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Just curious to see how many people will admit to this. If you have- How? What went wrong?

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yes,archery Pronghorn, just a bad hit. I didnt really lose him, but I could never get close enough to him again to finish the job.

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I don't know anyone that hasn't.



We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Just recently first one (excluding Hogs) since I was about 12 years old.

Took a risky 2nd to last rib shot at a sharply quartering away deer. I aimed for the off shoulder. Deer stumbled hard then weaved and took off running. I was shooting a single shot and didn't even try to reload as the hit looked good. Deer parts on the ground, some dark blood and light but no wrong side of the diaphragm stuff, pieces of lung on the ground too. Thought just give him a little time and that was it.

Started getting dark but tracking was easy till he got into tall Johnson grass and Cane that was from waist high to eight feet tall. Kept loosing the trail in the grass, lots of other animals had been through the area. Tracked by flashlight for another hour, all this within 3-500 yards of the shot. Lost the track for good and left a marker.

Next morning found the marker about fifty feet from where the deer laid down. Followed that trail and found the deer about another fifty feet from where I had stopped my last circling.

The entry wound was huge but shallow I could have put both fists into it. Buck was smelly from the rutt so dressed him and took him to the processor. No good even though it was in the low thirties that night.

This was with a .243 and 100gr. Corelokt factory loads. It looked like the bullet was deflected by the first rib and then fragmented on the second. Three ribs were exposed. It took out only one lobe of one lung. If this is what happened it is the first "failure" I have had with a Corelokted old or new. I couldn't help thinking a Barnes or Nosler would have put that deer down fast with the same shot.

Mistakes: Should have waited or passed on the shot. May of misjudged the angle. Deer moved at the shot changing the angle too slightly. Could have been a one in a million fluke performance with the bullet. I shouldn't have stopped tracking, or should have gotten a buddy and more/better lights, or even a dog. Bottom line I fugged up.

Felt really sick about it. Small buck by most standards but looked to be five or more years old and heavy for the area. Small tight eight point rack but heavier than most.

Couple weeks latter passed on a much bigger buck just because I didn't want to take a chance. Much better angle but just didn't feel like a sure thing. I wasn't sure if it was at 300 or 375 yards so enough to make a difference. I think I did the right thing on that one.

Last edited by Tejano; 01/03/13.

"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
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hogs are animals too. Just sayin.

As to mistakes... choose a better bullet would be the main one I see there. Beyond that it just doesn't work out that sometimes there are failures. Even with the best attempts. Just how life wokrs out.

I've seen corelokts loose their core a LOT more than one would expect. Its why I say bullets are cheap comparatively.

Deer was bad after being out in the 30s overnight? Thats wild, we've had em out at upper 40s to 50 overnight and just fine.


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Lost a bull elk when the 175-grain Interlock from my 7mm Rem Mag came apart on his shoulder. Looked unsuccessfully for a day and a half. The shrapnel did enough damage that he died, though. We finally found him three days later, a mile or more away, thanks to the flock of ravens that were pecking away on him in the blow-down where he had crawled in and expired. I have never tried another shoulder shot on an elk.


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Yep.

In every case, a large part of the reason for my lost animal was taking a marginal shot to begin with. A big part of this was me being young and having the mindset of punching the tag somehow equaling success.

It was not bullet failure, optic failure, or rifle trouble, it was me plain and simple and I hated the way something that brought me as much joy as hunting could make feel lower than low when an animal was lost.

Not to sound holier than thou, but since I've outgrew the drive to notch a tag at all costs, I haven't lost an animal in a long time.


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I'm going to get crap for this, but the truth is, i've never lost an animal that i've shot.

Ask me how many i've passed up, and I can't come close to remembering.

When my dad was alive, He could say the same thing, and he drove that into me to be able to say the same thing when I was old.


