You did the right thing, no doubt. I mean, there isn't even a hint of reasonable thinking that would lead to you having taken the shot.

In response to Chas, shooting at a moving critter can be tricky, and is usually inadvisable if not always inadvisable. Swinging on a deer, especially with a scope, is never a good thing to do, though. If you are going to shoot at a deer that is moving, find a clear spot ahead of it and wait for the deer to enter your sights. That said, shots on moving deer should only be on walking/slowly trotting deer in my opinion. Anything faster than that and you run too great a risk of wounding the critter.

You did the right thing.

You don't have to explain to anybody if you think it is a bad shot. I am getting old and can't tell you how many bow shots I have passed on and been ridiculed for, usually by guys that lose an average of 2 deer a year. Then again, you did not say the deer was moving. I have shot a few between the eyes and through the ear. If I feel good about the shot I take it, if not no. It is up to you.

Patience and persistance always pays off better than foolish decisions. You did the right thing in passing on that shot.

Ethical hunter, Good for you! You can feel good about not taking that shot .

i think you did the right thing if you are ever dought a shot its probly better not to take it

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of guys who shoot where they THINK the deer is.....don't be one of them.

I was "bragging" last weekend at the hunting camp that I've fired 5 shots at deer with my 30-30 in the last 7-8 years.

I've dragged out 5 deer.....

I wasn't bragging, just trying to make a point to the guys. I've passed on at least 6 or 7 (or 20) shots at flags through the brush.

In my younger days, I've emptied my rifle out at MANY running deer and almost always missed completely or I spend HOURS looking for a deer that got "winged" but still can run 10 miles before it dies....thats just not cool anymore.

I've found that, if you're patient enough, many deer will give you a shot that you KNOW you can make.

You done good. Take only ethical shots at clearly identifiable targets.

I guess it has been 20+ years or so ... my No. 1 hunting buddy of mine and I performed an admittedly unscientific test firing through about 30 yards of wild plum bushes at a full size cardboard cutout of an "average" sized deer, broadside. We had been reading about so called "brush guns", and were skeptical to say the least.

We used a 243 Win. (100 gr.), 30/30 Win. (150 gr.), 308 Win. (165 gr. and 180 gr.), 270 Win. (130 gr.), 30.06 Spr. (180 gr. and 200 gr.), 7mm Rem. Mag.(150 gr.), and 444 Marlin (300 gr.). Fired 5 shots each from about 75 yards away. Moved the target around behind the plum bushes the idea being to sort keep the interference about equal. Then took a look a the hits. It was an eye opener for us.

Shots were very seldom in the "kill zone". Lots of "tumbling" holes. Several "Shrapnel" hits. And a few flat out misses.

The big surprise to me was that the so called "brush gun" of the group, the 444 Marlin, fared no better than the others.

We even tried a load of 3' - 00 buck shot shell out of 12 ga. full choke .... 1 shot at 50 yards. And while the 00 sure cut a swath through the bushes, blasting twiglets here and yon, pellets were all over the place with only 6 hitting the deer at all.

Of course this "test" could not have measured penetration of any of these rounds .... but was a fun thing to try.

Your cousin is a moron...hunter safety and ethical hunting are more important than anything unless your stranded and starving and have to eat or die.

You my friend made the right decision and from what I understand 243s seem to fly away when they hit even the slightest branch or twig.

I've passed up more than one deer due to lack of a good shot and trust me it feels a lot better than taking a bad shot, wounding a deer and having it run off never to be found, suffer and die. That's not a good feeling.

There are plenty idiots already out there which is a good reason not to be one.

Wow! so Im not the only one thats happened to, I was crushed when I went to look for blood and I saw the sapling cut in half, but at the same time thankfull I didnt wound the doe.