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Joined: Nov 2010
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Originally Posted by mudhen
Originally Posted by 5spd

I trailed it then it got into the tall mesquite & deep canyons

Mesquite in Wyoming? Not quibbling, just curious. Our mesquites here in the southwest won't survive temperatures below 12 degrees F for more than about 12 hours. I'm wondering what plant is called "mesquite" up there.

Tall scrub brush...Im just used to calling any waist/neck high scrub brush mesquite.


Did I make you cry......boooo hooo, life goes on.
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Originally Posted by rost495
...

Never rush a shot. I have ended up not getting shots because of it but so be it. Every time you HAVE to shoot a doe or buck etc on THIS hunt for some STUPID reason.... you put to much mental pressure on the situation which creates a bad situation.
...



^^^amen^^^


Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!

No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.

A good .30-06 is a 99% solution.
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I shot a big buck earlier this season with my S&W 629 44 Rem Mag. High shoulder shot dropped him in his tracks. He thrashed for about 20-30 seconds and then got up stumbled and fell a couple times and disappeared in the thick stuff. I never found him! I was and still am just sick about it.
I spent over 10 hours looking for him but never found him.
Here is a picture of him after the shot on the trail cam.
[Linked Image]
I do a fair amount of shooting through out the year. I know my equipment is good, sighted in and I am pretty proficient with it. I guess sometimes "things happen".
I have to live with this and the fact that I could have, and should have, put a second bullet into him.

JD338

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Yes freezerfiller and so must have you,hence the post. I have learned off of it.

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Lost several animals with a bow but none with a rifle. The boy lost a 6 point buck last year he shot in the shoulder with a 130 grain ballistic tip from a .270. Don't really know what went wrong?

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Originally Posted by JD338
I shot a big buck earlier this season with my S&W 629 44 Rem Mag. High shoulder shot dropped him in his tracks. He thrashed for about 20-30 seconds and then got up stumbled and fell a couple times and disappeared in the thick stuff. I never found him! I was and still am just sick about it.
I spent over 10 hours looking for him but never found him.
Here is a picture of him after the shot on the trail cam.
[Linked Image]
I do a fair amount of shooting through out the year. I know my equipment is good, sighted in and I am pretty proficient with it. I guess sometimes "things happen".
I have to live with this and the fact that I could have, and should have, put a second bullet into him.

JD338


Another reason I don't take high shoulder shots. You simply shot a bit high, where if you'd have taken center lungs the deer would have been dead right now, you only shot above the vitals and spine more than likely, and he'll be fine which is good news actually.

I've seen same exact shot 3 times this year on our lease, going for high shoulders... 2 broke the back and the folks were amazed, both had to be shot again. The other was the doe a buddies dad lost. Just takes an inch or so too high when you are aiming at the fringe of the vital zone.

And yeah the 2nd bullet may well have helped.

No flames inteneded but the idea of high shoulderblade shot so folks don't have to track bothers me and always has. Why not shoot for center of vitals to give room for most error/largest target. As noted we are not always perfect. Some like me are rarely perfect.


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 two with archery -shot at dusk and when we found them the coyotes had eaten large portions. Still tagged but not usable.
Have not lost any with rifle or black powder.




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I shot a cow elk Thursday evening, found a good blood trail and decided to let her lay up over night as dark was coming on fast. Went back yesterday and followed the blood trail a mile or so before the blood stopped. Makes no sense, plenty of snow and there was a good, steady blood trail right up to where it suddenly ended. Kept making bigger and bigger circles looking for it to pick up and after a couple of hours reluctantly gave up. Other elk in the area made following a set of tracks without blood a losing proposition too it seemed.

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I lost a slug-hit whitetail when I was 16 or 17. That animal was grazed enough to have stopped initially, but was spooked by friends I was hunting with as I was readying for a simple kill shot. We tracked that doe for quite a distance with very little to follow other than her footprints- specks of blood were scarce. When we finally found her again one of the friends, a fellow who fired his gun once or twice with slug loads before we hunted, stepped in front of me to make the less than 50 yard shot, a simple deal with the gun I was practiced with for weeks before the season. He missed. We never saw her again.

I haven't a lost anything bigger than a fox since. I have had some pretty horrendous tracking jobs at times, but I generally do the same whether it be a rabbit or a ptarmigan too. I see it as good training. You never know when the ability to follow and find will mean saving a friend or other person.


Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Yes I have. Two deer both standing head shots (thats why I call a head shot a chump shot). On one, I believe that I just scratched the head between the horns. The other one went off leaving pieces of her lower jaw. Trailed her on and off for two days never recoverd. Cow elk muzzle loader, 125 yards, square in the middle of the near shoulder. Wandered around while I reloaded and then joined the herd for a walk about. 5 mile, two drainages, and 2,000 down, below the snow line in a different county,I gave up. I believe the bullet failed to break her front shoulder. Deer with a bow, 25 yards standing broadside downhill. Arrow went high just a little far back, little blood, and poor tracking conditions. I am thinking she may have lived because it was in my back yard and no crows or dogs ever showed up. I cris crossed the area several times over the next few days. Two elk both drew very little blood, never stopped for "miles". Both probably recovered. Both shot low, long dark hairs on the snow.

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lost a housecat one time. It took 3 attempts and a half tank of gas, but I was finally successful.

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Haven't taken but a dozen-odd 'big game' animals, but haven't lost one yet. One antelope I shot badly was a horrible thing, however. She was bedded down and I must have spooked her just as I squeezed, and the round unzipped her belly as she stood. UGLY. Ended up putting 3 more 7RM rounds in her as she ran along dragging 20 feet of intestines behind her. A bud with me finally rolled her with two .35 Whelen rounds. Not a proud moment, that.

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Several years ago I lost a poorly hit doe, knew it when I heard that hollow thump that I'd gut shot her. She had come up out of a hollow and stopped for a moment before starting off again just as I shot. Trailed her across two neighbors places before I lost the trail. I'm always very careful about shot placement as I don't want that feeling again.

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