I was horrified to watch the arrow hit the doe back & high. Don't know if she took a step or I just made a bad shot. I was fairly certain I'd missed the lungs, hoped maybe hit liver. The way she took off, I figured I'd never see her again. After the normal wait, got down, found the arrow and the best blood trail I've ever seen. Looked like someone had taken a can or red paint and was just slinging it all along the path she'd taken. I clipped the artery below the spine. She made it a couple hundred yards, but tracking her was not difficult. Sometimes a bad shot can turn out good.
That was a hunt many years ago that I will probably never forget. The 'bests' & 'worsts' tend to stay with you. I haven't made another shot like that one.
Made a very memorable bad/good shot another time hunting with the muzzleloader. It was a young buck and the shot was maybe 40 yards. No idea why, but may aim just slipped as I pulled the trigger. But buck drops at the shot. Start to reload and buck jumps back up, runs straight at me, turns right before he gets to me, jumps creek and goes down again. Kicks around some, but dies there. Finish reloading, get down and found that the bullet had hit the bottom of his chest. At first glance, I wasn't even sure if bullet had gotten into the chest cavity. But it had to right, must have nicked the heart? Field dress him & realize that there was zero internal damage. Bullet had not gotten into chest cavity. I have to assume that bullet hit close enough to the heart, to stop it! Weird, but what else could it have been?
Anyway, as they say - sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! Stuff happens.
Have spent quite a bit of time in a tree stand lately. As many of you know, all kinds of random things come & go in the downtime. Bad shots with good results was just one of them for me.
That was a hunt many years ago that I will probably never forget. The 'bests' & 'worsts' tend to stay with you. I haven't made another shot like that one.
Made a very memorable bad/good shot another time hunting with the muzzleloader. It was a young buck and the shot was maybe 40 yards. No idea why, but may aim just slipped as I pulled the trigger. But buck drops at the shot. Start to reload and buck jumps back up, runs straight at me, turns right before he gets to me, jumps creek and goes down again. Kicks around some, but dies there. Finish reloading, get down and found that the bullet had hit the bottom of his chest. At first glance, I wasn't even sure if bullet had gotten into the chest cavity. But it had to right, must have nicked the heart? Field dress him & realize that there was zero internal damage. Bullet had not gotten into chest cavity. I have to assume that bullet hit close enough to the heart, to stop it! Weird, but what else could it have been?
Anyway, as they say - sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! Stuff happens.
Have spent quite a bit of time in a tree stand lately. As many of you know, all kinds of random things come & go in the downtime. Bad shots with good results was just one of them for me.
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