tyson12590
Well-Known Member
I am entering my 5th season of traditional bowhunting. I compound hunted for about 15 years before going traditional and I was pretty efficient with a compound. I have had a rough start to this season as I gut shot two does that I did not recover and shot another doe in the shoulder last night.
I looked over my hunting log and over my last five seasons hunting traditional I have taken 21 shots. I have killed 8 deer, wounded 8 deer and missed 5. That makes me 8 for 21 or 38% recovery rate. I never shoot past 20 yards at deer and only 3 of my 21 shots have been over 15 yards. When hunting I wait for broadside or quartering away angles. I practice almost every day at minimum every other day.
I know that many guys will not talk about this honestly because it is embarrassing and it also makes bowhunting and traditional bowhunting look bad. I get that. I know some very experienced Trad hunters that are excellent shots who also wound and miss a significant amount of deer every year.
My question is this, what is a realistic shot to kill ratio for traditional bowhunting? Obviously we strive to do a 100% but if I am going to keep hunting trad I need to move forward with realistic expectations.
Thanks in advance.
I looked over my hunting log and over my last five seasons hunting traditional I have taken 21 shots. I have killed 8 deer, wounded 8 deer and missed 5. That makes me 8 for 21 or 38% recovery rate. I never shoot past 20 yards at deer and only 3 of my 21 shots have been over 15 yards. When hunting I wait for broadside or quartering away angles. I practice almost every day at minimum every other day.
I know that many guys will not talk about this honestly because it is embarrassing and it also makes bowhunting and traditional bowhunting look bad. I get that. I know some very experienced Trad hunters that are excellent shots who also wound and miss a significant amount of deer every year.
My question is this, what is a realistic shot to kill ratio for traditional bowhunting? Obviously we strive to do a 100% but if I am going to keep hunting trad I need to move forward with realistic expectations.
Thanks in advance.