THE PRO'S AND LOST ANIMALS...
 

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?

RE: THE PRO'S AND LOST ANIMALS...
 

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.

RE: THE PRO'S AND LOST ANIMALS...
 

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.

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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.


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I have seen them use a dog to find thier deer after the trail peetered out.

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Nothing wrong with that either...in fact I feel it's the ethical thing to do.

And as far as PRO's on TV....nah..nope most of them are not at all PRO's....they are simply TV Personalities...nothing more.

RE: THE PRO'S AND LOST ANIMALS...
 

Rob
I seem to remember reading that in another thread:)

As for the question at hand I bet there are a lot more missed or bad placed shots and lost animals than we will ever know.

RE: THE PRO'S AND LOST ANIMALS...
 

If anyone has ever watched Bill Jordan try to shoot a deer than I would say YES, there are probably a ton of animals either gut shot or mamed severly by so called pro's. I'm not just picking on him but mainly him for his poor shot selection and his boasting after a bad or inhumane shot. Knight & Hale or two of the most informative hunters to ever have a video production and they even show poor shot selection over and over again. Tom Miranda some 10 years ago was the gut shot king in those older videos.

I have in upwards up 200 diffrent hunting films and there are many that should not have the previlegde to harvest animalsin my oppinion and these are the peoplethat get paid to do the greatest job in the world. I understand mother nature doesnt always present the perfect shot and I'm also not saying that I am a perfect hunter either but, if a man is going to kill a animal he should at least try to do it quickly and effectively. The Drury's and Primos family of videos are the only ones that have filmed the shot and told about the loss of a great buck that couldnt be found and they did it as honestly as they could.

When i was just getting into hunting 10 years ago I probably lost 7 or 8 deer, yes I felt terrible about not recovering that animal but now that I look back at it, thats what made me a better archer, tracker and all around hunter. Mistakes happen, but its how you learn from them that changes you into a real sportsman. Now, a after a bad shot I just go home and replay everything that happened up to the time I released the arrow and I wait and then I go back and try to find the animal unlike when I was a kid and just rush in. I never had anyone to teach me the rights and wrongs of hunting and maybe thats why I get so pissed off when a movie star still consistently makes bad decisions. They are the ones alot of us hunters wish we could grow up to be. Who wouldnt want to hunt for a livin?

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I still disagree about leaving them overnight. If you leave a deer in the woods here overnight you don't have anything but spoiled meat the next morning if the coyotes didn't get it. I have seen deer shot on the shows where it looked like a pretty good shot, but they left it to lay overnight. The next morning they would find the deer a few yards past where they saw it last. I think they are more interested in filming in the daylight.

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Great Minds Russel, great minds. :)

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Boy, you guys sure are apt to make someone look like an arse. I asked spoke with a very popular hunting personality and asked him if it ever became more of a job than a past time. He said there were YEARS when he went on hunts, bought the hamburger, but couldn't afford the fries or coke that went with it and drank water. He is now the CEO of Primos. Most of these guys may miss, but geeze look at the caliber deer they miss! They take probably 20x as many shots per year on animals as we do, lo and behold they miss! Freakin crap crucify them. For Christ's sake, does anyone on here think they have contributed as much to HUNTING as Bill Jordan or Jackie Bushman have? Do I agree w/ all the shots they take? No! But do I sit on here and pick them apart like a monday morning quarterback? No, I don't do that either. I bet most of these guys did without a LOT to get what they have now, and maybe no one here is taking away from that but it sure seems like it. Are they perfect? No. But alas, neither am I. No, most of the pro's on tv may not be pro's. In fact, another big time hunter said all of his guysLOVE bowhunting the most b/c it's the hardest. They also all admit that they are no better than the average hunter, just lucky enough to score a big time job. Evidently, you have to be a salesman, a hunter, and have a good personality. So they aren't perfect, didn't Carlos Hathcock miss a time or two???

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I don't think anyone is saying that they are perfect, just that the "pro's" need to admit more often that they are not, instead of protraying that they are.

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I think this is an excellent question. However, I shall present you with another situation. I was hunting in West Point, MS this past Janurary and took a shot at an 8 point after about 30 minutes on stand. It was fairly light but I missed a twig. The shot sounded good but something didnt look right the last time I saw the knock. 25 yards broadside and I drilled a twig the arrow was covered with lots of blood but also lots of gut.I looked for the rest of that day for that deer. He just stopped bleeding. It wasnt a marginal shot from my point of view at the time of the shot because I couldnt see the limb that deflected to the right my arrow. Now Im sure thats not the case in every TV hunters adventures but it might have happened to one or two decent guys before that still regret it. Im one of them (but Im not on TV). The people that you are describing are absolutely horrible. Its just another slap in the face of hunters every where. Hopefully PETA will not get wind of any of it.

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The problem with the TV shows is that they are there to film deer being killed, sometimes they take what I consider marginal shots...

Back in the early 70s, I shot a 6 pointer through the lungs, didn't wait long enough and jumped the deer, found where he had bedded down and a lot of blood, I didn't recover the animal...It literally made me sick, but I learned my lesson...

I now pass on many shots that others would make...If you have deer duck the arrow, either they are on alert and a shot should not be taken or your bow is too noisy and should be quietened...Just because a bow is fast, doesn't mean a deer cant' duck the arrow...

Look for reasons not to take the shot, kill does as it gives you good practice, this is one reason I have problems with "trophy hunters" they actually don't have a lot of experience killing deer, so they don't have the experience needed when a good buck presents itself....

Don't let your ego get the best of you, if the shot isn't there, pass on it...
We were killing deer with recurves and slow compounds in the 70s, the proper setup is needed to be successful.

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Ditto.

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Letting a deer lay overnight will not spoil the meat most of the time. If the night temp is low enough, the meat will be perfectly good. I shot a buck last season in September. It was still a bit warm but I knew the shot was a bit far back. I followed the trail for about 100 yards before pulling out. The next morning I went back with a buddy and we were able to recover the deer. The low that night was in the upper 60s to low 70s and the meat was fine.