Mixed emotions
I shot my first deer yesterday, using a bow. It was a bad shot, and ultimately took one more arrow to put her down. I estimated the deer to be around 25 yards out, when it was actually around 30. I hit the doe low, in the front leg, likely breaking it. Oddly, the deer circled around and stood about 10 yards away from me, just staring at me. I took another arrow and shot at her, and I hit low in the kill zone. She was still standing. She went down, but was still moving a lot, so I shot her again. She was still moving, but died within minutes. If I had my gun and slugs, I may have shot her to end the suffering.
Part of me feels good about it being my first deer, but another major part of me feels awful that I didn't get her down right away and she suffered. It took, maybe, a couple of minutes before she died, and I feel like a bad person for that. Did anyone else have a similar experience, and how do you get over it? |
Well, I assume it is not legal to shoot it with a slug in your situation. That would not be good, for starters. To get over it, next time bring more arrows! I have run out in the past too! Also, only shoot within a range where you can always make the shot. I switched to a crossbow cause my old bow had a mind of its own and even at 20 yds the arrow would take an unexplained dive (and that was the last arrow I shot!). Now I feel very comfortable with my xbow even at 30 yds. With my compound, I never shot over 20 yds. So if your bow is not dependable, ditch it and get one that is. And obey the laws.
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There is no honor in wounding a deer. But you followed up and got the job done. Good for you. Wounding is an unfortunate fact in hunting. If you've never wounded a deer, you've not hunted much. Learn from the experience and adjust. The sin would be doing the same thing again.
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Were you hunting bow season?
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I don't know state to state but typically from my experience it is not even legal to carry a shotgun with you during archery season.
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Probably have seen the last of Paul! Why go bow hunting if you are going to use a shotgun.
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I think Pauuul has more problems the mixed emotions all the info I got on New Jersey bow hunting says you can only carry a hand gun with a permit while bow hunting. If I were paul I would not be telling the story about my 1st bow kill to too many people. or at least leave out the part about putting it down with a shot gun.
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Sounds to me like not enough practice with the bow. Video games don't count for practice with a bow. then to shoot a deer twice with a slug gun says no practice there either.
No mentor I suppose :D Al |
Originally Posted by alleyyooper
(Post 4162610)
Sounds to me like not enough practice with the bow. Video games don't count for practice with a bow. then to shoot a deer twice with a slug gun says no practice there either.
No mentor I suppose :D Al the way hunting is being commercialized and the more technology enhancements are made to equipment the more non-hunters are going to be attracted to the sport... with a big wallet and without basic skills. not saying OP didn't do his part to ready himself as that wasn't fully explained but the fact that he said he had a slug gun along with him tells me more preparation was needed. i'd say a person needs a full year of regular practice to competently go on a bow hunt. |
It was hard reading how many times he shot at that deer.
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