Originally posted by Earl E. Nov...mber:
I'll take a clean miss over a bad hit any day and be thankful for the encounter..
+1 on that. No blood no Foul, and trust me when I say that you would be sick to your stomach for a long time to come if things had gone south on that shot.
I'll take a clean miss and keep going back for more, but a bad hit and a lost deer will haunt you forever. I've been there and it's a sad, lonely, depressing place to be. If you hunt long enough it's bound to happen sooner or later.
I haven't gotten my first shot with Trad equipment yet, but I've whacked a truck load with a wheel bow and if my first shot is at a Monster like that.......I hope my experience is at least as good as yours was. I understand completely about how easy your nerves can come unwound when you suddenly find yourself in the presence of true magnificence of such a Nobel Monarch, it's what keeps us going back every year.
Thanks for sharing.