Did I do the right thing?

[brassman]

I was sitting in my treestand when I saw this huge body through the brush about 120 yards away and all I saw was antlers. he was huge. I didn't want to risk a shot and gut shoot him or hit him in the rearend. I had the scope on him but he was standing with his head down pretty much pointed right at me, standing in some taller grass, about as high as mid thigh. he walked towards the swamp and I threw every call I had at him and he never showed again. Do you think I did the right thing by passing on a mediocre shot?

[Steve Foss]

Passing on a mediocre shot is always a good thing to do. Congrats on that.

The rub is in deciding what is mediocre. If you were in a stand with solid rest and a nicely sighted in scoped high-power rifle, and the buck was facing you with its head down, a shot into the spine between the shoulders or a bit front of that would not have been too hard.

That last is Monday morning quarterbacking, of course, so take it for what it's worth — not much.

In the end, YOU decide which shots are mediocre and which are high percentage. Since it's you who has to live with your own conscience, I think you did the right thing.

[brassman]

I forgot to mention that there were some pine boughs somewhat in the way. He was there and then gone fast so I really didn't want to rush the shot and I know my scope is not spot on, it hits high and to the right, at 50 yards it is one inch high and one inch right. I think I'll take it out tomorrow and see what I can do to put it on so its a little high at 100. man this sucks, I hope hes there tomorrow. I feel better not shooting at all than shooting and letting the wolves have a free lunch. (they came through about a week ago)

[Steve Foss]

See? You made the right decision.

Where are you hunting? Generally.

[Scott K]

It sounds like you know the limitations of your gun, and you didnt want to push that. Only you know if it was the right thing to do, and it sounds like you are happy with the decision. I would have had a hard time passing up that shot, but I know mine is accurate at that range.

[fishermn]

Absolutely the right thing to do, both as a sportsman and just from a safety perspective. If you cannot clearly see your target you are taking a poor and unsafe shot in my opinion.

Besides that, this way you might just get an opportunity on him in the future when you have a good clean shot...

[brassman]

Quote:

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Where are you hunting? Generally.

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You want the exact coordinates?

[USPENAMC]

good for you sir.

today i had to pass on a doe with my bow at 10 yards nothing between us the only thing was that it was a looking at me shot so i didnt take it.

[lawdog]

No question you did the right thing. Absolutely 100% sure of this answer. Good job sir!

[livintofish]

Always a hard call to make, but you made the right one if you had any question of the shot. Sounds kind of like my buddy opening morning he heard a lot of commotion and saw a buck with a huge rack in the distance. He put the scope on it and could see it but not very well, even though it was legal shooting time. He sat there for a minute and decided not to take the shot, because he could not clearly see his target and where he was shooting. Were pretty sure another guy in our party got this buck later that morning, as we don't see too many big ones. Hopefully he will be back and present a clean shot, I commend you for doing the tough, but right thing... We as sportsman have to be contiencious of our actions, so wildlife doesn't suffer or go to waste.

[gurkster]

Good call - you made the right choice.

[jigguy1]

Agree, it was a good call.

[PerchJerker]

If you're not sure of the shot, for sure don't take it.

If you think it's a mediocre shot, it's up to you if you want to take it or not. Personally I don't think it's very ethical to take mediocre shots if you think there's a chance you'll wound and lose the animal.

I say good job for showing restraint and passing on a shot you didn't feel comfortable with.

[96trigger]

You did two things right.

#1, you didn't take a marginal shot, you new your limitations and didn't push them, Congrats.

#2, you didn't spook the buck, there is much better chance that you will get another shot at him, I'd stick tight to the that stand, maybe throw in some blind calling. He didn't go too far and is still in the area.

[snapcrackpop]

So maybe now it's time to put out a buck decoy and rattle like a mad man!

[Grant Pearson]

you absolutely did the right thing. Just think of how you'd feel if you had made a shot, wounded him, and he got away? You'd feel worse than you do now.

[96trigger]

I would not be afraid to call aggressively. I would raise heck with the rattles and calls for 5 min, then wait a half hour. Although, I have been hearing through the grape vine that the doe bleat has been working down hear lately, so maybe drop the rattle, put out a decoy doe, and bleat. Tough call.

[Steve Foss]

Doe bleat's been working great up here, too.

[Hammer Handle]

Many times I have passed a "fair" shot and got a great shot at the same deer.

A few times, you get no shot.

That is the name of the game. You made the right call!!

If you would have missed or wounded him and watched his run away...you would be thinking to yourself "Did I make the right choice?" The answer would then be "No".

