How many deer have you shot & not recovered?

[G-Man]

26 years with gun ...lost a doe with gun, jumped in a flooded creek and was swept away. walked the bank down stream to the lake never found her..watcher her go in swim half way across and go under..never came up.... 24 years with bow ...just lost a nice 8 last night this am.. misjudged range hit low thru brisket..follow blood drop about 800 yards..neverlay down or stopped walking crossed 2 roads.. gave up after continuing for 4 hrs this am.. has probably gone over 2 miles...don't think it will die

[RangerClay]

_{30 years this year. 1 with a bow and 2 with a gun.}

[Pygmy]

I have been deer hunting 45 years...

I did record how many deer I have killed..I can't remember without checking my records, but it is over 100..

Over the years I have lost a few, with the shotgun, rifle, muzzleloader and bow.. Can't remember how many, but I know I have lost at least a deer or two with each implement. I know that the percentage of lost deer was higher with the bow than with the guns.. That's why I gave up bowhunting a few years ago..I am not a real good archer.

I agonized over each and every deer I lost...

[dave6x6]

Boy i hope this is somehow therapudic because it sure is painful to write. Lets start with the good news. With a shotgun i have never pulled the trigger on a deer and not killed and recovered it. I am a one shot, make it count kind of gun hunter and am probably more cautious with my shot selection with a gun than i am with the bow. That and i'm fortunate to have a tack driver that seems to find the boilermaker most every time. Actually i did miss once on a doe from 20 yrds a couple seasons back. Both of us were so suprised that she was still alive that we both froze. Finally i racked another one and dropped her right there. All in all probably about 25 deer. Now the bad. I wounded two deer with my bow last season and never recovered them. The first, a doe, was an bone head rookie mistake. Bought a new bow before the season with all new bells and whistles. Well i forgot to tighten the sights down and every time i set it down on a hard surface, it moved it just a smidge. When a doe stood broadside at 10 yrds, i missed my target by 11 inches a punched her through the guts. Let her lay over night and came back in the morning to find the yotes had dragged body parts all over the field. Two weeks later i mis-judged the distance on a monster 10 and grazed his under belly or brisket. Nothing but fat on the arrow and white hair on the ground. Good news was he hardly new what happened. Flicked his tail a couple times and off he went. We searched for 4 hrs finding little spots of blood but clearly was not a fatal wound. The good thing is, those two misses really have changed thing for me as a bow hunter. I was getting a little too full of myself and thought i could make any shot. It was a very humbleing thing and forced me to practice harder and dial back my range just a bit..

Edited November 14, 2011 by dave6x6

[tughillhunter]

in 2009 i lost a 6 point, found it in the spring, musta walked by it a thousand times, and in 2010 lost a big doe opening day muzzleloader, found her remains on a deer trail halfway thru rifle, 50 yards from where i stopped tracking. it sucks losing deer. that six point was a beauty.

[Single_shot]

35 years with a rifle and only hunted 1 year with a bow. No lost rifle deer,I lost my first bow deer,a nice 8pt because I got on him too quick.Me and a handfull of people looked for it for 3 days. The blood quit,a dbl lung shot,I was ground hunting. I sold the bow and that is that.

[rong]

i think i've lost 4 or 5 deer with my bow,maybe 2 with gun,been bow hunting for about 28,yrs gun 30.any loss is a bummer and very dep .ressing,it's going to happen sooner or later(unfortunatley)as long as you give it your best to find them,and take ethical shots,to try and minimize losses

[RifleSharpShot]

0..lucky for me ive allways pretty much droped em in their spot.I havn't shot a ton of deer but never had any problems!

[RifleSharpShot]

I do think shooting them with a rifle is a lot better way to drop em!

[nyantler]

"0" in 37 years of hunting

[pistolp71]

Gun hunting since 1987 and bow hunting since 1989. None lost with a gun which is a combination of rifle,pistol,shotgun. 2 lost with a bow. First one was a really nice buck that was flehming when I shot him. Right when mechanical broadheads first came out and had a total lack of broadside penetration, also too light looking back now. Tracked him a long long way. Second was a nice 8, 20 yards broadside and complete pass though. I swear I hit that deer in no mans land, even though some don't think it exists. Arrow had almost no blood and was coating with a waxing substance. No blood trail. I'm sure that deer survived another day.