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I lost a pig three months ago. Shot at 150 yards found blood and bone. Guide watched him and didn't think it was a leg shot. Tracked him for two hours and lost him. Found blood and then it would dry up, found where the pig laid down and then got up and where it pooped but no pig? Hit with a handloaded 168 TSX from a 30.06. I was not happy about it. The pig was probably 130lbs. I nailed a big boar with a 25.06 115 bt and he dropped at the shot only to get up and try to make it to the wood line and I put another in him he was anchored, walked up to him to have him jump up with his head snapping his jaw and popped a 40 caliber gold dot into him, dead right there! The hogs can be tough. I have not lost a deer yet, but sure it is possible. Hunt long enough you will miss and you will lose game? It sucks but it happens as a hunter, ethically do all you can do to recover the animal!

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Game birds are animals and don't see how anyone could upland hunt and not lose a bird now and then. Seems like that would be an impossible feat. Same could be said for squirrel and all sorts of other critters. But this is a Big Game forum so I guess that doesn't count.

For big game, I've experienced losing game to being eaten by predators after waiting a period of time before starting a track. Recovered the remains, but for all practical purposes, lost the animal.

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Lost a pheasant or two this season.

Lost a few rabbits that I hit a bit lower and they kicked themselves down a hole.

Lost a coyote I barely grazed with a 223 round.

It happens to everyone, best you can do is try to find them.

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I lost my first deer hit with a rifle this year. I figure I hit him through both lungs, but too far back. I never found any bowel or anything that even smelled like bowel. He was at extreme range for the bullet/cartridge I was using. I think expansion was minimal.

Judging from the color and amount of the blood I found, he was hurt bad and never should have gone as far as he did. I tracked him for over 600 yards until he tried to swim one of the bigger and faster flowing rivers in the state. I doubt he made it.

The only other animal I ever lost was a bow kill 30 years ago that got into the bayou type mouth of another major river in the state. I've never been able to track in two foot of water. I was simply too close to the swamp and didn't know it.


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I was just talking about big game.


Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a hunting license and that's pretty close.
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Originally Posted by Freezerfiller
Just curious to see how many people will admit to this. If you have- How? What went wrong?


any one who hasn't lost a animal or bird , either hasn't hunted very long or is lying.


A Doe walks out of the woods today and says, that is the last time I'm going to do that for Two Bucks.
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I have lost birds. I have lost deer, but never one I put the first bullet into. Deer that I was sent to recover. Deer I spent a couple days trying to recover.

The weirdest thing was losing a double on woodcock with another person there who marked both down right where I did and with two excellent dogs on the ground who were steady to wing and shot and had also marked the birds down in the same places.


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I have lost two deer, a fox, and a raccoon.

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Originally Posted by bea175
Originally Posted by Freezerfiller
Just curious to see how many people will admit to this. If you have- How? What went wrong?


any one who hasn't lost a animal or bird , either hasn't hunted very long or is lying.

I believe everyone has lost birds. I've probably lost 100+ by having them dive into toolies or go drifting down rivers out of dog range. Im really talking about big game, and no. Not everyone has. I've been hunting since I can remember and I have never lost an animal I knew I hit. Stalk and wait for a better shot...

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I have know a couple of guys that lost black bears in PA.

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Originally Posted by Mauser_Hunter
I was just talking about big game.


I've shot at two deer in my life. One was a clean miss... twice. The other ended up in my avatar. grin

I've hit pigs and had them run until I put another in them. Could have almost lost them, I reckon.

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Lost my 1st antelope this year on public land. It moved when 2 other road hunters started to run after it when they saw it 1/4 mile off as I was shooting, hit high on the shoulder and made its way to the fence & crawled under it to a private ranch.
I watched it lay down in a gully on that side then I had to call them to get permission & wait for the foreman to show up who I knew and even though we spotted it 3x it always moved off another 300 yards due to the open area and seeing his truck. The bullet went through it good & we could see tons of blood on the exit side, just about 4" to high, thanks to road hunters who made it move at the same time.
I trailed it then it got into the tall mesquite & deep canyons and we both lost it. I was pretty sick that it was going to be coyote food.


Did I make you cry......boooo hooo, life goes on.
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