Funny my 07' buck was brought up because as I read Jeff's 29 day tale and now this one I actually got to thinking about mine........and where DO you draw the line on it being "Your" deeror nature's to be claimed only as a trinket or final chapter in a story gone wrong.
I DONOT consider my 07' buck kill a 100% successful hunt and I was disgusted that it took me 48hrs to find the deer.(I shot him 10AM Saturday and found him 10AM Monday)I DO however consider it MY buck and one I can say that I took because:
1. The deer obviously died quickly and within 150 yards of the shot (maybe 100yds as the crow flies) not of infection or other semi-natural causes......
I killed it.
2. If it was daylight I was on my hands and knees looking, if it was dark out I was worried sick.
3. There was no blood trail.........NONE even with a liver hit deer (The only deer I have ever shot that didn't leave a single drop of blood)
4. I KNEW the deer was dead in short order because I saw the arrow hit and got to watch the animal run off with the fletching sticking out in my binos.......there was no guessing.
5. I simply didn't look in the right place. The lack of blood made it a methodical grid search which took time. I wasn't obviously intending it to take 48hrs to complete but I knew it would be completed as long as I looked everwhere. I actually walked to within a paced off 12 yards of the deer the first afternoon and never saw him. That's how thick the cover was.
If Ihad gonea few more steps to the left rather than the right the tracking job would have been over in 3hrs, not 2 days.
I knew I killed the deer the second I saw the arrow hit, I looked continuously until I had my hands on him.
100% successful hunt?.......No way in hell. But an animal I can call mine? Absolutely.
I'm not going to impose my views on another person regarding their own "kills" and the circumstances that surround them.In their hearts they will decide how they feel about each of them, and if they can truly look at that animal and be proud of taking it who am I to tell them they're not? But don't kid yourself and call it a successful hunt or ending. You did something wrong to get to that point, what you do or feel or say about it is between you and the animal.
Iwill never be 100% satisfied with mine even though I found him as quickly as circumstances allowed but I am very proud of the animal and DOconsider it mine. Everytime I look at him on the wall I STILL get angry at myself for not taking a few steps to the left.
I'm not proud of everything regarding the hunt OBVIOUSLY, but I'm not ashamed to say that I'm proud of the animal and how I killed him either.