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
The "Nope, not me", are bull####ters, or havent had bad luck yet.

Hunt long enough, and some animal will amaze you.

I've had a dead deer get up and walk away.

I shot a big doe when I was 16-17. I had just walked into my stand, set my rifle up against the tree, pulled my backpack/chair off, and attempted to set it on the ground. In doing so, I knoocked my 30-30 barrel first down a small hill in the snow. (Did I mention it was snowing? :))
SO down about 10 feet I go to grab my rifle. Im thinking to myself "watch, there is going to be a deer watching me.
Sure enough, I looked to my left, and there was a doe standing there at about 35-40 yards. I opened my action, blew the snow out of the barrel, and proceeded to shoot the deer... I fired 4 shots into the deer as it ran back and forth in front of me, and piled up right in front of me into an old stump. Not 5 minutes later the dogger came walking over the hill to me and my deer. It was still alive, and I wanted to put another finishing shot into it. (keep in mind we were only standing 10 yards away from it) The dogger (my cousin, whom I have the utmost respect for his abilities)
told me not to put a finishing shot as it was dead, and to go back up into my stand to finish the run. (that had yet to start)
Not 10 minutes later, the deer got up, and hobbled away I didnt think much about it as i figured it would just laydown out of sight, and die.
Didnt it snow about 6 inches in 2 hours:(
NO track, no blood, and no deer.
I learned a valuable lesson that day...
If it aint dead, finish it!
 
I cannot answer the poll... but if there was a No not yet I would check it.

I have yet to see a buck while hunting (As i only have a couple of weekends that i can go) but I have so far shot 2 bears and missed one.
 
Dogleg said:
The amount of dead deer I find in a year tells me that somebody is losing them. Game departments usually use 25% losses when licence quotas are set. :(
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Huh? I think you need to be reporting the amount of dead deer to someone... sounds like someone is funshooting out in your neck of the woods.

I can count on one hand the amount of dead animals I have found that died at the hands of a human, and none of em had been wasted.
Wasted i
Humans have this stupid moral thinking that "If i dont get it, it goes to waste"
If you dont recover your animal, countless numbers of animals, reptiles, bugs, and bacteria get a free meal.
Though Im not advocating shooting animals for fun, I had a real hard time after I lost that deer. After a good "ashes to ashes" talk I felt better.
Everything dies...
 
Almost lost one, but it wasn't luck that let me find it, it was common sense and determination.

I shot a mule buck, too low (he was closer than I thought) through the bottom of the chest. It was a bad shot and I only have myself to blame. When it was obvious that there was going to be a long track to follow I left the area to give the animal time to bed down and bleed out. I returned about 4 hours later to pick up the trail and followed a blood track for about a mile. My deer was still alive although too weak to stand. He was shot, gutted and salvaged for sausage. The steaks were a little wild, but the rest was good.

It was a valuable lesson to learn about taking careful aim. I felt bad about wounding the animal and was glad to have some persistent friends to help with the tracking and recovery.
 
DarrelDB,
If you wandered around the Great Sandhills during say the second day of the mule-deer rifle season or Durdurn military base during the muzzleloader season you would run out of fingers in an hour. Magpies find them all, and they are real easy to spot.
 
Dogleg said:
DarrelDB,
If you wandered around the Great Sandhills during say the second day of the mule-deer rifle season or Durdurn military base during the muzzleloader season you would run out of fingers in an hour. Magpies find them all, and they are real easy to spot.
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Thats just wrong my friend... Id be upset if that were the case in my neighborhood.


jjackman said:
and was glad to have some persistent friends to help with the tracking and recovery.
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Sometimes the absolute best tracking tool... I try not to track anything by myself. If I absolutely have to, a roll of flagging tape is a must...
 
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There's a good chance it's going to happen to all of us, given enough time.

Equipment can fail - Bullets, scopes etc all can have malfunctions. Sometimes bullets can do unexpected things when they hit an animal. Even a twig can turn an easy heart/lung into a mess. And lets face it - sometimes as humans, we just blow a shot.

But - the mark of an ethical hunter is one who MINIMIZES the chances of that happening as much as is reasonably possible.

Don't take marginal shots. Use 'enough gun' - a little extra horsepower doesn't hurt. Think before you shoot. Go for the 'guaranteed kills' like heart/lungs as a rule, instead of 'texas heart shots' or head shots except in special circumstances. Choose good bullets appropriate to your cartridge. Test your gun, don't just assume it's on because it was last year. Practice a bit. Have tracking and recovery gear handy. (like trail marking tape).

I've 'skimped' on the above before, and it damn near lead to a wounded animal. I felt horrible, i learned my lesson, and thank the stars it was a clean miss. But it really hammered it home for me... there's always a chance an animal will be wounded.. do EVERYTHING you can to make that chance as small as possible.
 
I can say I have never lost a animal thank god, what I can share with all the CGN guys is this, go join up with your local GSAR (ground search and rescue) even if your a buisy person they put on a pile of free training courses available to you, I got my mantracker through the group here and beleive you me what a difference in tracking anything when you have some training under your belt, also they offer a wide variety of emergency survival courses that will gain you more confidence in the bush, and the great thing its FREE, + you get the knowing your giving back to your community be being a emergency volenteer (also note BC people that GSAR now pushes bear aware courses regularly) why pay for good training just help out and get it for free!
 
Came close once, but thank god for a little snow and a fair blood trail.

I was many years younger and foolishly too a shot I should not have.

Spent 4 hours tracking till I finally got a second shot and finished it. took another 2 hours to drag back out, and it was dark when I got back to camp.

Learned that lesson good.

make the first shot count
 
Yes i did in my younger days, felt bad, still do, i found the animal ( bear) later that year. Back in the days of the spring bear hunt!
Poor shot, no experience, to quick on the triger and to excited to even try to shoot straight!
My mistake was 15 had a open sight 303, and punched him thought the guts!

The other one i thought i lost ( same year 15 years old) thank the good old hound!! he found it was a whitetail punched to far back with the 30-30 went almost 1 km the red bone took him down and stayed and barked. It was half hour after we were in camp, and the red bone still was not back and we could here him bark and bark!
My buddy said is that rusty up on the hardwood hill come listen, well 1 hour later no blood no evedence of a hit and about 1 km after the place i shot at him at sure enough there he was a nice buck! I hit a tree small 4 inch maple the bullet cut through it an penetrated the deer in fragments, a cheep 170 soft point , and cut his insides open, very little energy transfer! and no blood!

Got lucky but still feel bad.

No more open sight for me ! was not the gun the sights, or the bullet it was the shooter!
 
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