ORIGINAL: hometheaterman
ORIGINAL: teedub31
ORIGINAL: hometheaterman
gh you might not loose much meat! I lost an 8 point this year, I found him the next morning and the only thing lost was the tenderloins! Luckily, it was cool and the 'yotes didn't find him before I did!
I know how you feel. I've lost a few deer in my life. Just this year the day before hunting season ended I had a deer creep out to me and look around before coming into the field. He was about 35 yards from me and I shot him in the head and chest with my 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 000buckshot. I'm pretty sure I hit him good from the way he acted when I shot. He then turned and ran and I shot at the side of him but I'm not sure if I hit it or not. I found blood where I shot and also found blood in a few other spots but never could find the deer. Somone else had shot one earlier in the field next to where I was about 20 minutes earlier and said he knocked it down and it layed there for a few minutes but when he went to get it it jumped up and took off. We think it was the one I shot so more than likely it was already wounded. I looked and looked and had a buddy come help me look and we never did find it. I was pretty upset the whole day. I really just hate not finding a deer and just having wounded it. That's why I'm not crazy about shotguns as it seems to do that a lot. The next which was the last day of hunting season here I ended up shooting another doe this time with the rifle and it just fell over in it's tracks. Didn't move 2 feet from where I shot it. This made me feel a little better as I was happy to get another deer this season but I am still dissapointed I couldn't find that one.
Hopefully he can find his. I think losing them though is sometime we all go through at one point or another.
More anecdotal evidence as to why 00Buckshot is a poor choice of ammo to use on deer!
I don't disagree. I don't really like shotguns a whole lot for deer hunting but the spot I was in you just could not use a rifle. I was shooting 000 buckshot as it's what my shotgun seemed to pattern the best when I shot it target practicing. Grouped a lot better than 00. However, quite a few guys I hunt with seem to have no problem killing deer with buckshot so not sure why I have such bad luck. I suspect he didn't go far it was just super thick and while I went though most of it I could I suspect he just got somewhere I couldn't find him. It was wet and a fair bit of water too that kind of messed us up.
I think he was talking about slugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!