Honestly, I don't know anyone that's hunted for more than a few years that's never lost an animal. For anyone with the slightest bit of compassion in their makeup, it's a sickening feeling, knowing you've hit an animal and not being able to recover it. I've had it happen several times over the many years I've been hunting, both with a bow and a gun, and it never gets any easier. I've never forgetten those bad experiences, but that makes me take extra care to try and make sure it never happens again.

All you can do is your best and, even then, stuff happens. There is an element of luck to hunting and sometimes it's bad luck that comes out on top. All the skill in the world can't overcome a dose of bad luck. All you can do is accept the fact that nothing goes exactly as planned each and every time - especially when an animal isn't exactly cooperating and decides to move at the exact moment you've released the arrow or pulled the trigger - and keep at it, or quit.

One thing to keep in mind: THAT shot on THAT deer is ancient history. It's over and done with and nothing will ever erase it. Whatever the circumstances that caused your arrow to hit high - whether you actually shot high or whether the deer ducked down - do not let that shot mess you up on the next one. It's the arrow on your bowstring and the animal in front of you RIGHT NOW that's important. That's all that should be on your mind. Don't let yourself get in the frame of mind that "I can't do it" because, if you do, you won't be able to do it.

Like Guss said, it's all about confidence. I shoot with a guy who, as we're coming up to the standing bear target on the course, always starts talking about how he can't hit a standing bear target and, wonder of wonders, he always misses it. He's really a decent shot on all the other targets but he's gotten himself so psyched into the idea he can't hit that particular target that he really can't do it. Confidence is 90% of hitting what you shoot at with any weapon, but that's especially true with recurves and longbows.

Now, going back to what LBR said about ignoring the scoring rings on your practice 3D target and shooting for a kill. That is vitally important. IMO, the scoring rings on 3D targets have trained a whole generation of bowhunters to shoot much higher than they really should. I hates it!

Instead of practicing and getting accustomed to hitting in the middle of the body, the IBO 10 ring, you should practice aiming to hit about 1/3 up from the bottom of the body. Our old 2D targets back in the 80's had actual heart shots. If you wanted the big points you had to aim low in the kill to get it. And, if you missed a few inches low, you got a 5. Any time we just wanted to wimp out and take a solid 8 on the score card, we'd aim for the middle of the kill zone. then, if we missed a few inches low, we might get lucky and get that 10. So, what IBO calls a 10, we called a 'safe' shot in those days. But it's not at all where you want to aim on a real animal.

If you really want to add some realism to your target, look at a diagram of a deer's internal organs and mark out where the heart is supposed to be on your practice target. Practice aiming for the heart. If you hit a few inches high from that spot, you'll centerpunch the lungs. If you hit a few inches low, it'll be a minor flesh wound or a clean miss.

An old precept from athletics is "You play exactly the same way you practice." It's just as true for hunting. You get a shot picture ingrained into your subconscious when you shoot hundreds and hundreds of practice arrows and when you get into the woods and take that shot on a live deer, the subconscious can take over. You want to train your subconscious mind to pick the right aim point because it can, and often does, override your conscious mind.