If you’re a veteran…..you’ll likely get mad. If you’re new at this….I want NOTHING other than for you to learn from my mistake(s).

I wounded a deer last Tuesday night……by aiming at the wrong spot on the deer. I’ve gone over this a million times in my head….and I made a mistake. I get SOOOO ingrained into thinking about my 3D deer…..the 12 ring….the 3D tournaments I shoot in…..that I lost sight that this MAGNIFICENT animal was a living, breathing being. It deserved better than I gave it, that day. If I shoot this deer Saturday….I still have to live with how it bedded that night….and the nights and days since.

I’m proficient with my bow. I shoot a LOT. This was shot, during lunch, from 22 yds out of my ladder stand. My buck was quartering away @ 12. I hit what I aim at. I aimed at the wrong thing. I was also shaking like a leaf. I’m 41. Yes. It can happen to you.

I practice good ethics. I teach my son good ethics. I ABSOLUTELY got caught up in a “moment”…..saw this great buck …..and made a poor decision. I aimed in the wrong spot. This deer was at ground level. I wasn’t . This deer was quartering away. I didn’t take it into account. I’m convinced, now.

I posted my entire story…..and I took a few hits because of it. I’m absolutely coming clean about what I did, now. This is the last time I’ll mention this, publicly. If you’re new to this…..I hope I might can save you what I went through this past week. Read EVERY POST that a “sticky” at the top of these pages.

Have a great season

Jeff

In my best Scooby Doo, "Rot ro." This could get long.


All Ill say is, you will and have learned from this mistake. Keep your head up, you wont do it agian. Im sure of that.

SB, it happens to all of us at one time or another. Things that can go wrong generally will at some point.

As long as you learned something from it, took something away from it that will make you a better hunter because of it, then don't worry about how everyone else reacts.

You've done good by coming clean, accepting it as a mistake, and doing your best to move on. There isn't anything you can do now other than that. Stop kicking yourself for it and get back out there.

Good luck with everything to come.

Geez SB You missed all 5 of them shots too!!

GR8.......You have a point.

I think it is very big of you to come clean and not only have you learned a lesson from it but you are trying to warn others not to make the same mistake you did. I think that almost everyone who is serious about archery hunting will lose one sooner or later.

If you bow hunt, that sort of thing IS going to happen at some point. As long as you take something away from the situation and learn from it, it should make you better the next time around.
Good luck the rest of the year!!

Pick your head up SB. If you hunt long enough it will happen if it hasn't happened already. This is a lesson that a seasoned hunter should take to heart as well a newcomer to the sport. The fact that you feel they way you tells me that you are a true sportsman. If you had the attitude of oh well then it would be a different story. As ethical hunters we do all we can to make a clean and quick kill. Mistakes happen no matter what anyone thinks. You are human. As hard as it maybe try not to lose anymore sleep then you have already. Good luck with the rest of your season.

I'm a veteran, I think. This will be my 24th season bowhunting and my 28th hunting, I don't know if that qualifies me as a veteran but even so, how could I get mad at reading your thread. It happens to everyone, if it hasn't, it probably will, if it still doesn't happen, your in a manority and I happy for you.
I've shot competition perhaps longer than many of you have shot bows, and it could still happen. I've been there, with the gut ache in the pit of the stomach. I was there last year. Deer move, deer jump, deer spin at the fastest setups. We cannot keep an animal still for a shot. We live our lives daily and we don't stop learning. SBG, good thread and a great reminder to us all, veteran or not.

I think it's DaveC who's got as his signature "aim for the exit hole"... (My apologies if I'm wrong; I'm going from memory.)

It's an easy, simple thing to remember about deer which aren't perfectly broadside, and I think about it often.

Don't worry Jeff... there's ALWAYS a learning curve, no matter how old you are.