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

Yes.

Yes, 3 doe deer. All with a muzzleloader, due to not being able to follow them onto private posted land and finish them off.

first shot should have finished them off IMO.

Anything I've ever shot, no...

I've experienced about 15 or so from Hunters shooting... Have found 75% of those in the following weeks with the help of birds and such... A few were found the next year in places I'd never imagine a wounded animal to go or be able to travel that great of a distance wounded...

Many years ago I gut shot a whitetail buck and never did find it. I shot it in the evening, looked until dark, then called my father and brother to come in the morning

I slept in my truck and we looked for several more hours that morning. Never found it and it made me sick. I gave up bowhunting for the remainder of the season.

donsm70

Yes. Shot a Cow three years ago that ran about 200 yards and fell on private land. Landowner would not give permission to collect animal. Understand that they went a got the Elk out though. At least it didn't go to waste.

Yes. One elk, one antelope. Both were chased all day and never found.

Yes. Whitetail doe, high shoulder shot knocked her down but she got up and walked off. Very little blood on a morning with heavy frost. Tracked her about 75 yards and she started walking normal. Still not sure if she survived. I have probably lost 5 coyotes over 34 years, shooting too far or small rounds without perfect shot placement being the primary cause.

Yes, 1 elk & 1 black bear.

Yes. There's two kinds of hunters who've never lost an animal; beginners and bullshitters. An animal can be perfectly hit, quickly killed and still lost.

A good shot will wound more than he misses, that's a mathematical certainty. Who hasn't missed? Beginners and bullshitters.

Yes my biggest buck to date, found 2 days later on a farm that adjoined the piece of property I was hunting. 2 does, no reaction to a rifle shot but slight blood was found on both.

Just one completely, but 2 have been lost long enough for the coyotes to get there before I did. One I found the next morning completely devoured, the other I found about 4 hours later also completely eaten. One other one I found the next morning but still intact and as it was winter it was fine.
I did hit one other doe very low and far back with the bow, but I saw her later that evening with 2 other deer so I think she was ok.

Read somewhere that archery "losses" are on the order of 30%. Don't know the criteria or accuracy of that.

I guess I've been lucky. Forty five years and almost 100 deer killed and I don't think I ever lost one. I said I did here on a post one time but found the deer the next morning. South Texas brush can swallow one up in a hurry. He was within 50yds of where I shot him but I just could not find him in the dark. powdr

Count me in the yes column.

First animal I ever shot with a bow, a javelina, as well as a cow elk shot at archery
Distance with my 30-06.

Back in the early to mid 1990's, Idaho did a bull elk mortality study and while the sample was fairly small, around 50-60 bulls were radio collared on public land with varying degrees of road access,the wounding loss was around 50% for archery hunters.

For rifle hunters, the loss was much lower, 10-15% IIRC, but due to higher numbers of rifle hunters the number of lost bulls was about equal archery.

This particular area had good elk numbers at the time and was prior to wolf reintroduction. Much of the study area was very brushy and steep, which I'm sure played a part in wounding loss.

lost one deer in my life. 257 Roberts with hand loads. grabbed the wrong box of ammo in the dark. the bullets were 100g ABC match. all I found after the shot was about one drop of blood every 100 ft. tracked that buck 6 miles out into the flats outside of Lancaster Calif. he had to swim the California aqua duct to get to the flats. never saw or found him. was headed to Tehachapi for all I knew.

Yes. No excuses.

There's about 15 million hunters in the US now. Not counting the rest of the world, and all the hunters that came before us. You honestly think that not one can go through their hunting career without losing an animal?

I'd put my money on a hunter who never lost one then bet on everybody through time losing one. So many have lost just one. That's so close to not losing any when you figure how many they've shot.

No, I don't think everybody is a liar, or rookie who claim to not have lost one. The odds of nobody doing it is a poor bet.