RE: What are this guys chances?
Let me first say that I had practiced with the new setup and it shot great. The shot was not what went wrong, it was after the arrow hit the deer. However, that is not what I am trying to point out in this thread.
Second, it was a morning hunt and the closest help I had was 30 minutes away. My dad was hunting too and has no cell phone, so it would have required me driving there hoping to get lucky enough to catch him off the stand and talk him into going to collect my deer. This was something that I simply did not have time to do.
I thought it to better to pass the shot since I had no gaurantee as to when I could return. That morning I set out and allowed me an hour to hunt, and an hour to take care of the deer. I was not going to take any questionable shot that would result in a wounded animal that would need tracking. I had passed my limit of an hour of hunting that morning and did not think it would be right to shoot the animal while not knowing when I would be able to make it back. It played out that I was able to return for that afternoon hunt, but there was no way of me knowing with my schedulethat I was going to be there again.
Question my ethics if you must, as you have your opinions and I have mine. I felt that shooting him at that time under the circumstances was not the proper thing to do.
Best of luck to all