I found him not 25 yards where I stopped learned a valuable lesson today I hit him right above the should and it passed through clean then my second shot was a spine shot. Felt really bad since this was my first buck and he was still alive this morning. Had to kill him without my gun but I've learned a lot from this hunt and I will never let that happen again . I'm dragging him out now I'm 500 yards back and in some hilly thick stuff
Everybody has to learn. hopefully we can learn some things from others who have already learned from experience.
Check your gun and see where you are hitting at 50 yards and 100 yards. I don't like to set mine up so high that I can aim dead on for a 400 yard shot since I'm much more likely to have a 50 to 100 yard shot. I would much rather hold over or dial for the longer shot.
When you shoot,you might as well keep shooting as long as you can see a deer and it is moving,even if the second shot puts one up it's rear end. Some may not agree but that philosophy has served me well. I do however shoot bonded bullets that should penetrate to vitals even from the rear.
Always take your gun tracking and even approaching a "dead" deer. Always be ready for the "dead" deer to jump and run until you have touched it's open eyeball with the gun barrel. If a "dead" deer has its eyes closed it's probably about to jump up and scare the crap out of you and get away.
Only after you have touched the eyeball with your barrel do you unload your gun and set it aside to gut or get ready to drag the deer.
Make sure you do unload your gun after you make sure the deer is dead!! You don't want to lean your loaded gun against a tree and forget to unload it in the excitement and have an accident when it falls over or gets the trigger pulled on some brush while you are dragging the deer out.
