Big game wound/recovery ratio

[Beendare]

I've seen as many rifle shot critters lost as archery- or there about.

Most were just plain bad shots that were beyond there effective range- both rifle/Bow.....some were due to animals moving on the shot.

I've hunted with a lot of guys....guiding rifle guys, calling elk for buddies, groups whitetail hunting, etc. In general, the archery guys are a higher quality hunter because they tended to have years of experience.

Some of the rifle guys were inexperienced- which IMO is the deciding factor and not the weapon.

The worst I've seen was when I hunted with a friend in a hard to draw archery elk unit in Co...and he wounded 2 bulls that we lost. The one was a bad shot angle- especially with his light arrow and mech heads. The other one was a mistake I never thought he would make. He shot a bull broadside I called to him, then he didn't take a layup followup shot when the bull ran past us and I stopped the bull again 20y right in front of him. I didn't see the actual shot location.

I asked why he didn't shoot again and my buddy told me, "That bull is dead".....ugh no, the last time we spotted him was 700y away going over the continental divide with an arrow sticking out his side.

I don't know if there is a point here.....To his credit, I have never seen him lose another animal in many years of hunting.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I do not have a great wound/recovery percentage.

I haven't figured it, but I've lost 3 bucks (archery) and 2 doe (1 rifle and 1 archery) all whitetail.

I guess that, if you take that over 37 total years of hunting, it's not bad, but I don't view it that way.

I take each lost animal very personally as a failure of myself. I ALWAYS take a lesson from the animal and I ALWAYS 'punch' my tag if I feel a mortal wound was inflicted, that is my animal.

 

[Q child]

I've never shot and wounded an animal that then got away. I don't think anyway. I've shot at and missed before, so I suppose its possible I've made contact but then was unable to find any blood or anything.
My hunting partner lost a cow elk a couple years ago. Hit her twice but she got away. We didn't find her until a day or two later. It was hot and vultures were starting to circle. Sad story.

 

[CMP70306]

20% of you have shot more than 20 animals and never lost one? I find that hard to believe.

If you take out the second deer I ever shot I’ve shot 33 straight with no losses so it’s definitely possible. Even more so if you started as an adult and only rifle hunt.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Poll is not very useful without weapon data.

Rifle: 100% recovery on hit deer, over 20 killed
Flintlock Muzzleloader: 1 deer not recovered, over 20 killed
Archery: 3 elk not recovered, 3 elk recovered, 5 deer recovered

Archery is a mofo, there's no two ways about it. When my dog was healthy enough to hunt pheasants we would find multiple unrecovered archery deer per day in and around the fields.

 

[tkhuntsman]

The answers don't really apply to all situations. I've guided close to 250 successful elk hunts and several hundred for other game as well. My clients have only lost 4 animals. In my personal hunting I have taken dozens of game animals and only lost 1. I do everything within my power to insure a clean ethical kill but sometimes it just doesn't go as planned. Nobody is perfect and even accidents happen. I don't particularly care for the wording in this because it's almost baiting us into a negative conversation that could aid or add fuel to some anti-hunting data sheet. Honestly if your worried about the ethics or your ability to successfully harvest game I'd advise practice more and make better decisions or chose another hobby.

 

[Gobbler36]

It’s a risk to hunting and is going to happen but when it’s directly from being irresponsible by not a) knowing your abilities, b) practicing to become better c) spending adequate time honing your weapon and abilities.
Noting makes me cringe more than dumbasses in an archery shop 2 weeks before season buying broadheads or just sighting in their bows