Originally Posted by
petasux
You know I just read through both your stories here and first I want to say as far as the first one goes it happens, everyone makes a bad shot or fails to recover a deer at some point.
Ok, your excited, the shot seems to be there and things happen fast sometimes, again, I understand this far how it could happen, hell it happened to me earlier this week on a doe I shot.The arrow was in the ribs but further back then planned. I left her lay for 12 hours, and went back.The blood trail stopped after 70 yrds, and she got into 1800 acres of thick cattails.I looked for 5 hours but couldnt find her.But you go on to say....
And after that and the fact you choked on a buck the day before you continue with.
Apparently you learned absolutely nothing from losing the big one.If you had learned a whitetails reaction time and understood the margin of error on a frontal shot you would not have taken it.You obviously didnt learn patience as you could have waited for a different shot angle or passed the shot alltogether but you didnt.And you certainly dont show respect for the animal by taking a low percentage shot where 9 times out 10 you wont recover the animal.The front of a whitetails a lot more solid than the side of a whitetail, you got muscle, bones, and fat stacked on top of each other.And you have the whole length of the deer to blow through or else you wind up with a single entrance hole, up high, that doesnt bleed much.Had you missed the heart which is a definite possibility with this shot you wind up with what?Maybe a single lung hit?Or you hit something solid and get lousy penetration.
I think you may need to work a little harder on the patience area of your hunt, or else your "confidence" is going to result in a lot more wounded deer in your future.
You made several good points in that patience is important and shot selection is critical; however, I will provide additional details. The first deer gave me time to calm for the moment of the shot, granted this duration was not but a few seconds. If I was not holding on mark, I would not have taken the shot. Also, I am NOT promoting taking a front shot by any means because sending this out there would not benefit the community; however, I would take the shot again. I won't bother explaining why I felt confident with the shot or state my success and skills because you would then start to blast off again, instead, I will agree with you, yes front shots are high risk and much should be considered (angle, where the broad ends up, kinetic energy, broadhead, etc.).