I had no idea this thread would be so contentious. I have read and re-read every post on this thread and it seems we are all a little divided. I'm sure every hunter on this board wnat's to help our fellow hunters, that goes without saying. It really gets frustrating, however, to hear the countless stories of wounded deer. My take is this: everyone should be prepared to kill an animal when the walk in the woods. How many of you read all the magazine articles about lures, scents, rattling, the rut etc? How many of you watch hunting videos and practice calling? Now, how many of you study up on finding wounding deer? You see the comparison? Why should such a critical componant of hunting recieve so little attention until in many cases, it's too late? The fact is, almost nobody even reads about finding wounded animals and tracking.
Before for firing at an animal you should be in position to sucessfully track down and recover that animal. You should gather friends and family to help in that recovery, you should have a recovery book of some sort available to you. When all methods have been exhuasted, then perhaps, you might come on to look for advice in this forum. Any information you recieve is not always better then no information. Bad information is worse, and can lead you down the wrong path. Everyone who hunts with a bow, should own literature on how to recover a wounded animal, period.
I don't want to pretend that I am above mistakes, I am not, and niether is anyone on this board. Yes, wounding in an unfortunate part of hunting, but we need to make this a rare occassion, not a common place event. Every opportunity I get, I go and track wounded animals for friends and family, and usually, the recover is rather quick, but I NEVER assume I don't need the practice.