How I feel after hearing some hunting stories
09-09-2016, 10:29 AM
#4
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
I used to have hunters come to me for tracking help. They always said the same thing ... I made a perfect shot. Right behind the shoulder. Through the lungs. But little or no blood and can't find it. Well we would track it, and usually the gut shot monster was about 1/2 mile away bedded down.
Now don't get me wrong. I have seen high shoulder shots that bleed very little. Or the hits that are between the backbone and the top of the lungs. (those are nightmares). But normally a good boiler room hit will have some blood.
Now don't get me wrong. I have seen high shoulder shots that bleed very little. Or the hits that are between the backbone and the top of the lungs. (those are nightmares). But normally a good boiler room hit will have some blood.
09-11-2016, 06:55 AM
#6
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Posts: 10,917
There's nothing worse than knowing you hit a deer but were not able to find it. I've had it happen twice in my 50 year hunting career and both of those incidents haunt me.
09-11-2016, 12:13 PM
#7
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
I agree Semisane. When I am sure I hit one, I will follow that thing anywhere. The only deer I ever lost was a young buck. Shot with a 30-06. It ran off, so as my father taught me, I sat down and waited 30 minutes before starting the track. The track ended a long ways off, at a gut pile. Never heard a shot in front of me. But I found a gut pile and drag marks in the snow at the end of his blood trail.
09-11-2016, 03:18 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,181
I have seen deer hit right below the spine that go down hard and get back up and run. Because the body cavity can hold the blood they don't bleed out and on the ground. Those high shots under the spine feel like a solid hit but they are not.
09-11-2016, 03:26 PM
#9
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Posts: 10,917
I suspect the vast majority of hit & lost deer were gut shots. We humans have a natural tendency to center things. Looking at a broadside deer through a scope, if you center the deer in the picture you hit just behind the diaphragm.
09-11-2016, 07:02 PM
#10
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 153
I think a good majority of hunters fail to take into account anatomy of the deer and the correct angle to be shooting at.
Sinking shots deep is the key. Broadside shots you just hold for center of the heart or shoulder.. But from a tree stand elevated position if you aim for that same spot you could potentially miss the vitals even though your shot was "dead on"
Ditto For shots angled. Frontal shots are the hardest to me because you really have to aim forward to crowd the shoulder or else your likely get a gut shot. Rear shots quartering you want the opposite. Almost shoot through the guts to get to the heart. I tell shooters to aim for the off side shoulder to where you think the shot should go. Usually that is what works best for me
Sinking shots deep is the key. Broadside shots you just hold for center of the heart or shoulder.. But from a tree stand elevated position if you aim for that same spot you could potentially miss the vitals even though your shot was "dead on"
Ditto For shots angled. Frontal shots are the hardest to me because you really have to aim forward to crowd the shoulder or else your likely get a gut shot. Rear shots quartering you want the opposite. Almost shoot through the guts to get to the heart. I tell shooters to aim for the off side shoulder to where you think the shot should go. Usually that is what works best for me