If I were you I would make sure my rifle was sighted in just in case. I had no idea a straight down shot was that tricky, I've made a few and the deer drop stone dead.


On the light side, a death in a few hours/minutes whatever is still alot faster than the way the deer would die naturaly by old age, a car, or sickness. It is rare someone comes to this board with this kind of honesty telling it just how it was. And I'm glad you did. Now because of you HUNDREDS of people can learn from this experience.I'm not going to chew you out for this, others here will have no problem with that. I don't disagree with you hunting does, it is an important part of whitetail manegment. What I do diagree with was that you saw one deer go down in it's tracks, why didn't you go tag it when you got out of your stand? The deer wouldn't have suffered as much, you could have finished her right then.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of gun were you shooting?

I'm sure if you will do things different from now on. The meat from that one gut shot doe is ruined, the deer died mostly in vein. Pick your shots better in the future, we owe it to the deer.

"Hey ya'll, watch this"

This is what I am trying to say

I saw the blood from the first deer I shot after I got down. I have always been told to give the deer time to die before chasing after them. So I went to get something to eat right quick.

I left the second deer where it was b/c I assumed it was dead from falling straight down after the shot and I didn't want to go into the field and spook the first deer, making it run further

Chris I think your biggest mistake was posting what happened on here. We seem to have alot of perfect people here on these forums who have never done anything wrong in their lives. Sorry about your misfortune, chalk it up to a lesson learned.

you're probably right

I'm done with hunting message boards, I guess I was wrong when I thought it would be like talking to my hunting buddies over the camp fire

Chris your post has been read over a hundred times and only five or six posted to censure you and that is enough to make you give up on everyone else? I will admit some get over zealous or self righteous in thier posts but they all mean well. Stick around were really not that bad . Like my old boss used to say "show me a man thats never made a mistake and I'll show you a liar ,or someone who has never done anything . We all make mistakes .Halcon.

[Deleted by Admins]

Im not gonna rag you and tell you how wrong things played out, i think you realize that already...

but i have a few observations...

were you using a gun or a bow? i couldnt tell (im gonna assume you had a gun, cause i've never heard of a bow breakin a spine). Either way, If you had just waited on the first doe you woulda been fine. Why take the bad shot and risk loosing her? You shouldn't have expected the second deer to still be there after the first shot anyways, so you should make the first doe count. If after you had first deer down, and another one was still hangin round, then have at it. Oh, and take your gun with you when you're lookin for them, if you happen upon them and they are not totally dead then you can end it quickly, or if you spook them, then maybe you can take another shot.

Don't let them tell you that its bad to take does, its not, plus they taste just as yummy as the bucks do.

First things first-- Chris, jsmart, huntman, welcome tothe board. Always good to see new faces.

Secondly-- Chris, I am sorry that this unfortunate incident happened to you, but I am sure that you will learn from it. Also I am glad that you were able to retrieve both deer. Being new to this board, I would like to explain something to you. Your honesty is truely a remarkable trait, so Please do not let what is said to your post cause you to refrain from being so. When you come to this board and post of an incident, such as this. There will be those that will respond with anger and brash comments. And most all of them at some time or another have done something that would have brought similar responces, if they had told the tale of it. They either, know of no other way to be or feel that this is the only way to get a point across. It is all in your upbringing. I, personally do not feel this way and will refrain from pointing any fingers. Please do not let what is said here cause you to leave or not post here. Even the brash commenting folks are, in the only way they know how, trying to help. We would love to hear more of your stories around our campfire...<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

The best of luck in all your hunting endeavors!!!

