The Miss That Haunts You?

[Hycntryhtr]

My first archery elk hunt, I had a group of cows at 35 yds. I held on her shoulder cut the shot, super confident and stuck her in the neck, I spent the next day trying to finish it, never could seal the deal. The next year I called a 340" bull and 15 cows in to 65yds. After the year before I started shooting non stop, 500 arrows a,week mostly all at 80 to 120 yds. 65 was a chip shot on a bull I thought, held a little low since I was at 10,000 ft and shooting down hill. I cut the shot, and cut hair. I wanted to puke, this was my last 2 yrs of elk hunting. Last sept I finally sealed the deal on a decent 5x5. The ones you miss or wound stick with you more than the ones you harvest it seems like. But if we killed all we shot at, what would we talk about? Best of luck this fall guys, shoot straight!

 

[badgerbob]

Ugggg...I wondered when this topic would come up! Ha ha.

P.S.S. I just remembered, last year I "missed" a 350 class bull in CO at 15 yards in thick oak brush with a muzzleloader because the primer had fallen out while hunting that morning. Killed my bull the following morning with my wife which made up for it.

Believe it or not I have made a few shots

How on earth did you use your wife to kill a bull. If I used mine, I would have got the whole herd..!

 

[NE69]

Whitetail with a bow from the ground, I was standing in front of a cedar tree and waiting for some deer to come down the trail in some thick cover. Several does walked across at 25 yards. Perfect double lung on one and I watched her go down after 50 yards. I waited and in 5 minutes the buck followed the same path. With a second tag I decided to fill both without ever moving my feet. I was at full draw when he stopped and looked in my direction and he was standing in exact tracks of the doe. On release he jumped the string and I hit him in center of joint on his back leg breaking it. With some snow patches here and there, it was late season, I tracked him for 4 miles up the river. Never could get another arrow in him. 25 years ago and still hate the feeling.
First year bow hunting elk in Colorado flat tops solo about 1980. I was in a tree over a pond listening to bugles heading my way for a couple hours. Daylight was going fast so I finally got out of the tree to go get him. Soon as I hit the ground I looked up and there was a spike 20 yards away looking at me. He was on the dam and I was below it. At release he was over the dam and right through the middle of the pond. Shot right over his back. Needed to stay in the tree stand for 20 seconds more. Lesson learned the hard way again.
Same trip one morning I watched 5 bulls coming across an opening feeding slowly. I was in the thick timber right where they were headed. I had all 5 at 10 to 15 yards with no shot at vitals. At full draw I see one of them wrinkle his nose back an that was the end of it. It was really tough for a flat lander to head to the mountains and figure these elk out. Took me a few more years and it all started making sense of their habits. Hunt them like whitetails and you will fail badly, at least I did.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

How on earth did you use your wife to kill a bull. If I used mine, I would have got the whole herd..!

Well if you ever got the opportunity to see her shoot, you would know the answer to that question

 

[CrimsonArrow]

November 11th, 2013, bowhunting Kansas whitetail. Super windy and I had my ladder stand in a small Osage tree. It had rained, and with 30-40mph winds, a 150" 8 point suddenly appeared in the open 20 yards downwind. He was nervous, but I was able to get drawn and turned him at 35 yards. Even in the wind, my pin hovered in his vitals, and I released. At that precise moment, the wind at my back abated, and the tree bucked back and the shot was a foot over his back. That's the biggest whitetail I've ever drawn on.

 

[25contender]

Not a bad or missed shot but a missed opportunity. About ten years ago while Archery hunting the Missouri Breaks, I passed up a 50yd shot on the biggest bull I have ever seen even to this day. I hunted him for two more weeks and could never get within a hundred yards again. Till this day I still kick myself for not taking that shot!!

