I have last season, its been haunting me I can still see it in slowmo. I had been getting pics of good bucks fighting in the early morning so on this particular chilly December morning I snuck in extra early and sat. Bout 20 mins later and an hour til light I had deer all over me just couldn't make them out. Well when light started to come I started to be able to see a buck in the distance making his way to me I stood up grabbed my bow and waited on this 120 + 8 pt to make his way to me. He was on a doe and the doe was taking her time feeding. Fast forward like 45 min there he is 20 yds from my stand clueless I drew back settled the pin and released the arrow went over his back and into the stump behind him. He ran away briefly but the doe stayed so he circled back around by this point the doe is bedded down pretty much right next to my tree. What does the buck do now? Walks up from my rear between 2 lanes and beds down for 40 mins the doe eventually got up and walked away from me dragging the buck with her. I was actually able to grunt him back inside 50 yds twice but he didn't see another buck so he would lose interest. Here some pics from that hunt. Buck is in between brush bedded center of pic, does bottom right and top left Close up of buck Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
That's rough there... I have never missed a buck, but I hit one high and back 4 years ago and never found him. I can still see him running off and knowing I just screwed up. Searched for 17 hours on foot, and another 6 hours on the ATV. No luck...
The only Buck I ever missed was a 8 pointer he came in right as shooting light started to fade and by the time he got within 20 yds it was almost dark I wanted this buck so bad I pull back and let it fly and what do you know the arrow soars over his back and into a brush pile I coulda swore I hit that deer being how close he was but I didn't because I got him on camera so he will be ready in a couple years. Here he is!!! I probably would have been better off not taking that shot and just let him walk. Because I spooked him so bad I was on the ground hunting out of my camo seat.
I missed one and wounded one. I missed an old warrior, mid November I crawled into the center of my swamp, something I do once or twice a season when everything is perfect. About an hour before dark I see a buck exiting the swamp away from me about 80 yards out, throw two grunts at him with no response. About a half hour later here he comes, bee line right to me. Problem is he comes straight on directly under me, when under me I try to turn in hopes of a shot after passing my tree, he spooks ten yards and turns broadside, I rush the shot and the bottom limb hits the rail on my stand and sends the arrow into the ground at his feet. He spooks then walks back through at 30 yards not understanding whats going on. Decided he won this battle and passed on the second shot. Shot him the following year in a tree about 60 yards away as a 6+ year old. Never grew much for head gear! The season prior I got into the edge of a bedding area during the rut, a seemingly hot doe brought a 162" buck out with two other small bucks in late October. They worked towards me and I took a 32 yards shot and hit him high and back. No blood for first 100 yards, then decent blood for about the second 100 yards before clotting up. Searched for a day and a half, nothing. Next weekend my neighbor shot him chasing does showing no affect of the wound. Cant beat yourself up over it, just learn and move on.
Nice buck and cool camo in that pic. Indeed we all miss oru mark sometimes whether target shooting or in the field but we learn from it and grow into better hunters. Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
During the 2010 season I missed the biggest buck that I have ever seen. The night before a friend sat and saw a tall, white tined rack buck that instantly became known as Picket Fence. He had the buck within 30 yards but never had a shot. The next morning I sat in a stand by some apple trees that was about 70 yards from my friend's stand. At about 7:30 am he came up and gave me a perfect slightly quartering away shot. When I shot, I lost the flight of the arrow, so I don't know if I missed high or low, but I never found my arrow or any sign that I hit the buck, so it was a complete miss. Here is a pic of the buck from a few days later.
A few years back I was slipping into a stand after having overslept and as I was creeping up the field edge I look to my left and see two 150 class 10 pointers runnin up the slough through the middle of the field right at me. They were closin in quick so I drew and as I did they both stopped dead with the front buck turning broadside, I quickly settled my 30yd pin and let her fly but in my haste I had misjudge the yardage and my arrow flew harmlessly into the dirt below him. I replayed that shot in my head for weeks, I was thankful that it was a clean miss and my buddy ended up killin the deer during rifle season.
A few years ago I was sitting in my stand. It was a nice November morning, sun was warming the air and I had been there for about 5 hours and seen only squirrels and birds. I hung my bow and grabbed my pack, started digging for a snicker bar started to unwrap it when I saw a deer looking at me, my 20 yard ribbon was touching his antler. Long story short I put the bag down put the snicker in my mouth grabbed my bow, managed to come to full draw, all without spooking him or even really having alerted him. It took like 6 hours, well maybe 2 minutes but I moved so slow it felt like 6 hours. I was so excited he didn't just bolt that I lundged with my bow as I shot and the arrow stuck in the tree just below his belly. I swear he laughed out load at me as he scampered off. He must have told his buddies how bad of a shot I was because for the next couple days a few other bucks came by "to make fun of me" but I had already decided I would wait for him again. I ended up shooting a mature doe around Christmas and never had a chance at him again. CG
Yup. Last Halloween I flinched and sent one about 2" over this guys back. Fast forward to a week later, I got a second chance. I hit straight on with the ridge of his shoulder, got about 1.5-2" of penetration. Spent the rest of that day and the next searching. Found nothing. Just to rub it in, he stepped out in front of the Lodge a couple weeks later, no worse for wear. It's been haunting me ever since...
