Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: bwhntr350 on September 18, 2016, 09:42:19 PMThis can be a touchy subject for me. I have taken 9 or 10 record book Roosevelt elk, over the years, and have never shot at one from over 35 yards. That is the limit I set myself to back in the '80's. I have wounded two bulls. One from less than 15 yards that turned to run as soon as I released and the arrow hit, I think, jaw bone. The first one I wounded was a small 5 point that was 30 yards away. My arrow hit the tiniest of twigs hanging down. I saw the twig before I shot and I thought that there was no was my arrow would hit it. It did! The arrow deflected and hit him right in the arse. My Dad and I tracked him until dark and then, that night, it poured down rain. The dead bull was stumbled upon by other hunters four days later, bloated. They gave my the antlers, I tagged it, and was thanked by the local game warden for doing so.The reason it is touchy for me is that I read about all these long shots. Some successful, some not. My thought, in the latter years of my hunting, was/is don't shoot unless you know you can make a perfect shot. Too much stuff can happen when shooting past 50 or 60 yards, way too much! Too me, it is not worth it. It is a sick feeling knowing that you stuck a animal and it is a hopeless feeling when you start to realize what you have done.I will, probably, be labeled self-righteous for saying this stuff, but I cannot stand reading about 70 and 80 yard shots, and sometimes longer. To me that is just selfish and, yeah, stupid! But, it will never stop.Let my lashing begin...I agree with you almost 100%. I do believe there are guys that can take that 70 yard or maybe even 80 with extreme confidence. Unless you have ice water in your veins though you toss a little adrenalin in and it could be easy to miss the mark. Any doubt, I just won't shoot myself, I have too much respect for the animal.I think the most important part you stated and the same goes for me is it makes me sick to see an injured animal go off knowing it will likely die slow and miserably. There are people who have the "oh well, cant find it" and go stick another one as if it was no big deal. That makes me sick personally.To romaknows, It happens, it sounds like you tried hard to recover her and that's the best you can do. As far as giving up on archery, that's nuts. It could have been a rifle shot and you could have lost her too. Lots of people can tell stories of elk that were lost to a well placed rifle shot and didn't recover their animal, they can be tough as nails and they can drop like a ton of bricks. You just never know.
This can be a touchy subject for me. I have taken 9 or 10 record book Roosevelt elk, over the years, and have never shot at one from over 35 yards. That is the limit I set myself to back in the '80's. I have wounded two bulls. One from less than 15 yards that turned to run as soon as I released and the arrow hit, I think, jaw bone. The first one I wounded was a small 5 point that was 30 yards away. My arrow hit the tiniest of twigs hanging down. I saw the twig before I shot and I thought that there was no was my arrow would hit it. It did! The arrow deflected and hit him right in the arse. My Dad and I tracked him until dark and then, that night, it poured down rain. The dead bull was stumbled upon by other hunters four days later, bloated. They gave my the antlers, I tagged it, and was thanked by the local game warden for doing so.The reason it is touchy for me is that I read about all these long shots. Some successful, some not. My thought, in the latter years of my hunting, was/is don't shoot unless you know you can make a perfect shot. Too much stuff can happen when shooting past 50 or 60 yards, way too much! Too me, it is not worth it. It is a sick feeling knowing that you stuck a animal and it is a hopeless feeling when you start to realize what you have done.I will, probably, be labeled self-righteous for saying this stuff, but I cannot stand reading about 70 and 80 yard shots, and sometimes longer. To me that is just selfish and, yeah, stupid! But, it will never stop.Let my lashing begin...
Quote from: TVHunts on September 19, 2016, 06:46:12 PMQuote from: bwhntr350 on September 18, 2016, 09:42:19 PMThis can be a touchy subject for me. I have taken 9 or 10 record book Roosevelt elk, over the years, and have never shot at one from over 35 yards. That is the limit I set myself to back in the '80's. I have wounded two bulls. One from less than 15 yards that turned to run as soon as I released and the arrow hit, I think, jaw bone. The first one I wounded was a small 5 point that was 30 yards away. My arrow hit the tiniest of twigs hanging down. I saw the twig before I shot and I thought that there was no was my arrow would hit it. It did! The arrow deflected and hit him right in the arse. My Dad and I tracked him until dark and then, that night, it poured down rain. The dead bull was stumbled upon by other hunters four days later, bloated. They gave my the antlers, I tagged it, and was thanked by the local game warden for doing so.The reason it is touchy for me is that I read about all these long shots. Some successful, some not. My thought, in the latter years of my hunting, was/is don't shoot unless you know you can make a perfect shot. Too much stuff can happen when shooting past 50 or 60 yards, way too much! Too me, it is not worth it. It is a sick feeling knowing that you stuck a animal and it is a hopeless feeling when you start to realize what you have done.I will, probably, be labeled self-righteous for saying this stuff, but I cannot stand reading about 70 and 80 yard shots, and sometimes longer. To me that is just selfish and, yeah, stupid! But, it will never stop.Let my lashing begin...I agree with you almost 100%. I do believe there are guys that can take that 70 yard or maybe even 80 with extreme confidence. Unless you have ice water in your veins though you toss a little adrenalin in and it could be easy to miss the mark. Any doubt, I just won't shoot myself, I have too much respect for the animal.I think the most important part you stated and the same goes for me is it makes me sick to see an injured animal go off knowing it will likely die slow and miserably. There are people who have the "oh well, cant find it" and go stick another one as if it was no big deal. That makes me sick personally.To romaknows, It happens, it sounds like you tried hard to recover her and that's the best you can do. As far as giving up on archery, that's nuts. It could have been a rifle shot and you could have lost her too. Lots of people can tell stories of elk that were lost to a well placed rifle shot and didn't recover their animal, they can be tough as nails and they can drop like a ton of bricks. You just never know.I had a perfect 70 yard broadside shot across a little lake opening day on a big cow. There was nothing in my way, but I knew my limit was 45 yards. Past that, I wasn't comfortable. So I started a slow crawl trying to get in range. She was gone by the time I got to my comfort zone. I thought a lot about that opportunity and to be honest, there's a part of me that wishes I had let one fly. But then reality kicks in and I'm grateful I didn't risk it. I'd rather kick myself for maybe a missed opportunity than live with myself knowing I injured an animal because of my overconfidence. I agree...some people may be comfortable out to 70 yards, but I'm not...and maybe never will be.
I don't think I know a Archery hunter who hasn't lost an animal. Guys I know who have been doing it for more then 30 years have all lost multiple animals.
My guess is that the worst for wounding w/o recovery is probably buckshot. Here is a study done on deer wounding w/o recovery rate http://www.marylandqdma.com/files/Download/Pedersen-31-34.pdf
