# Found Your Gold Tip, Thunderhead, & Buck - Walnut Hill….



## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

If you lost your Gold Tip arrow armed with a Thunderhead and a good buck because of piss poor shot selection, we have recovered it for you. I’m not one to call people out but I’d love to know the why on this shot. This buck was shot early in archery season and made it to this past weekend with an arrow stuck out his back…lost weight, infected, pus oozing out of him…..

I love to bowhunt and I was taught to take high percentage shots that lead to recovery…do accidents happen…YES! Do you lose deer…YES! But this shot was not an accident…it was clearly a low percentage, purposely taken shot…guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore…with folks defending head shots and the like, not tuning bows just throwing on a mechanical….just sickens me to see this kind of stuff.

Whoever made this shot, Good God man, what were you thinking?!?! From the trail cam pictures it was hard to tell the angle of the shot….could have been hard quartering….now with hands on the buck it’s pretty freaking clear this buck was moving straight away from the shooter (being nice here). And the distance from the tree, based on the angle entry had to be 30+ yds on a deer facing away. Has to be one of the most bonehead shot attempts I have ever seen. IT IS OK TO LET A BUCK WALK IF YOU DON’T HAVE A GOOD SHOT! I might suggest you just stick with the rifle….

There are people who bowhunt and there are those that hunt during archery season….


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Congrats, that's a nice deer. I'm not going to say much hear other than I have taken some fairly normal shots that went awful due to a limb and once because the deer jumped the string and turned.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

PanhandleBob said:


> If you lost your Gold Tip arrow armed with a Thunderhead and a good buck because of piss poor shot selection, we have recovered it for you. I’m not one to call people out but I’d love to know the why on this shot. This buck was shot early in archery season and made it to this past weekend with an arrow stuck out his back…lost weight, infected, pus oozing out of him…..
> 
> I love to bowhunt and I was taught to take high percentage shots that lead to recovery…do accidents happen…YES! Do you lose deer…YES! But this shot was not an accident…it was clearly a low percentage, purposely taken shot…guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore…with folks defending head shots and the like, not tuning bows just throwing on a mechanical….just sickens me to see this kind of stuff.
> 
> ...


Nice deer, I think...... good on you for ending his pain.....


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## outdoorkid (Jan 6, 2010)

I would have to agree on a piss poor shot selection. I am by far not the perfect archer but, I know when to shoot and when not too. Nice deer though.


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

You found my deer! I forgot my bow but did have my arrows so I decided to hunt anyways..when this big buck walked out I threw my arrow at it seeing that throw darts regularly I thought I had a chance...
Kidding...one reason I disagree with bow hunting..


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## Flatspro (Oct 3, 2007)

Wirelessly posted

That's just bad shot selection with what appears to be a under poundage bow!


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## Collard (Oct 23, 2007)

Cool


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## MULLET HUNTER (Oct 3, 2007)

Good ending to a bad shot... I would have played it differently though, at least til I found out who the arrow belonged to... Now they will never come forward...


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

First...not my deer, a friend shot it. We have been after this buck since early November when it started showing up on trail cams on our property.

Things happen, deflections and such...but after seeing the deer and looking at the arrow, I can't imagine anything other than terrible shot selection...no way, no how...just can't see it.


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## HisName (Nov 29, 2009)

good job , glad he is out of his misery and another reason I dont bow hunt.


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks for sharing , Bob. 
This is not a fun / happy topic but needs to be discussed.
EVERY deer deserves your best preparation, practice, and discipline. 
Doesn't look that arrow had much kinetic energy.............. my .02


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

A bow is no less deadly than a gun....ANY weapon used stupidly will have bad results...see picture above


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## ABailey (May 25, 2010)

PanhandleBob said:


> A bow is no less deadly than a gun....ANY weapon used stupidly will have bad results...see picture above


This is true, I know of some that loose a lot of.deer during gun season.


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## Grassflatsfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

Thats a crazy story. I shot an 8pt about 7 or 8 years ago that had a broadhead lodged just under the skin dead center shoulder. The wound had healed up ok but was still full of puss when I cut the head out. When I was probably 13 or 14yo I saw a doe killed that had an arrow lodged in her back ham. It had been there for at least a year. I remember the guy saying she was limping. The leg looked dead as if it had gotten a nerve or something and paralyzed it. Other than that it was a healthy doe. He pulled 12 or so inches of arrow out when he cleanded her.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Glad you got the buck....got some good pics on the camera then being able to harvest it!!! CONGRATS!!! It must have been a long shot or a very low poundage bow....how deep was the head of the arrow???


