RE: I missed...or did I??
 

I think that is the heart of the matter, and it's all I needed to hear.
Good luck in your future hunting.
-Bulz

RE: I missed...or did I??
 

Anyway, whether the original poster has learned a lesson or not (and I'll bet he's learned a couple by now), his original point is a good one.

Last weekend, I shot a buck that sure *looked* like he'd been hit; my guide said the same thing (he even called out "Good hit!" when I fired); but we didn't find any blood where we thought the impact site was. A couple of dig-outs where he'd taken off running, but that didn't prove anything, especially since he started off in one direction and did a 180.

After looking around at the presumedimpact site, we followed to where we thought he'd run to, and sure enough, there he was, dead as a doornail, behind some brush maybe 75 yards up a game trail.We backtracked his bloodtrail, and it wasn't easy; he left only tiny drops of blood, and even those we lost after about 10 yards.

All's well that ends well; he's in my freezer right now. But he sure gave me a good scare--I thought I'd missed him, or my real nightmare, which was wounding him but not seriously enough to kill him quickly.

So, sometimes, you gotta look, then look some more, and then keeplooking. I had exactly this same thing happen to me on a pig hunt. Not a drop of blood anywhere around, but a dead pig 40 yards off.

RE: I missed...or did I??
 

The way i see is it he did srew up and I think he learned. You can't blame it all on him he is a young hunter and my have not been tought to follow up on your shot no matter what. Some of the posts on this subject were not wright. I bet nearly ever hunter have srewed up in life once of twice while hunting. Keep on hunting but think about what your out there for.

RE: I missed...or did I??
 

one day i was hunting on a powerline that runs over the back end of a pond and a doe steped out. i shot it looked like i hit her but i really couldn't tell i walked over to where i shot at the deer but didn't see any blood i must have walked around for about one hour. i didn't see anything so i wen't to my brothers truck and left him a note that i had shot at one but didn;t think i had shot it. so i went back to the stand and thought a bit when i thought about it for a while i siad to my self that i had shot that deer and i would look again so i got down and wen't across the pond to the power line and decided to walk down to the endge of the water to see if it had ran through there when i got out to the edge i saw a piece of brush move when i walked over there was the deer laying almost in the water just about dead. So checking again is what got me the deer.
even if you think you didn't shoot it you should always check to make sure because you never know if you missed or if the deer has been shot and just waiting for you to find it.
well anyways i hope next time you will check