I found a heavy, beaten down trail next to a creek one time. It was real thick. The only tree I could put a climber in was only 20 yards off the trail. It only took 30 minutes into the sit for a group of 6-7 does to come through. The wind shifted and they picked me up quickly. I picked the biggest one and tried to estimate the shoulder through the brush but hit low and blew most of the leg off. I heard her flop, walk, flop, walk. Walled the climber down the tree fast and chased her through the woods. Caught up with her and popped her between the eyes with a .380.

Someone will chime in and blast for this statement, but I don't think this thread will go well.
Not sure typing out the worst kill would be beneficial for anyone but the Anti hunters.

This.

Had a buddy shoot one with a bow, and clipped the very back inch of the hind quarter. Caught the femoral artery and she didn’t make 100 yds.

Trox blew ones balls off.

I shot a big 7 pt. in Bullock Co. years ago that didn't have a tail. Someone had shot it off at the base and there was just a dried scab left. Talk about a bad shot. Also have a buddy who shot one side of a bucks antler off and the buck got away.

Not a deer but in a flurry of hog activity last weekend, I shot one running away from me aimed just above her head and it hit 1” left and above her butt hole, she flopped on the spot didn’t even twitch. From my stand I thought I made a running headshot... damn bullet went through the guts and blew the lungs and heart to pieces. Couldn’t believe it. Got 5 pigs in 5 shots in under 2 minutes that evening. Whew

Gut shot one tracked it the next morning for 3 hours right at 1 mile. Damn thing was about 100 yards from my truck lol

Cant blame anyone for a bad shot..ive missed too many

I had a buddy shoot one in the femoral artery as well. That’s the most blood I’ve ever seen from a deer.

Never had a bad kill shot. If it killed it. Then it was a good kill shot

My first bowkill. It was an old doe that turned as I made a bad shot. Stuck it square in a hindquarter. It bled like crazy and died about 200 yrds away. Easy blood trail to follow.

I later read Chuck Adams Book on bowhunting and he says that a ham shot is one of the best kill shots you can make. He said they will run a little ways but it is a sure kill with a blood trail. He was right although I wouldn't do it on purpose.

I did that this year. Less than 100 yards

the year was 1987, Greene Co, just south of Eutaw. I m..mi..missed a huge non typical. 107 inch plus. Th..three times. I still cry about it.

107" is huge...Fred are you ok ??

sorry, I started crying again and mistyped. It was 170+ easy....damn tears....

A coyote probably pulled that deer's tail off. I shot a big 8pt that was chasing a doe, thru the front leg and brisket. It swam the coosa river and had to go to a buddy's house and get on his boat and finish him off with a filet knife in a ditch. Gruesome scene. Not proud of it.

Stupid decision I made as a teenager to shoot at a trotting buck with a bow. I watched the arrow clearly pass just in front of his neck and stick in the ground. He turned and hauled tail across the bottom I was sitting by. I knew I had missed and was just sitting there when I heard a loud coughing noise over where he had run. I climbed down and checked my arrow....no blood and fletching was dry. I walked to where I heard the coughing and there he was dead as can be. His windpipe was cut so I think one blade of the broadhead cut his windpipe as the arrow passed by.

Tuskegee NF,learning to bowhunt.Mature doe,straight-on neck shot.Some things never leave you...

I got all this beat.
I used to be bad to take a 3-quiver arrow bowhunting. It just takes one, you know.
Last day of a Midwest hunt. Hadn’t shot a buck. Gonna cut my losses. Crack a doe.
One comes tiptoeing across the little pasture I’m watching. Stops. Stands just as pretty as you please. I let fly. Miss.
The deer takes a step or two. Just stops. I’m nocked. Gonna make good on this second chance.
Spined that sucker. It drops, bleating. Trying to get up. It’s not pretty.
I nock my last arrow. Line up real good. Let fly. That joker does a little flip right as I hit the release. Deer had been broadside. But it’s facing me after the little flip. Arrow goes alongside the ribs. Lodges in the hip.
The deer is still carrying on.
There I sit. No arrows. I climb down from the lock-on with great haste. Retrieve the first arrow from the dirt. End the chit show at point blank range.
It ended up being a button buck to boot.

