Should I start taking wild shots?
 

4This morning I sat in my stand and watched two huge spikes standing about 15 yards from me. They stayed about ten minutes. An hour later I hear my dad shoot. I waited about 45 more minutes and I looked to my right about 100yrds down in the ottom I see a huge bodied dear moving. I looked through the scope and it was probably a 140-160 b&c buck. It's really thick were he was and I could just see his antlers and some of his neck. My dad said he would've tried the neck shot. I didn't feel comfortable trying a shot like that though. Instead I just waited and hoped he would walk in the open ut never happened. If I see another ig deer like this should I try the shot? Or be patient?

I dont think anyone would encourage a wild shot. But give me a neck shot and ill take it.

you should only take shots that your sure of.if your not sure of a shot like this then practice it in the off season. i think practicing hunting shots make you a better hunter.

+1 there. Part of being an ethical hunter is to put as little suffering into your kills.

If you try to shoot through thick brush, the bullet might go any where.
It was a Verry Wise Choice, not to shoot.
He will be in the open soon enaugh.
A bad shot on a buck that size, and to loose him on a bad shot, will haunt you the rest of your life.

JMHO

you done the right thing, if you get where you feel comfortable with the shot take it....but i have helped a lot of people look for deer with blown off jaw bones, shot thru the wind pipe,,, etc...,,,,but if there close enough and i feel good about the shot, no doubt, head or neck is hard to beat;)

It all depends on the scenario and how clear the neck shot was.

I hit my deer this am threw thickets. 65 yard shot to the lungs. I shot a 385 grain Sabot tho. If your not comfortable with the shot wait it out

You owe it to that deer to make the most ethical and lethal shot possible. Never risk simply wounding a deer in the hopes that you will get it done. If you had taken the shot and merely wounded him only enough for him to make it to the next county and die,unfound by you then there are no winners. You'll be forever haunted by the " I wonder if I missed" or "I wonder if he's close and I walked past him while searching" senario.

Yes, there will be other days and better shots.

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.

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.

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:happy0001:!

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.