comndr45

I finally got a shot on a deer yesterday. I let one doe go at 25 yds because she had a spotted fawn with wobbly legs trailing her. A few minutes later a nice fat doe steps out at 25 yds and I draw on her. I set the pin and woosh, right under her, barely clipping her far leg. What happened--I have a Savage derringer drop away that I had not reset in the &quot;up&quot; position.<img src=icon_smile_blackeye.gif border=0 align=middle> All this time and I blow it. I go find my ACC and it is snapped in two with a very tiny bit of blood on the cresting. It was extremely exciting, but I can't believe I screwed it up like that. During practice it was second nature to reset the rest, but during the excitement of a hunt, I forgot. There WILL be a next time, and I won't make that mistake again.

The most important bloodtrail leads right to the foot of the cross

BobCo19-65

Are you positive that is where you hit it. Did you go after the deer at all, or just go by what you saw. From my experience what you saw isn't always what happened, especially at 25 yards.

atlasman

I have to agree that you should have put more effort into finding out if it was in fact a leg wound or perhaps a more serious fatal hit. You can never be sure at 25 yards.

Maybe you did and just haven't said so.

Double and triple check your setup to be sure next time. Too bad you didn't miss her clean.

Sooner_Hunter

Too bad. My experience is the hardest lessons are the ones that really stick with us. Sooner

Hey, size may not matter but it IS nice.

Sooner_Hunter

Too bad. My experience is the hardest lessons are the ones that really stick with us. Sooner

Hey, size may not matter but it sure IS nice!

M Bucker

comndr45, I agree with the others, and it's not too late to get back out there and still look for her or signs of a better hit.

If it is the case, better luck next time.

comndr45

Upon further review and in much better light, I see that what I thought was a very small amount of blood on the white cresting was actually some clay-ey dirt with plenty of matching dirt on the vane. I went back out and there was definitely no blood anywhere around. The only reason I thought I hit her at all was that she was limping a little. She could have been limping before I ever saw her, because I was looking the other way when she appeared in my opening.
I have accidentally shot arrows with the rest in the down position in practice and they usually hit a foot to a foot and a half low depending on distance. My suspicion is that I hit the hoof on the far leg, giving no blood but maybe making her limp. I could also have hit a rock that popped up and hit her in the leg. I still can't figure how the arrow snapped. The front blade of the Snyper was curled up letting me know it hit something hard like a rock or possibly her hoof as it was planted on the ground. It is all speculation now, but I am certain that I didn't draw blood, which makes me feel better. I'm still upset over blowing the shot.

The most important bloodtrail leads right to the foot of the cross

Air Master

Don't worry, you'll have other chances, I missed one this past sunday at what I thought was a flat 30 yards, caught it high above the lungs and below the spine, lots of fat but no juice. Good luck and learn from this, it will make you a better hunter! Air Master in KY

Sean P. McNierney
Berea, KY

ChiefHeadhunter

Too bad comndr but you will get another chance and it's early yet. I had the same results when I forgot to reset my savage quiet draw. I was around a foot low, maybe a foot and a half at 20 yards. It's very easy to do my friend, don't beat yourself up too much over it. Although I took both my deer last season with that rest, I quit using it because forgetting to reset is always a possibility. I forgot around 8 or 10 times over a couple hundred arrows last year. I have since installed that rest on my son's old Xi but made a simple modification to it so that he wouldn't have to think and remember to reset it; at ten years old he has plenty else to think about and I want to make his setup as user friendly as possible. Although he's still just really getting started, the little guy has natural ability that is well complimented by his patience and amount of focus he has for a youngster. A good friend and I watched a few weekends back as Logan drilled a solid 4&quot; group from 20 yards out with not one flier out of 6 arrows. I'm way of subject now but I'm just real proud of him.

Here is how I made it &quot;foolproof&quot; for him. I used some chord from a set of mini-blinds and set it up like a trophy taker is (which is one of the rests I use). I attached it to the allen screw on the collet of the piece that enguages the magnet. You can run the spring tension tighter this way too and get the quickest drop you'd need without it possibly dropping out before release. It also wouldn't change the rest height (because of the magnetic action) if he creeps forward like other lanyard rests can, taking that potential problem out of the equation. I'm not saying you should do this or it would be best for you, but it works well for Logan and it's not laying in the junk box now. It's an idea anyway. I really don't think you'll forget again though do you?

Good luck! I think you'll get one soon.

Here is a pic of his setup for you.

Joel5

I missed my first deer last weekend. My peep site was moved up some so I couldn't use it. I might not have been able to hit it anyways I was shaking so bad. I wasn't that good of a shot to be taking but the deer just stood there for like a minute, so I shot between 2 trees.