Too funny.

the one that never connected....

Probably 40 years ago we were dog hunting and I had a basket rack run up on me from the side, coming down a little hill that was running by at less than 5 yards away. I put three loads of 00 square in it's guts. Killed the deer but it was a nasty mess to clean.

A buddy and I were bowhunting at Carney in Baldwin County about 20 years or so ago. I had hunted a bottom that morning that never failed me, but it failed me that morning. Finally got down about 10am, and was walking out with my climber on my back. I'm nearly to the top of the bottom, and all of a sudden, I hear deer running toward me. It was two does, and one of them stopped dead still broadside less than 15 yards from me...facing away from me. Had taken my release off (did have on gloves), but I'm thinking, I can make this shot with fingers as long as she doesn't sense me. I left my climber on my back, and knocked an arrow. With great skill, I smoothly drew back, took careful aim, and let the arrow fly. Never saw the arrow, but I heard it hit the doe. She bolted off into a gallberry thicket. I walked over to where she was standing, and there was blood everywhere. Hell yeah, I'm thinking. I marked the spot, and walked on to the truck to unload my stand, and go get my buddy....two draggers is better than one, right?

So, I picked him up, and we came back to the site of the shot...blood everywhere. He even comments about all the blood. We make a short track to the doe...maybe 40-50 yards. Instead of hitting her right behind the shoulder like I had aimed (keep in mind...I shot with her with fingers instead of my release) I had hit her right below her jaw and perfectly slit her throat. If I hadn't been using fixed blade broadheads, I would have probably missed her.

It was definitely a humane kill....but absolutely nowhere near where I was aiming. Arrow, which was recovered after finding the deer, was perfectly clean....zero blood whatsoever on it.

I had the same thing happen with me on a doe. Arrow hit a limb.

Stuck a big ol nanner head one morning. Spined her and she went straight down. She wasn't moving at all. I let my bow down and dropped my pull up rope. Bout that time she started trying to get up. When she couldn't, she stared balling and slamming he hear against a rock. Kinda eerie. Had to climb down and finish the job. Never will forget the sound of her head hitting that rock.

Had a buddy shoot his first deer (doe) with bow at my place one time

He text me he had made perfect shot. I told him to sit tight, went to pick him. Got there and glownok arrow is in ground, covered in dark red blood. Perfect blood trail leaving field to woods. I told him he got her for sure, great shot, etc.

We walk about 50 yards and there she laid with a slit throat.

I think he was shaking a little bit

Shot a doe with my bow, spined her she hit the ground.
She couldn't go nowhere, but started , she stanted balling
Makeing all kinds of sounds. So l walked over to her and she looked
Up and I shot her right between the eyes.she was
Instantly dead,so I thought .So I walked about a half mile to get
My truck. When I got back she was head up looking around with
My arrow stuck I can't between her eyes still makeing all kinds of sounds.
Didn't have anymore arrows so I got a golf club out back of my truck
Tee ,Ed off on her behind her ears then she was done for
True. Story. Toughfes deer I ever killed.

Was sitting on some dropping water oaks one evening. Hot. Hadn't seen a thing. Right at dark I had 2 big does and youngans come in from the south right to the tree I was hunting over. I drew back on the lead doe as soon as she turned broadside. She saw me draw back and started bobbing her head back and forth, up and down like they always do. When I shot it sounded like the arrow hit a tree but that didn't matter she dropped in her tracks. Got down to her and the arrow was sticking straight out of her forehead. Had to do a skull mount on her. It took me forever to dig the broadhead out. I had to take it apart inside of her head after I got done with the cleaning. Then I stuck it in her forehead where it went in after I installed the head on the plaque.

Pretty cool.

He probly wasn't shot at all....don't you think it could have been an early model of Ass Gobblin just barely misssed his marK.....before we even new they existed???

Well, there was this shovel see.... lol.

I’ve killed several with 1-2 pellets back when we ran dogs.
Most of my bad kill shots have been walking clearcut. They’re nearly always straight away and you usually hit them where you can.
I’ve hit them in the neck with a bow too.

