WOW, this thread is all over the place, with individuals getting personal with one another,
A buddies father hunted with buc shot and let me tell you every time he made contact with a deer it was a horror story. Now was it buc shot or the shooter.
3 deer, at least 2 hours after being hit, were found still alive and had to have the throats cut. In MY OPINION, this is not ethical, it is not paying any respect to the animal at all, to have an animal suffer like that. He lost 2 deer, on one occasion he said he hit it in the leg and it ran to the swamp and said no sense going after we would never find it. I, on my own, found the deer bedded down some 500 yards away and finished off with a slug. That was the last time I hunted guns with them, ( I no longer hunt with them due to Tresspassing issues, another story) .
My point is, I do not think that it is necessarily the amo we chose to use, it is in the way we use it. I have lost 2 deer, arrow and 1 bear shotgun, ssg slug, in my life. One deer was for sure my fault, the arrow hit a small twig deflected, hit the deer in the leg, tracked the deer for 4 hours, two days later someone had taken the deer with shotgun and halve the arrow was still in the front leg, the other was a perfect shot, found the arrow, was using a rage mechanical, one of the blades never opened. good blood trail for approx. 100 yards, then nothing. Next day found deer, 30 yards behind stand taken by coyotes. I practised all year round and am very proud of my ethics. The bear was shot a little too far back, tracked for about 80 yards to find the bear deep in a den and was told not to go in and retrieve the beer.
My point is, that, again this is MY OPINION only, we have hunters who practise regular, site in constantly, make good judgement shots and then we have people that take out the weapon of choice once/twice a year and go hunting, doesn't make them hunters. I said before a totally different set of ethics. It goes to WHY DO YOU HUNT in the first place.
Would I shoot any shot choice at a running deer, NO, why, I cant practise shooting at moving targets. Do I shoot beyond my ability, NO, have too much respect or the animal. Do I make bad shots, YES. If an arrow hits a twig, that's on me, it happens, but its still on me.
Whether what the man had said is right or wrong is not the point, I would bet if they could do an air search of all hunted land, there would be an awful lot of unclaimed dead animals out there. and I am willing to bet the numbers are drastically increased after a rifle/controlled hunt.
I have never ever used buc shot, not sure what its purpose on a large animal is. Is it to slow down a moving animal or to kill the animal, I know some have mixed in the barrel, buc shot/slug/buckshot. will shoot 1st with buc shot, finish with slug.
If you respect the animal you are hunting, you make sure your equipment is in good working order, you practice, practice, you choice your shot wisely and you do your upmost best to retrieve the animal, then at the end of the day, when you close your eyes, you can sleep with a clear conscious,
Again, its all back to the individuals ethics.
Again, IN MY OPINION>
