I read an article the other day......and the author wrote something in there every time he wrote the word "shoot". He followed it with an "at". I think I'll subconsciously be adding that add-on when I hear people tell stories, this Fall.

EX. - "I decided not to shoot "at" the buck, yesterday."

It'll lend more to realism, I believe. There's a world of difference in "actually" letting an animal "pass". Seeing a deer and actually passing on that same animal are certainly two different things, most times.