Wounded? Yes or No?

[Hunter-Habib]

Who's call is it on the reaction?

When in doubt, I trust the white hunter and/or the tracker.

 

[Mike B.]

Who's call is it on the reaction?

Not likely to the hunters as recoil won’t allow for you to follow the shot in all instances. A lot of times yes, but if the angle is weird and you shoot, it might bounce a tad bit more off the sticks than normal. So then that’s where the trust and experience of your PH comes into play.

I’ve seen animals fall over to a shot that weren’t even the intended target. I was hunting axis deer with my buddies in May. I was watching a buck that I thought was the main target. The shot went out, and that buck fell off all 4 legs and onto its side and then got back up and ran off. I was telling them to shoot again and they were confused because the target buck was dead. I’ve never experienced that before. I would have bet my life that the buck was hit and would have paid any trophy fee without question and I would have been dead wrong.

I personally prefer the speck of blood as the baseline but I’m never going to be the guy that argues with a wounded animal if my PH tells me he/she believes it was indeed hit and that is where trust of your PH to not screw your over comes into play.

 

[grand veneur]

I was going through some of the old threads and happened to come across a topic that made me think that it would bring about some constructive discussion which is probably due for some renewal. Hopefully, some of the members who are yet to embark on their first safari will find this useful.
The post is simply for educational purposes.

When, in your eyes as a hunter, do you accept that an animal has been wounded as opposed to a clean miss?

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There are many signs of a hit on the place where the game was standing, there is hardly any need to discuss them. The problem is more when I have shot at a game and it flees without giving any signs that it is wounded before or/and while fleeing and you find nothing on the place, how can I rule out that I missed it ?...I cannot do it !

You can maybe rule out a miss if an observer is there and has clearly saw the reaction of the game after the shot and where the bullet hit in the ground, but that is also very uncertain.

If there is the slightest suspicion of wounded game, a search is mandatory by law in our countries. Without any clear signs, a specialist with a dog is called in to help and some of the results of such searches by so-called "missed game" are sometime very surprising. Without a trained dog, something like this is not possible and this practice can hardly not be transferred to Africa. Perhaps you have more wounded game than you think.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

If there is the slightest suspicion of wounded game, a search is mandatory by law in our countries. Without any clear signs, a specialist with a dog is called in to help and some of the results of such searches by so-called "missed game" are sometime very surprising. Without a trained dog, something like this is not possible and this practice can hardly not be transferred to Africa. Perhaps you have more wounded game than you think.

Quality tracking dogs are worth gold. I would estimate that we lose 1 per 100 animals due to our extensive use of dogs down here.
It amazes me when my American hunters tell me that using blood tracking hounds in their state is illegal. I simply cannot see a good argument for such a law.

 

[VertigoBE]

I've been in this position in Africa. On an eland no less. Multiple shots taken, and at least one where I was 100% confident of where my crosshairs were pointing at. (see my recent report).

We never found any blood, leakage, hair or anything. Tracked that bull for 2.5 days, until he finally jumped over a boundary cattle fence and just kept going.

I was willing to pay for it, as I was sure that I must have hit him at least once. And I trusted my PH for him to speak the truth and act accordingly. In the end it was considered a miss, and the eland was not added to the bill. I still do not know what happened those 2.5days.