#2005416 - 07/24/10 06:51 AM
To wait or not to wait........
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15494
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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How many here have waited too long for a "better" shot and never got it? How many here took a shot and wish they had waited on a "better" shot..?
Some times we only get one opportunity and if we wait too long, then we never get that shot. However, some times if we take a questionable shot and miss or wound the animal, then we never know if it would have presented a better shot.
I know that I have experienced both sides here. Once, I watched a buck for quite some time at about 150 yards feeding along. He was always quartering toward me or facing me. I decided to wait . He eventually fed to me and I got a 50 yard broadside shot.
That same seaon, another buck was standing still, facing me at about 75 yards in the woods . I looked through the scope and put the crosshairs on the white throat patch. I never took that shot and he soon spooked (not sure why) and I never saw him again.
I'm sure that there are lots of stories out there, so let's hear them....
Your opinions on the ethics side of this are welcome as well, but I'd be more interested in the stories...lol.
thanks
_________________________
There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict.
Walk away; the battle they are fighting is not with you, but with themselves.
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#2005435 - 07/24/10 07:23 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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I have,..thats the reason I always take the first chance for a kill shot that I get (gun)...it may not always be the most picture perfect ideal shot but it is the one I am taking....
but with a bow Its a differant deal for me...
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#2005453 - 07/24/10 08:07 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: tndrbstr]
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BlackBelt
10 Point
Registered: 08/09/08
Posts: 2617
Loc: SouthWest TN
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I was sitting in a tree in a small valley in Hardeman county about 10am on a warm mid-October morning 2 years ago when a group of does came walking by, a bit more in a hurry than normal.
This wasn't the greatest hunting site, but it was beautiful in the early fall and I ocassionally shoot a nice deer there. Not really enough for the amount of time I spend there, but every once in awhile I get a nice deer. (It's one of those places that I go to relax when I'm not serious about deer hunting, but just want to be in the woods).
Anyway, I see a nice 8 point coming up behind the group, and I drew my bow and held. But he kept nervously looking behind him as he walked. I was thinking, "Oh man, he's got an even bigger boy dogging him about those does!"
So I let him pass.
Then, once he was out of range (55 yds), I see the deer that was giving the 8 pt grief coming through the woods.
Yep, you guessed it...it was a spike.
Hey...it happens...
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#2005463 - 07/24/10 08:48 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: BlackBelt]
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encore06
14 Point
Registered: 12/08/06
Posts: 9365
Loc: Harrogate, TN
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I try to take the first "good" shot. May not be perfect, but it is good. I never shoot at a moving deer, my personal limitation. It has cost me, but that's the way it is.
_________________________
God Bless, Carl
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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#2005478 - 07/24/10 09:20 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: BlackBelt]
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Wes Parrish
16 Point
Registered: 06/12/02
Posts: 16993
Loc: Knoxville-Dover-Union City, TN
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I'll not hesitate to take the first HIGH PROBABILITY shot once I've decided that particular deer is one I want. My idea of a high-probability shot has caused me to pass on many shots that many others would have taken, and often still not gotten that deer.
I have seen many hunters take low-probability shots, only to shrug it off as a "musta missed", then not spend the necessary hours to rule out a hit. Often, they have not missed, as their deer is a few days later recovered by coyotes and buzzards.
Do understand the thought processes, i.e. if I don't take THIS shot RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT, I may never see this deer again. On the other hand, I've been known to pass on a borderline shot, only to have a different deer (sometimes an older & larger buck) come along a few minutes later, giving me a perfect shot.
Don't overlook the fact there are often other deer in the woods besides the one you're indecisive about shooting at any given moment. And often, the older deer present last, and only after some other deer have proven the route safe.
Can't tell you how many times I've seen a doe come by with a "nice" 2 1/2-yr-old buck on her trail, only to be followed shortly by a 3 1/2-yr-old buck.
But if you shot or shot at either, you would never see that 4 1/2 that was trailing along a considerable distance behind the others. My point is that sometimes by being too eager to take a particular shot, you unknowingly knock yourself out of a better opportunity at a better deer than the one you were so eager to take a shot.
I've also watched bucks chase a hot doe, and wanted to take a particular buck, just never could get a good shot, but remained on my stand for hours past the last sightings, maybe having had them run buy me multiple times. Then low & behold, late morning or around mid-day, out trots this hot doe again, but what's walking (not chasing or running) behind her is this mature buck, much larger antlered than what had been chasing that doe earlier in the morning.