It's hard to shake fitz...I think the only thing that will get it off my mind is sealing the deal this up coming season. Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Two seasons ago I missed or actually cut the skin just under a decent 8 for here, cut enough muscle to get lots of blood. I looked for days to no avail. Fast forward to rifle season my cousin sends me a text he shot an 8 pt, sent me a picture...it was him. There was a healed cut just back from his shoulder crease. Good to at least know he wasn't rotting somewhere.
Wow!!! Hunting can be hard on a guy that's for sure. As for myself I've never missed a buck but have wounded the last 2 bucks I've shot at. In 2009 I wounded this guy (4.5 year old at the time). Hit him In the shoulder blade. He got shot a year later by a gun hunter. In 2011 I wounded this guy (5.5 year old). He dropped as I reaslesed my arrow. Hit him In the spine. He's still alive as far as I know.
Yes I've missed quite a few deer over the years, some bucks and some does. Biggest thing you can do is learn from your mistakes and try to figure out what caused it to happen. The last buck I missed I simply misjudged the distance, was the last year I hunted without a range finder. Sometimes shooting over a deer is the result of not bending at the waist when up in a tree, along with misjudged distances, hitting your arm with the string, canting your bow, etc.. If it were easy....everyone including crack heads would do it!!
Very good points Chuck in my case I Prolly had this deer @ or just inside 20 yds, but in this case I simply misjudged the yardage I aimed between 20-30 thinking it was a 25 yard shot. Left to right arrow placement was perfect. Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Yeah, I've missed a couple since I started hunting. Each miss was due to misjudging the distance. Apparently I'm not good at that. I now use a range finder and have had much more success. I got into the stand early one morning and could hear deer moving around in the beans. It sounded like a buck was chasing a doe, so I grunted a couple times in his direction. That buck went crazy and you could hear him running around in the beans until he ran out, but not in my directions. I gave it about 15 minutes and I hit the grunt call again. It wasn't 30 seconds when that buck busted through the hedge row heading my way. He was walking all stiff and stepping very heavy, looking for the buck that grunted at him. He walked past a tree that I knew was twenty yards and for some reason that distance locked in my head. He walked past, stepped down in a little oxbow ditch off the main creek. I gave him a little, "Mehh" and he stopped, I settled my 20 yard pin fairly low in the chest cavity and released my arrow. The buck jumped, ran about 20 yards or so away and looked back. He then just started walking away. I had no idea if I had hit him or not. After a half hour or so, I got down and retrieved my arrow only to find white under belly hair stuck in the rage broadhead. Not a speck of blood. I had shot just under the heart by a matter of a few inches. After I got to looking at where he was standing and looking at my stand, I realized that I had miss judged the distance. He was standing a about 32 yards when I released the arrow. He had been walking diagonally away from me and I hadn't realized it. That buck would have easily went over 130 and is still bigger than any buck I've ever killed.
When I first started bowhunting here in NC back in 2005, I had an encounter with a giant 140 inch 8 point. The is a PIG here in NC. Well around 5:30PM, he came in with a spike right behind 5 turkeys. A big doe came in behind me and the doe and spike started munching on corn. This was my friend's "Honey Hole" and he told me to climb the tree to my right, but I didn't think it had enough cover, so I moved to another tree. Sure enough he came in and stopped under a big branch 15 yards in front of me. If I had stayed in the first tree, it was a 12 yard broadside shot! He was nervous and knew something wasn't right. He took two steps in and stopped and turned around I drew back; shaking like a leaf, forgot which eye to close and let the arrow fly. Right under his belly. The doe blew and he ran right under my tree and hauled tail out of sight. It has haunted me to this day. I replay it over and over. I don't think I will ever forget it. I just learned from my mistake and chalked it up as part of hunting.
Yes, and it's on video. http://www.bowhunting.com/videos/season-2--2011/mature-illinois-buck-shot--2008_281
Never missed a buck ... YET ... but I did lose a dandy about 5 years ago on a shot I thought for sure was gonna result in him taking a ride in the back of my truck. That haunts me more than had I missed him actually. I've only missed one deer with a bow ... a sassy old doe. There's a comical story behind that, but let's just say that was my first experience seeing just how quickly a deer can get out of the way of an arrow when "jumping the string"! I also was at full draw on what would easily be my biggest buck to date about 8 years ago @ 15 yards—a massive double-droptine slammer ... never even let the string go! Same thing happened two years ago, 160+ buck came in "almost" exactly as you'd draw it up. Stopped 24 yards away, with nothing but a Texas heart shot available. I stayed at full draw for what seemed like forever waiting for him to turn, but he ended up winding me and the gig was up. I figure eventually, a miss is bound to happen, but I'll take a clean miss over wounding one that I can't recover anyway personally.
Yes I have missed bucks especially early in my hunting career. I think I missed three bucks when I was 15 in two days all easy shots. Hard to believe that was 33 years ago. I missed a solid 180 inch deer in Iowa( Friend found the sheds) I actually threw up when I was in my stand the next morning. Literally puked at 18 feet. Remember it like it was yesterday.
I missed one last year. He came into my rattle and stopped broadside at my 20 yard mark but there was a branch in the way. I was at full draw and he only needed to take two more steps. He stood long enough that I let my bow down and 30 seconds later he did a U-turn to go back the way he came from. I stopped him and put my 20 yard pin on his heart. He had moved back about 6 yards when he turned around and I shot under him. He's still there so maybe this year.
