After reading several of the threads today I wondered how many of the Pro's that make a living on TV lose animals. I know that they show the clean misses but always close the show with a kill. As all of us know it's not always a picture perfect outcome. I have shared a camp with 2 people who are on television frequently. I know that one of those persons is not someone that I would want to share a stand with. Not to say that he is a poor hunter, he and I just did not mix well in the camp we shared. My impression was that he would take a marginal shot. If it worked out that was great, if not, move on and find another animal for the video. This was reaffirmed when I watched him on television and viewed one of the shots he took. Anyway, not to get off the subject, I wonder how often is happens?

Good question. I am sure it happens but I would like to think it does not happen often. These people hunt for a living and consistantly having bad shots or unrecovered animals would put them out of a job rather quickly.

I watched one show where the guys wife shot a buck in texas. They tracked the deer for a couple hours with no recovery. The next day the went back and saw buzzards circling and went to that area. They did find the deer almost completely eaten by yotes and the buzzards. Id call that lost recovery being that I think theyd have never found it if not for the buzzards. On another show, (off the subject) on guy claimed that for every shot thats a hit, theres an average of 8 misses. He showed that 6-7 of his misses were deer ducking the arrow and 1-2 was misjudged yardage. That made me feel alot better when I took 5 shots at deer before I finally connected last year.

I can't see myself releasing an arrow I wasn't 99% sure of a clean kill. The last 4 arrows I shot at deer has put 4 shooters on the wall.


[/align]

The shots I took were all ethical shots. 30yds or less. one shot hit a small twig that I didnt see and sent the arrow 40yd past the deer, the other shots went over their backs due to a combo of them dropping a bit when I released the arrow and probably a misjudgement in yardage being that Im not an expert at distances, but I did use yardage markers at 10,20,& 30. You cant kill everything you shoot at, if you could you wouldnt enjoy it, IMO. Thats why we practice, and many people before each shot go over the shot in their head before the release. I myself also pray that my arrow flies true, and to that god gives me a clean kill, or a clean miss. Nothing should suffer but my pride if anything were to gowrong.

TV shows? I don't even waste my time watching them any more.. Editing can remove a lot of bad hits and lost animals. Besides, when was the last time you saw one these so-called PRO's shoot a doe or buck like the rest of us shoot?

They show you what they want you to see.

That was the question BG, how many lost animals and bad hits are lying on the edit room floors? One of the previous points made was that if these "pros" get a reputation for not being any good it stands to reason they are not going to be in business very long. I would just like to know how often it happens? I can only recall a handful of times that a show actually admitted to losing an animal.

I've never seen a pro hunter shoot an animal and not recover, but I have seen pro hunters miss an animal. I'm sure that it happens though. Not everyone is perfect.

Another thing is when they shoot a deer in the evening and wait til morning to look for it. I would never consider doing that. Tells me all they care about is the rack.

I think you are wrong in saying that. If it is a marginal hit, then you should wait till morning to retrieve your animal. By leaving it lay all night, it gives the animal time to expire. If you go after it 1-2 hours after the shot and and bump it u[p before it has time to expire, then it will run across3counties before it dies. I think it is very ethical and always a good decision to let a deer lay over night when the shot is questionable.