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

yea i would probably say someone saw that buck and just decided to fling an arrow at him...we call that a cupid shot. Not good... poor deer, but it does go to show you just how tough the whitetail really is.


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## BobbyD (Aug 12, 2009)

ABailey said:


> This is true, I know of some that loose a lot of.deer during gun season.


I know the same ones and they could feed pensacola with the deer they lose during gun season


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## Kill'em Dead (Jul 21, 2009)

I don't know if that arrow would have penetrated a few more inches could of killed him a buck like that walks by it could very easily make you try and make a shot out of nothin, everybody's made bad shots , If I didn't have 100 different thoughts goin through my head and my heart comin out me chest Id kill every buck eveytime, it's prolly the only thing that dude thinks about I'm sure he didn't sleep well for awhile


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## 706Z (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm surprized that arrow stayed in him that long.I guess it had something to do with the angle.Good on who ever ended his misery.


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## auburn17 (Oct 29, 2008)

Bob, who ended up killing the deer on your lease? Was it on the north or south end of the club?


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Bob, I will say it UNethical! Gun or bow I hate to see the animal suffer. We all owe it to the game to make good ethical shots and harvest the animal with dignity! Oh and eat it with pleasure...


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

A bow isn't less deadly, just less accurate...this shot was probably taken at dark or a little after..just a dumb decision..I can't stand seeing animals suffer, good job


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## neohornet (May 31, 2009)

*Question*



aaronious45 said:


> A bow isn't less deadly, just less accurate...


How is it less accurate?


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## osborne311 (Aug 1, 2011)

Glad you got him down and ended his suffering. They really need to ask for more than just a check for a hunting license. IQ test, something. It amazes me at how many times in my life I have interviewed someone for a job, etc. and thought I would not trust this person to tie my shoes - but every weekend they are out on mostly public land with high powered rifles and compound bows making decisions with no guidance.


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## MikeG (Oct 5, 2007)

*shot*

Ive been bowhunting for nearly 27 years and through that time, I can say I have had some bad shots that ended in harvest , and have lost a few deer with what i considered great shots. It appears that there was not enough kinetic energy to bury that arrow unless it hit the spinal column or a heavy rib bone. With that said I have seen animals standing still , make a turn at the last minute and cause a somewhat similar result ( not dead center spine) but the arrow still over penetrated. Seems to me alot of factors were bad during this shot . I hate to say it but everyone was new at bowhunting at one time. If anyone says they have never made a bonehead shot on a deer, than you are the perfect hunter and need to have your own TV show. Sometime things happen that we never know since we wre not there.


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

aaronious45 said:


> A bow isn't less deadly, just less accurate...


Got to disagree...less accurate for someone who picks it up at the end of October and puts it down 4 weeks later....Tune it, shoot it on a regular basis and it's deadly accurate.


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

DoneDeal2 said:


> If anyone says they have never made a bonehead shot on a deer, than you are the perfect hunter and need to have your own TV show. Sometime things happen that we never know since we wre not there.


When something happens that causes an otherwise good shot to go bad it's not a bonehead shot....that's a things happen shot. When you take a shot that you know you shouldn't or should know you shouldn't...well that's a bonehead shot.


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

auburn17 said:


> Bob, who ended up killing the deer on your lease? Was it on the north or south end of the club?


North end


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Bob, Glad it's over for him, 90% sure it wasn't any of our South end guys (only 3 and I'm one) As you may have seen from a recent thread of mine I'm having my own injured deer issues. Yours does seem to be someone who made a bad decision, I've done it - but learned my lesson, hopefully someone has learned from this one also


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## byrddog (Aug 3, 2009)

How do you know ? Was you in the tree with the hunter ? Or do you like dogging someone on the internet not knowing the whole story or just assuming with your skinning shed CSI ? It pisses me off when people ASS U ME what happened and don't know more than the deer was shot and survived and walked by the wrong guy again and got killed .


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

byrddog said:


> How do you know ? Was you in the tree with the hunter ? Or do you like dogging someone on the internet not knowing the whole story or just assuming with your skinning shed CSI ? It pisses me off when people ASS U ME what happened and don't know more than the deer was shot and survived and walked by the wrong guy again and got killed .


Doesn't take a genius to figure out the flight of the arrow....it pisses me off when new archers listen to stupid folks about head shots, any shot will do, no tuning, no practice, just throw on broadheads and move the sight or better yet just slap on a mechanical....and, by the way, since I actually saw the deer, I am assuming less than you....unless of course you made that shot??


