Hoytail Hunter

Well actually, I can only confirm that 2 of those 4 are dead somewhere in the woods but 4 deer total were shot this year by my inexperienced (even moreso than I) brother-in-law. 2 left medium flow blood trails that eventually disappeared. The other 2 were a single lung and flesh/gut shot. He is aChristian and yesthat hassomething to do with this situation becausehe is not supposed to be laying God's creatures to waste carelessly. And I say carelessly because it is exactly that! When I try to discuss what might've went wrong with his shots, he isn't so interestedand laughs it off with an "oh that aint the last deer in the woods" tone. Just as further indication of his carelessness and lack of respect for life, we found his bow to be hitting 5 inches right at 15 yards with his broken pendulum sight... and to me telling him to get that fixed his response was... "nah it's good 'nuff to kill a deer." Made me sick and I didn't wanna put a rift in the family so I quit talking about it with him.

The real reason why I bring this up is because I feel we as a hunting community don'tfocus nearly as much attention on shot placement as we should. There's alot of time being spent on recoveringmarginally hitanimals but it's obvious why. The rest of the time we are talking about ethics, equipment, antlers, or what have you.

From what I gather being here for a while, HuntingNet.com prides itself and tries to maintain an "ethical" or "responsible" image. Be that as it may, I reiterate that we don't put more focus where it is sorelyneeded. We have a post stickied that's titled "what to do after the shot". Well, I for one vouch for a sticky comprised of all our experience hereto betitled "what to do before the shot."

I'm a rookie yet and am still learning but it gets a little frustrating when you ask "what should I do in this particular shot situation" and what you get is essentially... "just aim for the vitals" -or- "aim for the exit." Well yeah, that's what I'm trying to do and it's easy on a broadside shot from 20 yards but where are those vitals when the animal is moderately or severely turned or quartered? Where are they when I'm 20 feet up and the deer is quartered 10 yards from my tree? What if the animal is turned and facing downhill on a grade? I was toldon here that you should"go for the lungs" on a deer that's 20ydsout andseverelyquartered awayby aiming to exit behind the far shoulder.. all the while being 30 feet up the tree! This has to be wrong 'cause I think you'll only get one lung which is the worst thing you can do. I harvested a button and a 10-pointer this year but they were relatively easy shots. I and others need to know what to do when it aint so easy.

Anyway, serious discussionwith clear anddetailed shot placement is one of the things we owe toour quarry, eachother, and the image of the site if we are as ethical as the number of policemen with night sticks running around here.

HTH

loogout1

A single lung shot is a dead deer and a bullseye in my book. Obviously we want both lungs but a single lung is accepteable.Fact that it wasn't recovered isn't due to the shot. Always remember, the vitals are between the shoulder blades.

bigcountry

As Paul tells us, we all fall short of the Glory. So putting the Christian comment in there really doens't mean much. Sometimes my witness is good, and others not so good. The good thing is if you believe, Jesus Christ blood is strong enough to cover all of our sins.


Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

shtr.

A single lunged deer can travel well over 10 miles and generally does.
A large percentage of one lunged deer survive.
I had seen plenty of deer one lunged and walking about within the week.
I have also seen lots of kills where the scaring on the lung is very visible and the cause obvious.

This year I have seen three deer that were one lunged and then taken within two weeks after the fact during cull hunts.

loogout1

Well learn something new everyday. I have personally never in 15 years of hunting whitetail deer only with the bow, have I ever seen a deer shot thru one lung survive, ever. Notice I said thru. Nick the outer edge, maybe, but thru? But if you say you have personally witnessed this, then I believe I guess. As far as travelling 10 miles, a severely injured deer doesn't generally roam too far. Were they pushed? Why if they were questionable shots?

USAF_hunter

I call BS on a single lung deer surviving. And when did religion matter in bowhunting?

bigcountry

Before two years ago, I would be with ya on this one. But personally witnessed a person shooting a deer, and finding one lung, totally gone from a shoulder shot. It was pretty gross, and had alot of puss in his body. But we know for sure, his father shot it 2 months before. He patterned the deer pretty good, and caught it on camera a few times before and after the hit. I just can't believe it lived for a long time after that.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Single lung hit deer can and do survive. Even double lunged hit deer if conditions are right. I will quote once again a study done in the book by John Jeanenney Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Game, they show pictures of lungs with broadhead scar tissue, the doe was in fact double lunged, lived and heeled.

And what, you don't give thanks?

USAF_hunter

Yah I give thanks, to my grandfather and father for teaching me to hunt and fish. I also don't believe in the use of dogs for any part of deer hunting. This is just my opinion. In my expirience I have never seen a lung shot deer survive.

Back on subject, your brother in law needs to take more resonsibility in the harvesting of animals or find a new hobby.

Schultzy

Lmao! Yes a single lung hitdeer can survive, its been proven by people on here from time to time! But you say they generaly travelwell over 10 miles and a high percentage survive a one lung shot? I've heard it all now!!! 9 times out of 10 a one lunghitwill knock em down just fine. I've been on many many bloodtrails through out the yearsand i've seen 1 one lung deer live till the next day soit can happen but not very often. Heck i've seen elk, moose, bear, go 200 yards and fold up on a 1 lung hit and these animals have alot bigger lung capacity then a deer! I'm guessing the deer your talking about were never even lung shots, just a good excuse to blame the problem somewhere else!