mossberg835283514 you are not a bad hunter, if you think you are the only hunter who ever gut shot a deer you are wrong. By this post you have proven you are the kind of hunter we need more of, you care and respect you quarry, you want a clean kill. I count myself as very lucky because according to my father I am a natural shot, not everyone is, and when you throw on top of that buck fever, even the msot experienced hunters fall victim to it sometimes and either wind up with a total miss or a gut shot. With time the buck fever will come under your control, just learn from what has happened.

From this experience you need to walk away with the following lessons learned:

1. when pulling down on a deer take your time, pick the exact spot you want the bullet to hit and squeeze the trigger, talk yourself through it reminding yourself to breath, aim and squeeze the trigger.

2. When a deer puts its head down, arches it back and puts it tail between its legs, it is gutshot 90% of the time.

3. When a deer is gutshot, never start trailing it or even heading in it's direction for at least an hour, this lets them lay down and bleed out, rather than running for long distances on adreniline.

Please try and remember that your feelings you are having right now are what is going to make an excellent hunter out of you over the years and not one of these slobs that could care less if they wound a deer and lose it or not.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club