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## K-Bill (May 14, 2009)

i think it's very arrogant to assume we know exactly what happened, and then blame the hunter for a bad shot. there's a thousand that could have gone wrong with this being the end result. not saying it was or wasn't a bad shot. we just don't know. path of the arrow? we have no idea what the path of the arrow looked like. we know where it ended up. what if did hit a limb? what the buck turned? ducked down? goes on and on and on. congrats to your buddy, glad it's done now.


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## byrddog (Aug 3, 2009)

PanhandleBob said:


> Doesn't take a genius to figure out the flight of the arrow....it pisses me off when new archers listen to stupid folks about head shots, any shot will do, no tuning, no practice, just throw on broadheads and move the sight or better yet just slap on a mechanical....and, by the way, since I actually saw the deer, I am assuming less than you....unless of course you made that shot??



You can look at that deer for however long you want and you still wont know anymore than you did when you started . Bottom line you dont know !

If I wouldve shot the deer I wouldve shot him in the head with my untuned bow that I didnt practice with and my Grim Reapers !


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

Figures


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## byrddog (Aug 3, 2009)

10+4 mr perfect !!!!


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

I'm not perfect....just call 'em like I see 'em. An arrow doesn't magically hit the way this one did....I've seen deflections....this doesn't show signs of that from a broadside shot....no the clear point of impact was straight over the back end...

And if promoting practice and knowing your equipment makes me a bad person in your eyes well so be it...I would much rather teach ethics and knowledge than just send someone out there and let them shoot the woods up...


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## byrddog (Aug 3, 2009)

I know a guy who shot a 203 " monster and when he drew on the deer he accidentally hit his release and shot the deer in the neck, he killed the deer but it could have easily been a terrible situation. This guy shoots good equipment and practices and has killed animals all over the world but things happen . All im saying is don't dog someone and call them stupid when you don't know what happened at the time . That's a great buck and im sure this hunter is sick over it. Give him a break especially since apparently you dont know him . Dang !!!!


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

K-Bill said:


> i think it's very arrogant to assume we know exactly what happened, and then blame the hunter for a bad shot. there's a thousand that could have gone wrong with this being the end result. not saying it was or wasn't a bad shot. we just don't know. path of the arrow? we have no idea what the path of the arrow looked like. we know where it ended up. what if did hit a limb? what the buck turned? ducked down? goes on and on and on. congrats to your buddy, glad it's done now.



This....

If that deer had that arrow in him for that long it would be really hard to tell the circumstances of the shot. That deer has walked past alot of trees, limbs, etc on and on that could have changed the way that arrow was stickin outta him.

Or it could be exactly as described.


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## MikeG (Oct 5, 2007)

i agree this whole thread start is a ridiculous assumption.Bad shots are made every season by gun and bow hunters.Some are accidents, some are just excitement.If you bowhunt you will have the urge to take shot opportunities that are not always the best. Nothing wrong with teaching ethics but to blast this hunter is wrong..If your the perfect archer than you havent been bow hunting long.


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## Trollin (Oct 1, 2008)

I like how you insinuate that it just showed up on "your property" and that nobody in your club would have done that. 

That’s a pretty high horse your on, you might want to ask all your old folks shooting low power, 4" fletchings before you cast all your innuendo’s towards other properties.


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## sydbrn329 (Feb 4, 2009)

The first buck I ever killed with my bow was about thirty yards broad side when I released. At the exact moment of release he took a step in the other direction. He also ducked. My arrow hit him high in the back of the neck. Spined him. He was dead on the spot. But had I missed the spine, anyone who looked at the "evidence" would have said it was a terribly irresponsible shot. 
You don't know what happened anymore than the man in the moon. As a matter of fact, your harsh tone and assumptions make you sound like kid. It may very well have been an irresponsible shot. But you don't know enough about it to make those extreme assertions. Btw.. Thanks for posting pics and statements that work to undermine all of our rights.


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

neohornet said:


> How is it less accurate?


Can you shoot less than a 1" group beyond 30 yards?


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## TheCarver (May 5, 2011)

No matter how it happened, Or who did it, with all the blood pumping in all of the sportsmen that read the ad, We now know for shur, there are concerned hunters that will finnish a mishap or foolish mistake, Either way what Ive read from most of you, The sport, The animal, an your pride in doing the hunt right is well taken. I dont hunt up that way but I thank you for putting that deer down, an I know the deer probably does to. Good Job. ole Carver


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

I know what I saw, I know what I have experienced with oops shots....wonder how many WTF's would be out there had the buck been on your property.....hmmm....

