Was I right to pass on this shot?

[Kevin Bahr]

As Don Thomas once told me, "I've never regretted NOT shooting."  Nuff said.  Besides, that buck is still out there, and he isn't getting any smaller.

[Al Natural]

Learned a long time ago to pass up a shot straight down.  Only after I lost two deer.  hard to get an exit wound for a blood trail.  It is a leathal shot. I found both deer several weeks later.  But not ethical IMO.
Al

[Cyclic-Rivers]

quote:Originally posted by Terry Green:
I didn't read you post....just the title...and if you had to post here and ask....then you already had your answer IMO.    

[jcar315]

Any shot that occurs to me to pass I pass with no questions.

 My decision is just that....regardless of what friends say. I am the only one who has to live with my decision.

[Doug in MN]

If the shot does not feel right to you, and your thought is pass; then pass.

You did what you felt was best, so you did the right thing.

[acadian archer]

you made the right decision. Feel good about what you did, a wounding shot would have mad you feel bad for years.

[DRR324]

Good call on your part.  I've tried it twice, once on a 130" in MO- tracked for 10 hours with no success.... that was in 2006.

Just pulled it off this year- but didn't recover until the next morning, coyotes got him first.  He's my avatar buck....

I won't be trying it again- just can't get all the way to the bottom.....

[Wiley Coyote]

If it doesn't feel right don't shoot. You made the right choice. You will get another chance to arrow a deer and maybe the same one.  

[Red Beastmaster]

The recent issue of Bowhunter Magazine has an excellent article on treestand shot angles. It came to the house the day after I passed up a very close quartering on opportunity at a 10pt. My son-in-law thought I was nuts (new bowhunter), I insisted he read the article.

Besides reviewing the do's and don'ts of various shot angles I learned something new. Deer and goats have a membrane between the two lungs. If only a single lung is damaged the other lung is fully functional. The straight down shot is not a good shot angle as it is nearly impossible to take out both lungs.

[Real Buckmaster]

You made the right call!!!   He will be back for the 15 yd broadside.

[damascusdave]

I did not even read your post and I can tell you that you were right to pass on the shot. You were the only one there at the time and you are the only one that can make that judgment which is always the right one for you at the time.

DDave

[damascusdave]

Now I read the post and my thinking is still the same. Think about your margin of error on that straight down shot.

That and how many times have you actually practiced that shot. My view is that if you have not tried a similar shot at a target you have no business trying it on a living creature.

At the very worst that buck should be 130 or better by next year.

Great ethics which is something our sport really needs!

[Bud B.]

You did right. I passed on a doe last week that was about 15 yards away but there was lots of small twigs and stuff between us. I actually never thought about shooting. All I could envision was the arrow glancing off a small limb and then wounding the deer and losing it altogether.

Not for me.

Yep. You certainly did the right thing.
 

[KSdan]

Good choice.

[30coupe]

Good call. I passed on four different bucks last weekend. I don't regret any. Two were fork horns. One was probably around 120 or so, but only about 2 1/2 years old...15 yards, broadside. I just couldn't take him because of his age.

The worst one was a huge, old buck, 150+ and VERY wide...but it was getting pretty dark, he was 25 yards out, and he was quartering slightly to me. I passed, reluctantly. The next morning, back in the same stand, I could see some pencil-sized limbs that very well could have deflected an arrow. I'm glad I didn't attempt the shot. It was the right choice and so was yours! The results could have been similar: a wounded and possibly unrecovered deer.

[Bonebuster]

I have never regretted passing a low percentage shot.

[twitchstick]

If it didn't feel right then it wasn't. I passed the same shoot on a mega muley a few years ago. It's never good to find out the "hard way".

[Chris Surtees]

Personally I feel if you questioned the shot angle then you made the right choice.

Good shot opportunities just feel right...

I think you made the right choice for sure.

[Mint]

Thanks guys, I knew i did the right thing but when you hear people saying the opposite it gets you thinking.

 A big New York Buck has been my white whale. I see at least one a year out hunting but there are always just out of range with me and the recurve. I know i can hit them but not sure I can get them in the boiler room so I have always waited for a better shot.

 With all the hunter pressure thats in the area I sure hope a deserving hunter gets him and not someone with a nuisance permit and a shotgun at night.

[John Kennedy]

I guess I am in the minority here, I would take a spine-shot, I practice that shot a lot from the stand on leaves. I have killed 2 deer that way, no blood trail to worry about, they dropped right there. Take whatever you are comfortable with.