Holy cow! I shot a buck! ***PICS*** maybe graphic.

[dacjohns]

I've been really lucky that every deer I have shot so far (5 of them) has been a double lung and has been pretty clean. They don't usually go far. I hate not being able to find one...I have helped search for numerous deer and I hate not knowing if one is dead or alive. I don't want to shoot any with a bow just for that reason...

Lori

A good clean shot with a bow is just as effective as one with a gun. The one deer I got with a bow left a blood trail that was easier to follow than any of the deer I got with a gun.

 

[Beekissed]

I've been really lucky that every deer I have shot so far (5 of them) has been a double lung and has been pretty clean. They don't usually go far. I hate not being able to find one...I have helped search for numerous deer and I hate not knowing if one is dead or alive. I don't want to shoot any with a bow just for that reason...

Lori

Bowhunting is an art and a craft. If studied correctly and practiced to increase skill, the deer should drop immediately or only run about 35-50 yards and then drop. For good accuracy, its advisable to not take a shot greater than 35 yards away. Most good bowhunters try to avoid a moving shot, which decreases accuracy.

Now, as with everything, there are exceptions to the rule and sometimes that deer will move just as the arrow is released or a person can just not get a good angle and makes a less than desirable shot. These things happen.

The good thing with bowhunting is, if you miss a shot or just crease a deer, you can't continue blasting away until the deer has 4 or 5 holes in it and the meat is wasted entirely, or the deer runs away with a leg hanging.

Any hunter worth their salt makes sure of their shot, doesn't take chances that will result in an animal suffering any more than it has to and takes pride in a clean kill.

We hunt on 1 + acres. If the shot is not clean, that deer will travel into the surrounding fields and beyond, at which time we have to contact unfriendly neighbors to recover our kill. So far, the deer have fallen in sight of our tree stand.

Bowhunting, if done properly, is an efficient and effective way of harvesting deer. It is done quietly, the deer cannot be driven towards a bowhunter. It is done with planning and consideration, requiring controlling one's scent and careful placement of one's blind or stand, getting equipment that increases one's accuracy and practicing with that equipment until one is proficient in hitting the target.

For sheer skill and efficiency, I'll take a bow kill over a gun kill any day!

 

[lorihadams]

Okay, let me make myself clear....I'm not knocking bow hunting. My dad and my husband bow hunt. I just feel more confident with a gun and I hate the idea of running dogs during deer hunting. We still hunt and I understand that things happen. My husband shot at one with a bow and nicked a branch...probably his own dumb fault for shooting through the trees anyway...and it hit the deer's back leg. Now the deer is hobbling on his back leg...a nice buck too. I was just saying that ONE clean shot is usually sufficient to kill a deer and you don't really need to shoot it 4 or 5 times.

Sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes....

Lori

 

[dacjohns]

Didn't step on mine. They feel fine.

:coolsun

 

[Beekissed]

Not mine either....it does surprise me, though, how many folks think bowhunting is an iffy proposition and that a gun kill is a sure thing. From a family of bowhunters, we feel just the opposite!