Stopping deer

[RadioHunter]

Had an encounter with a doe tonight which ended with a ducked shot and a poor hit after I had stopped the deer by saying a soft “meh”. The deer had caught some of my movement Before the shot so was on edge. The deer was walking quickly at 22 yards but was broadside at the time of the shot.

Do you try to stop deer or shoot them moving?

I guess my thought is It depends. you might get 1 chance to stop them if they are calm/unaware. I will never again alert a deer on edge.

Thoughts?

[Grizzlyadam]

I stop them most of the time and that is mainly due to the lack of shooting lanes in most of my setups. If they are alert for any reason the chances of them dropping are better than not at least with the deer where I'm hunting. Lots of times I can stop them if they are calm and they don't get alarmed just curious and just stand there and soak up the shot. Reading body language is a big part of any shot. Anything over 30 yards I wont attempt, too much can go wrong. Even at 20 I'm expecting up to an 8 inch or so drop give or take on an alert stopped deer. Bottom line, if they are alert keep your shots close and aim low.

[Nocturnal]

I've battled this thought more than once and now I will only stop a deer if I really have to but my success climbs when I don't. The reaction to the animal after the shot will alot of times dictate whether or not you stopped it. I prefer a shot deer wondering what happened vs I was alerted and then a shot rang out (bow string).

[Bio1]

Almost always will stop them unless they are within 10 yards

[A5BLASTER]

Learned my lesson the first time I stopped a deer with the mehh sound. Will never stop another deer, practice moving shots.

Now if it's a fast trot basically anything faster then a slow search or eating walk speed I let them walk.

[Jackson Marsh]

Depends on the situation, but I don't stop them unless I HAVE to.

[Kraftd]

Depends on the situation, but I don't stop them unless I HAVE to.

This exactly. Have and will again but much prefer an unspooked shot on a slow walker than standing still and alert.

No absolutes for me. It’s a rarely used tool in the full .

[Horizontal Hunter]

Had an encounter with a doe tonight which ended with a ducked shot and a poor hit after I had stopped the deer by saying a soft “meh”. The deer had caught some of my movement Before the shot so was on edge. The deer was walking quickly at 22 yards but was broadside at the time of the shot.

Do you try to stop deer or shoot them moving?

I guess my thought is It depends. you might get 1 chance to stop them if they are calm/unaware. I will never again alert a deer on edge.

Thoughts?

Reading the body language is key like Grizz said. When the deer is on edge aim for the heart. If the deer drops you still have a double lung hit; if not you still have a heart shot so it’s a win-win as they say.

I generally don’t stop them unless I absolutely have to.

Bob

[Dewey]

I never stopped a deer and never had one duck an arrow. If I missed it was my own dang fault misjudging distance. I prefer a slow walker because they don’t seem to hear the shot so they don’t ever react to it. Most of the deer I shot seem like they don’t really know what happened and then stop a short distance away falling over shortly after. When you make a human noise to stop a deer it puts them on red alert and can cause much longer tracking jobs as they bolt away from the danger after the shot. Deer are incredible at picking out sound and knowing exactly where it came from. That’s why I prefer the surprise attack in most cases.

The only time I would consider trying to stop a deer with a mouth bleat would be if a buck is trotting through cruising hard during the rut chasing a doe. Probably would just blow on my grunt call hard. That sometimes works to snap them out of it for a split second but they are REALLY on the edge.

[MNBrowTines]

When stopping a deer, Ideally, I want my arrow to be on the way while the deer is still swinging it’s head/ears around in my direction. I want to be ready to shoot before I vocalize. I don’t want to give them a couple of seconds to scan and process what they’re seeing and tense up. Obviously, easier said than done but it’s the process I go through in my head.

Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do.

Obviously not having to do it at all is ideal. But, a deer walking a little faster than I’d like makes me nervous I’m going to catch an in between step or pause or the start of a trot/jump and put on a bad shot. I’d rather miss high because it jumped the string sometimes than bury a bad shot that’s going to cause a slow/painful death and unrecoverable animal.

[MNBrowTines]

Almost always will stop them unless they are within 10 yards

Agree with this. It all depends on the distance.

Sounds like we have some regular nock busters in here, but for us full-time job with kids, non-Olympic level archers, a 30 yard walking shot is probably asking for bad hits (unless they’re really meandering slowly). If you’re not shooting outside of 15-20, maybe a different story.

[Tydaniel2340]

I think it is pretty dependent on their movement for me. If they are slowly grazing around I won’t stop them because most of the time they will stop on their own. But if they look like they are just passing through quickly and I know my window is limited I will let out the “meh” sound.

[dan]

I only stop them if I need to...

[mbone1327]

I never stopped a deer and never had one duck an arrow. If I missed it was my own dang fault misjudging distance. I prefer a slow walker because they don’t seem to hear the shot so they don’t ever react to it. Most of the deer I shot seem like they don’t really know what happened and then stop a short distance away falling over shortly after. When you make a human noise to stop a deer it puts them on red alert and can cause much longer tracking jobs as they bolt away from the danger after the shot. Deer are incredible at picking out sound and knowing exactly where it came from. That’s why I prefer the surprise attack in most cases.

The only time I would consider trying to stop a deer with a mouth bleat would be if a buck is trotting through cruising hard during the rut chasing a doe. Probably would just blow on my grunt call hard. That sometimes works to snap them out of it for a split second but they are REALLY on the edge.

Amazing how good they are at this. Something I wish I was better at.

[Kevin2]

I've shot more then half of the deer in the last 10 years while their were walking slowly through cover. I shot the 1st deer that way, it worked, so I've used the same formula to lead them. I don't move, I just plant my pin in the spot where they are going to be, and as soon as they are about 8-10 inches from that spot, I let the arrow fly. All of these shots are inside 20 yards AND in super dense areas where I won't likely get another chance at them if they get beyond this tiny hole. The stopping thing hasn't worked for me.