New to Bow Hunting.

[BuckRub]

I've shot more deer to count with bows but some are superman deer I guess. Like Brian said, some things can't add up and I've seen some things that shouldn't but have.

 

[shortwave]

I've seen slow-motion video and the deer do drop and drop fast when they hear or sense something is not right. It looks like they are pulling themselves down.

And they will often do exactly that. Have seen it many times.

That is why shooting a deer with a bow should only be done at bow range.
IMO, start throwing arrows/bolts out 40-60yds and jumping string really comes into play.

The chance of a deer 'jumping string' at 10-30' with the speeds of todays bows with a well aimed, broadside, centered heart lung shot and the arrow landing clear out of the kill zone or even missing the deer completely would seem to be rare.

I can only think of a few times that I let an arrow fly just as the deer suddenly moved. It does happen. A deer turning, taking that sudden unexpected step at the very time my mind says shoot. But these were not cases of the deer moving due to hearing me. Just bad timing.

But all other bad hits have been due to error of some sort on my part. Error in pin usage, error in shooting judgment when shooting uphill/downhill or just simply pulling off. And lets not even talk about that small twig I didn't even see cause I had such tunnel vision on that sweat spot.

But hey, it would make me feel better if I could blame these errors on the deer.

 

[pitbill123]

I've been bow hunting (28 yrs) longer than I've been gun hunting and I have a very simple rule when it comes to shot distance. I NEVER take a shot longer than 25 yrds due to the string jumping tendency of whitetails- I have never lost a deer to a wound, and at less than 25 yrds, the time it takes for the arrow to get to the deer and the possible reaction to the string noise makes the chance of a gut/bad shot rare. I honestly can say when I was younger I did take longer shots and have gut shot 2 deer, and both were recovered, but I felt awful about the bad shot and decided that 25 was the limit for me. I live in a bow only zone with unreal limits (3 bucks and unlimited does) and some years we literally can stack them like firewood if we wanted to ( my best year was 3 bucks and 6 does) and maybe this is why I can stick to the 25 yrd rule as I usually see 5-25 deer a day while hunting and rarely see nothing. As far as the bow goes, buy what works for you. Some archery shops let you test the bows they sell- if ya can find a shop like this give em all a test drive. I've only owned 4 bows in my life- 1st Bear, second Mathews, third Bowtech and last a Diamond and all were set to 50lbs and they all worked fine. Anyway have fun bow hunting- the rush is way bigger than gun hunting but it can be frustrating looking at a nice 8 sitting broadside at 75 yrds and there is basically nothing you can do about it. Good luck!!!!!!!

 

[pitbill123]

Ohhh yeah, I forgot to say- when you do get your bow there is only one thing you need to do...Practice, practice, practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!