Tracking mule deer blood after the shot. Photo credit: Brady Miller
Reliving past hunts with family.
As hunters, the best way to hone our skills and knowledge of the field comes from learning experiences. Sometimes these experiences will be grand and memorable and other times they can be negative and ugly. Some of the most successful hunters I know are constantly yearning for this knowledge and never pass up an opportunity to learn—no matter how small or big the lesson may be. I’ve often found that, for myself, some of the most negative and just plain awful situations I’ve experienced have become some of the best lessons in life. These situations can arise in the form of a miss, blown stalk, or even just the difficulty in finding animals on a tough hunt. Yet, beyond those, losing an animal after a shot for any reason is absolutely at the top of my list when it comes to undesirable situations.
This is a situation that I feel often gets swept under the rug and pushed away into the dark recesses of our memories. Many hunters try to hide these situations, largely due to the embarrassment I suspect, but discussing these can illicit fresh thoughts on the situation and provide valuable lessons. I’m not saying that you should jump onto your favorite social media platform and proclaim your predicament to the world, but discussing it among friends or family can be healthy.
They say that if you hunt long enough you’ll eventually reach a point in your career where you’ll do everything right and still lose an animal. While this may not be an absolute truth, it does carry a heavy possibility. If and when this happens it’s going to destroy your confidence, make you question everything, and force you to take an honest and real evaluation of what you’re actually doing in the woods. This is one of those “lowest of the lows” events that will lead you into a hunter’s depression. However, it should be noted that there is a real opportunity here.
The first 24 hours following the end of the search are going to be agonizing; there’s nothing you can do about it. While I can’t speak for everyone reading this I can say that in my own personal experience you will become a social recluse. I shut out everyone around me and mostly become just miserable to even be around. You’re going to fall into an awful funk as you constantly replay the situation in your head, constantly asking yourself the question, “Why?” At this point, I’ll question my ability and skills in the woods and even contemplate selling everything and taking up a new sport. You’ll basically turn into a manic pubescent teen throwing a fit.
Instead of being totally shut out, I try to force myself to reevaluate the situation while the encounter is still fresh in my mind. I may write every detail down that I can remember, study anatomy charts, or talk through the situation with a friend or family member. During your initial search while in the field, you will likely become desperate with hopes of finding the animal and may overlook small details that could allude themselves to what actually went wrong. Talking through the event with a fresh mind can foster questions and evaluations that could shed some light on this unfortunate event.
When evaluating the encounter, hunters should be constantly asking themselves “Why?” rather than, “Why did this happen to me?” They should focus on questions like, “Why did I miss my mark?” or “Why did the animal react like that?” Many times, if a person looks at all of the facts and accepts everything with an open mind, a very probable explanation will become obvious. There can be a million and one reasons that cause a shot to go errant and sometimes these issues could have have been prevented; other times they may have been totally out of our hands.
Generally speaking, the primary culprit of not recovering an animal will fall in the initial shot placement. First, I like to identify why I missed my mark. Was it improper foot placement? A rushed shot? Did I hold at full draw on my bow too long? Or did I have an unsteady rest for my rifle? The possibilities of cause are endless, but identifying the primary issue can shed some light on what went wrong and what to work on for next time.
Beyond the shot, many hunters will also make the mistake of taking up the bloodtrail too early. Even with a lethal hit, some animals may require up to 12 hours to pass. Picking up their bloodtrail too soon can increase the risk of bumping the now wounded animal and could lead to a long and fruitless tracking effort. On mortally wounded animals, hit anywhere other than the heart or lungs, the animal will generally cover a short distance (50 to 300 yards) and bed down if undisturbed. At this point, the wound will clot up and the animal will only bleed internally. Bumping your quarry at this point means that you now have an adrenaline filled animal bailing off the side of a mountain all the while not leaving a single blood drop to track. The odds of not recovering that animal just got very high.
The bottom line here is that there are literally thousands of possibilities that could lead up to an animal not being recovered. Looking at the entire situation subjectively can help you identify what went wrong, whether it was your fault or not, and how to prevent this from ever happening again.
Not every missed opportunity on an animal will result in the hunter coming to some sort of moment of clarity where all that went wrong will become obvious. Sometimes, it's just a matter of fact that you’ll never know. That being said, there is always an opportunity to improve on something—whether it may lead to recovering an animal or not. The important factor here is to identify something, anything really, that you feel could have improved the outcome of this situation. Actively seeking solutions and acting on them can only help you in the future.
Personally speaking, this generally boils down to more time at the range and familiarity with my equipment. Just because your bow is still on at 50 yards or your rifle at 200 doesn't mean that your body remembers how to correctly execute a shot when your adrenaline is red lining. In my opinion, muscle memory is far more important than any piece of gear for improving accuracy and consistency. Along with familiarity with your gear I also believe that a strong mental game can go a long way when everything starts going sideways.
Going to the range should be at the top of the list for any hunter, but it is also important to realize that the ideal shooting conditions found here will not always be the case in the woods. Real world practice can directly relate to your success each fall and getting creative can be both insanely beneficial and enjoyable. Challenge yourself during the offseason with some scenarios you may find in the woods. Take a portable target to your favorite public land spot and practice shooting at odd angles, through obstacles, or at unknown distances. Enhance this experience by bringing a family member or friend and you will find that competition can push you out of your comfort zone and really test the limits of your abilities. The bottom line here is that we are trying to train our muscles to perform under pressure and adverse conditions when our minds may not be able to do the same.
Reliving past hunts with family.
Along with physical practice, I also hold a lot of merit in mental preparation. This can have many meanings to everyone, but, for me, I strongly believe that if my body thinks it has been in a particular situation before, then my brain can process what needs to be done much faster and more efficiently. This can be as rudimentary as watching your favorite hunting shows and imagining how you would handle any given situation or simply daydreaming yourself into a scenario and executing a shot. This can be as simple or complex as you make it, but I’ve always been in a firm believer in the “your body cannot perform what your mind has not” train of thought.
At the end of the day, no amount of words that I can type or a friend can say will ever make this feeling go away—at least not immediately. Losing an animal sucks, plain and simple. This is a hard situation to get over and simply feeling the drive again can take weeks or even months. Like all things in life, a lesson can be learned here and it’s up to us as individuals to squeeze every ounce of knowledge out of it. I’ve always kept in mind that everything happens for a reason. Sure, you may have lost an animal this season, but the knowledge gained from that one experience can lead to many more recoveries in the future. Once you’re up to it simply lace your boots back up and hit the hills; sometimes some quiet time in the woods is all you need.
A great example of all of this heartbreak is what Brady Miller encountered on his 2015 high country Colorado archery mule deer hunt. You can check out the video below from his hunt.
