have the opportunity to learn from it. I had a green horn mistake last year (Fall 2020) as well.  I knew better while I was making it.  I want to share it as well, hoping that someone will benefit from it. I had a broadside shot on a doe at 17 yards. I hit her a little back. I couldn't tell for certain at impact, since the arrow blew through her and was sticking in the ground on the other side. I knew I hit her because she flinched on impact, she stopped at 60 yards and licked the wound, and I could see evidence of the hit on my arrow through binoculars. After she licked the wound for awhile, she walked away, abandoning the twin fawns that were with her. I waited the thirty to forty-five minutes until shooting light expired, took down my hang on stand and climbing sticks, packed my gear up for the hike back, and then walked to where I last saw her. The arrow had dark red blood on it, no guts, but a gut smell to it. There was a good blood trail for about eighty yards which took me to the property line of my Uncle's 200 acres. Using my flashlight (1600 lumens in a pocket light), I saw her fawns who would not leave at 100 - 150 yards in the neighbor's pasture, which was wide open, other than native plum bushes that are common to southwestern Oklahoma. I then saw the reflection of her eyes bedded in one of those plum bushes at about the same distance. I did not pay enough attention to realize she was still alive. I crossed the fence, and immediately she bolted leaving her fawns again. I backed out, but it was too late. The next morning my uncle and I grid searched the adjacent 200 - 300 acres. No sign of where she went. I blew her fawns out of a bed within 50 yards of where she was when she bolted, as well as almost stepped on a 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 year old buck who had bedded down nearby over night or early morning. I never found her. She was somewhere dead. Her two fawns came by every single setup I had while I was on stand for the next six weeks to remind me I should have just come back in the morning based on how the deer had reacted to the shot. She would have been an easy recovery the next day if I had not taken up the trail too early.