Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Have You Lost Any Big game You've shot?

Knocking on wood here as well.

But compared to a lot of guys I also haven't shot that many big game animals so of course that makes a difference.


Lost 3 pheasants this past Fall and that makes me sick enough(need a dog).

Yes. Particularly bad because it was a 30 inch class muley. E

Yes, a bear.

Fast twist...

Yes, two deer and a red fox. Very frustrating lessons that nature teaches us. My friends brothers tried to help another hunter that they didnt know find a wounded black bear in PA.
The weather was cold and raining hard, they told me the hunter was almost in tears and the never found the bear.

That's a tough one. You know the rain is washing away the blood trail, but who wants to look for a bear without giving it time to die.

Yes, chit happens. The more you hunt, the greater the chance you lose an animal or two.

No, but I would have without PHs and trackers to straighten things out. On deer, I don't take long-range shots and that has definitely helped prevent me from losing anything.

Well if its a good hit, and its going to die, you don't need much trail really... general direction. Rare for animals to go more than 100 yards before they die.

OTOH if its not a great shot.... then it becomes a bad deal with rain.

I left a gut shot doe laying under a tree with a storm coming, NO way to get close enough to kill her. She was there dead after the storm passed a few hours later...

Yes.

No but it did take me about 16 hours before I found one moose and 10 days on another. They were found but lost to eating. Haven't lost another one since I went to CNS placement on moose within 100 yards. Both were found/ lost in places where they were unseen from 10 feet away. B

Yes, 1 hog. I had always been told it will happen if you hunt long enough. We do the best we can from the shot to the recovery!

Sure have. The thick stuff around here can make game tough to find. I try to be extra careful with shots as shooting light is fading.

4 or 5 that I can think of offhand, of some 150 head.

Yes... Muzzleloading has led me to this on a few occasions.

Once on a Cow elk in New Mexico. Another time with a Flintlock/round ball on a whitetail in PA.

If you're a archer, its most likely a eventuality. I've helped in recovery efforts on several archery hit animals.

Its a sickening feeling every time.
Like riding a motorcycle guys, you do it enough, its going to happen someday.

Yes.

Lost 1 deer

Yes, it can happen to anybody and probably will sooner or later no matter how careful you are.

Yes.

2 while archery hunting and 2 with a rifle.

Those lost animals came in my first 15 years of hunting when filling the tag was deemed as very important, which led to taking shots that in hindsight weren't very good.

I learned a lot from those mistakes and never want it to happen again.

Yes, and I shot a woof in the butt with a 22 once.