How many of us on here have lost a game animal to a bad shot.
And have had that gut and soul ache for days trying everything you know and could do to find the animal.
Even for days after.... or found yourself weeks after still hoping to find or stumble on it at times.
Raise your hand.
🙋♂️😔😔😔
I have, a cow elk in 2001 (or thereabouts) and an oryx in South Africa in 1995.
Kickapoo Caverns State Park, maybe 15 years back, doe cull hunt. I stood since before dawn next to a large cedar adjacent to a dirt vehicle access track maybe 30 yards upwind of an obvious deer trail, not moving. Watching and listening for birds mostly.
Lo and behold, at dawn a doe stepped out and began stepping and feeding in my direction. I had a Marlin 336 at port arms. Ever so slowly I brought the rifle up and sighted on the chest of the deer. By that time maybe 40 feet away. It saw me just as I pulled the trigger, I know I was looking at brown fur when I shot, no idea where or if I hit it. Spent the whole day walking circles looking for blood, nothing.
