Well actually, I can only confirm that 2 of those 4 are dead somewhere in the woods but 4 deer total were shot this year by my inexperienced (even moreso than I) brother-in-law. 2 left medium flow blood trails that eventually disappeared. The other 2 were a single lung and flesh/gut shot. He is aChristian and yesthat hassomething to do with this situation becausehe is not supposed to be laying God's creatures to waste carelessly. And I say carelessly because it is exactly that! When I try to discuss what might've went wrong with his shots, he isn't so interestedand laughs it off with an "oh that aint the last deer in the woods" tone. Just as further indication of his carelessness and lack of respect for life, we found his bow to be hitting 5 inches right at 15 yards with his broken pendulum sight... and to me telling him to get that fixed his response was... "nah it's good 'nuff to kill a deer." Made me sick and I didn't wanna put a rift in the family so I quit talking about it with him.

The real reason why I bring this up is because I feel we as a hunting community don'tfocus nearly as much attention on shot placement as we should. There's alot of time being spent on recoveringmarginally hitanimals but it's obvious why. The rest of the time we are talking about ethics, equipment, antlers, or what have you.

From what I gather being here for a while, HuntingNet.com prides itself and tries to maintain an "ethical" or "responsible" image. Be that as it may, I reiterate that we don't put more focus where it is sorelyneeded. We have a post stickied that's titled "what to do after the shot". Well, I for one vouch for a sticky comprised of all our experience hereto betitled "what to do before the shot."

I'm a rookie yet and am still learning but it gets a little frustrating when you ask "what should I do in this particular shot situation" and what you get is essentially... "just aim for the vitals" -or- "aim for the exit." Well yeah, that's what I'm trying to do and it's easy on a broadside shot from 20 yards but where are those vitals when the animal is moderately or severely turned or quartered? Where are they when I'm 20 feet up and the deer is quartered 10 yards from my tree? What if the animal is turned and facing downhill on a grade? I was toldon here that you should"go for the lungs" on a deer that's 20ydsout andseverelyquartered awayby aiming to exit behind the far shoulder.. all the while being 30 feet up the tree! This has to be wrong 'cause I think you'll only get one lung which is the worst thing you can do. I harvested a button and a 10-pointer this year but they were relatively easy shots. I and others need to know what to do when it aint so easy.

Anyway, serious discussionwith clear anddetailed shot placement is one of the things we owe toour quarry, eachother, and the image of the site if we are as ethical as the number of policemen with night sticks running around here.

HTH