Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game My first time. I'm not happy about it ...

Bobcape,
Sorry to hear what happened. I tried to neck shoot a pig with a 300 Savage once. At the shot it dropped in its tracks. My partner turned around and said "Good shot". I looked back and the pig jumped up and dove into a ditch about 6 foot deep and took off. I managed to get another couple rounds into it and it piled up for good. Was not happy about how it all went down.

It happens and I appreciate your honesty about throwing it out there to remind us all of that fact.
Ted

I lost a big buck about 4 years ago when I got excited after jumping him and instinctively went back to the "bad old days" of taking a running shot. Barely clipped a lung and didn't find him until the ravens found him first. My lesson was something I already knew: don't take running shots at unwounded game. Didn't like that feeling.

Better to pass on a tough shot than regret it. Good for you for telling your story. We can all learn something no matter how long we've been at it.

Sorry man it happens and you feel crappy . I lost one several years ago and still think about It every now and then but that's part of the risk you run when you choose to hunt. We are all human and it's not that hard to pull a shot or miss judge the range / drop so don't beat yourself up too bad.

That sucks. I haven't had a fever in a long time...I do agree about, "hold center vitals" though. Op needs to get a better LRF too, one that comps for angled shots. Just sayin.

A little off at a long range is a big miss, too often resulting in a lost wounded animal. Getting in closer is the answer.

I've said it before, the deer that worry me the most are those that drop as if the carpet were pulled out from under them. I'm always ready to throw another shot into those and watch them for at least 5 minutes.

My son's deer dropped like that this year. I was bothered by it. He racked the bolt and we waited. He never got up but both lungs were hit and it clipped the spine.

I've seen Bob shoot. Sounds like schit just went schitty.


Travis

Yep. When they drop butt first, then front�they are down to stay. When all fours go out from under them, they need to be watched carefully.

Unless it was shot in the ass.


Travis

"just below the top of his spine." ???? That would be in the spine- an instant bang flop. A typo no doubt....

You want sick, try "losing" a couple moose long enough for the meat to spoil. Never lost one permanently, just for "too long".

I don't give a crap about antler/horn size except for legal purposes, tho I do appreciate the nicer ones for aesthetic reasons. For me it's all about the hunt and meat. I'm just not an "evolved" hunter, I guess.

Don't know about your state laws, but in Alaska you would legally be all done hunting. In fact, the way the Alaska regulation is written, if you even think about picking up a gun and going hunting you have just burned your tag.....tho it is not enforced that way. If you have actually wounded an animal, it can be.

I lost the first bull for 5 days, after having searched the area for over 8 hours until dark,finding only a pile of maggots, rack, and bones in what the bears have left. At least twice I passed within 5 yards of the certainly dead bull, including on my first pass when we started gridding the hillside after loosing the trail some 50 yards away. When I did find him, I was exactly one step away, the brush was that thick. But if I knew then what I know now about moose, I'd probably have found him. (damn those learning curves...) Killed a larger bull the next afternoon. I badly needed the meat, we were thick with moose at the time, and I was unaware of the regulation at the time. Don't know what I'd have done had I been aware, but probably the same under those conditions.

On the second one, my partner had killed a bull the week before I lost this one overnight until the next afternoon, so meat wasn't an issue, and I pulled the moose hunting plug for the season.

In both cases, the shots were obviously fatal (quartering one lung hits, probably), tho not bang-flops - but the thick vegetation was the problem. The type of stuff that you may not find a downed moose sized animal until until within a step or 3...

It was at this point I abandoned "lung-shots" ESPECIALLY quartering!!! and went to CNS if available on moose under these conditions (brushy, less than 100 yards), and haven't "lost" one since, a dozen or so later. Can't say it can't happen again tho... Chit happens.

With a known lazered range, open terrain, a good rest, decent wind conditions I'll push my .260 140 grain factory loads to 500 yards. On caribou at least. It has the accuracy - the last 2-shot group at 300 yards went 2.2 inches, the 200 yard 3 shot group just before that, went exactly one inch. The gun is good for it, if I am.

I much prefer leaving powder burns on the hide if possible....

As JJHack has posted: "About 100 things can happen at long range, and 99 of them are bad."

Quite possible to hit the dorsal portion of a vertebrae yet strike nothing vital.
Also a likely knockdown.

I'll take your word for it, as I don't recall ever making such a hit myself. I would think such a hit would indeed be a knockdown as (probably) is any near-spine hit. And would likely paralyze at least the back legs for at least a time if bone is hit.

