So how many big game hunters have ever lost an animal?

So has anyone here ever shot and lost a big game animal?

  • Yes, I have shot and lost a big game animal.

    Votes: 90 68.7%

  • No, has never happened to me and never will.

    Votes: 18 13.7%

  • Came close to loosing an animal, but luck was on my side that day.

    Votes: 23 17.6%
  • Total voters
    131
Nope. Clean record so far.

To what do I attribute my success?

1. I use enough gun.

2. I shoot that gun and others many times all year long.
 
I can't believe 7 Pompass A$$es answered this one.........:bsFlag:
No, has never happened to me and never will.
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The only way it "never will" happen to you is either you don't actually hunt at all or you have such little experience in Hunting anything that you are completely Ignorant to the possibility of things not always going your way.....:onCrack:
 
Shot a nice whitetail through some willows by the Robb cemetary. There was a tuft of white hair on the ground and i spent all afternoon looking. For 4 days i drove to the mine and searched after my shift for a couple hours every night. No buzzards, yote or wolf sign. I still feel bad as hell and can replay the whole thing second by second as its still fresh in my head. Definitley should have waited for a clearer shot.:(
 
Where's the 'Not yet?' option? I've never lost an animal, but I know that's as much luck as anything.

I can practice and use the best gear and load the best ammo, and I'll still never remove chance from the equation. Odds are that I'll lose an animal eventually.
 
Up until this happened last year i was on a roll with all my game shot and recovered. I killed a little 4x4 out at Mariana Lake up by Fort Mac that i hit on a powerline with Grandma's Savage 99 at a touch over 200 yards as he was on the trot. It took me an hour to find him as i kept losing the blood trail but i would double back and find it again. I was sure proud when i saw him laying there and i was able to blood trail an animal successfully by myself. Last years whitetail knocked me off my high horse though. :( If i ever do see that bugger again by some miracle, he'll be able to go on his merry way. He deserves it.
 
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A broadside shot at 125 yards from a rested position at a bear that was standing perfectly still . Through the scope i saw the dust fly as the bullet him him exactly where i aimed . I was suprised when he didn't drop but instead bolted for the thick stuff . I gave it awhile and then walked down to where i hit him . 10 feet into the thick stuff i found two small drops of blood and when i say small , i mean that i've cut myself worse shaving . I tagged the blood and walked out to where i though he may have gone . No blood . I went back to the tag and started walking tight circles and did that for about 4 hours . No blood . Next morning i returned with my brother , we started at last blood at the tag and both started slowly walking tight circles . No blood . We never found the bear . It was a textbook perfect shot , i hit him exactly where i aimed , he was standing still and my rifle was rested . I have no explaination of how a 200 pound bear can absorb 180 grains fired from a 30-06 into the boiler room and vanish . Bear fur is thick and can soak up blood but by the time brother and i called it quits we had covered every inch in a 400 yard radius from where i nailed him . The rifle shoots Federal Premiums into 2 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yards . It will be on my mind for the rest of my life . If anyone cares to try to explain , please feel free . I didn't pull the shot , the rifle was rested and i clearly saw the dust fly exactly where i aimed . The bear was standing still , broadside . 180 grain Nosler Partition Federal Premium from a well sighted in 30-06 . The bear was no more than 200 pounds . I can't explain it .
 
Yes, many years ago I shot a whitetail deer at first light. I was absolutely certain that I hit him, there was a faint blood trail for just a few yards. Tracked him down and shot at him a second time about a half hour later. Lost him again and continued tracking, but no blood trail. I was using a .243 with my own loads. I hung my head in shame, sold that .243 and swore I'd never shoot one again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the gun, it was entirely my fault, but I still took it out on the gun. One of the reasons why people searching out "cheap" ammunition gives me the creeps.
 
Mulie doe hit her in the neck and she was gone. Fortunately one of dads buddies heard the shot and saw the doe coming and finished her off 15 minutes later. She was over a mile and half away from where I shot her. I guess techincally it wasn't a lost animal but only becuase of dumbass luck.
 
I "lost" a big buck once. I was using my old 1903 mannlicher 6.5x54 with an old scope and thick german crosshairs. He was about 125 yds away on a cutting road.As soon as I put the cross hairs on his chest he jumped and we surmise it hit further back. No blood trail and we looked for hours. The dogs found him 2 days later and he was gut shot and partially eaten.....I still think about it. Jim
 
Lost 2 deer in one season, Worse season of my life
hope it never happens again, still feel sick when I think about it.


I as well reload now,
Have shot many deer since then and lost none

save the cheap stuff for plinking and teaching the kids how to shoot at paper targets.
 
nothing lost yet, I'm very lucky about that and I know it. One of my hunting partners hit a big black bear with a 30/30 and spent 2 days looking for it. Hates himself for it to this day, and won't hunt anything with 30/30 anymore.
 
The doe I shot last year was lucky that i found her. I shot her 50 yards away and i knew i hit her good but she ran over 100 yards to the bush and i never found any blood in the field. I was stunned. Walked over to the bush and went in where she did and about 10 feet in there was a steady blood trail, tons of blood then i found her laying there. Bullet caught one lung and it looked like it didnt affect her. I wasnt even going to look in the bush because i figured i missed but said ahhh what the hell. Sure glad i did
 
Interesting thread -- especially the surprising number of "nope, not me" responses.

I'll be the first to admit to not having an absolutely perfect record, though I wish I did, and certainly strive to keep it as clean as possible.

But I suspect that if a person hunts long enough, sooner or later it's going to happen to everyone at least once. There's a lot that can go wrong when shooting at game in the field, and if you play the game long enough, sooner or later...

I think it would be very telling if the question had been "have you ever missed an animal?". I suspect that EVERYONE has done that, right? And more than once.

Now, how certain are you that you missed? Over the years, I've found a surprising number of dead or wounded animals that someone else had "missed"... Based on that experience, I've learned to assume that anything that looks like a miss is probably a bad hit. That's not always the case, but it has led me to find and recover animals that many others would give up on.

Food for thought.
 
I have personnally never lost an animal, in fact, I've never had to follow one of my own more then a hundred yards, however, over the years, I've been envolved in a good number of trailing sessions, some successfull, some not :(.
It can happen to anyone, there are a lot of factors at play, even the most skilled can lose one.
All you can do, is your very best to track down that animal.
Always follow up on a supposed miss, you might get a nice surprise.
 
I have lost a couple of deer in my almost forty years of hunting. Having said that, if it happens to a hunter on a consistent basis I would think the hunter would have to reassess his/her hunting strategy.
 
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