Well Stan I know a guy that has probably killed 30-40 deer over the last 10 years and still tends to lose it when a shot takes place. This guy is my father. He may not lose it to the extent your buddy does, but he tends to not remember where he aimed, if the deer was broadside or quartering, etc. He doesn't lose a lot of deer, in fact he has killed two in the last week. His biggest problem is following a blood trail. He gets to excited and rushes the trailing. Then he will many times ask me to try to unravel the blotched trailing job. Sometimes we find the deer and sometimes we don't. If I ask where the deer ran he can usually give me a good general direction.

The point is that some guys are detail oriented and some guys are not. Or maybe they just can't hold it together at the time of the shot. My dad had five deer approach his stand last Saturday evening. In this group were a doe with a fawn, a 6 point and two 8 points. One 8 was pretty nice and the other was quite small. My dad wanted the nicer 8 point. The two 8's went over a small knoll out of sight. The 6 and two antlerless deer stayed in range of him. Now he was able to keep his composure until the one 8 came into range. As soon as the 8 got in range he took the shot. He made a decent shot and the 8 ran about 80 yards and piled up. Thing was this was the very small 8 pointer. But, he says in his mind an 8 is an 8. I'm sure he really wanted the bigger 8 but kinda got excited at the first 8 point he'd had in range this fall.

I am very composed until I pull the trigger. After that I do tend to lose it somewhat. But, I always try to see where my arrow hits and watch the deer until it is out of sight. I always mentally mark where the deer was last seen and go directly to that spot when I start to trail the deer.

Like I said some of us tend to let every little detail sink in others see a big picture.

Sorry, you lost the buck. But, shame on your buddy for taking a shot that was questionable. The game we hunt deserves better than that.