I did once shoot a ram at @ 330 yards (pre rangefinder) but I had 3 other ways to estimate range, all agreeing 300-350. I fluffed the bullet drop comp, forgetting the rifle was zeroed 4.5 at 100, instead of my usual 2.5. The bullet passed a quarter inch above the main spine, between two of the bony processes. The ram went down, then climbed back to his front feet some 30 seconds later and started dragging the rear. I knew what that meant. A slightly lower hold on the second round did the job.

Or maybe the quarter mile end over end tumble and 1500 foot elevation loss did.

Whatever..... Another kick from me and he wound up on a little grassy flat 50 yards off the trail out. That's one that went better than right....

That is what it sounds like.

Been there once...I hated it too! I learned a lot from it.

Live and learn...

Two years ago I killed a Cape buffalo in Tanzania that had two healed bullet holes just above the spine, on each side, and the dorsal process (I believe that's the word) between the scars was missing. I wondered what else happened that day....

I think the fact that you're writing about this is testament enough of the kind of man you are. A lesser man wouldn't be bothered enough to want to talk about it. Good for you in that respect. I'm sorry we aren't celebrating your kill instead of your conscience.

I've seem weird things happen in the field. A buddy of mine shot a blacktail the other day through the throat and it ran a good 50 yards spraying a God-awful amount of blood. You wouldn't think anything could go that far bleeding like that.

I once hit a decent 5 point bull elk through the top of the heart with a 180gr Partition out of a 30-06 from 35 to 40 yards. Its legs folded up and I was sure of shot placement. As I began to move closer, it got up! I was lucky I still had my rifle in my hand because and old timer had always told me to prepare to shoot elk twice, just because they are elk. As soon as he got up, he got another partition through the base of the neck. Tough bastid! If it were a deer, I probably wouldn't have been so ready to shoot twice.

I've seen bob shoot too, and hunted with him. to him and his rifle this is a chip shot literally. stuff can happen, and it does. I don't know of anyone who has deer hunted a while that hasn't lost an animal. I shot a deer at 1 yard and lost it, it happens. I felt like schit and still do. range has nothing to do with it, so anyone who poo-poos on long range shooting, GFY. had nothing to do with it IMO. schit happens. in all likelihood it clipped him high, put him down for a bit, and he's likely sore today still from it.

BTW Bob, I shot a dink with the bow tonight, gonna be adding a few more here in a couple weeks to the freezer, let me know when you want to meet up and do some cookin.

Good call. It helps to be prepared for that second shot.

Guy

Sorry I haven't made it back for a while. Thanks for the replies. I ended up spending the whole day Monday looking for this buck. No luck. Saw lots of other deer but didn't shoot another one that day. Got home and had a message from my ex-wife. (We get along fine.) Her father died that afternoon. He was my daughter's last living grandparent. She is living in Seattle now. I spent time on the phone with her and planning arrangements for her to attend the funeral here. In the end my ex-wife decided to just have a memorial service in his home town in Illinois next month. He was a good guy.

I don't want to get into a debate about hunting/shooting styles but I want to acknowledge that there are different acceptable methods in different parts of the country. I think we should have some tolerance for them. I grew up in North Carolina where we hunted from stands, held drives and used dogs to hunt deer. I have buddies there that use the deer food and attractants. It works for that area and is accepted way of hunting there. I pretty much hunt the open ares of the prairie and Black Hills now. Completely different style of hunting.

I doubt there are more than 2 or 3 weeks of the year that I don't shoot some. I only use a bench to develop loads and any other shooting is from the ground either prone or sitting from sticks. I rarely shoot closer than 400 yards. Always in the wind. Even on the day I screwed up on this buck I took two practice shots during lunch at 7 and 800ish yards. Both hits. Even with that practice I forgot to account for the angle of the shot and screwed up on this shot. But, it doesn't make me think I shouldn't take shots at this range. You may disagree. And that's OK.

I hunted the same area on Thursday evening. I'm 98.713% sure that I saw the same buck again. He was on a ridgeline and didn't offer a shot. He had his nose on a doe and seemed fine. I ended up shooting a doe a little later. Our Prairie season opened on Friday. Two down and two more to go.

Here are some pictures of where I was sitting the other day.

This is where I expected the deer to be.


This is where the buck actually was.


Bob

Sounds good. Keith bought the same pressure cooker that I have. We'll all three get together after Prairie season and I'll get you guys lined out on how to can meat. I keep the backstraps, tenders and one roast per animal. The rest I cut into cubes for canning. So I've got two antelope and three deer so far. Cubed up, bagged and frozen. You'll really like having canned venison on hand.

Bob