I dislike putting another round into a animal but I know as a ethical-hunter - necessary. When I first started deer hunting, I learned that lesson the hard way in my 2nd season of deer hunting:
My Dad and I was sitting on the back side of swamp (we knew people would start moving around about mid-morning and push deer to us - we did this set up before). Sure enough mid-morn, we a couple of shots from the far side of the swamp and before long deer started coming our way. A decent 4-pt buck came past me and I shot him with my Marlin 30-30. The shot knocked him down and for a second I thought he was dead, then I looked again and he started moving a bit. "He's not going any where, he'll be dead in a minute" I thought to myself. I was confident that my shot had gone into his chest and I didn't "waste another round".
So got up slung my rifle and started walking toward the deer and I yelled to my Dad "I got one!" I had no sooner said that when the "near-dead deer" jumped to his feet and took off!
Once my Dad got there I told him what happened - needless to say he was not happy with me, at all - in fact he was really p-o'd! My shot turned wasn't as good as I thought, the shot was a bit far back. To make a long story short(er), we found the deer but it took several hours and a lot of tracking!
Plus I had listen to my Dad chew me out (again and again) every few minutes!
This taught me a very-very valuable lesson - when it doubt shoot again!
At least (for what it's worth) the animal wasn't a more dangerous animal (like a bear)
My Dad and I was sitting on the back side of swamp (we knew people would start moving around about mid-morning and push deer to us - we did this set up before). Sure enough mid-morn, we a couple of shots from the far side of the swamp and before long deer started coming our way. A decent 4-pt buck came past me and I shot him with my Marlin 30-30. The shot knocked him down and for a second I thought he was dead, then I looked again and he started moving a bit. "He's not going any where, he'll be dead in a minute" I thought to myself. I was confident that my shot had gone into his chest and I didn't "waste another round".
So got up slung my rifle and started walking toward the deer and I yelled to my Dad "I got one!" I had no sooner said that when the "near-dead deer" jumped to his feet and took off!
Once my Dad got there I told him what happened - needless to say he was not happy with me, at all - in fact he was really p-o'd! My shot turned wasn't as good as I thought, the shot was a bit far back. To make a long story short(er), we found the deer but it took several hours and a lot of tracking!
Plus I had listen to my Dad chew me out (again and again) every few minutes!
This taught me a very-very valuable lesson - when it doubt shoot again!
At least (for what it's worth) the animal wasn't a more dangerous animal (like a bear)
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