I have had both. With a rifle I thought that i had missed, and was kinda bummed out. So I went to check, didn't see anything... kept looking, and finally saw some blood up the hill. I walked up and there was 1 foot wide blood trails leading to the deer behing the tree a couple yards away. I hit the deer and it hit the snow and slid a foot forward and slid dead behind the tree. Good thing i kept looking. With a bow, I shot at a elk and heard... THUD and saw the elk crouch for a second, and then take off. By the time I went to investigate it was too dark. So I drove home, and came back the following day (2 hour drive) to find out that I had hit the tree behind it. The darn elk ducked when i fired.... lol, forgot to take that in account, I got caught in the moment, and aimed regular. At least I was on target, that tree was dead from the moment I touched the release!


What ever you do, always follow up on your shots. Even if you think you didn't hit it, you have to follow up.