Successful hunt/recovery?
General Topic
I have mixed feelings posting this, but this post is not as a condemnation of others but a thoughtful journey for myself and others.
If you shoot an animal with a bow, and do not recover the animal until "later" and you don't recover the meat in an edible condition, was it a successful hunt?
I hear people say: "I shot him right at dark and didn't see if it was a good hit" Personally I don't shoot unless there is enough light to see the hit and hopefully have enough time to take up the initial trail for clues as to the hit. I don't care what kind of light you have, it doesn't beat the sun.
I have a 20" 10 point whitetail that is one of my biggest ever, but the sawed off, unmounted antlers hang on my barn wall. I shot it too late and didn't recover it until the next day. Even if coyotes had not eaten it (which they had) the meat would have been inedible/spoiled. I consider that a failure on my part and can't bring myself to throw the antlers away, but at the same time can't put them in my living room.
I must admit that some who shoot a great animal, but only recover the animals, then post it on a website with the attitude, "by the way, I didn't recover the animal until it was too late, but look at the great antlers" just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. And I think we need to be setting an example for the youngsters coming up in bowhunting. Are we really just out to get some great antlers for the wall or is there more to it than that? I was brought up that there is much more to it than that.
So, to each his own, but if I fail to recover the animal in a timely fashion, and the meat goes to waste, I have failed. Not casting stones, as I have indeed failed a couple of times in my life, but I don't relish the memory and I don't tell the story around the campfire.
Too many variables in bowhunting for a "one size fits all" response here.
Deer meat shouldn't spoil over night. You might not want to keep the tenderloins but the hind quarters and back straps should still be okay. In ANY case I would never be down on myself for backing out on a trail job and waiting till morning if theres good reason to do so. That's just good bowhunting senses. Sometimes deer don't die right away and pushing them around in the dark will only make your chances of finding it worse.
Now when you've searched for days and can't find it, then yes that is not a successful hunt. Even if you find it three weeks later its still not quite a successful hunt. But leaving one over night and finding it the next morning is certainly not what I would consider unsuccessful.
Now if for some reason you didn't put your tag on it because say the coyotes got to it, then yes I would definitely call that unsuccessful. In that case you better not even cut off the antlers!
Yeah, Stuff happens on even the best shot opportunities.
Its the marginal ones that you look back on and realize it would have been best not to have taken them.
I don't care for decisions to loose the meat just to have better odds at antler recovery. I just made a terrable shot on a doe yesterday and recovered her in 3 hours with the assistance of a dig. Could have recovered her sooner. All the meat was good in spite if the fact she ran right towards a pack of coyote that howled earlier.
"Deer meat shouldn't spoil over night."
When you live in Texas that is not the case. Bowhunting season in Texas is the entire month of October. I killed my buck in 85 degree weather, and I promise you, you would not have eaten any of the meat. It would make no difference to me if I recovered it the next day or the next month, if the meat was bad. And yes, I did tag the buck.
And yes, all of us will fall short, but back to my main reason for writing this. Is that still a successful hunt?
By some of the posts I see, SOME believe that it is as long as they have some impressive antlers to hang on the wall. Not for me.
I guess the main thing I would like to convey is for people to at least put that into the mix when they pull back their bow. Can I make a clean shot and have a reasonable amount of time for a looksee? Not "Wow, look at those antlers, I am going to get them at any cost"
If you don't consider a hunt successful when the meat is no good, and you know the meat is going to be bad if you find it, and you aren't in it for the antlers, why even go look for it?
I'm with Pav. Too many possible outcomes. To me, any time the animal is recovered in a timely fashion it's successful, but there are certainly different levels of success depending on the situation. Nothing is better than a perfect shot resulting in a quick death and recovery and perfect meat, and nothing is worse than a fatal hit and an unrecovered animal. Everything else falls somewhere on the scale between those two extremes.
Sounds like a condemnation of the many caused by the actions of a few. Not sure that was your intention, but it's how it comes across to me. Unfortunately, stuff sometimes happens, and most certainly isn't something to be celebrated.
If I have fun hunting then it was a sucessful hunt. If I shot an animal that was edible (not Brown Bear, etc.)and I didn't recover the meat it would be disappointing. Mike
Leaving one overnight in Georgia, typically means meat spoilage. I don't think that finding one the next morning and losing meat to spoilage or coyotes makes it an unsuccessful hunt, but I do not advocate waiting until the next morning as the standard. How about only taking those high percentage shots as the standard. Too many times I have heard people say, "that was the only shot he gave me, so I had to try..." How about not taking the shot and know that that animal is still around and healthy. I do understand that things go wrong. I have messed up shots more than once, but I have also learned that we as hunters can make choices(to shoot or not to shoot, to be proficient with our archery gear or not, etc...) that can drastically reduce the chances of a bad hit. Just a little bit of a rant.
"Unfortunately, stuff sometimes happens, and most certainly isn't something to be celebrated. "
Well said Wyoming, exactly what I am trying to get across.
