Do Overs

[cnelk]

We all have had the thought if we should, if we could, to do something over if given the chance.

The topic of shooting an elk in the head with archery gear

I did it.
I did not have to mention it here. But I did
Should I have not mentioned it?

Would I shoot another elk like that?
Probably not

Swede didnt have to mention that he 'spined' an elk with archery gear
Should he have not mentioned it?

Im sure there lots of topics that 'shouldnt' be mentioned, but if they werent, how would a discussion take place?

There are a few things in life I would do over, and there are things I wouldnt.

Thats why the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield

[mtnmutt]

This is why I LOVE this forum. People willing to share the good, the bad and the ugly without fear of flaming wars.

The perfect world does not exist. Might as well post all your real world experiences so all of us may learn from them.

Thanks for sharing.

[buglmin]

Spining an animal is usually the result of the animal dropping to react to the noise of the shot or from sudden movement close by. Its the first instictive movement for an animal.
But to share the good with the bad? To talk of wounding nand loosing animals on a public forum? Sorry, but to talk of wounding game is something that should be kept to yourself.
Years ago, after recovering a lil six pount bull, we found 5" of a XX78 Superslam shaft along the left side of the bulls nose, with a Phantom broadhead buried two inches inside the bull, under the left eye...a very poor choice of shot placement. Yes, the bull recovered, but the bull could of been blinded, or died a slow death from infection. Why would such a shot of been taken?
Yessir, agreed that the shot shouldnt of been taken, and then openly mentioned. To me, it sounded like a brag, with the topic of the thread that you started. Am I bashing you? No sir, just upset that the statement was made and the way it came off, like a brag. Now, to some guys reading that thread, it shot became a shot that was a vital shot, and one that should be taken every time the situation arises. Is that shot something you would encourage your kids to take?
Go over to Bowsite and post this topic, and see what the reaction over there would be.

[Swede]

Who is the better hunter/sportsman? 1. The guy that can hit a ping pong ball 20 out of 20 times at 20 yards and sent a broad head into the brain of a bull at 15 yards dropping him on the spot. or 2. the guy who cannot hit the broad side of a bull at 30 yards, but thinks he can because he has hit his target a few times with the field points he got with his new bow and arrow set. Who do you think is going to bring home a cooler full of meat this September?

[>>>---WW---->]

Brad: We always called it (Open Mouth-Insert Foot) !! I've been guilty of it more times than I care to remember myself. LOL!

[Huntography]

No one is perfect. I always look at the next day as DAY 1. That means you can start fresh and work on being better or nicer at something or to someone.

I already know what I'll be working on tomorrow to better myself. Life is just full of experiences that we can either learn from, cherish or just neglect to appreciate. I try not to beat myself up about anything, hunting wise of just plain ol' life. Just have to learn from everything.

DAY 1 starts again, tomorrow for me.

Have a great DAY 1 everyone!

Rudy

[easeup]

This is why I LOVE this forum. People willing to share the good, the bad and the ugly without fear of flaming wars.

The perfect world does not exist. Might as well post all your real world experiences so all of us may learn from them.

Thanks for sharing.

2x!

[Buglemaster]

My life has been full of "do overs" & I'm just pretty shure I'm not the only one.What is important is what we learn from the mistakes we made & how or what we do to correct them. I really like that phrase "day 1 starts today".I'm off to a great start....shoulda stayed in bed....

[Trophyhill]

Brad: We always called it (Open Mouth-Insert Foot) !! I've been guilty of it more times than I care to remember myself. LOL!

I've probably got ya beat in that dept

[quarbles]

i really like the touchy threads that get some people wound up. i think things like frontal shots are good to debate. every time such debates come around, more people are 'reporting their findings' and it helps expand awareness. they help sculpt a new view on what is doable, which in turn helps individuals practice to develop confidence on what they can determine as a very functional shot in 'the moment'. it makes flight path more of a 3 dimentional perspective as opposed to a 2 dimentional 'shoot the crease'.
"Im sure there lots of topics that 'shouldnt' be mentioned, but if they werent, how would a discussion take place?"
exactly! and then how could we grow or evolve? i myself have never been happy with complacency, and want to gather as much knowledge as i can, both good and bad.....

[JohnFitzgerald]

IMHO, yes, absolutely mention touchy subjects like that. It's how we all learn. You posted it and many disagreed with your choice. You took a right cross on the chin over it but you never went down!

I've heard countly hunters talk about taking head shots. Maybe, just maybe, there's one or two hunters that changed their thinking after reading that thread and decided not to try a head shot.

Nobody should question your skills as a hunter and now nobody should question your skills as a teacher.

Just my 2-cents!

[Vanish]

I have no idea why discussing the wounding of an animal would be taboo, as was said above. It happens, and if it has never happened to you, consider yourself lucky. It is a terrible position to be in, often causing months of anguish to the hunter, not just the hunted. Sharing often helps us get through difficult times.

I'd type more but I'm on my iPhone. Don't know how people do it!

[Swede]

IMHO, yes, absolutely mention touchy subjects like that. It's how we all learn. You posted it and many disagreed with your choice. You took a right cross on the chin over it but you never went down!

I've heard countly hunters talk about taking head shots. Maybe, just maybe, there's one or two hunters that changed their thinking after reading that thread and decided not to try a head shot.

Nobody should questioned your skills as a hunter and now nobody should question your skills as a teacher.

Just my 2-cents!