First deer with a bow (doe) was walking through the woods with a bleat call. Out of nowhere there was a doe about 10 yards from me. Got on a knee without her seeing me somehow. I aimed for in between her 2 front legs as she was looking strait at me. She went to jump the string as I released and got her right in between the shoulder blades. I bet she ran 3/4 of a mile before laying in a creek and passing. I guess as she ran the arrow kept opening the wound bigger. By the time I found her, looked like a small grenade went off on her back

i shot & dropped a doe very early on in my deer hunting days -- shot her right thru the hams; i caught no end of grief from my brother when we skinned her out!! i guess you can call it the best/worst kill shot -- but i drilled a 7pt right up his butt who wouldn't turn around right, and was about to leave - it was torpedo his bung-hole or watch him walk away ... i never would've tried that shot -- prob wouldn't now -- if i hadn't had complete confidence in my setup & was shooting off a steady rest/ledge in a shooting house, ground level; i knew i'd drop him like a rock, and that's precisely what happened ...

My butt cheeks just pinched up reading that.

I spined a doe with a rifle once and thought she was stone cold dead so I sat my gun down next to my pack and walked down into the clear cut to get her. Got to her and she was still breathing but laying very still. thinking that she was fully paralyzed I eased up to her with my benchmade pocketknife with the plan of sticking it in her heart. Well I reached down to pull her front leg forward to get a better angle and that heifer came to life, rolled her head up, and bit the ever loving chit out of my leg, left a bruise and everything. I freaked out and went to sticking with the knife till she went limp and let go. Scared the hell out of me.

BRANG DAA PAAAIIINNN!!!

I once took a shot on a lone doe in a river cane thicket, only to have two does run 50 yards and drop. The second (invisible) doe had no sign of an entry or exit wound. When I opened her up, the damage was done to the femoral artery by a piece of copper bullet jacket smaller than my little fingernail.

Was set up on a good trail with Hoyt in hand. It's 2007......phone rings. It's a marine buddy calling so I answer. He is distraught about his girl cheating on him while on deployment and wanting me to check in on her. Look down trail and here comes a shooter. I try to get off but he is talking crazy so I put phone in pocket. Buck comes down trail and cuts away from me last second 45 yds. I let arrow go and hit him right in rear end (steps as I release). I hit artery and he crashes within sight. Take phone out of my pocket and he is still spilling his guts. I tell what just happened and it completely changed the conversation......we still laugh about the roof top call from Haditha.

Alligator brought back one hunt , that even I can't believe happened. I was hunting at my grandparents farm
I was sitting on a.powerline, 3 does come across the power line . I picked out the lead doe and pulled the trigger.
Keep in mind the deer were in a single file line. When I shot 2 deer fell at the same time. I still don't know how that
Happened. The deer I had the scope on was hit in the shoulder, and the doe following her was hit in the throat.
I still to this day have not figured how that happened.

I just barely grazed a bucks belly. bullet did not even damage anything but the skin. but it was stone cold dead after an hour of jump and run tracking.

Shot a doe right behind the shoulder at 30 yards with a .270 WSM. The bullet was some ammo I had gotten with the gun. It had a ballistic style tip but was clearish yellow. I saw the ripple where I hit. I climbed down and when I got to the spot I shot I saw no blood or hair. My Son and I walked circles for 3 hours looking. I guess it zipped right through. Now I dont hunt deer with varmint diameter calibers.

(I guess that wasn't a kill shot.)

A 35 yard bow shot for the double lungs on a big fat nanny that got deflected by a small tree limb. Thankfully, it hit the liver perfectly and the short blood trail of about 40 yards looked like somebody had poured blood out of a coke can. I saw that doe when she fell. There weren’t specks of blood, there was an almost continous flow, and that arrow wound up back in my arrow holder for another kill a couple of months later. I only had to touch the broadhead up a bit with a fine stone. Had to glue one fletching back into place.

Luckiest shot and shortest hunt on a early season meat goat for the camp I ever made. I was still on the ground rigging to climb up.

The one that lived