And I changed my previous post to SOME from "many" after reading your post to be more accurate
I feel the same tx. If I don't recover while meat is still edible, I feel I failed in someway. Could never have a daily reminder of it on the wall.
tx, you say you wont shoot unless you can see where your arrow hits. you must not shoot much. I can't hardley ever see where my arrow hits for shure.aftre the shot I get down and inspect my arrow,look to see what type blood is on the ground, far as spoliage goes a gut shot needs to be at least 12 hours. am I successful if the meat is spolied ? not really. Forrest
Friend I was hunting with three weeks ago gut shot a buck at 3 pm. We got a bead on direction that evening then trailed him the next morning jumped him at 10:30 am, left him until 3 pm and he shot him a second time at 5 pm which was 26 hours later! A great recovery yet we could have lost him to. I'm with Pav! Every deer recovery is special so do your best then move on. Nothing goes to waste in the outdoors!
I think what tx85 meant was a reasonable expectation of seeing where his arrow hit. What I do, ( I don't try to preach to others ), is get out of the stand as soon as I can no longer expect to see my arrow in flight. This also avoids spooking any nearby deer ( mostly/sometimes ) as I leave. If that means I won't shoot a deer, so be it. It also means I won't wound a deer and feed the yotes. All in all, I'm good with that. To answer the question however, tx85, I'm with you all the way.
"tx, you say you wont shoot unless you can see where your arrow hits. you must not shoot much"
No, I think I said that some people say it was too dark to see where they hit. You can't always see where you hit even at noon, because things happen so fast and the animal usually moves. However, you for sure won't know if it is too dark to see and you are then left with trying to figure things out in the dark.
Again, the people who say there are so many variables are right, but what I am saying is respect the animal before the shot so you can respect the mount on the wall later.
And I enjoy big set of antlers on the wall as much as anyone. Here is a picture of the one I will be telling my grandkids about as long as they will listen. How I backpacked in and carried his meat, cape and antlers out 5 miles on my back. If they hear about the big whitetail, it will be related as a failure on my part.
Here is another way to ask the question:
What percentage of a "successful hunt" is edible meat recovery?"
My answer: 50%
"By some of the posts I see, SOME believe that it is as long as they have some impressive antlers to hang on the wall. Not for me"
Gosh I sure hope I wasn't the "SOME" your referring to. I never said anything about antler size even entering into the equation. I simply said you shouldn't take the antlers if your not going to tag it.
I do know a little bit about tracking deer. And sometimes, antlers or not, its better to let a deer lay down and die than to push it and never find it at all. If its so hot you can't risk leaving a deer for 12 hours (something that has never happened to me) then perhaps you shouldn't be using a bow to hunt for them.
tx,
If I were to assign recovery a percentage, I think it would also be at about 50% for me to, with the other 50% being that I am having fun and getting to enjoy some time chasing animals.
Success to me isn't killing, but if I do kill I fully expect to recover in a timely manner. Not doing so is a failure on my part.
To each their own.
What # of success would the hunt be if it was a doe and you lost the meat?
Had similar situation in2013. Found the buck a week later. The antlers hang on the wall next to all the others not because he was a monster he wasn't, was a spot and stalk hunt with a good stalk to 25 yds. Was a steep downhill shot and my arrow hit where I aimed. Unfortunately it was to high. That set of antler reminds me everyday when I see them to take another second to be sure of my shot placement, form and in short control all the factors I can. Notched my tag the day of the shot.
No Waterloo, wasn't implying you at all. I simply changed the word "many" to some after reading some responses and realized that there are only a few that seem to fit what I am talking about.
+1 TBM That is it in a nutshell
Silver: I like your style too!
JLS: You bring up another good point. I have been on many successful hunts where I never took a shot.
In 2009 I shot a springbok that I watched a while before I shot. I saw my shot and I was a little further back that it should have been. A good NA shot on African game equates to a gut shot. I watched the buck bed on 2 separate occasions. He eventually wondered off and we never recovered him.
The PH & trackers told me that the "crows" aka buzzards would lead them to the carcass in a couple of days. They found the skeleton of the animal after I left Africa. When I shot him I knew he was a top quality animal. After I received my taxi work and had him measured for SCI, he scored Silver Medal and was just shy of Gold.
Something about not recovering that animal and the meat just sort of put a stigma on that animal for me. I hated that it happened, but if you hunt long enough you will miss some, lose some and fail to recover some. It is just part of bowhunting. If you made you best effort to recover an animal -that is all you can do. You have to come to terms with reality of the results and consequences of lack of recovery.
Gut shots are a part of bowhunting. If I'm certain of a gut shot, I wait 8 hours before looking. If I recover the deer and the meat is good, it is a success. I don't feel as good as a cleaner kill, but meat is my main objective. If the meat is bad, not a successful kill to me. What's worse to me is when hunters wait to look for one just because they're not sure of the hit. Unless the shot was at an extreme angle, a gut hit is almost always going to be a clean pass through. At least follow the trail 40-50 yards and try to find the arrow. When someone hits one, isn't sure of the hit and sneaks out, then comes back 12 hours later and finds the deer 100 yards away double lunged and spoiled, thats an unsuccessful hunt.
