ORIGINAL: JNTURK
I have a question for everyone who said 1? are you hunting in thicker areas or have a good sitting spot to shot from, ie blind, tree stand etc?
most i have ever shot was 4 with gun (hit him twice) and 4 with bow was hit all four times...first shot got one lung, second and third got two lungs and the last was a neck and killed it...i don't like to see animals suffer and am a still hunter on flat ground in CA...open areas, and hunting from ground leaves little to no blodd trail due to shot placement is horizontal through the body so the cavity has to be full of blood before you get a decent blood trail...terrian sux for tracking as well...that is why i shot 4 times with a bow......my reasoning for a gun was that it was the biggest blacktail i had ever seen was 18 with more buck fever then i can describe...first shot and last shot hit the deer...second two never made contact
I hunt in fairly thick woods sitting on the ground, that plus using a 20 ga limits my range, so I usually only end up taking good close (under 80 yards) kill shots.
That said, I'm with you, if I walk up on a deer I've downed and it's still moving I try to finish it off ASAP. I hate to see an animal suffer any longer than necessary.