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Learned a Lesson

SheddingLightTravis

SheddingLightTravis

Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2018
Messages
83
Location
SE Ohio
I’m stubborn at times and it cost me on December 29th. Really been wanting to get another deer and self film it. I messed up on a nice buck 3 weeks ago. Had a beautiful buck step out at 30 yards and I got caught screwing with my camera instead of drawing on him. Ever since then I’ve been wanting to redeem myself...probably too much.

Had 3 does come into a field I was sitting close to. But they didn’t come close enough to the edge. I found one gap I could shoot and ranged it. 50 yards. The does hit the gap but were further than where I ranged. Doe stopped at 60 yards. I went up and over my bridge, put the camera on her, and then decided I would try the shot. Mind you, I have a 60 yard pin and I practiced the shot a lot during summer but not much since. And my target didn’t have the ability to move after I shot. I had always heard a deer could move on you at that distance but I didn’t realize how much.


She moved about a foot from release to impact. I was sick. I knew better but I let my pride and ignorance get the better of me. I retrieved my arrow and found brown matter and knew from that and the video it was a gut shot. I backed out. Went back in at 7am. No blood whatsoever. I eventually dropped over the hill to the creek knowing a gut shot deer would go there. Sure enough 200 yards down I found her. But unfortunately the coyotes got there first. They made the gut shot worse and really tore into her. The stench was unreal.

I was glad to have found her at least and I don’t think she suffered for long. The initial shot looked like I hit her in the flank but I actually hit square in the belly and the arrow came out to the right. Learned a valuable lesson that hunt. Just because you can shoot that far doesn’t mean you should.








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2/3 of a second is a long time for a whitetail to stay put. Too bad about the yotes - they got a couple of bites of my wife's deer this year. On it within an hour or so of her shot.
 
SheddingLightTravis said:
I was glad to have found her at least and I don’t think she suffered for long.
Just because you can shoot that far doesn’t mean you should.
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Click to expand...
Not ripping on you Travis, but this could help you or others in the future... Gut shot deer can live a for quite a few hours, depending on exactly where in the guts they were hit. They seldom die in less than 6 hours and sometimes live for a day or more.
We can stress all we want to not take long shots with a bow but actually experiencing the lesson does more to drive home the lesson than someone else can.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Not ripping on you Travis, but this could help you or others in the future... Gut shot deer can live a for quite a few hours, depending on exactly where in the guts they were hit. They seldom die in less than 6 hours and sometimes live for a day or more.
We can stress all we want to not take long shots with a bow but actually experiencing the lesson does more to drive home the lesson than someone else can.
Click to expand...

I totally agree Tom. Didn’t say that to justify anything. I meant that I’m glad she didn’t get gangrene and suffer for days. When I found her she was in bedded cover next to a creek. The coyotes had done their work. She was pretty stiff when I got to her 12 hours after the shot. Somehow that arrow kicked to the right before exiting. I’m not sure if I would’ve caught any liver or not. That why I assume she died at least 3-4 hours prior to me finding her. Still way too long from shot to expiration.

Regardless, it was a bad decision. And one I will keep in the back of my mind moving forward.


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Not to pick on you, here. Just want to share some learned info I will pass long. I am sure there are plenty of people who will tell you they shoot deer at 60 yds "all the time". But, the fact of the matter is...It is really hard to hit a whitetail where you are aiming at much over 30 yds. They may stand stock still or drop a foot, turn and run the opposite direction fore your arrow arrives. Your video substaniates that. An alert deer may duck at yardages shorter than 30. Therein lies the problem. You can hit a dime with your bow at 40 yds all day long, but if you don't know where to aim on a critter, that won't matter. On a live critter, it just ain't that easy to determine how they will react at that distance. My advice is, to try your best to keep your shots at 30 yds and under. It sounds like you already know whats up, from this experience. Good on you! And good huntin to you!
 
This same thing can be said for walking deer as well.
Using the assumption of a 300 ft/sec bow and a target distance of 30 yds it will take a 1/3 of a second for the arrow to get there. If the deer is walking at the very leisurely pace of 2 mph (just under 3 ft/sec) it will move more than 10 inches between the time of release and the time the arrow gets there.
 
Not a fun lesson to learn, but a good one. Anybody who says they have'nt been there and done that is either lying or not flinging a whole lot of arrows.

I worked at a bow shop for several years, have shot competitively (nothing serious, and definitely not pro), bowhunted since age 14, practice regularly, etc.

And I still cap shots at 30 yards. I have a single, non-adjustable 30 yard pin that's dead on at 10 and 30. No peep and no kisser. Any deer inside of 30 is in serious danger. Deer past that might as well be wearing kevlar.

It SUCKS to let deer walk. I hate it. I did not have the mental discipline to not try the shots that I could make on foam, so I changed my rig.
 
It's a heart breaking lesson, and that scenario can play out a hundred different ways. Bow noise, distance, the deer's level of alertness. For me, I know when I'm calling deer in, I wait for them to come in close, because when their coming in looking, they are wound tight. They're fast when they're relaxed, but they are sick fast when they're alert. I've had a few heart breakers over the years, I'll bet it's safe to say, their's not a bow hunter alive that's not learned a similar lesson if they've been hunting with a bow for any time at all. I play 25 yards and in when I play. anything outside that, they win, and it's 20 and under when they're coming to a call. The pain will go away, but the scar in your brain will linger. I gut shot my first deer with a bow, she lived for hours. I found her in the afternoon, after giving her 6 hrs. I cut her throat, and she bleated. That broke my heart. That was 28 years ago. I can't go to that spot in the woods without that memory. It's what fires me up to practice. It's what motivates to be a better woodsman. It's why I seek the best ambush sites. Look to better myself as a bow hunter. We owe nothing less than that every time we draw back. Thank you for sharing.
 
I used to be an IBEP instructor. IBEP's curriculum says to keep your shots under 40 yds. I argued with the instructor about that knowing that 40 yards to too far in most cases to take an ethical shot at a deer with a bow regardless of how fast and flat your bow shoots. He told me that I had to follow IBEP's material even though both know it is wrong. I had to suck it up and teach that, however I explained to my classes that every bow hunter should try to keep their shots 20 yards or less no matter what the course teaches.
 
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