Should add that older bucks also have a habit of flat out running from Point A to Point B, but they also have a habit of stopping and standing. If you're patient, you can often get a good standing shot, sometimes not at that particular buck, sometimes not today, sometimes next year at the buck you couldn't get a good shot at last year.
If you're too eager to take a shot, there as so many ways you'll never know what might have been. I long ago stopped regretting taking any shot I didn't think I should take at the moment, and have many times been later rewarded. Have even had a particular buck that I ALMOST shot AT, show up the next year with larger antlers, and give me an easy shot.
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#2005481 - 07/24/10 09:27 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: encore06]
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Mike Belt
TnDeer Old Timer
16 Point
Registered: 03/26/99
Posts: 16933
Loc: Lakeland, Tn.
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Three times I can remember having good bucks (1 of those a Booner) within 20 yards of me during rifle season. Each of those times I had the crosshairs on them for a killing shot but waited on a couple more steps for the typical heart/lung shot. In each instance the deer for whatever reason backstepped and retreated the same way he had entered without me ever getting the shot I wanted or taking the shot I had before they moved. Now I'll take the killing shot (usually head but most often spine). I study the deer's anatomy and there's more than 1 place to aim and kill a deer.
_________________________
BONE HEAD HUNTER
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#2005497 - 07/24/10 09:49 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: Wes Parrish]
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redcorn
4 Point
Registered: 09/07/06
Posts: 252
Loc: Chattanooga, TN.
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I have to follow an 8 point or better and preferably 3.5 yrs. plus rule on the property I hunt. I only see one or two of those a season, and that's if I hunt hard. I almost never see a mature buck who's not on the move. Of the four bucks I've shot, two of them were running after does, one was trotting quickly toward a thicket, and the only one I shot with a bow was just walking very slowly.
I have been burned once or twice waiting for a better shot or hoping for future opportunity. So far, I have never gotten a second chance at a shooter buck. Maybe that's because i'm not that good, or because the property I hunt is small, but either way I know that my first chance is probably my last.
As soon as I recognize a buck as a shooter, I am taking the first shot with which I am reasonably confident-- that means if I see crosshairs on his shoulder I am shooting.
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#2005500 - 07/24/10 09:50 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: tndrbstr]
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Wes Parrish
16 Point
Registered: 06/12/02
Posts: 16993
Loc: Knoxville-Dover-Union City, TN
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I reckon sometimes in life we just have to make a decicion on which fork in the road to travel and learn to live with it... 
Very true.
And when we make a decision that wasn't the best,
that is often how we learn best, perhaps preventing a much worse decision in the future, by nothing more than having made a certain decision in the past.
. . . . . had the crosshairs on them for a killing shot but waited on a couple more steps for the typical heart/lung shot. In each instance the deer for whatever reason backstepped and retreated the same way he had entered without me ever getting the shot I wanted . . . . . Now I'll take the killing shot (usually head but most often spine). I study the deer's anatomy and there's more than 1 place to aim and kill a deer.
Like with Mike's experiences, he LEARNED there is more than one way to skin a cat.
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#2005516 - 07/24/10 10:37 AM
Re: To wait or not to wait........
[Re: Wes Parrish]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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Three times I can remember having good bucks (1 of those a Booner) within 20 yards of me during rifle season. Each of those times I had the crosshairs on them for a killing shot but waited on a couple more steps for the typical heart/lung shot. In each instance the deer for whatever reason backstepped and retreated the same way he had entered without me ever getting the shot I wanted or taking the shot I had before they moved. Now I'll take the killing shot (usually head but most often spine). I study the deer's anatomy and there's more than 1 place to aim and kill a deer.
I have,..thats the reason I always take the first chance for a kill shot that I get (gun)...it may not always be the most picture perfect ideal shot but it is the one I am taking....
but with a bow Its a differant deal for me...
thats a good point mike...when I answered the first time my mind was on a couple very large racks that I let get away because I DIDN'T take the first avialable shot offered to me...In fact I never got to shoot at all because the ideal shot never did present itself....
In fact my answer might very well be either way depending on the individual deer and my hunting mind set at the time...I usually only shoot does anyway. which means I can almost be assured of having ample opportuinitys to put meat in my freezer over the course of the season..If I am hunting strickly for meat I will try and not take a chance on ruining any meat at all just to kill a deer. In that case I will wait for the best angle etc (I don't eat the ribs,heart or lungs) if the opportunity is lost than thats just the way it goes. I will wait on the next one....
but If I am hunting a particular buck, which I often do, or one comes in unexpected that I do decide to kill,...then things change...but there are still some shots that I will attempt ONLY on a stationary deer...
but thats just me and I can live with it, I'll let everybody else make thier own decisions....
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