That feeling of dread…

[gixer1]

I am a firm believe that if you shoot enough deer, you will have bad days and incidents….yesterday evening was one such evening!

Stalked in to a plantation and sat in a highseat for the evening, cover is high and had a doe walk out 35 yards away, she was happy enough but picked up on something and gave us the “long stare” which lasted about 20 mins of me whispering to my son “don’t move”….waiting for a bark that never happened, luckily she moved on slowly but never let out a bark….we sat on and as light was just beginning to fade I decided to walk out and see if there was anything in the areas as we walked out, we stalked out and on the edge of a grass field a buck was stood, got the rifle on the sticks, 140 yards so nothing that should have been too bad…BANG, shot sounded good, buck ran about 50 yards towards the middle of the field and dropped….great, I say to my son we’ll give it ten mins….

Walk towards the buck and light is fading, I am looking through the thermal as I walk the 200 yards across the field.

As I get within 40 yards, using the thermal I see the buck move, I stopped, got on the sticks and tried to pick up the shape in the scope and the light has now faded significantly, I can’t get it…I switch back to the thermal and the buck has got up and is making its way across the field, it runs about 100 yards and collapses at the fence line, the other side of which is heavy gorse, bracken and cover….I walk in the direction and see the glow on the ground of the thermal….he’s just over a rise and I can just see his head, I make the decision to stay put as I can’t now see through the scope clearly enough to make him out and if I walk closer he might jump the fence.

I make the decision to call a friend that is nearby and ask him to pick up my thermal add on and meet me in the field, he’s 10 mins away which isn’t ideal but there aren’t a lot of options…

He arrives and comes across the field, I immediately put the thermal on the scope and can just see the head above the bump in the field about 50 yards away.

I put the crosshairs at the lower point of his head and fire……the buck clambers up and I can see heat trails from what looks like blood, he makes it through the wire and my heart sinks.

We walk down to the fence and cross it and 5 mins of searching and can’t see blood trails or the buck….then, between the three of us with thermals and torches, mate spots the buck about 25 yards away in a gap in the brush….I look through the thermal on the scope and unbelievably the bucks head is still up.

I line up centre mass and put another shot into the poor bloody thing…and it gets up and crashes into the bracken…

We search and this time there is blood on the small dyke it crossed..,we search again and I’m now saying for my friend to go back to mine to get the dog while I stay and search…..

Just as my friend tries to look for a gap in the bracken to head to the cars he stumbles upon the buck…..

Thank goodness! But nevertheless just a complete sh*t show of an incident of my own doing.

The initial shot had gone in at an ok place just in front of the diaphragm….but had exited back, and was hit shot.

The second head shot had grazed the edge of the head….and the final centre mass shot had gone in through the top of the back just infront of the saddle, and had exited front of chest….the carcass is a wrote off, total f*cking mess.

The rest of the evening is spent swearing and cursing at myself…and generally feeling lousy about it.

Not clever….not good, but an honest account that sometimes things go spectacularly wrong…the one saving grace is that the poor beast is now out of its misery.

Things can and do go wrong, but it never gets any less frustrating…,

The rifle zero was checked before this outing so it was down to poor shot placement on the initial shot.

Regards,
A grumpy Gixer.

 

[T.eddie]

Glad you managed to get to him in the end mate

 

[Malxwal]

Things go wrong. You stayed the course and did what needed to be done.

 

[John Gryphon]

Things can and do go wrong, but it never gets any less frustrating…,

I wouldn't sweat over it as one takes the good with the bad.
End result worked out well and time for a pint to reflect on what may have created the saga from the start.

 

[moonstone gsp]

Honest account.... most of have had similar and feel lousy afterwards. Glad you found him albiet a bit messy!

 

[gixer1]

Things go wrong. You stayed the course and did what needed to be done.

Still f*cked off that the poor bugger sat there for 10-20 mins before being put out of its misery!

