Wounded? Yes or No?

[JimP]

Here is kind of a related story.
A woman from I think California was mule deer hunting In western Wyoming with a guide and she shot at a good mule deer on their way down a hill to look the guide spots a monster buck to the side he lines the lady up and she shoots at that time the record mule deer for a female in Wyoming. No place in the article did it say anything about the buck she shot at first just a great photo with the record buck?
I hoped that other people thought it was kind of strange.

I've seen and had that happen to me on both mule deer and others.

Myself and a friend were cow elk hunting here in Colorado. I shot a cow and she dropped like a rock. I looked away for a minute to grab my binoculars and my friend said that she got back up. I looked through my scope and sure enough, a few feet away from where mine dropped stood another cow. For some reason I didn't pull the trigger. When we got up to the spot there my cow was laying dead as a door nail. I could of had two elk down.

Another time I was hunting javelina in Arizona. I had shot mine and a couple of days later we just took our 4 wheelers out for a ride in the desert. When we saw one of the heaviest javelina that we had ever seen, he was huge. When we told another friend he just asked why we didn't shoot it also. I just told him that wasn't the way that we did things.

 

[Ragman]

I've seen and had that happen to me on both mule deer and others.

Myself and a friend were cow elk hunting here in Colorado. I shot a cow and she dropped like a rock. I looked away for a minute to grab my binoculars and my friend said that she got back up. I looked through my scope and sure enough, a few feet away from where mine dropped stood another cow. For some reason I didn't pull the trigger. When we got up to the spot there my cow was laying dead as a door nail. I could have had two elk down.

The exact same thing happened to my father back in the 80s. We were moose hunting in thick bush and a young bull stood up not too far from him. He dropped it and was walking toward where he saw it fall. When he got halfway there it stood up again, so he gave it a finishing shot. You could have knocked him down with a feather when he got to the spot and found two nearly identical bulls lying there. Fortunately I was not far away and came running when I heard the shots. I was probably more surprised to see two dead bulls than he was. Luckily we both had tags and took care of them quickly.

 

[UKHunter]

If I have to draw a line in the sand - show me the proof I hit the animal; hair, blood, bone. Of course, being a reasonable person, the PH is my guide and they have the final say.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I was going through some of the old threads and happened to come across a topic that made me think that it would bring about some constructive discussion which is probably due for some renewal. Hopefully, some of the members who are yet to embark on their first safari will find this useful.
The post is simply for educational purposes.

When, in your eyes as a hunter, do you accept that an animal has been wounded as opposed to a clean miss?

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@KMG Hunting Safaris
If I know I have made a good shot and the animal doesn't react I usually keep shooting. If the animal wanders off I try and tie a marker to my shooting position the walk to where the animal was looking for anything that may have thrown my bullet off course. When I get to the spot I do a ground search for blood, hair or any other sign that the animal was hit like foot prints. The way an animal walks can tell you a lot of favouring one leg.
Then I do a grid search for the animal. If nothing is found I will come back later to check the area incase I missed something the first time.
Fortunately I have not had to do many follow ups but there have been a couple of times I thought did U or didn't I just wound as I didn't find the animal. Not a nice feeling but I know I did my best to locate the animal
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

So, you get set up on a Waterbuck at 30 yards. They are feeding, unaware to your presence. The shot rings, he flinches and runs off. No blood to be found. They are notoriously tough, and are known not to throw a lot of blood. How would you handle that?

@KMG Hunting Safaris
If'n that happened to me I would want to know why as he would have been hit with a big 35 cal bullet that would have left a decent size exit hole.
If he didn't bleed from that he would be one tough sob but I would still follow it up to make sure.
Bob