Biggest Hunting Mistakes

[Hilltop]

What is your biggest hunting mistake that you feel someone else can learn from? I think I have learned more from my mistakes through the years than I have from anywhere else.

My biggest mistake was my second elk hunt ever. I was 16 years old. I took a shot at a young bull elk that I was sure missed. Minutes later I shot another elk out of the same heard. Friends came- we were excited. We packed out the elk I shot and never returned to the area. Months later I replayed the scene in my mind over and over. I had a feeling I had hit the first bull. When spring came, I returned to confirm what had been eating at me all winter. 100 yards from where I had shot I found the skeleton of the young bull... It was a hard lesson for me at the time but I promise I have never taken a shot that wasn't investigated since.

 

[gypsumreaper]

Last year I had 2 bulls feed right in front if me I was sure it was a 40 yard shot, didn't bother ranging it cause it happened so quick, drew back and shot hit that bull way way high like backstrap high, I came in for a second shot after the bull went 30 yards I didn't think I hit him on the first shot my second shot knicked a branch, the bull went 30 yards and stopped again so I backed out, never found him dead but he was alive 2 weeks later just fine, my advice no matter range it, I never thought ever that I would have a bull feed that close 20 yards was the shot, I wish I woulda taken that 10 seconds and ranged it I woulda prolly had a dead bull, but lesson learned


If you get meat from the store then dont criticize me for having the courage to go out and kill my own meat

 

[Musket Man]

My biggest mistake was not taking my bolt all the way apart and cleaning it before I went hunting when it was real cold. I got 3 shots off out of IDK how many. To make matters worse I completely misjudged the wind and hit an elk to far back with the first 2 before i figured out the wind was not doing what i thought it was doing. Got 1 more to go off that i think hit him in the front leg. Finally took the bolt out and held it under my coat until he staggered by at under 200 yards. Put the bolt back in and couldnt get a shot off for nothing. Backed out to give him some time and some other hunters claimed him. Bottom line, always take your bolt apart and clean and dry lube it!

 

[Ikeepitcold]

I have forgot to bring bullets on an out of state hunt. I couldn't find any of the same brand and weight that my scope was set up for. I ended up getting the same weight but differant brand. It worked out since I never shot one bullet.

 

[packmule]

I found a deer feeding in a field behind my parent's house when I was 15. Told my bro to grab a gun and come look at it. He ended up shooting it and I never really got a good look at it. 23 3/4" wide 8pt with split G2 (9pt) that grossed in the low 160s. Biggest buck to come out of the region that year.

 

[velvetfvr]

I have several. One was I need to draw and then stop the animal, not try and stop them while you are drawing your bow.

Trust landmarks, cost me a shot at a very nice velvet four point because I didn't think I was that close.


Be ready when walking into a draw, spooked a buck at 35 yards because I was dinking around not paying attention.

Always pre range landmarks or range the animal. Shot a buck right through the top of his back because I second guessed the yardage.

Not being ready for the animal to walk out from behind a bush on the side you didn't want. Also Be proficient in yardage guessing, if I would have, I would have had a perfect 45 yard broadside shot.

Not leaving the shotgun loaded while I load up to leave the blind. I guarantee ducks and geese will fly by and land while packing up. Don't unload the gun until you are walking back to the vehicle or house.

I will add more as I remember them

 

[packmule]

Velvet reminded me of one: If a buck is hot on a doe and pauses for a second out past 50yds, don't let that arrow fly. That was the longest tracking job, through the nastiest, thickest mess imaginable, I've ever had to do.

 

[packer58]

I have several. One was I need to draw and then stop the animal, not try and stop them while you are drawing your bow.

Trust landmarks, cost me a shot at a very nice velvet four point because I didn't think I was that close.


Be ready when walking into a draw, spooked a buck at 35 yards because I was dinking around not paying attention.

Always pre range landmarks or range the animal. Shot a buck right through the top of his back because I second guessed the yardage.

