Beginner's Luck or Natural Gifting?

Joseph and I took Jerry deer hunting for the first time in his life. He has permit to shoot a crossbow because of his shoulder injury. Five minutes into Jerry's deer hunting career, a six point buck comes along. The buck sees Jerry and jumps back. They then have a standoff for about 10 minutes. The buck is about 12 yards away behind a tree. Finally the buck moves, and Jerry takes a shot at about 7-8 yards.

Jerry got down out of the tree right away to tell me that he missed the deer. I told him that I thought he had gotten it because of the way it ran off. Well we found a significant blood trail and tracked it for an hour and a half. Eventually the blood trail dried up. We looked and looked and looked. Unfortunately, we never found it. Jerry got quite an introduction into deer hunting. Two lessons learned: always wait until you have a side shot. Wait 10-15 minutes before you get down out of the stand. We ended up pushing the deer, and it kept running. Deer hunters hate losing a deer. Unfortunately that happens some times (rarely but some times).

What a first time hunting. It's not always so easy. :-)

- posted by Kendrick @ 8:28 PM