These guys said it all: Congratulations to ya!! You're on your way to becoming a truly good hunter now -- not just a shooter. There's a big difference.

What I love about bowhunting is that it forces me to know my limitations, and thereby forces me to let a lot of deer "go" that I would have otherwise downed instantly if I'd been, say, gun hunting. This is not to start an "us" against "them" thing at all, but most weekend warriors with guns will never know the pride you'll experience when you reflect back on your decision-making process. It's the reason we bowhunters see more deer, learn the habitat and the terrain much better, and generally just become more intimate with our quarry. We have to.

But, sadly, it's not just gun hunters. It's unethical bowyers too who would think nothing of slinging an arrow at an animal "just to see if they could hit it," thinking nothing of the repurcussions of a poorly hit animal.

I messed up once earlier in my bowhunting career and mis-judged an animal on the ground which was backlit by the sun. It made him stand out, and he looked much bigger and closer than he actually was. With my inexperience on the ground (up until that point, every deer I had ever taken was from a tree stand), I ended up gut-shooting him. The kinetic energy and the resulting small size of the deer knocked him flat on his back, but I was forced to watch the deer writhe around with most of his intestines hanging out, and then watch him get to his feet and make me stalk him for fifteen minutes in that condition before I could dispatch him. Believe me, I never want to see an animal suffer like that again, and like someone's tag on here says, I now "measure twice, and shoot once."

Discipline -- not desire -- determines destiny.