From chump to champ.

[XBHUNTR]

So many factors can add up to hunting success. I was in the stand last friday morning, when a mature doe approached. At forty yards out, she gave me a broad side shot. The shooting lanes had saplings with pine branches mixed. A clear opening of 3 feet square was available. I took the shot, heard a smack, the doe bolted away. From 40 yards or better I heard the doe repeatedly snort wheeze for 10 minutes! I felt sick , I had injured the doe. After 30 minutes the doe had stopped calling. At no time could I see her. Finally I got down to check out the incident. NO BLOOD! and I found the arrow! Again NO BLOOD on the arrow . The arrow was deflected by a twig causing the arrow to travel under the doe. What a relief! Success is more than the kill it's the journey . Ray

[ecoaster]

Very true Ray. I've already accepted the fact that I will most likely never retreive every deer I shoot at, however I do plan to take all precautions to make a killing shot. Things happen. Glad to hear you had a clean miss.

[jay73]

Dude, you're lucky. You would've felt a whole lot worse if you found blood but never found the deer due to a bad hit.

Be sure of your cut lanes before a shot. I don't think a 3' square qualifies as a shooting lane. It wouldn't in my books.

Anyways, congrats on not hitting her.

Git'er next times she walks into a better lane!!

[mfh]

I concur on the lane...but it is nice to have a forum where folks are not all about how big the buck is...but rather the experience and meat in the freezer...coupled with the humility that we sometimes do not recover our deer. I know folks that look for all of 15 minutes before they consider it a lost deer...glad to see that most of the folks here all get that sick feeling when we lose a deer...and from what I have heard...most of us spend a great deal of time attempting to track and recover.

[Hi5]

Why wouldn't a 3 foot lane be adequate? I assume that the deer is not walking. I know it takes some distance for an arrow to stop fish tailing if you are long bow hunting, but even so, that's more than enough to clear either side of the lane if the game is centered. With a short Xbow bolt (and if you are using carbon bolts) the recovery time for the bolt to stop fishtailing should be very short. With a Xbow, the lane could be pretty darned narrow.

Surely the issue is whether the lane is truly clean of obstruction, not that 3 feet is unacceptable. More is better, yes, but I could think of one reason where a narrow lane would be an advantage, and that would be where an animal is being especially cautious. In that sitaution the animal has a harder time to see the hunter in a narrow shooting lane.

Sometimes you have to be prepared to thread the needle in getting your bolt to the target.

[jay73]

Sometimes you have to be prepared to thread the needle in getting your bolt to the target.

I personally wouldn't try this. I think it's these situations that may cause a poor hit or deflection.

Maybe what I should have said is that I wouldn't be comfortabe with a lane this small. Unless the 3' square is right where the deer is standing and I knew the rest of the lane was totally clear.

I don't mean to judge others and start crap, I'm just trying to think whats best for a clean kill.

[Hi5]

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I don't mean to judge others and start crap, I'm just trying to think whats best for a clean kill.

A clean kill should be eveyone's goal, that's for sure.

We can express ourselves in respectfull disagreement, which I guess is exactly what we have done. An polite exchange of ideas is when a forum is being used to its best advantage.

On a stationary target, I remain persuaded (stubborn) that we need to be prepared to shoot through a small opening.

I think it would depend on how well the shooting lane was groomed. I check mine in advance from up on my tree stand, and I use the scope on my Xbow to check for the small stuff that might be unnoticed by the naked eye. I make sure that the shooting lanes from my tree stand are completely cleaned.

A deflection would be much more of a risk hunting on foot on fresh ground. Even then I don't think there should be a problem shooting at a stationary target through a small opening, as long as the path was clear. It's the unnoticed twigs and brush, not the width of the shooting lane that's the problem.

[Tigerpaw]

I have got to be reading this wrong!!! Please tell me there is some mistake here. Now missing a deer at 40 yards I can see happen once in a while but calling a 3 ft. square hole the eye of a needle or even a tight shot? Somebody may want to do a bit more target shooting before shooting at live game!! XBHUNTR in no way am I talking about you missing the deer it happends to all of us one time or another. But guys come on. Draw a 3 ft. square on the ground and look at it. Now tell me that is not a large bloody hole!!

[maple]

Never mind the 3 foot hole in the woods. At 40 yards there's a much better chance the doe string jumped. I've had them do it at 27 and 30 yards.

They'll do it at 40.

If you have tuned and practiced with your bow, you know darn well you can hit a grapefruit at 40 yards. Just because that deer was there when you released the arrow, doesn't mean it was there when the arrow arrived.

This is how we learn. Keep your shots close.

Maple

[Doug the Slug]

Hi Gents: Well I finally got a shot on Saturday evening at (6:30 p.m.) a nice plump doe. It was a double lung shot at 18 yards walking. She went about 75 yards and dropped just before a cedar rail fence line that had very dense bush on the other side(thank God!). Everything went well until I went to retrieve her with my truck, I got stuck! Then one of my hunting partners went to rescue me with his truck and got stuck! (We've had so much rain up here lately....) So then we walked back to the farm and got a 4x4 monster truck and managed to pull the other trucks out. We are still laughing about it today. As they say success comes at a price.

Good luck to all,

Doug