Wounded a running deer :-(

Sounds much like where many of us coastal BC'ers hunt...Thick cover.

What kind of bush is your thick cover?
Our hunt now consists of approx 900 acres of cut-over hardwood bush verying in cut age from 1988 to couple years ago. The 1988 stuff is just starting get to the point you could see maybe 150 feet or so as the undergrowth is starting to get choked out. One 10 year old cut you can almost not get thru & visibility would be max 30 feet :mad:
 
What kind of bush is your thick cover?
Our hunt now consists of approx 900 acres of cut-over hardwood bush verying in cut age from 1988 to couple years ago. The 1988 stuff is just starting get to the point you could see maybe 150 feet or so as the undergrowth is starting to get choked out. One 10 year old cut you can almost not get thru & visibility would be max 30 feet :mad:

Willow patches, alders, evergreen jungles...Lots of thick cover in BC, lots of everything for that matter. You can transition several times from open area into thick timber in a day here.

The buck I shot last week was in thick willows, I could barely see him at 50 yards, until he emerged at 30...Last year I shot a buck at close to 400.
 
Most deer I've seen in the two week deer season was 11. That was in 2003, and I managed to get three of them.
This year, I didn't see a damned thing. Tracks, yes, lots of them. We do scout, and we don't use dogs all the time.
If you're going to sit and call, there isn't much point if there are no deer about.
 
Yep. The deer seemed to be staying holed up in the bush this year. First day I walked up to within 35 feet of and could have shot a large doe on opening day. I figured it was going to be a cakewalk this year. Then day after day of tracks.

I did end up with a 3x3, but I think that ended up being more a matter of being in the right place at the right time than anything else.
 
Meat is not a priority but you got an elk, a moose, a whitetail, & 4 mules between 4 guys
So tell me, it was a trophy Elk, trophy moose, 4 trophy muleys & a trophy whitetail... right

As I previously posted,the meat is not our priority for hunting,but we do enjoy having some nonetheless.We generally trophy hunt whitetails,and mule bucks,because we see so many.We are far less fussy with elk and moose,because they are much harder to come by.The animals taken on that particular trip were two 4x4 mule deer bucks, a 5x5 whitetail,a 5x5 bull elk,a medium sized bull moose,and two mule deer does.We could have filled more antlerless mule deer tags,but we decided that we already had plenty of meat.
 
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We are far less fussy with elk and moose,because they are much harder to come by.

Exactly! Now you can relate to why some hunters HAVE to take running shots. It's because it maybe the only shot they will get during their entire season... I shoot on the run if I have no other options and I use the appropriate tool: a Marlin in .35 Rem. equipped with a Lyman's aperture sight. I have had to finish off some animals, but all of them were recovered promptly at a short distance.

Would I prefer shooting standing deer off of a good rest? Sure, but that does not happen much in the heavy wooden terrain we hunt.
 
Exactly! Now you can relate to why some hunters HAVE to take running shots.

No one has to take shots beyond their capabilities,but some people choose to take those shots.I have turned down several shots at moose and elk,and at very large bucks,because I was not comfortable with the shot.In some cases the result was an unfilled tag,but I prefer that situation to having to track a wounded animal.
 
No one has to take shots beyond their capabilities,but some people choose to take those shots.I have turned down several shots at moose and elk,and at very large bucks,because I was not comfortable with the shot.In some cases the result was an unfilled tag,but I prefer that situation to having to track a wounded animal.

There are those that shoot beyond their capabilities whether it be running, long distance shots or even short distance shots!! There are those that drive vehicles & probably shouldn't have a license, hell there are women that cook that shouldn't...such is life, get over it! ;)
 
[Q
UOTE]senior;2695874]What kind of bush is your thick
cover?
Our hunt now consists of approx 900 acres of cut-over hardwood bush verying in cut age from 1988 to couple years ago. The 1988 stuff is just starting get to the point you could see maybe 150 feet or so as the undergrowth is starting to get choked out. One 10 year old cut you can almost not get thru & visibility would be max 30 feet :mad:[/QUOTE]

If I may be so bold as to make an assumption here.
Most of the time one does not see the animal clearly one only sees it ghosting though the bush. Am I lead to believe you are taking shots at this animal as it is moving though this tangle?
 
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