Thread: Is the Deer Dog Blueprint any good?

Originally Posted by Friwi

The training might not be, but there is a significant difference in shooting an animal on alert with a bow compared with a rifle.

Where a well place rifle shot will lead to a very short distance before an animal that was on alert drops, the same animal shot with an arrow might run twice as far. Since you have a dog , in either case is does not matter too much since the tracking will be done by the dog.
The problem is that an animal on high alert can dodge an arrow but not a bullet. In the best case the arrow misses completely, in the worse case it is a gut shot wound which can lead to hours before the animal dies. Andin quite a few videos you can see that the deer being indicated is already looking toward the dog or the hunter or both before being shot. Ok with a rifle, not ideal with a bow. So if you go with a bow, pick your shots.

That's something else that I'm wondering that you've brought up: is it worth while using a dog whilst hunting with a bow? I know the act of the dog tracking an animal is exactly the same whether you're carrying a rifle or a bow but does the dog make it harder due the range differences between the rifle and the bow?