God Bless,
Dave

Edited by - deerdust on 11/24/2002 23:05:03

I get a little tired of guys posting their stories on here of how they messed up, then some guys try to give them some advice, and the original poster gets defensive. Now, I do realize that there are a few guys on here that claim to be perfect and will tell you they have never made a mistake, and choose to bash rather than simply offer what could have been done differently. But in this case, no one has claimed to be perfect, and no one slammed chris. Jsmart simply tried to give him some advice, and he did not belittle him in any way. (Although he made it seem like taking a doe was a mistake, which I don't agree with) How do you think most of these guys on here that give advice have learned to give advice like that?? From personal experience possibly?? Do you guys that get on here and post your mistakes, want everyone who offers advice to send you a deer hunting resume of their mistakes also?
If someone makes a mistake, and that person has no idea they made a mistake, then how will they every find out unless someones tries to tell them? Again, there is a right way and a wrong way to give advice. I just don't see a reason here for chris to start defending his actions. Chris, I don't think you screwed up when you gave the second deer time to expire. Most would have done the same, including myself. The biggest mistake I see is assuming you missed the first deer. You said you were sure, well there is no possible way to be sure if you didn't get down and look for sign. You said you have been deer hunting for a long time, but yet you made a rookie mistake by assuming. You probably learned your lesson without even posting on here. If so, then there is really no need to post it here is there?
I'm not perfect, and i've made my share of mistakes. Somtimes i've learned to correct those mistakes on my own, and many others i've learned to correct them because someone else gave me advice from a different perspective. A perspective that I never would have known had they not told me about it. I rarely reply to these type of posts, but there have been so many that I couldn't stand it any longer. Some people here are great with advice, and some prefer to bash. If you can't take both and throw out the bad, then don't post it. Just don't assume that everyone is going to give you a pity story when you post how you screwed up. My only questions are: 1) What happened to the gut shot deer? Did you recover it also? 2) Are you allowed more than one antlerless deer?

--I live in my own little world. But it's OK . . . they know me
here.--

I just have a funny feeling about this...

I wouldn't have jumped on you. First I would have congratulated you, becuase you do have to deer at home now, not rotting out in the bush because you couldn't find it. As long as the deer died and you were able to find it, you did your job right? Sure, some of you will say &quot;You have to put it out humanly, and quick and wait for the perfect shot, etc&quot; But thee are SOOOOOO many factors in hunting that nothing is granted... a little twig, wind, elevation, BUCK FEVER(on does too, don't fool yourself), pulling the gun a little when you squeeze the trigger. You want my story? I powdered it up a bit earlier, but in this light here's mine.

We saw a buck chase a few does into a bush. So me and my dad set up a drive, I waited on a treeline so I could see the small bluff he ran into. Dad pushed out the 3 does first and my heart pounded like you wouldn't beieve. Then about a minute later the buck came out. Full tilt, broadside. I had about 5 secs to take the shot. I made up my mind &quot;I'm taking him&quot;.I lead him by about 3 feet and pulled the trigger, He fell and started kicking in the air. I thought he was down. Then he got to his front legs and tried moving like that, by crawling on his front legs. I was shaking like a leaf when I fired my next shot. Snow and dust EVERYWHERE! clean miss. Then I got a better rest and took one more, (he was facing me now, on the ground up on his front legs) This one dropped him to the ground and he didn't move.

Turns out my first one hit way back and high, breaking his spine (that's why he couldn't use his back legs) and then my third shot entered the riight side of his neck and exited the left side just behind his back leg.

Was it a perfect shot? hell no. I had 5 secs to take the first one. I was shaking, my heart was pounding SO hard. My first running shot, My first shot EVER at game. Odds aren't that great are they? But he was out in less thn a minute and a half.

That's my story of my first buck. I don't hunt in a stand or ground blind. We see a deer go into a bush, we push it out. We see many deer, and we both got deer this year using this tactic.

My point? People hunt MANY ways and just because you don't like it doesn't mean you can take away their hunting rights. (Exaggerateed for all you who are gonna jump on that one) I think he did the right thing. He was able to take 2 deer, the first one was right underneath him. He saw the bloodtrail and let it expire. What's wrong with that? Then he went for lunch...to let it expire! He shot the second one and it dropped. He left to let them expire, so he wouldn't have to chase them cross country. He came back to the one that droped and in the same position. Got out of his truck and finnaly saw that it was still alve. He walked a few steps to his truck to get the rifle...Nothing wrong with that.

Withthat taken care of...I have one question for chris, and I mighted missed it... But did you recover the first deer that was gutshot?