Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wounded mule deer have arrows lodged in heads

You guys should see a moose wounded by a locomotive after it has recovered.... all its ribs on that side had been broken and healed, and the lung grown into the ribcage.

Animals can recover from some pretty amazing stuff, but yeah - hate to see them injured from anything, especially poor shooting.

Some years ago I saw a Canadian report about firearm hunters level of competency. IIRC only about 30% of the hunters met the test's level of competency - and that wasn't all that difficult. I doubt US hunters are any better on average. Bow or gun.

I suspect bow hunters may do better than gun hunters, however.

Obviously, whoever did the shooting above was a complete idiot, probably unpracticed, and certainly uncaring.

Didn't watch the video, only saw the image. If that is Colorado, that isn't a bow hunter, that's a poacher with a crossbow.


And what big advantage do bowhunters get? Isn't easy getting within bow range. I see far more game bowhunting, but see is the key word. A big advantage would be sniping a deer from 800-1200 yards away like you see in many videos these days.

F u c k ing dickhead taking a head shot
With an Xbow to boot....

Trying to be a hotdog with a awesome hunting tale.....
Trying to poach it and drop it in its tracks.......

Definitely not trying to take out the airbags and shut down the pump with that assclown shot.

or, could have been shooting broadside and a bit too high, when the deer heard the string release, and looked at him. i had a shot much like that once with a recurve. a boilerroom shot ended up in the back of the head, as the doe did some ninja style leap. it was a 5 hour, tracking job, and a lost deer due to a property line and a nonhunting owner. sometimes, no matter how sure you are of the shot, chit happens.

Big bow hunting advantages? How about hunting the rut (midwest deer, and western elk hunts), whereas rifle hunts occur post rut, unless you draw a rifle rut hunt, at VERY long odds. Unlimited over the counter tags for elk, when they are draw only for rifle (many/most units here in Idaho). Longer hunt duration than rifle, as a rule.

If you look at the success percentages, most elk hunt areas in Idaho are very similar, comparing archery to rifle....roughly 1:8 on general hunts. Rifle success IS much higher on draw hunts.

Not many archery hunters want to hunt bull elk in November.

I do agree with the sniping at 800-1200 yards, with a rifle. But the same is true with archery hunters, but with the 10x factor......800-1200 yds with a rifle roughly equates 80-120 yds with a bow. Plenty of bad "ethics" to go around.

The way I see it....When it comes to "hunting" advantages, bow hunters have more. When it comes to "killing" advantages, rifle hunters have more.

BTW, the last 6x6 I killed had a 125 gr muzzy sticking out of his back. A 200 grain accubond pill made the hurt go away!

Andy3

Aren't X bows legal in gun season, or for handicapped in archery season?.

Years ago, I had a doe take a hop up and sideways at the sound of the string. She left at a high rate of speed. When I went to retrieve my arrow and check the spot, I found handfuls of white under-fur - no blood whatsoever. The arrow obviously passed right along her side without touching her skin. A very skillful shot if I do say so myself.

I have shot 3 deer that have been wounded by other hunters.
All had bullet wounds.

Buddy's brother in law shot a doe w bow and lost it. Another hunter shot her the next yr. Broadhead and couple inches of aluminum shaft inside of her (sealed off in a pocket). Dunno if in front of one lung or in it. Deer looked and acted fine, was in good health (by appearance and weight). Freaked 'em out when gutting.............buddy was there and goes "I know who that belongs to!"

Thing is, farm is good sized, 3 fields, ditches, small spots of scrub trees. Wound was from ladder stand in small patch. Death came from same stand (arrow killed it).

ohio, crossbow is legal for all bow season, and all hunters. i use one.

Time of projectile flight can burn ya.
It is possible the head shot deer was hit not where aimed.
Guy I know has a nice 8 pt with broadhead traingle in middle of skull.
Not intentional. Killed it on the spot.

But...........the OP frontal and high hit..........looks (to me) to probably be a poaching attempt.

video stills 1&3 look like crossbow quarrels. can't see 2 well enough to tell for sure, but looks like arrow. (proportions).
however, video does say "this is not hunting season". so poaching is most likely.

Hunting partner killed a big old Roosevelt rag horn that was real narrow through its haunches. Gutting him out I felt a mass up under the tenderloin. Cut it away and found 4” inches of shaft and attached broadhead all encapsulated in scar tissue. Tough bull both enduring the wound and eating...Happily made sausage out of him though. 😎

I hunted with a fella once, new bowhunter. Left him on a stand for the evening, and when I went back to get him later he was walking around. He was telling me what a great shot he'd made, right in the chest. As we tracked the deer, it was zigzagging uphill. Falling down, tripping over logs and getting up, running into trees. When we found it he had hit it in the head.

Gotta admit, funniest damn bloodtrail I ever followed!

Yeah, I’ve had a few newbies learning their way up to master hunter tell me they’d nailed a deer “Just right over there” with a frantic finger waggle over a vast clear-cut..Tracking hours with little blood to finally catch up to see a limping deer dragging a hoof.

I don’t complain much anymore about archery guys or newbies for that matter, as long as they recognize the learning curve can be steep and they work to improve their abilities in the off season.

I don't mind MOST archery hunters, My dad hates them! He lives in prime hunting territory, and we've found many deer carcasses with arrows in them, on the ranch.
I just figure some more are killed by bad rifle shots - but they're not as obvious.
That said - for whatever reason NM has deemed to keep crossbows out.

I went to crossbow for most bow hunting (not all)due to the fact I get two holes, a fine bloodtrail, and a short tracking. with my compound, i often get only one hole, plugged by an arrow, and while it is also fatal, it is harder to follow.

Even with the rut in some areas and longer seasons, it's still much harder than hunting with a rifle. And even if you can get in range, it might not be enough. This past elk season I had elk within bow range six times in the last four days, including a big herd bull. Due to vegetation I wasn't comfortable taking a shot, just not big enough openings. With a rifle I could have killed an elk every single time.

If rifle hunters had the same seasons it would be a slaughter. If you want to hunt those seasons, pick up a bow and enjoy. I see a lot more game, but dont have as much success. I do have more fun though

Mummumum, mama said xbows are the devil.

Field cleaned an elk, a female friend of the family shot.. she's handicapped...

there was a big hard lump on the heart when I took that out.. since I was going to cook and eat the heart, when
I cleaned it at the cabin, I cut out the lump and then washed it off real good.. was a bullet that hadn't penetrated the heart
just part of the side of the muscle wall....

a Customer over in Coos Bay, who owned the local oil company over there, had a bunch of elk head mounts in his
office... in a glass cabinet, he also had multiple parts of elk backbone or neck...

he had kept them, as each one had one or more arrow heads in them, and that the wound had been grown over
and healed at the time each animal was taken by him...

one particularly large bull's neck spine had 5 different arrow heads, embedded into it....

guess the animals are too dumb to know what pain is, or just learn to live with it and keep on truckin....

didn't impress me much about bow hunters... but then, that is why he kept that stuff..

he didn't care for bow hunters much either...

In MN the gun season is during the rut.