OK, I' ll second the notion it' s a poor percentage shot. Two, you have to aim back more than just behind the sholuder blades to get the biggest kill area. Besides confirming it' s a bad shot I' d like to give you or anyone else a little hint about a deer like this. It may be true he' s a little nervous or up tight, but with each passing moment of nothing happening he will usually get a little calmer. Even if he decides it' s not right and decides to leave, he will, 99 times out of 100, offer you several opportunities as he leaves. Unless he pinpoints the danager he' s just going to slink back where he came from or high step... but not run. Yup, you should have waited. A smart hunter will learn from his mistakes. You haven' t yet as obvious by your decision to take the shot even though you knew it wasn' t the best. A lost dead deer will never be anything else. Even if you choose to wait for a better shot that never happens you at least have the chance for another opportunity another day. A one lunger always has the possibility of a lost deer. A double lunger is always a dead deer you can find. If you take a shot that may or will give you a one lunger cuts your odds in half. It just isn' t worth it over the long haul. It may get you a deer now and then, but you' re going to loose some... and probably the ones you loose are the best, biggest and strongest. YUP, the weather man sure did screw up in a major way. I too sat in a Md tree getting soaked Saturday. We choose to hunt the morning and not the afternoon.... and of course the afternoon was beautiful. Sorry about your lost deer.... it' s one more that will never get a chance to come by MY TREE.[:' (]

P.S. Don' t feel like we' re picking on you. I' ll be the first one to criticise my own failures and point out bad shots to the guys I hunt with all the time. It' s real easy to get a little cocky with ourselves and take a low percentage shot when we' ve had a string of successes... I' ve done it my self.