too many people over estimate game's intelligence and /or confuse it for reaction...
a loud noise with no context is not that scary...ie, thunder its the hunters movement and noise just following the shot that often provides the context.
Many many times Ive seen all sizes of deer, boars, and even turkeys... no idea on Elk.
Ive shot at a deer at 30 yards and something went wrong with the shot (ie scope knocked off by a YARD
) only to get multiple adjustment shots without much over a flinch.
Ive shot 3 deer at one go with 30 seconds of re-aim between while they trotted around 20 yards at a time in circles...
Ive done it from the ground and a tree stand.
The key, absolute silence and stone lack of movement for the 3 minutes following the shot while the animal is looking for fear context. If they found none ... you just became THUNDER
So, Ill take opportunity targets while hunting big game. I considered hogs opportunity targets while deer hunting in the south... cant tell ya how many deer Ive killed 15 minutes after blasting 3 shots at hogs and never moving!
so...yotes die if I see em.