[brassman]

Once he was out of sight in the thick stuff I used the can about 2 times then I grunted/buck growled at him then went into a brief rattle session but he never showed up again. Sat there tonight and nothing not even a doe showed, I'll be out there tomorrow night as well. lots of does on the road though, they are on the move too bad there was little snow away from the lake!

[Grant Pearson]

Quote:

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Many times I have passed a "fair" shot and got a great shot at the same deer.

A few times, you get no shot.

That is the name of the game. You made the right call!!

If you would have missed or wounded him and watched his run away...you would be thinking to yourself "Did I make the right choice?" The answer would then be "No".

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There's a reason why we're out "deer hunting" instead of "deer shooting." This is one of the reasons.

[brassman]

ok sorry for the picture quality but here is a picture of where he came out. This is through my scope all the way up to nine and through my phone so not so great picture.

if you look above the fallen tree thats not all the way down to the ground and through the biggest gap between the trees (just to the left of the scope vertical crosshair.) is where I had the best shot at him, and again his back was almost to the top of the pine boughs hanging down. It was about quarter to five when I did see him so the light was fading fast. tomorrow night I'll bring my good camera out and get a better picture.

[Grant Pearson]

From what I can see, wise choice on passing.

[Nate McVey]

Agreed with everyone here, I think you did the right thing and hopefully you get a shot at him again.

[hanson]

I read your first post and didn't feel that I needed to read through the next 3 pages of posts.

To sum it up... you made the right decision!!

I have made the wrong decision a couple times in my past. You would think a guy would learn after one, right? Wrong! Most marginal shots end up with a blood trail that you can't follow, an injured deer that does not leave a blood trail, or a deer that bleeds internally that you will never find.

There is nothing that makes me more sick than losing a deer. Because ultimately, I know it was my fault. Its a horrible fealing.

[Steve Foss]

Yikes! That would have been a risky rifle shot to take indeed upon looking at the image. Not one I would have pulled the trigger on.

[GoggleEye]

You definitely made the right decision. Two things could have happened here. 1. You may have wounded him and not found him 2. You can not see what is in the background of your shot....you may have hit someone or something in the background if you missed cleanly. Nice job on passing up that one.

[brassman]

Ok so heres the deal. The first picture is what it looks like from the stand and yes it looks reslly far but the camera distorts the real distance. the arrow is where he came out ( not really out but where I saw him through the trees.)

So up close the one tree with the arrow says 98 yards with my range finder and he was a good 20 yards passed that point. the blue circle was about where he was through the trees. And remember it was about 4:40-4:50 when I saw him. He was pretty much pointed my way through the gap like he was going to walk there but turned the left at the last moment. I walked down to that point and I am glad I didn't take the shot because there was a bunch of branches that I didn't see and I have personally seen blades of grass deflect shots.

On a better subject. My father came home from work from a mandatory training with some new software and so we got out on the road by around noon. We get to the spot and park off the road and as I'm getting my gear and clothes on my dad walks out to the road and sees a deer walk into the swamp on our property. I asked if I should walk down the road to see if I can see it in the swamp. my father says no we should get to our stands so we walk down the trail a little ways and theres a small field where overgrown christmas trees and the swamp all converge. So I said I'm going to walk along the swamp and see if I can spot the deer but right as I get to the swamp I heard a crash about 20-30 yards ahead of me. I'm still within sight of my dad and motion for him to go down the trail because eventually my path would cross his. He hurries through the pines while I walk along the swamp and cut the tracks of the deer. As I'm walking and it had only been about 45 seconds from the time I went into the swamp Iheard my father shoot and I book it towards the trail and hear him hooting, well I walk up and he shot a fat 5 point, clipped the bottom of the heart. It was the one that had crossed the road. the picture doesn't show how dark his body actually is. His legs were soaking wet all the way up to his chest and that was wet too. Five minute into getting there and a deer down! not bad.

heres the venison donor!

so we get his buck gutted and leave him there because I still wanted to hunt. We walk down to our stands which are about 150 yards apart. 20 minutes into sitting I hear BOOOOM! I'm like man he just filled my buck tag too! He ended up shooting a nice yearling doe. I was a nice day even though I didn't see anything. I know it looks like we are hunting in Saskatchewan. Sometimes it sure feels like we are.

[livintofish]

Brassman,

that is pretty thick, might think about expanding your shooting lanes a bit, thining some of the understory out. By the way where do you hunt roughly, looks like beautiful country.

[brassman]

north of Duluth a ways. I like it up there, you feel all to yourself.