WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MISS WITH JOHN E. PHILLIPS
Use The 10-Yard Formula
Editor’s
Note: You'll immediately feel violently ill when you
release an arrow and watch the broadhead cut nothing
but air. Unfortunately, I've had this happen to me more
than once. At times, like you, I've heard off in the
distance my hunting buddies screaming and hollering
when they've missed shots. I've also seen bows have
rude encounters with tree trunks after they've failed
to perform properly. However, I've learned often the
best part of your bow hunt occurs after you've missed
a shot. Many times, you'll get a second shot at the
same deer or a bigger deer.
Bob Foulkrod of Troy, Pennsylvania, a nationally-known
bow hunter, suggests that you have 10-, 20-, 30- and
40-yard pins sighted on your bow. "You never know
when you may get a second shot
after you miss the first time. Or, if you get a poor
hit and can place a second arrow in your buck before
he gets away, your chances of recovering that buck will
be much greater. I'm not suggesting that anyone attempt
to first shoot at a buck at 40 yards with a bow. But
if you'll set a sight pin at 40 yards and practice shooting
at that distance, if you do get a bad hit on a buck
and can make a second shot when the deer's at 40 yards,
try and take it."
Dr. Bob Sheppard of Carrollton, Alabama, has taken
more than 100 deer with his bow and has developed two
strategies that have proven successful when he thinks
his arrow has missed a deer. "I shoot a 55-pound
bow with small-diameter arrows and relatively small
broadheads. I like the lighter-weight bow because I
can hold it longer to wait on a good shot. I can draw
it when I have to shoot at odd angles, and even on the
coldest days, I can still get the bow back. When you
shoot small-diameter arrows and broadheads, the arrow
can pass through a deer so quickly he doesn't know what's
happened to him. If a buck acts like he hasn't been
hit but runs 5 to 10 yards, stops, looks back and stands
perfectly still,
I don't move a muscle. I don't nock an arrow, and I
don't try and get off a second shot. Usually that buck
is well-hit and just doesn't realize what's happened.
Within a few minutes, the deer generally will stumble
and fall over." Sheppard doesn't want to spook
the deer because the deer may run further if he sees
Sheppard move.
But this strategy didn't pay off for Sheppard a few
years ago when he arrowed a nice buck, watched the deer
run 10 yards and then saw the deer fall over. Because
the deer didn't move, Sheppard assumed the buck had
died. Climbing down the tree, he picked up his bow and
walked over to the buck. The deer got up and began to
walk in a 10-foot circle in thick cover, unaware of
Sheppard's presence. "Although I shot all five
arrows I had left, because the cover was so thick, I
failed to hit the buck," Sheppard recalled. However,
Sheppard
knew what to do when he missed. He picked up one of
the arrows he'd shot previously. When the dazed buck
walked close enough to Sheppard, he shoved the arrow
into the deer's vitals. He knew that when the bow failed
he had to take the arrow and the misses into his own
hands.
However, Sheppard suggests that if you know for sure
you've missed the buck and the deer bolts to run, nock
another arrow immediately, and draw. "You must
draw when the buck's moving," Sheppard emphasizes.
"If he stops to look back and you draw, he'll spot
you before you can get the bow back. However, if you're
at full draw, then when and if the deer stops, you often
can aim and shoot quickly enough to make that second
shot count."
TOMORROW: DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU'VE HIT THE DEER
|