Cracking head on him too…

 

[Envillegc1]

I think you should pat yourself on the back.

You followed through, professionally in what was not an ideal situation.

Well done you.

 

[VSS]

I think you should pat yourself on the back.

You followed through, professionally in what was not an ideal situation.

Well done you.

Exactly this ^^^^

 

[Klenchblaize]

It happens but most folk only post their heroic and sainted endeavours on an open forum!

K

 

[TringSaint]

Had a couple of those over the years and it’s always a bad night’s sleep afterwards thinking about what has gone wrong and what I could have done to alleviate it.
Horrible feeling.

 

[gixer1]

It happens but most folk only post their heroic and sainted endeavours on an open forum!

K

I genuinely try not to just post the “fluffy stuff”….as mentioned, anyone that does this enough will have a bad day (or days)

 

[gixer1]

Had a couple of those over the years and it’s always a bad night’s sleep afterwards thinking about what has gone wrong and what I could have done to alleviate it.
Horrible feeling.

Exactly this, lay down last night and was thinking….”what a ****”….and I think as responsible moral humans - if you don’t feel sick with shame for the poor beastie then you may not be wired correctly!

 

[paulbshooting]

It happens and despite sorting out the issue, it makes you feel awful. I see that as a good thing that we pride ourselves on doing a professional and humane job, with respect for the quarry.

 

[Heym SR20]

It happens to all of us sooner or later. Shot placement can go wrong for all sorts of reasons. Misread the wind, deer moved slightly, slightly awkward hold of the rifle, head not quite in the right place, clipped a blade or two of grass etc.

And Roe bucks really are quite small. If not perfectly broadside, an inch or two out can easily mean a shot further back or forward.

I would be concerned if you were not upset by such an occurrence.

Only comment I would make is perhaps leave it a bit longer before the initial follow up - that deer was bleeding out and thats why it collapsed a second time. Tough call to make - especially if its getting dark, but suggest less stress overall if you had left it half an hour before following up. I suspect it would have been dead from that first shot.

 

[gixer1]

It happens to all of us sooner or later. Shot placement can go wrong for all sorts of reasons. Misread the wind, deer moved slightly, slightly awkward hold of the rifle, head not quite in the right place, clipped a blade or two of grass etc.

And Roe bucks really are quite small. If not perfectly broadside, an inch or two out can easily mean a shot further back or forward.

I would be concerned if you were not upset by such an occurrence.

Only comment I would make is perhaps leave it a bit longer before the initial follow up - that deer was bleeding out and thats why it collapsed a second time. Tough call to make - especially if its getting dark, but suggest less stress overall if you had left it half an hour before following up. I suspect it would have been dead from that first shot.

I appreciate the “leave it longer”…but I’m fairly certain that would have been the wrong call here…and I don’t believe it was a fast bleed as the initial lay down and second lay down point had no paint or pins…the first sign of blood was after the centre mass shot.

 

[VSS]

I appreciate the “leave it longer”…but I’m fairly certain that would have been the wrong call here…and I don’t believe it was a fast bleed as the initial lay down and second lay down point had no paint or pins…the first sign of blood was after the centre mass shot.

In your writeup, you said there was a blood trail (visible through thermal) at the second lay down point?

Two significant things I have learned from my own stalking cock-ups are:
1) Don't approach a downed deer too soon.
2) Never hesitate to put in a second shot.

I still make the same mistakes, though.

 

[Overlay]

Gixer 1
Crap happens always when you don't expect it, well done and credit to you on sticking with it, right course of action and result at the end

 

[Milk no sugar please]

An honest appraisal of difficult circumstances. What did your lad think of the ordeal?

 

[Klenchblaize]

“Never hesitate to put in a second shot” is spot on, as is not allowing concerns pertaining to carcass damage to influence the outcome.

K

 

[finnbear270]

Always the echo in the back of my mind from past training sessions, "Good shot!, RELOAD!!" ...... glad you did the right course of action, shows good character.