 

[BOHNTR]

1999 I was bowhunting the famous Kaibab plateau of Northern Arizona. Still hunted up a small finger ridge and came upon a GIANT non-typical mule deer feeding. I shot finger and a berger button rest then.......which unknown to me the button cap was broken. I missed him broadside at 40 yards. I had a photograph of the buck and a local found his sheds on the winter range. His sheds measured 252" (providing his inside spread was the length of his shortest main beam). That miss still haunts me today. Now I check my equipment ALL the time.

 

[WY ME]

1986 - Missed an absolutely enormous caribou in the Bananza Hills of Alaska. I was too lazy to re-check my gun after 3 bush flights. It was off by a foot. My fault.
1994 - Missed a walking bighorn in the Gros Ventre mtns of WY. Should have shot him sometime during the 1 1/2 hours I watched him in his bed. Bad decision. This was followed by 20 years of "sheepmares".

 

[Bonecollector]

1995- Missed opportunity; These opportunities make us work harder and smarter.
Redemption found in 1996 as she said YES. ;-)

 

[hardstalk]

2012. It was a cold, snowy morning. I had been hunting the same bowl for the same buck for 5 days. I would get a glimpse just at daybreak and just at dark. It is a very difficult unit to draw. And I happened to get laid off just before season started. So my hunt for work would not resume until I punched my tag. Any way, finally on the last day we got some snow over the evening hours. Just an inch or two. Which was enough to keep the buck I was after out just long enough for me to get a great setup and let one rip. He was a heavy 180+ mature, white faced buck. The first shot railed him. Ass over tea kettle he went for about 180 yards and then bedded up under a tall sage. The fog was rolling in pretty thick at this point, so I ranged again this time he was about 480 yards out. I assumed he was as good as dead, but err on the side of caution I asked my partner to check wind so I could send another bullet into him. He advised me to let the fog come and go and the buck will be there once it clears. In a haste I sent another round. I didn't want to take any chances on my biggest buck to date, in a great unit. The bullet landed just below his vitals. In the dirt. This commotion was enough to send the buck into full panic mode.. He jumped up and headed straight into the fog. The fog was so thick we lost him about 5 yards in. We stayed put and let the fog roll in and out and let the sun start shining bright. The hike to where he originally bedded was pretty gnarly. Took us about 45 minutes. By the time we got there the snow that had been misting the ground was long gone. We could see the loose dirt that he rolled in after the first shot connected. But no blood. The next seven hours was spent searching every nook and cranny for a buck that was as good as dead until I had to send another round to anchor him. A lot of lessons learned that season. Every time someone says the word "deer" those heartbreaking hours flash in my mind like it just happened.

 

[ivorytip]

last fall, was set up perfect, my caller was set up perfect. had a monster bull 340(low est) that came out screaming and pissing all over the place, 40 30 20.... 18 yrds from me!!!!! I failed to be pulled back when he came into the open and his eyes were on my hiding spot the entire time. as soon as he turned his head I pulled back and stood up but he was already at full speed into the timber line. my caller thought I had shot him and came out ready for high fives. that was the longest hike back to camp that night. still have nightmare over it, but wow was it awesome!!

 

[ColoradoV]

Biggest one was involved in was 1985 Colorado Mule deer missed 8 times off hand the deer was running starting at about 150 ending at 300++yds. Man to have that chance. Misses pry due to age. Huge, giant, the biggest typical mule deer I have ever seen.. Pushing 38" or more wide and my uncle missed him once the next day the buck would have been up over 200" IMO. My uncle also believes it was the biggest typical deer he has ever seen.

Did end up with a nice consolation place prize though as while we were looking for the big buck this guy over 32" kicker to kicker has to be over 200" and is one well no one can pass up no matter how big of a buck is in the area. Still would have liked to see how wide that typical was as I believe he was getting close to 40"

 

[Fatrascal]

All great stories. fatrascal.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

There is one other "Miss" that "haunts me". I will not go into the story, other than it would have been wise to have listened to my parents advice back in the 1980's.

But in 2010 I was very blessed with my best friend and wife. She is truly awesome.

