What percent of archery shots result in recovered animal?

[PondPopper]

Missing from a tree or ground blind that is most likely setup 20-30 yards from a feeder is a little silly. Missing is inevitable but that is as close as you can get to a perfect storm.

Missing a mule deer at 70 yards in high winds, off your knees, is easily explainable.

Taking a 70 yard shot in high winds at any animal is as about as ignorant, irresponsible and unethical as it gets as a bow hunter..

[Jon B]

I am probably saying too much but I believe in some of what is posted above and strongly disagree with other points made. I am a bowhunter. I practice hard and I hunt hard. I have lost 4 whitetails out of about 25-30 that I have shot with a bow. Most of these when I was starting and less patient. I have learned and grown from those sleepless nights. I will say that even when well prepared....Murphy happens and deer move.

I now wait 30 minutes unless I see the animal fall. If I hear of see anything out of the ordinary at the shot I wait an hour. If an animal is shot and then jumped still alive my personal rule is three hours.

I recently helped track a deer that was jumped after the shot. We recovered him after being jumped and his eyes were still clear and bright. I honestly don't think he had been dead 15-20 minutes. When spending the kind of money we do to chase whitetails not waiting can get real expensive.

I have also gotten much better at tracking deer. Slow and steady.

[breederbuck33]

Taking a 70 yard shot in high winds at any animal is as about as ignorant, irresponsible and unethical as it gets as a bow hunter..

No doubt. Stuff happens at 15 yards. I've been bow hunting sense I was 10 years old, so I've made my share of mistakes. Most of them were in those first few years though. I can remember loosing 2 deer in the last 12 or 13 years. One of them appeared to be a great shot on a doe, and we just had no blood. Shot was on video, and that was the last deer I shot with a Montec. Then the second one was a nice buck I rushed the shot on. It was a cloudy morning, and took forever to get daylight. I turned my pin light on and tried the shot. I think the shot was a hair forward, so I let him lay a couple hours. Well on the way out there it started raining, and by the time we realized we had a problem it was too late. Called the dog, and the rain had him all confused. The neighbors found the deer a couple hundred yards from where we lost blood a few years later. He did a circle and went back the way he came and walked uphill down the fence line. Other than that I've been very fortunate, and prepared. I do also wonder how many rifle hunters think they miss because their deer runs off, and never even look...

[TxAg]

I have said it for years..
I would hate to be a deer during archery season..
To many yahoo's hunting with archery equipment, or any equipment for that matter, that refuse to put in the time and effort it takes learn their equipment, what it takes to be effective and efficient at killing with their chosen equipment.. There is a whole more that is required to be efficient at killing than some realize....
Example: We should NEVER, ok rarely, see a post describing "lack of penetration"!!! I know it happens frequently on "hunting shows" but honestly it should rarely be a issue with today's technology in bows and broadheads.. There is entirely to many hunters that are choosing speed over Kenetic energy for a flatter flight path as to help with them compensate for lack of practice and their lack of ability to judge distance.. Kinetic energy is second in importance only behind accuracy.. It's obvious that many do not get this..

Kinetic energy is based on speed. The term you're looking for is momentum.

[44mAG]

Experience matters. I recovered only 1 of the first 5 deer I ever shot at with my bow (1 was a clean miss). This was over about a 7 year stretch. I honestly almost gave up bow hunting because I had previously killed around 40 deer with a rifle without wounding a single one. I have so much respect for the deer I am hunting, that I wanted to give up.

From that point, I decided that for me to release an arrow at a deer, EVERYTHING had to be perfect. Deer posture, distance, confidence in bow setup, etc. I will not take a shot at a deer if he is further than 20 yds out (preferably 18 yds), deer has to be perfectly broad side without a leg in the way.

Since making these personal rules, I am 6 for my last 7 (I took a hard quartering away shot, which was a no-no for me, on the 1 wounded deer, puncturing one lung, but he survived).

Having wounded all of those deer has actually has made bow hunting more enjoyable for me. I used to get way stressed and ****** off when I would see a buck but didn't get a shot off. I now enjoy watching them walk away un-wounded knowing that I didn't take a shot where something could have gone wrong.

[docmay]

My long term average was to lose about one animal for every 30-40 I shot with a bow. In my early years I missed a bunch. Completely air mailed them. Thank God because I would much rather have a clean miss. I used to shoot a ton of animals per year. The biggest thing to me about Bowhunting is that you have to kill stuff. You have to practice on live targets. I think the other big lesson is where to aim. I lean towards 1/3 of the way up and straight up the leg. I never aim “behind the shoulder” if broadside. I also always try to aim for the exit. Like if quartering away try to bury that arrow in the front part of the offside shoulder. Finally, don’t shoot at whitetails that are alert or looking right at you. It doesn’t tend to end well! Let them relax or make your setups to where they don’t know you are there.

[muzzlebrake]

Percentage of animals recovered is directly proportional to the brand of bow you use. Mathews shooters recover roughly 110% of their animals.

[friscopaint]

When I started hunting in 1980 the success rate for archery was about 10%. Today with the new bows, arrows & broadheads I would guess the success rate is close to 70%. Way more information for the new hunters to glean knowledge from as opposed to the old trial by fire approach we used in the old days. Still there is no better way to improve your success rate than practice, practice, practice. Most hunters that wound game consistently take marginal shoots and get gassed up before releasing the arrow.

This was us, new compounds, no sights, fingers and let it fly......used to have to climb down and pick up expensive bent aluminum arrows with whatever broadheads we had....

[Raypo]

Taking a 70 yard shot in high winds at any animal is as about as ignorant, irresponsible and unethical as it gets as a bow hunter..

Says you. I haven’t wounded an animal with a bow in many, many years. If you practice at 40, then maybe. If you practice at 100, then not so much. Your opinion. Such strong words. I guess I’ll continue to pile up animals in the most ignorant way possible.

[Scubasteveo]

I'm batting 1000!!! Got my first one last weekend, but I am banking on missing or losing one.

[friscopaint]

Says you. I haven’t wounded an animal with a bow in many, many years. If you practice at 40, then maybe. If you practice at 100, then not so much. Your opinion. Such strong words. I guess I’ll continue to pile up animals in the most ignorant way possible.

I aired 1 out once that could have been a scene from Braveheart, got it.....I bet it was close to 100, guess if its dead it was ethical.......then again I don't ride a high horse

[friscopaint]

Percentage of animals recovered is directly proportional to the brand of bow you use. Mathews shooters recover roughly 110% of their animals.

Only 100%, rage adds the 10% bonus

[friscopaint]

I'm batting 1000!!! Got my first one last weekend, but I am banking on missing or losing one.

And you will, it's like holy crap everything was perfect, how can that happen !!! Like missing a 2 foot putt

[PondPopper]

Says you. I haven’t wounded an animal with a bow in many, many years. If you practice at 40, then maybe. If you practice at 100, then not so much. Your opinion. Such strong words. I guess I’ll continue to pile up animals in the most ignorant way possible.

You are not "piling up animals" shooting at 70 yards in high wind.... Ill bet good money on that..

[PondPopper]

Kinetic energy is based on speed. The term you're looking for is momentum.

Are you sure????



"Kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass of the object and to the square of its velocity.."