[dave6x6]

I have to say that i'm pretty impressed with these responses. Wish i could have said none like a few out there. Great job on your parts. Of course the guy who has to buy a new dozen arrows every year probably is not going to give us his report. LOL

[nyantler]

I have to say that i'm pretty impressed with these responses. Wish i could have said none like a few out there. Great job on your parts. Of course the guy who has to buy a new dozen arrows every year probably is not going to give us his report. LOL

LOL... very true... some fellas are thinking.."hey I lose a lot practicing"... hmmm... maybe you still need the practice then...

[Suilleabhain]

Two since 1968 both when I was young and dumb and throwing lead. In the last 30 years I have taken two shots at a deer only once. I settled down and picked my shots rather than take the hail mary's and the running shots. And I still relive thos blown shots to this day. One I will never understand. I had a doe & buck coming downhill straight at me at half speed. I was in a stand 15 feet up. Since they wouldn't stop I took a shot chest on and missed. The deer ran parallel to me at 30 yards and stopped. I had the gun rested on the rail and fired. They dropped over a ridge and immediately bedded. Had I waited longer he may have stiffened up but I pushed him and had little blood every now and then for about 2 miles then lost his trail in a water soaked field about 10 acres square. I believe I hadn't cleared the scope picture and was holding low and just clipped him.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Suilleabhain

[adirondackbushwhack]

I've been hunting for quite a while I guess. IN the early days I lost a few with the rifle. I used a 30-30 back then and I seem to remember putting more then one and sometimes several rounds in a lot of those deer that I got in addition to loosing a few. Later I switched to a .444 marlin and haven't lost a deer since swithching calibers or had one go more then 20-30 yards for that matter.

[ny hunter]

Lost one this year,Got an arrow in him.Never found the arrow and lost blood and tracks .I really felt like sh t.

[RifleSharpShot]

Who looses more deer bow or gun hunters..I'd have to say hands down bow hunter loose more!

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Who looses more deer bow or gun hunters..I'd have to say hands down bow hunter loose more!

I don't think you could be more wrong. Just by the shear number of gun hunters the odds are that gun hunters wound more. If you want to talk about percentage of deer wounded to hunter numbers I woulnd't know but by just numbers of wounded deer...gotta be gun hunters

[phade]

One with MZ...shot low and back and tracked her for two miles in snow. Eventually ended up meeting land we couldn't hunt and couldn't locate the owner to ask for retrieve permission. I think she survived based on the sign and what I saw of the hit.

Lost four with the bow...most of them during the early years of my bowhunting career. Two were low shots that I later sighted during the same season. The other was a disaster and a very rookie mistake at the time.

Lost a nice buck two seasons ago after making a good shot that stopped the arrow in the offside shoulder. Gave it time and lost the blood after a good track. Found the arrow and I think the shot was more angled than I originally believed and I probably single lunged it. I wasn't happy about that - I never saw that buck again, which frustrates me to this day.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I don't think you could be more wrong. Just by the shear number of gun hunters the odds are that gun hunters wound more. If you want to talk about percentage of deer wounded to hunter numbers I woulnd't know but by just numbers of wounded deer...gotta be gun hunters

Agree 100%

[RifleSharpShot]

I don't think you could be more wrong. Just by the shear number of gun hunters the odds are that gun hunters wound more. If you want to talk about percentage of deer wounded to hunter numbers I woulnd't know but by just numbers of wounded deer...gotta be gun hunters

Im going to see if there are any facts on this topic because its all opinion based right now!!

[RifleSharpShot]

Agree 100%

U gotta be a bow hunter lol!!

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I actually hunt both and really consider myself a hunter...lol.

I want to wish you luck on finding facts on this. We can't get NY hunters to report their kills there is no way anyone has any consrete data on wounding deer in NY

[steve863]

I am a sorry excuse for a bowhunter, definitely prefer a gun, but Culver is absolutely right. Chances of having one get away wounded are higher with a bow, but there is no doubt that more end up wounded during gun season just because there are way more gun hunters hunting.

[WNYBuckHunter]

U gotta be a bow hunter lol!!

I consider myself just a hunter, but yes I hunt with a bow, as well as a handgun, shotgun, rifle, muzzleloader and when I get a good deal on a crossbow, Ill hunt with that too.