timbercruiser

Unless the deer stopped and offered a clear shot at the right part of his neck I wouldn't have shot. At 100 yards I can hit a baseball size target and that is about what you need to be able to do on a deer's neck at that distance, but he needs to stop.

doetrain

I don't regret doing the same thing you did opening morning of gun season here in Indiana. I had a nice big bodied 8 pointer working his way up a ridge in a ravine and every once in a while he would pop up but not long enough to get a good solid shot. Now I wanted that nice Buck but after going back to that spot and hunting for him again a week later I believe I made the right choice because the round was bound to have hit a limb or branch before geting to him. I made one not so great shot with my bow this year and I am determined not to do it again. We can do better as regards our shot selection if we will be patient and exercise some discipline on our hunts. If I don't get a Buck hey the Does are good eating for sure.

shawnfogelman

Well to be honest..., look what you did. The right thing! You knew the answer before you asked our opinion... you know in your heart, the proper way of doing it. And for that, I thank you, and my hats off to you. You are obviously patient, and another fine example of a true, quality hunter!

7.62NATO

I wondered the same thing last season a couple of times, but in retrospect, I know I did the right thing by not taking the shot. It might take you some time, but you'll feel good about the fact that you didn't, at least eventually. Or immediately if you bag that bad boy on another outing.

I'll agree with the others in saying that the worst feeling you can have is not knowing if you hit or missed your target (i.e. no blood or hair ANYWHERE, even though you thought the shot was good).

Practice, practice, practice. Get confident in not only your shooting ability, but in your gun, scope and load. When the time comes and you have a tough shot that you KNOW you can make, you'll take it and you'll make it.

I have often wondered about the brush or small twigs affecting bullet path. I'm not talking 1/4"-thick branches, just the super-thin, brushy stuff. I have passed on shots where I could see the deer's entire body but there was a small amount of brush in the way, usually right in front of the deer. My thought is that if the brush is very close to the deer, it won't affect bullet path enough to matter, but if you are shooting THROUGH brush to get to a more distant target, that's a recipe for disaster.

Anyone have any real, actual experience with this? I would like to experiment sometime during a shooting session.