I'm glad the buck has finally been killed and I was able to see it instead of trying to figure out what happened from pictures. You guys enjoy the rest of the season, I know I will.


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

TheCarver said:


> No matter how it happened, Or who did it, with all the blood pumping in all of the sportsmen that read the ad, We now know for shur, there are concerned hunters that will finnish a mishap or foolish mistake, Either way what Ive read from most of you, The sport, The animal, an your pride in doing the hunt right is well taken. I dont hunt up that way but I thank you for putting that deer down, an I know the deer probably does to. Good Job. ole Carver


Well said


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## outdoorsalways (Dec 13, 2007)

First, congrats to the hunter that shot him. We shouldn't judge others.Nobody is better than the next. If you hunt long enough you WILL make a bad shot and lose a deer. I have been bow hunting for a long time,worked in the industry for a long time,taught more classes on the subject more than most, and just this season made a bad shot due to the deer making a turn while arrow in flight.Deer left with arrow. Should you be calling me names now? You can if you want. All you can hope for is that the shooter learned something from this experience.I learn every year.

Also I would be willing to bet that possibly a bow is more ON TARGET than a rifle at the 20-30 yard mark......compute that at the CSI lab.


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

aaronious45 said:


> Well said


Agreed.

I probably wouldn't feel as strongly as I do if I didn't see folks at the local archery shop buying a bow the week before the season starts and say they've never shot one before...but I have and it sucks....


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## WACKEM&STACKEM! (Dec 9, 2008)

byrddog said:


> You can look at that deer for however long you want and you still wont know anymore than you did when you started . Bottom line you dont know !
> 
> If I wouldve shot the deer I wouldve shot him in the head with my untuned bow that I didnt practice with and my Grim Reapers !


:laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## billrv (Jan 8, 2008)

Trollin said:


> I like how you insinuate that it just showed up on "your property" and that nobody in your club would have done that.
> 
> That’s a pretty high horse your on, you might want to ask all your old folks shooting low power, 4" fletchings before you cast all your innuendo’s towards other properties.


Gentlemen, We are missing some important points here, first I happen to have the pleasure of being a member of this club also and let me assure you of one thing to start with none of our bow hunters, and we have several who bow hunt if not exclusively at least a majority of the time would have ever taken this shot, I saw the deer and several of us took a close look at the entry angle of the arrow, the position of the broadhead and the limited wound channel, bottom line it was a P*** poor shot, there is no way it was a deflection or a string jump or anything else, when you honor our sport as ALL of us in this club do and truly work hard on your preperation, shot selection, shot placement, recovery and after recovery entrance and exit wound examination you learn a lot about your equipment and it's preformance. By no means am I saying we as a group or as individuals are any better or any worse then the group of hunters on this forum we all make mistakes. The start of this thread was to hopefully make all of us think a little more about our shot selection and not get in a hurry let's be real we feed them thousands of pounds of corn and other stuff every year, chances are you or someone else will get another shot I do not think anyone in any of the surrounding clubs nor ours is desperate to kill a deer. Trollin, in all due respect I am the oldest bow hunter in this club and with reduced poundage (not much) I pay a little more attention to my shot placement, I wouldn't take the shot on this deer with a rifle, that is how poor the placement was. Please let's all remember there are groups of people that are just looking for a reason to slam hunting and hunters but equally as important we HAVE TO HONOR our targeted game. Some of the comments are not worthy of a response but to those that expressed their views in a polite manner I honor you for the comments whether I agree or disagree


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## minkmaster (Apr 5, 2008)

20-30 yards shooting free hand I bet I could shoot just as well with a bow as a rifle. Killed bunch of deer both ways and have actually lost an even amount with each 2 for a total of 4 lost deer. Its a crappy feeling but as long as you take a responsible shot you camnot worry bout it too much, anybody that hunts enough will have it happen.


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## MikeH (Jul 14, 2009)

I've never been a bow hunter, but have been around it all my life and have been to many indoor bow tournaments,a couple of the finals in montgomery,al. And I can honestly say that I could take any rifle I own and shoot more acurate than any of the top 10. I respect and admire bow hunters, and this is comparing apples to oranges, but it is obsurd to say a bow is more accurate than a rifle. Sorry to derail the thread


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## minkmaster (Apr 5, 2008)

I wish you lived closer to me. We would play it out. Its not as easy to hold tight groups free handed, meaning a standing position, just like you shoot a bow. I did it before just to see how much of a "crackshot" I really was. There is almost no difference and when there is its by coincidence with three shot groups. Try it bow hunters. Take 3 shots with a bow, then take 3 shots with a gun 20-30 yards. If a bow is sighted and tuned just like a gun must be sighted, it should make no difference.


