High Country, I'm glad you are still around reading this. Please read this and don't take it as me thinking I am perfect because I know I am far from it. Anyway, in your friend's case if I missed a deer and could not attribute it to a deflection or a mistake on my part, my first course of action would be to take some practice shots at a leaf or a stump to make sure nothing moved on my set up. I always carry one arrow in my quiver that I have no intetion of shooting at game for this purpose.

Next, if I had hit a branch causing a poor shot on a deer, which happens to us all at one time or another, I would back out and let the deer lay up. If I saw the deer as you did bleeding badly I would keep an eye on it from a distance to see if it would lay down or to at least see what direction it goes and sit down and wait or completely back out.

If I were in a situation like you and your buddy where the deer's vitals were covered I would pass on the shot as you did. You did the right thing, but your buddy took a low percentage shot after already missing a deer.

You have to understand that hunting is under the microscope right now and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard so that the rest of the world will see that we are responsible in our pursuit of game and not blood thirsty killers. Stories like yours do not make us as a group look good and that is why so many people got upset with you. Yes you had a bad day. We all have bad days, but some of your bad day was your own doing. I hope you have learned something from it and will do better next time.


Mouse, I remember the Koontzy debacle and hope this isn't a repeat.