Missed shot placement day at hunter ed.

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Stuff like this is why some people hate bowhunting. I just arrived home last night from a week archery hunting back at the family deer camp in PA. A buddy from Idaho came with me and 2 buddies from Vermont met us and my uncle at the camp for a week of hunting and debauchery. It was a good week. (More on that in a separate thread hopefully)

I took this week off work to so I could get some deer hunting in here at home. I went out at midday today to check the cameras and the bucks are starting to show up. I just got a pic Saturday morning of a cool 8pt I have seen for 3 years now and was excited to see him on camera. As I walked to the next camera I spotted something out of the corner of my eye and sadness set in as I realized what I was looking at.

As I inspected the animal the only reasonable conclusion I could come up with is that this deer was standing facing almost directly away from the archer and he shot anyways as the arrow entered the back leg and went into the guts. In the picture of him alive on Saturday morning it looks like he was already wounded at that point but can't be certain. I wanted to gut him and look for an arrow but he stunk something terrible.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Only a shithead would take a shot like that!

 

[mtnrunner260]

Lots of scenarios where it was a poor decision to shoot but a few that could have had a different anticipation of the result.
Like buck jumped the string or it was a second shot and believed there was already an arrow in him.
But what a bummer to see that on any animal.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Sucks man. Could have been a reasonable quartering away shot and a wild string jump. Or just a terrible shot.

 

[Addicting]

Possibly hit by a car?

 

[OntarioHunter]

So rifle season isn't open? Seems rather late for archery only.

 

[dgc1963]

Shame a mature deer met his end that way, I think some folks get to excited when they see a big deer

 

[Nick87]

Is this like Ron whites, missing lug but day?

 

[jt13]

So rifle season isn't open? Seems rather late for archery only.

Nope. Rifle is the 2 weeks after Thanksgiving

Probably quartering hard and shot low and back or it jumped the string. Shame to lose a big one. I think archery wounding loss is way higher than anyone gives credit for

 

[MNElkNut]

Bummer! I never want to see an animal die like that.

My son shot a WT doe this past weekend that had a hole through its neck just under the back of its jaw. There was no blood and it was oozing clear fluid. I believe it had been shot days ago. I am so glad that he shot it or that too, would have been an awful death.

 

[np307]

Probably a quartering away shot that had a more extreme angle than they realized and he whirled on the shot. I won't say that someone didn't intentionally aim for that spot though, I've ran into people who take neck shots with bows. Idiots.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Nope. Rifle is the 2 weeks after Thanksgiving

Probably quartering hard and shot low and back or it jumped the string. Shame to lose a big one. I think archery wounding loss is way higher than anyone gives credit for

I don't archery hunt so that speaks volumes. Forgot about jumping the string. My first warthog "jumped the string" and I shot it with 30-06 through both hind legs at the hock. Bugger took off just as I fired. I felt terrible. Quickly shot the poor thing through the heart on the fly (though obviously not flying very fast). It can happen to the best of us. In fifty-seven years of hunting that's the only animal shot in the hind leg (bull elk and bull moose received Texas heart shots but they were already wounded).

 

[tjones]

So rifle season isn't open? Seems rather late for archery only.

There are archery seasons in Montana the run until Jan. 15th

 

[OntarioHunter]

There are archery seasons in Montana the run until Jan. 15th

Archery only? Or would that be residential areas where the authorities want deer eliminated without houses being shot full of holes? My city does that.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Possibly hit by a car?

Always possible, but nearest road is 3.5 miles away and he was on an island. I'm gonna see if the coyotes got to it last night and look for an arrow today.

 

[Addicting]

Always possible, but nearest road is 3.5 miles away and he was on an island. I'm gonna see if the coyotes got to it last night and look for an arrow today.

Thanks, the wound looks similar to some car deer I’ve seen and that is the general body area a lot get hit in.

What was the blood on the neck?

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Thanks, the wound looks similar to some car deer I’ve seen and that is the general body area a lot get hit in.

What was the blood on the neck?

On the neck I'm guessing a bird landed on him there with blood on its feet. Cause there was no wound in that spot.

 

[Addicting]

At least you can get a nice euro out of him to salvage something from his demise.