I am just sick

[nemobowhunter]

:-[Sat evening I was about to take a doe when I heard the leaves rustle off to my left,so I turned and looked over my left shoulder and saw the biggest buck that I have ever seen on my farm making a scrape about 75 yards away.He was easily a 145 in. to150in. class buck.He worked his way down the trail and stopped broadside at 19 yards.My top pin is set dead on at 23 yds. so I held just behind his elbow and let the arrow fly.There was a loud thwack and he did a 180 and disappeared in the woods.I only waited about 15 minutes to go look where he was standing for blood and my arrow because it was starting to get dark fast.A quick look revealed neither so I headed out of the woods and met up with my buddy.We decided to wait til first thing Sun. morning to look for him--- bad call cause it started raining at 03:30 this morning.(The weather forcast was calling for rain on Sun. evening)We went out at first light and started to look for whatever sign we could find.Four and a half hours later and having walked a grid twice in the thicket that I last saw him going into we found nothing.No arrow,blood ,or hair NOTHING.We went back to my stand and replayed the shot. We looked for another 30 minutes for the arrow just in case I missed and still no arrow.I did not see the arrow sticking out him after the shot but they are pretty hard to see in low light anyway( I shoot a/c/c 's and they are black w/burnt orange and white veins)So we decided to give up and head home.The first thing that I did when I got home was go out and shoot the bow to make sure that it was still sighted in.Thats when it hit me ---I havent shot this bow with the new Scott little bitty goose release that I bought last week.I shot 3 arrows and all three hit about 8 inches high at 23 yards so I tried my Winn freeflight and it was dead on.That means my shot was about 9 inches high and probably missed the vitals and hit above the spine.
My question is this.Does using a different release usually change the poi?

[Greg Krause]

Changing releases won't necessarily change you POI but it may change your anchor. If you use a kisser and a peep you may be able to use different ones without noticing a change. I can use my fathers winn and my true fire without a change even though the actual hand placement of my release hand has changed. My kisser anchor remains the same.
The bottom line is everybody and every set-up is different and you need to check to be sure.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. With any luck he's fine, not counting a sore spot and you'll have another crack at him soon.

[smj]

I have two Carter releases. I can shoot one, then pick up the other and I will hit two different spots. If both releases let the arrow go the same, they will probably shoot the same, provided that your release point is not changed by going from one to the other. Some releases sit higher in the hand, making the distance from your eye to your nock different distances. In the case of my releases, they have different release actions: One rotates out of the way, the other is more like a half caliper release. So, yes, changing releases can change your point of impact by a fair amount. Either by a change of release action, or by altering your anchor point, or by changing the distance from your eye to your arrow nock at full draw - even if you have the same anchor point.

Sorry to hear about this! You might try a gound stalk, if you have access to the adjacent properties... If not disturbed, he might not be more than a quater mile from where you hit him, just hanging out getting healed up. Never know, you might come up on him if you go easy... That's what I did on the doe I hit high in Nebraska - maybe I just got lucky? Some times luck is a good thing!

[nemobowhunter]

Thanks for the advice.I'll log this in the lessons learned as I'm kind of new at this game.I have just started bowhunting again after a 25 year hiatus.My last bow was a Browning Compound Cobra that I bought new when I was still in high school.Quite an antique by todays standards but at the time it was cutting edge stuff.

[vonottoexperience]

Anytime you change Anything you have to check. My buddy used a facemask for the first time this weekend and ended up with a wounded deer {Diff. anchor}