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## Catchin Hell (Oct 9, 2007)

I've been bowhunting 30 years now. I'll be the first to tell you I'd take that shot with the caveat of it must be under 35 yds (my personal limit). The deer looks like he was lined up for a perfect spine shot. As long as the hunter's windage is correct, a deer walking away makes a perfect shot because you don't have to account as much for elevation and a hit anywhere to the spine will put him down instantly. It appears to me that is exactly what our unknown hunter had in mind, but something went awry. It may be he took the shot at a distance beyond his capabilities, but he could have also taken a shot from high in a tree abutting a grassy knoll and his windage was off--IMHO. The key is to know your equipment and your abilities. I used to practive nearly every day the first couple of years I had my bow. I got tired of replacing nocks and fletching. Now, I pull the bow out two weeks before the season and get my practice in. It's like riding a bike these days with the new bows...


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## ajbell (Dec 28, 2011)

Several years ago, my dad killed a big eight point and when we cleaned it it had a broadhead and about 5 inches of arrow between his ribs and shoulder. It had been there for years and was completely healed up. I think this was a very poor shot selection on the deer from the original post in this thread. I'll post a picture of my dad's deer tomorrow and you can see how the arrow affected his horns.


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## K-Bill (May 14, 2009)

Catchin Hell said:


> I've been bowhunting 30 years now. I'll be the first to tell you I'd take that shot with the caveat of it must be under 35 yds (my personal limit). The deer looks like he was lined up for a perfect spine shot. As long as the hunter's windage is correct, a deer walking away makes a perfect shot because you don't have to account as much for elevation and a hit anywhere to the spine will put him down instantly. It appears to me that is exactly what our unknown hunter had in mind, but something went awry. It may be he took the shot at a distance beyond his capabilities, but he could have also taken a shot from high in a tree abutting a grassy knoll and his windage was off--IMHO. The key is to know your equipment and your abilities. I used to practive nearly every day the first couple of years I had my bow. I got tired of replacing nocks and fletching. Now, I pull the bow out two weeks before the season and get my practice in. It's like riding a bike these days with the new bows...


i disagreed with the OP assuming he knew what happened and condemning the unknown hunter for what we saw in the trail cam pic. i will also (respectfully) disagree with taking a 35 yd (or 30, or even 20) shot attempting to spine shoot a deer as it's walking away. that may be just me, but i doubt it. i think if that was a shot a lot of people took we'd see a lot more trail cam pics like in the first post on this thread.


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

K-Bill said:


> i disagreed with the OP assuming he knew what happened and condemning the unknown hunter for what we saw in the trail cam pic. i will also (respectfully) disagree with taking a 35 yd (or 30, or even 20) shot attempting to spine shoot a deer as it's walking away. that may be just me, but i doubt it. i think if that was a shot a lot of people took we'd see a lot more trail cam pics like in the first post on this thread.


This... again....

I have always thought that a spine shot was a bad shot. Even the logic behind it is bad..."you don't have to account as much for elevation...". To me this mindset is bad. You should always be concerned about windage and elevation on every shot and any shot on a bone has a big chance of failure. This is of course my opinion and may be horribly wrong.


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## PanhandleBob (Mar 16, 2011)

Rest my case


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## Catchin Hell (Oct 9, 2007)

I've taken two spine shots in my life, both times with 100% success. Both times, I had to make a rapid follow up shot to end the deer's suffering, but neither took a step after the 1st arrow connected. Btw, I hunt fair chase only. I believe Jason will vouch for that. It's a little tougher to find a deer willing to stand still when it doesn't have a pile of corn to keep its attention. WW2 said you shouldn't have to worry about elevation...??? Unless I'm willing to be a high tech ******* with a range finder and I'm not, elevation is the main thing I personally worry about the most, just saying... Keep the shots under 35 yds and elevation is not a big factor anymore.


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## fishinmuch (May 2, 2011)

*Bow vs Rifle*

I love them both but saying one is more accurate then the other is like saying penn reels catch more fish than shimano. The weapon is as accurate as the user. There are guys that can throw pennies in the air and instinct shoot them out of the air. And there are guys with long bows shooting an asprin at 70 yards. 

On another note I really hope that the person that made the "bonehead shot" is not a young hunter just getting started and reading this mess. We learn by our mistakes, hopefully this thread has not turned anyone away from hunting.


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