Missed/non-recovered game

[doughnut]

The numbers I am hearing from you guys seem to be on par with what I was thinking for the average hunter.

Good points about people not shooting their rifles enough during the off season. Also practicing from various positions helps out a bunch. Shooting has been a hobby of mine since a kid. Just recently gotten in to shooting at longer distances. At least longer for me and have been really enjoying it.

Also some guys just don't care. Some will take the shot knowing good and well it is not a good shot. Then if they do not find the deer in 15 minutes write it up as a loss. Not saying this is the type of people my coworkers are. The guy who went 1 for 4 in three weeks seriously thought he made good shots on two of them. There was blood so after not finding them he called someone with a dog to help but still did not recover them. The third one he thinks he flat out missed.

Noone is perfect and stuff happens, but no doubt you should do your best to make a good shot. Also should do everything in your power to recover the animal.

 

[Grisha]

I didn't state this in my 1st post, but I feel this is a huge factor as well. Not patting myself on the back but, I hunted with a guy for 8 years, and had to go find every deer he shot....this guy COULD NOT track blood or sign.

I think the Germans require either ownership of or access to a dog that is trained to follow a blood trail for hunting licenses. Generally, seems like a good idea to me to require some sort of proficiency in some way on tracking wounded game, though I realize very few people in the US would support something like this. Personally, I am red-green color blind (moderate) so blood trails are not easy for me and I'm going to be training a dog moving forward to help avoid any losses.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

My hunting camp has very few unrecovered deer. I have never shot more than 2 times at a deer while I hear some guys sound like they are in a battle.

I have had a handful over the past 21 years but have killed probably 60 deer so not a bad rate.

 

[dirtshooter]

Missed with a rifle, wounded but found and killed same day. Hit a doe in the shoulder with my bow with a mechanical. The loudest thwack ever, must have been square on bone. No hair, no blood. I am certain that deer lived.

 

[Grisha]

Good points about people not shooting their rifles enough during the off season. Also practicing from various positions helps out a bunch. Shooting has been a hobby of mine since a kid. Just recently gotten in to shooting at longer distances. At least longer for me and have been really enjoying it.

I notice very few people practice followup shots during the off season training.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I'm 46, only time I can ever remember missing with a rifle I was about 9 years old, maybe 10. My dad told me to "aim a little high" so I aimed a little over his back, he told me later he meant a little high for where I would normally shoot and not over the animal. Aside from that I've never missed or failed to recover a rifle shot animal but then I don't shoot unless I'm very confident. Archery I've missed quite a lot, probably more than most. I hunt primarily on Texas public, which there ain't much of so those deer are tweaked 24/7 and when they hear a bow string they're not in the same position they started in when the arrow gets there. Luckily they're almost always clear misses. I've had a couple poor hits that were recovered, and can't say I've ever not recovered a deer but I've failed to recover two archery-hit Aoudad. Those things are tough, and I don't think they were fatal hits.