Wounding animals

[Lawnboy]

Theirs a local outfitter here with the policy that if you hit the animal you are done for the week. They will do all they can to look for it but you will not be shooting at another one.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Can't count the times I've heard the line, "yea I stuck one..thought it was a good.hit, sounded good...but..."

I despise hearing people say this. Unfortunately, all too often it comes out as if they accomplished some feat. I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone.

 

[WapitiBob]

Here's a related question. When I took bowhunter ed 35 years ago, my instructors drubbed into my head that one should avoid frontal or front-quartering shot because of the shoulder bones of deer and elk. I was also taught that one shouldn't shoot at game that is alert and ready to bolt. Today I see videos of people taking frontal shots at deer, shooting at alert game, and arguing their arrows could blast through an elk's shoulder. So tell me, do the new Superbows really make that big a difference in these circumstances?

People tend to avoid shoulder bones on broadside shots as well, which is why they hit "a little far back" no matter which way the animal is facing. If the objective is to place an arrow thru the center of the lungs, there is no difference in the arrows path with a quartering away or quartering towards shot. The only difference is the margin for error on the entry.

 

[hank4elk]

I'm kinda like some here.If I draw blood,tag is filled.
I have lost one buck I didn't find til next day and lost half the meat,I was so sick about it and quit bow hunting.40 some yrs ago. Pearson straight bow 65lb.
I know my weapons and practice at local range(usually empty). And I practice more than just a rest at the bench,kneeling, offhand ,prone....I even shoot lefty at times.

 

[Z Barebow]

I despise hearing people say this. Unfortunately, all too often it comes out as if they accomplished some feat. I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone.

This. Anyone who says this has no shame or remorse. I have wounded an animal, and I sure as hell wouldn't advertise it. It is MY action that resulted in the animal being wounded and I have to deal with it, come to terms with it, and live with it. It is deeply personal for me.

30% wounding rate. If that were an individual archer with results like that, they should take up basket weaving. But yet when an outfitter advertises it, I get the impression he/she is trying to emphasize opportunities, with total disregard of final results. (Because prospective clients interpret kills as "success", not shot opportunities as "success")

I feel like cr@p if I wing a pheasant and I cannot find/retrieve it. Doesn't matter. Stuff happens but I still wouldn't advertise it.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Did I miss somewhere the link to this outfitter's website with the 40% wounding rate listed? Not that I'm completely surprised..

 

[Cornell2012]

When I took bowhunter ed 35 years ago, my instructors drubbed into my head that one should avoid frontal or front-quartering shot because of the shoulder bones of deer and elk. ... So tell me, do the new Superbows really make that big a difference in these circumstances?

I don't like taking frontal shots with anything, let alone a bow. When I took bowhunter ed a decade ago, the same kinds of things were drilled into me. Quartering away shots are your friend.

That being said, I've put more than one practice (read: not sharp) broadhead through our shop siding and then some, so a modern arrow/bow setup could probably penetrate a rib/shoulder blade.

 

[The Hedgehog]

When I started bowhunting there wasn't bowhunter ed offered, I didn't have a hunting mentor, and I didn't know anybody else who bowhunted. I learned through making a ton of mistakes and thankfully haven't wounded much at all in over 30 years of bowhunting. My first big game archery shot was a 10 yard frontal shot at an alert deer on my 1st day of bowhunting. My arrow went between it's antlers - which had nothing to do with it being a bad shot, other than it was taken by a clueless hunter.

I'd take a frontal shot and even a shot at an alert animal, given the conditions were right (mostly the range being VERY close). I cross my fingers on every shot I take with a bow that I don't center punch a bone, even a rib on a close broadside shot.

In 1999, I flubbed a perfect quartering away shot at a bull elk (30 yards) and hit him square in the ass. I recovered him 3 days later. When you start flinging arrows and bullets at critters, sometimes stuff happens. But 40% of the time, and with a gun? That sounds pretty crazy. Still waiting to see the outfitter's webpage...