I agree with John here. I also do not question your ethics or concern for the animals you hunt. I am not going to question the shot you described taking, even though others might have to pass on it. Like other old hunters here, I have learned what shots I can make with minimum risk of wounding, and when to let an elk walk away. That education has not always been easy, but like most of you, I know my ethics, and respect for the animals I hunt.

[Lefty]

I would rather learn from others mistakes than mine. Without someone detail I maybe wouldnt have even thought a certian situation through

[welka]

I am going to answer what I thought the title was referencing. My "Do Over" would be to not ever again try to run from wolves. We had many successful years of hunting (20+) in northern Wisconsin until the wolves wiped out all the deer. We went from 10-12 deer every year to hairless in a period of 4 years. I tried to run away and purchased land 2 hours away in hope of seeing deer again. No sign nor talk of wolves in the area when I purchased the land. Put food plots in and while food plots are deer magnets, that also equals wolf magnets.

I will never try to out run their radius again in the future and my "do over" is to deal with them in any means possible!

[Da White Shoe]

I didn't mind the topic... just the manner in which I thought it was being discussed.
I think that having that kind of discussion can be very helpful, but unfortunately, it came off as pretty casual.
Kind of sounded like... there really is no bad angle for a bowshot and
anyone that would pass on a quartering-to shot doesn't know their elk anatomy.

I know now that it was not intended that way, but at the time, it kind of stunned me.
So, I apologize if I came off too ridged in my opinion.
While it's true that veteran bowhunters have acquired much of their knowledge through their personal experiences,
some of that knowledge also comes from what others have written or passed down.
It was the new bowhunters I was thinking about.

Most of the old timers among us have probably experienced what happens when "desperation to succeed" meets "inexperience."

[lang]

My best one was a few years ago when I had a moose tag. I had left a camera on an elk wallow into late October I decided I better retrieve it or it would have to wait till spring. My elk tag had a week long rifle season for guys that had a bow tag. So after two weeks of rifle season being open for rifle hunters and because I had to work till 7 am and tons of other rigs were on the hill already (and not being much of a road hunter obviously) I was more going in the woods than hunting. I had a rifle and bullets, but not very easy to get. You guessed it first a cow came around the corner, then another and another...by this time I'm scrambling cause I know whats coming, and there he is! A 330-340 heavy six point in the freakin road! This is an otc unit in Idaho and about as good a bull as this unit puts out. By the time I finally got bullets in the gun and off the road all I had in the scope where the tops of tines. I was in shock and sick at the same time.

[Indian Summer]

Yikes! If there's one thing I'm guilty of it's being too open and honest for my own good sometimes. So don't get me started! Too late I'm only human so there should be no regrets and there aren't. In general I'm an open book and will talk about anything to anybody. Try me!

I've hunted about 36 years and as much with a bow as a gun. All self taught too. During that time I've only wounded and didn't recover one animal... that was a bear last spring. Oh yeah... lost a turkey once too. It's a terrible feeling but I tried and did learn multiple lessons from it. If it's going to rain at night I won't shoot an animal with a bow with anything less than 1.5 hours of light left especially in thicker cover areas. The other time I lost all of the meat from my first bowkilled bull. Shot at last light in very warm weather... we had to back out and came back at the crack of dawn. The meat was fine when we quarted it but between there and the processor it bone soured. Devastated I learned tons of lesson then too. Time is critical with big animals.

Also, anymore I don't draw the bow under any conditions until I've used a rangefinder and lots of things are perfect too.

But common sense tells anyone including anti hunters that with hunters of all different skill levels and so many variables there will be mishaps. Same goes for driving automobiles right? To not discuss them prevents others from learning lessons from my mistakes instead of sarificing another life to learn them the hard way. I won't give that up because of a fear of leaving myself open to criticism or leaving an opening for antis to chip away at our hunting priveledges. It wouldn't be fair to us. We pass on the good but we need to pass on the bad and ugly too once in awhile.

The bottom line there is that if a non hunter or anti hunter wants to use my lessons to badmouth one of the most ethical activities humans participate in I'll be glad to remind them that hunters are well known to be the biggest and most successful conservationists on the planet. If they want to continue the discussion I could just as easily give them examples of how they destroy this planet every day. And by the way... they don't always kill cows & hogs on the first try at slaughter houses either. Never thought about that huh?

I could also mention that the more people like them I meet the more I like my dog & the smarter she looks. My 2.5 cents.

[lang]

Indian Summer heres a perfect example of why these posts work. I have lost a once in a lifetime tag trophy moose due to rain. I'm not as open as indian Summer, but for the sake of sharing what I learned I can do this (even though my chest tightens still several years later just thinking of it). We didn't think it would be a big deal to retreave it in the morning the shot looked perfect right in the crease, half way up. It was right at dark and it was dumping rain. Despite bringing back five guys and spending the day, no moose, no tracks, nothing. I was sick and didn't sleep for months after. My family and friends were eady to disown me because of my attitude. During that time I found blue star. It's used by law enforcement to investigate crime scenes. It makes blood glow in the dark. I tried it as soon as I got it on a back pack that had packed an elk six months earlier and had been rinsed thouroughly right after packing. Lit right up! I'm not one for many gadgets, but this stuff is great. I had sworn off hunting in the rain (even though it was one of my favorite times to be out). Now with blue star I'm more confident in the rain than on a blue bird day. The rain disperses the hemoglobin and makes the trail wider. Blue won't make up for a bad shot, but I've seen it produce a trail we could find otherwise. I have no doubt it would have at the very least given me a direction to follow on my moose, and likely provided a way to recover it