I have been deer hunting every year since I was 24 and I am now 61 years old.
Many deer taken over that period of time; none lost; several had to be tracked to find the body; but nothing that ever made me feel bad. Somber moments spent prior to field dressing, but nothing sad.
Until last year.
And I've been told that if you hunt long enough you WILL experience it.
Opening day, about 9 a.m. what I thought was a doe coming across the harvested corn field and "she" has many trails to choose from, but, whoa, she's coming up mine.
At about 30 yards I fire, and "she" goes down. I am using an SKS paratrooper with peep sight and Williams Firesight up front.
Less than a minute, "she" begins struggling to here feet; I thought "she" was done.
Bang . . . Bang . . . Bang . . . Unbelievable misses.
''She'' pulls herself out of sight through a forest floor of corn flakes out of sight, and the noise ceases.
I figure "she" expired.
I wait 1 hour and 45 minutes (because I don't want to ruin the rest of the morning hunt for my friend and his son) and when I see their blaze orange moving towards the farm house, I go to "her."
I see the deer's body and approach it slowly.
""She'' lifts her head and looks right into my eyes at about 10 yards.
Oh Dear God! I have allowed this deer to suffer for that long!
I mean to finish it with a head shot at 10 yards, but instead blow off its lower jaw!
What is wrong with this rifle!? It finally dawns on me; I go to point blank range for a head shot and realize which further brings me down, this ain't no doe, it is a button buck.
I finish the dirty deed.
By that meaning the opposite of a clean kill.
Turns out the peep sight had somehow loosened and I could move it about a quarter inch with my fingers. Gun was dead OFF.
Damn . . . ugly kill . . . needless suffering . . . and I felt (and do still feel) terrible about it.
I'm going again this year and will be testing the tightness of that rear sight several times before I ever pull the trigger again.
Rmocarsky
Many deer taken over that period of time; none lost; several had to be tracked to find the body; but nothing that ever made me feel bad. Somber moments spent prior to field dressing, but nothing sad.
Until last year.
And I've been told that if you hunt long enough you WILL experience it.
Opening day, about 9 a.m. what I thought was a doe coming across the harvested corn field and "she" has many trails to choose from, but, whoa, she's coming up mine.
At about 30 yards I fire, and "she" goes down. I am using an SKS paratrooper with peep sight and Williams Firesight up front.
Less than a minute, "she" begins struggling to here feet; I thought "she" was done.
Bang . . . Bang . . . Bang . . . Unbelievable misses.
''She'' pulls herself out of sight through a forest floor of corn flakes out of sight, and the noise ceases.
I figure "she" expired.
I wait 1 hour and 45 minutes (because I don't want to ruin the rest of the morning hunt for my friend and his son) and when I see their blaze orange moving towards the farm house, I go to "her."
I see the deer's body and approach it slowly.
""She'' lifts her head and looks right into my eyes at about 10 yards.
Oh Dear God! I have allowed this deer to suffer for that long!
I mean to finish it with a head shot at 10 yards, but instead blow off its lower jaw!
What is wrong with this rifle!? It finally dawns on me; I go to point blank range for a head shot and realize which further brings me down, this ain't no doe, it is a button buck.
I finish the dirty deed.
By that meaning the opposite of a clean kill.
Turns out the peep sight had somehow loosened and I could move it about a quarter inch with my fingers. Gun was dead OFF.
Damn . . . ugly kill . . . needless suffering . . . and I felt (and do still feel) terrible about it.
I'm going again this year and will be testing the tightness of that rear sight several times before I ever pull the trigger again.
Rmocarsky