A BIG miss

[jeffhoyt86]

Hey everyone, Im new to this site and specifically joined just to hear some responses. I am from maryland and love bowhunting and have been pretty successful in the past. I have a question for everyone. I missed the biggest buck of my life with my bow tonight-probably close to a 160 inch buck. The buck jumped the string and at 47 yards it was just enough to save his life. I was in hardwoods and I couldnt see, but I heard him run off and then stop. (my guess is that he ran about 200 yards). I dont think he saw, heard, or smelled me. My question is: what are the chance of me seeing this buck again? Anyone, had good/bad experiences with seeing the same buck and putting a tag on him after they miss? All opinions/stories welcome....

[jeffhoyt86]

Please respond if you can-I am going back out tomorrow afternoon( November 1st, 2011) and I am hoping that this deer isnt in the next county. Again, any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[Woods Walker]

If you were in his regular area, then you have educated him. That's not saying that he won't be back (it IS the rut after all), but he may very well be looking.

And this is JMO, but....47 yards? In the woods, with a bow? At that range and in cover with shadows, it's VERY difficult to impossible to know what shot angle is being presented to you. And it doesn't take much to misjudge and make a poor hit from what you thought was a good angle. And what if he jumped string but not too much, and you wound up hitting him higher with a marginal hit? Save the long range stuff for gun season.

[jeffhoyt86]

If you were in his regular area, then you have educated him. That's not saying that he won't be back (it IS the rut after all), but he may very well be looking.

And this is JMO, but....47 yards? In the woods, with a bow? At that range and in cover with shadows, it's VERY difficult to impossible to know what shot angle is being presented to you. And it doesn't take much to misjudge and make a poor hit from what you thought was a good angle. And what if he jumped string but not too much, and you wound up hitting him higher with a marginal hit? Save the long range stuff for gun season.

It was hardwoods-all very open timber, but it was getting late and there were shadows. I would of never took a shot I didnt feel comfortable with. I have practiced and practiced and practiced at this distance. But you cant practice for the real thing, and I think it got the best of me. Anyways, thanks for your response. I was hoping for more than one response lol, but Ill take what I can get. Im not sure if I was in his core area...I had never saw this buck before and have had multiple cameras out all season.

[Woods Walker]

Well I hope you get another chance at him. Let us know. You may also want to post this in the "General" forum, as more people seem to read that one.

As far as the distance thing goes, I have no doubt that you are accurate at that range (and I would hope that would be the FIRST thing someone would consider before shooting!). But that was not the reason for my statement. I am of the opinion that whatever an archer's comfortable accuracy distance is on paper or foam, that distance needs to be reduced by 25% to 30% for hunting conditions. That, and for a bowhunter it is imperative that he knows the ANGLE that the deer is from him, because that will have a very big effect on whether the shot is a good hit, or a marginal one. What appears to be a good solid double lung hit, can easily wind up only hitting part of one lung and then the liver/gut if the deer was standing quartering to you. I don't know about you, but at distances more than 25 yards or so in the woods under hunting conditions, I find that to be very difficult to darn near impossible most of the time. Add an elevated shooting position to the mix and the margin of error increases. My prefered shot froma treestand or the ground is a quartering away angle. Many of the deer I've shot from treestands I actually aimed BEHIND the last rib so that the arrow entered in the liver area but wound up hiitng both lungs and the heart. If the deer's quartering to you the opposite will happen.....and that ain't good.

How many times have you heard a bowhunter say.......

"I hit him right behind the shoulder crease, but he just kept going without much or any blood, and he never bedded down, I KNOW I hit him in the lungs!"

Well.......a deer that's hit in both lungs WILL BE going down in a 100 yards or so. If he doesn't, then you didn't hit him in the lungs. It's that simple. A deer loses a certain percentage of his blood, and he's down from shock due to blood loss.

I'm ashamed to say that I know some of this from personal experience, and I've tried to learn from it. Take it as you will.

[Jimbo]

If I were in your shoes I'd continue to hunt that stand and hope I'd see that buck again.

I don't know anything about the area you hunt or your stand location. However, you're doing something right because you had a 160 inch buck within 47 yards. Not many of us can make that claim.

Impossible to say if the buck connected your stand location with his experience of your arrow flying over his back.

He may well avoid the area for a while. He may travel through if it's in his core, but perhaps be extra wary. Then again, he may never show his rack in that part of the hardwoods again.

Another angle is to get the maps out and figure out where other likely stand locations are nearby, and put up some additional stands.

Good luck.

Jimbo