RE: i should be beaten for this
Well as many have said, the fact that you posted this tells me your sick to your stomach and wish you had a doo-over, and the you may genuinely be feeling guilty. All I can say is that if you hunt hard and long enough every hunter is going to have that "why did i do that " to mull over. I know I'm guilty, When I was 14 I shot at a doe, and it ran and stopped, 100 yards open sight, low light, it stood there with 4 or 5 other does, they ran out to 150 yards, and I shot again, then at 200 yards or so they stopped again, I shot again, and then again, at about 400 yards they stood there until they started feeding again, I wanted to get a deer so bad to impress my dad that i completely lost my mind. I learned from that and felt i didn't deserve to hunt. I was shooting in low light with open sights, what a dumb$$$ thing to do. I learned from as you can learn from this. I am just thankful i didnt wound a any of the animals. One thing I always do is that I don't leave my stand after shooting an animal until I have a blood trail to follow, and it's properly marked. I don't leave the area until I know that I need help, ie... losing the blood trail or finding the animal. Shake it off, double and triple check your rifle sights and look good and hard for that deer....