 

[Hitch]

I went back to a canyon near the Snake river where I had jumped a nice buck a few days earlier. Got set up on a ridge and spied a hunter heading directly for the buck's hangout. After just a few minutes I heard a shot and figured 'thats that' ,another minute and two more shots. "He got away' I thought and within seconds I could see him running up the opposite ridge line. A long shot,still, for me but ridiculous running. I watched ,him, nice four point , and just as he reached the point directly across the draw and I was thinking 'no chance this time ' maybe he wont leave the area just run off for a while , then the miracle came.
About 300 yards out directly across the draw the four point turned 90 degrees . By now he slowed to a healthy trot and was coming my direction. The brush was heavy in the draw and I lost sight but he was making all kinds of racket coming through. I stood up but still could'nt see him and sat back down. I chambered a round. The noise got louder. I got to one knee expecting a quick chance as he thumped by and the noise suddenly stopped.
He stood broadside less than 15 feet away. I could almost see my reflection in his eyes and without bothering to aim I squeezed the trigger on my Weatherby '06. He looked at me impatiently. I squeezed again. Once more as he trotted off. I've never been able to repeat the problem I reckon the most likely cause was a slightly bent bullet tip. Two rounds had clogged when I had worked the action earlier.

H

 

[CrossCreeks]

1996 Colorado, high up on the Grand Mesa. blowing snow big 4x4 Mule Deer, 100 yards, Looked like a Hereford bull his neck was so big. One shot missed. I later found the scope was the problem ( not a alibi but the truth) . Still wonder what he would look like on my wall.

 

[watman]

2014 South Africa, shot a nice warthog, trouble is I flinched and pulled the shot either low or back. Spent the next few hours trailing blood spots over and around rocky terrain with no luck. Especially painful for those of you who don't know over there blood means you pay the trophy fee anyway. I ended up coming home without a pig.


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[Colorado Cowboy]

A couple come to mind....

2002 here in SW Colorado elk hunting, bull rifle tag. I had had a total knee replacement about 4 months before the season and was still not getting around all that well. 5 of us were hunting NF near home. I sat on a pretty decent canyon while my buddies worked the upper end where it ended in a huge Quakkie grove. A movement across the canyon caught my eye and a nice 6 x 6 bull (probably 320 or so) was making his escape down the canyon. I cow called once and he stopped and I shot at about 250 yards. He went down and started thrashing around. Then everything was very quiet. My buddies showed up about 20 mins later and we started looking. Found a pool of blood and nothing else. We looked for 2 days and never did find him. Only elk I have ever lost, still makes me mad to think about it!!!

The shot I didn't take.

Hunting deer in California's High Sierras in a wilderness area. I980..... There is a basin just above timberline that I hunted every year. I have killed probably 20 bucks in it in 40 years hunting there. I setup right at daylight after hiking/climbing for 2 hours in the dark. I didn't see any deer at first. Finally I spotted a huge rack of horns moving, looked like he was shaking off flies. There was a buck bedded down and all I could see was his head. He was 30"s wide minimum. I waited for him to get up so I could get a shot at him, distance was 200 yds. Finally after 45 minutes he jumped up and took off straight up the mountain, all I could see was his azz and horns.I had the dot in my scope on his bung hole, but just couldn't do it. He must have got wiff of me. I can still see him and that enormous rack.

 

[Finsandtines]

Not really a miss, but may as well have been. 2013, southeast Ohio, last day of 7 day hunt. Saw a brute coming down a logging rd. drew the bow and had him dead to rights at 30 yds. I stopped him, released, and hit him...really high! Found 2 little drops of blood. Still not sure if it was because he was every bit of 160-170 or just rushed the shot, or both. Still have nightmares to say the least.....this was almost 2 months after I lost a fletching on my arrow 15 yds into a 20 yd shot at a 200 or so pound sow opening day of archery.

I did end up with a 23" wide 7 point and a 125 lb hog on the same day as both of those!