Seems almost like tomany people out there have the idea that just hittting the animal with and arrow or bullet is good enough....... well they are wrong. When I hunt I dont consider the deer itself a good enough target I have to beable to place my shot in the vitals, if the shot doesnt present itself then I pass on it.

My first deer I ever shot I was 17 years old and after that hunt is the reason I feel the way i do now, Anyway I shot at a doe from about a 150 yard quartering shot, at the moment just before the shot I was thinking to myself Id really like her to turn and give me a broad side shot. But I had the feeling going through me that everyone calls buck fever I was so excited it was just about uncontrolable I squeezed a round off even though I was aiming for the visible portion of its side, the bullet caught its hind left leg right in the thigh. I tracked that deer for over a mile just before I found her I thought to myself I know it was good shot she shouldnt have ran this far, I was almost about to give up looking, like most people I think would have by now as it was getting dark I started to feel sick from sorrow thinking that I just wounded her and she was gonna suffer, I was determined to find her. I said a prayer and asked God to please let me find this deer, I told him I was feeling really sick with the thought of wounding the animal. I decided to keep looking now that it was just about dark I heard some rustling in the bushes I said to my friend that was with me, there she is in the bushes. He was like no dude thats just a rabbit. sure enough it was the doe. I got close enough to see in her in full view she had absolutley no wounds in her chest or gut, all she had was a broken leg dangling by a bit of flesh she was laying on the ground looking right at me, I said to myself thank you God. This is the real bad part that gave me the wourst feeling in the world that I need to get off my chest. Where she layed it was too close quarters to shoot her again with my 308 if I backed off to take a shot I wouldnt have been able to see her the brush was to thick. I thought to myself what do I do? something needs to be done so at the moment I did the only thing I could think of I looked around and found a small log about 3 foot long, I thonked her over the head with it It was wourst feeling in the world hitting something living over the head to kill it, just thinking about it I still feel awfull over the whole ordeal. after that I took my knife and cut into its neck and air passage hoping I hit its jugular vein to make sure it wasnt suffering anymore. We dragged her back to the truck, I turned to my friend I told him Man I feel awfull he said dont you asked God to help you find her and God led you to her, A bad deal turned out to be something good. But it was a lesson learned well. I actually stopped deer hunting for a few years it was hard to get myself to do it again, but in those 2 years I didnt hunt I spent that time practicing with my rifle. Every year there after I went hunting, Every deer I shot at died from 1 fatal shot and none of them had run further then 40 yards and one dropped dead in its tracks.

It feels good to get that out, thanks guys for putting up with my Rambling.

I have 3 words of advice wether if you gun hunt or bow hunt. Practice Practice Practice
Dont learn it the hard way like I did.