“If You Can’t Shoot Any Better, You Shouldn’t Be Hunting” – Texas Bull Rider Slams Bowhunter After Finding Wounded Deer In The River

It's not a good thing when someone else finds your deer... Bow season is in full swing in Texas, as well as in many other places around the country, and many hunters are in their stands hoping to take home a trophy buck. Bowhunting generally requires more skill, more practice, and a higher level of accuracy than hunting with a rifle or shotgun, so hunters have to be extremely confident with the shot they take to get a deer down. A South Texas hunter, however, took a shot that many would consider unethical, leaving an injured deer on the run. One would hope that the man or woman who took this shot chased after the deer, hoping to finish what they started, but this deer got away before they could find it. A Texas bull rider found the wounded deer swimming through the river and is now going viral for sharing a video of the animal swimming with the arrow sticking out of its face. Trent Nugent, a PBR rider, found the deer in the Angelina River while he was fishing. Nugent shared some words about the poor shot: " Whoever headshot a deer with a bow on the Angelina River in between Jasper and Zavala … I found it. If you can’t shoot any better than that, you shouldn’t be hunting at all. I did try and catch it and pull the arrow out but I couldn’t get to it fast enough." As he approaches the deer, viewers can see that the arrow looks like it grazed the deer's cheek, just missing the ear and eye, and came to rest between its shoulders. The angle of the arrow's entrance on the body would seem to indicate that the hunter missed its mark pretty bad. Of course, we don't know if the hunter attempted a front-facing shot, or if the deer moved, but either way, it's hard to see how this was ever going to be an ethical shot. Nugent turns his boat in front of the animal, hoping it will stop so that he can retrieve the arrow from it and help it. However, the deer makes a quick 180-degree turn and swims the other way, avoiding the human. Those in the comments agreed with Nugent's caption that a frontal shot with a bow is never a good call. As many bow hunters opt for a broadside shot or a quartering-away shot, which allows for more forgiveness, the angle presents a good view of the heart and lungs, making the shot fatal, and the deer is less likely to notice you as you draw your bow from this angle. Getting an angle from the side gives you the target zone of a cookie sheet versus a headshot, which has you aiming at something the size of a baseball. You're more likely to hit a cookie sheet size target. Luckily, the shot doesn't appear to be very deep, but hopefully, someone will be able to help this deer before the arrow becomes a bigger problem. Infection, the inability to properly eat and evade predators, are all going to be a issue for this deer until it gets some help.