ETHICAL WOUNDED DEER WITH GUN OR BOW

[Jeffhoyt82886]

The shot you depicted is going to happen to all of us bowhunters. It could have been a 10 yard shot and the same result could have happened. You can practice all you want on a target in your backyard, but what doesnt come into play is the adrenalin, excitement, and most importantly angles. A 30 yard shot is on the ground at a target is completly different than a 30 yard shot 20 feet up. I try to take a few shots elevated before the season. Lastly, Gulf, I think that a 30 yard shot is completly do-able. You should not feel bad. You did your duty to make an ethical effort at tracking and finding the deer, which makes the situation much more ethical.

[flaDAWG]

[&:] Im a member of doo doo club...All my years hunt'n ant never took anything with bow,course there were a few years i did'nt pic 1 up....been bac at it bout last 5 years...last year was first year i got 2 draw on 1,a doe...i 2 did sump'n wrong,gut shot her,never found her....she was bout 20 ta 25 ydz....it happenz!...another it happenz...i had 6 lil 40 45 pound pigs within 25 ydz of me with crossbow pic'd 1 out squezed trigger shaft went over da 1 i had N sight hit an oak tree bounced off hit another N head...that 175 is fast...

[Bob Olsen]

Captain, First and foremost, thanks for serving our country!!! I think that you took what you thought was an ethical shot, and your opinion is all that matters. If the Deer was moving, then remember that. Perhaps you got on the trail a bit too early, and it caused you some grief and having your son with you surely didn't help the way you feel either.
 Not being a Deer Biologist, I don't know if a Deer has a big enough brain to process pain, nature has her way of doing thing's. So maybe, just maybe, she was afraid that she was unable to flee. I've never heard a Deer make a sound when they've been hit or while running away. I had to dispose of a Deer one evening due to a gut shot. Similar scenario, I got on her too early concerned about coyote's and found her alive by a creek, only she was quiet. Maybe she felt secure due to it being dark. "Guilt is a useless motion"

[freak nasty 145]

I know the feeling. I do the best i can do. Practice all the time and take good shots. No one is perfect.

[Maxie Bordeaux]

Ethics are moral principles so that leaves a lot of latitude for someone to make such decisions. However, I see to much being put into the ethics of hunting. For example on one of the weekend shows, and they have whitetail in their name, they have a segment where they will take footage that someone has sent in and then they will critic the shot the person made and deliberate if it was a good, or " ethical shot." I myself do not bow hunt and have never shot an arrow at a deer. But I make this statement and pose a question. If you're using a weapon that admittedly is only good at twenty five yards and anything beyond that is marginal how can you question ethics at all. I know, I know there are hunters capable of making shots at fifty, but most hunters are marginal at best. Now I ask the question! what is ethical about killing a deer with a double lung shot where the deer drowns in it's own blood hacking and coughing as it gasps for air?, which is the preferred shot,and by the way that is the way they die with a double lung shot like it or not. I don't get caught up in the ethics question myself, is the angle right, is the deer close enough, or should I drag the deer across posted land because it's closer, things like that. I take a solid shot and more times than not it was the right one. But if ethics looms heavy on your heart like most of the pro's writing articles, and doing televisions shows then maybe you need to rethink that bow hunting thing, or hunting in general.

[MZS]

If you can shoot a tight group at 30 yds, then there is no problem. You know your range. There was a post that was emailed to us about a deer hit just high of the vitals that came back to the stand area to feed with the arrow still in him - that type of shot has happened to me as well, and it was a lot closer than 30 yds! The important thing here is that you found the deer anyway - that is good ethics on your part.

Just remember that if you don't shoot the deer, it may die a slow death in the jaws of a wolf pack or starve to death or die to disease.

[WBowhunt]

To put a little different twist on this. IMO Someone who say considers thier ethical range to be 30 yards even though they group well at 50yards is taking into account may variables and making the right choices. However if that person then sees a buck of a lifetime at 45 yards and although clearly knows that is outside their range decides to take the shot only because it is a large buck and would not take that shot on a Doe or in any other situation. That to me is an unethical choice. Having respect for the animal and the hunters individual limits should not change based on the size of the animals antlers.
If you hunt long enough, every hunter will have a shot that is not a perfect clean shot. It comes down to knowing in your heart that you did all you could to do it right and when it went wrong you did all you could to make it right.
I once had a deer at 22 yards broadside and I did not see a small vine hanging down from a tree branch at 10yards directly over the vitals. When I released my arrow it deflected off the vine just enough to hit this deer in the back legs. The deer jumped and then went just 15 yards to almost the base my tree and bed down ( I had hit the artery in both back legs.) But, as I sat there watching as the animal expired the remorse and quilt I felt horrible for not seeing that vine and being responsible for what could have been a wounded animal was tough. This was early in my bowhunting career and to this day I see that image in my mind all the time and since then I have always checked and double checked for obstructions in my shooting lanes, so that this would never happen again.

[charlie 01]

I've had to put down a few spine shot bucks. Not a pleasant thing, but it has to be done. With archery, some "things" can and will happen. Have you ever had a deer "jump the string"? If you haven't, there is a good possibility one of these days it could. When it does happen, that arrow could end up hitting it anyplace. If that animal is aware something is "up", and it's on edge, thats when things can go wrong. You shoot and that animal's reaction is so quick with turning and twisting, or ducking, you won't even see it. I've shot at deer broad side and some quartering away and when I got to the deer, I was amazed at the way or angle the arrow hit it. Completely different from the shot I aimed for. We strive to do the best we can, but be prepared, "things" do happen.