Not being ready for the animal to walk out from behind a bush on the side you didn't want. Also Be proficient in yardage guessing, if I would have, I would have had a perfect 45 yard broadside shot.

Not leaving the shotgun loaded while I load up to leave the blind. I guarantee ducks and geese will fly by and land while packing up. Don't unload the gun until you are walking back to the vehicle or house.

I will add more as I remember them

At your age the list has only one direction to go, if you know what I mean. At least you recognize that you've done something wrong and are making an effort to not let it happen again. I'll share a few words with you........DON'T SWEAT THE THINGS YOU CAN'T CONTROLL !!!!! Makes life and hunting a whole lot easier.

 

[velvetfvr]

At your age the list has only one direction to go, if you know what I mean. At least you recognize that you've done something wrong and are making an effort to not let it happen again. I'll share a few words with you........DON'T SWEAT THE THINGS YOU CAN'T CONTROLL !!!!! Makes life and hunting a whole lot easier.

Oh I don't. But its funny to me. Especially now after getting my first archery animal and like, wow that's how its suppose to happen lol.

What it shows me is how the little things matter. And how much training and preparation plays into a hunt. And the thing with a lot of those encounters may have caused me to go unsuccessful on this animals, but the adrenaline rush and buck fever after it was awesome. That made the hunt.

Also I am a self taught bowhunter. No one in my family has ever shot a bow yet hunted with one. So naturally I will probably make more mistakes because I just have myself to rely on to make choices.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I've got a couple....

First one was I first moved to Colorado. I was here a couple of years and starting to learn the area pretty good. A group of us were 1st season elk hunting near home, driving out each morning. I had had recent surgery on my abdomen and really couldn't do a lot of walking. My partners were going up a mountain to some big aspen groves and I decided to sit on a small canyon coming from that area. I'd been there about 1/2 hour when I saw 5 cows and a couple of calves moving down the opposite side. Then a nice 6x6 bull followed them. I was sitting and shot at him (about a 200 yd shot) and down he went. I sat there and in about 10 mins one of my pards showed up. we decided to go get him. As we got across the canyon and about 20 yards from where he went down, he got up and took off. We found a big pool of blood and followed it for several hundred yard and lost it. 4 of us spent all day and part of the next looking to no avail. Big mistake not sitting where I shot from and directing my pard to the bull. When he got up I would have had another shot at him.

The other was not doing enough research before selecting an area and outfitter for a guided wilderness elk hunt. Eastman's MRS has said the wolves were getting bad near Yellowstone NP, but I wanted to go and did anyway. You guessed it, a blown hunt and a bunch of $$$ down the drain. Do your research, ask lots of questions and then listen to what you hear and learn.

 

[jjenness]

Before I had a gps I went to hike into a new back country area and about 2 miles In I realized I forgot my map. Long story short my partner and I got a little turned around, and I got seriously sick from drinking out of a creek on the way in, and to make things worse every 10 steps we would see a huge pile of griz scat. The next morning we decided to hike back out because we never found the spring that we were going to use for our water supply, and being at almost 11000 feet there weren't many options for water. On the way out after hiking for about 1 1/2 hours I suddenly saw a sign on a tree, and thought to myself no way could there be a sign out where we were. Well the sign had actually grown into the tree from being so old, and it said "Yellowstone National Park Wilderness Boundary". I couldn't believe we had accidentally crossed the park border and I am glad we never actually got a chance to hunt. Lastly on the hike out we did run into a young griz that came in silently and we didn't notice him until he was at about 20 yards, thankfully he ran off, but not before I scat a little myself. Moral of the story, don't forget your map, or gps now, when going into new country.

 

[Retterath]

Got my new Leica 1600 rangefinder took it out of the box and just figured everything was set on it. Well it wasn't. Had a left over doe tag and luckily it was some huge buck cause I missed it twice because my rangefinder was set in meters not yards. Probably you wouldn't think it would be a huge deal but at 500 yards it makes a difference. 500 meters comes out to be about 547 yards. So double check your rangefinder if u get a new one to see if it's in meters or yards.

 

[johnsd16]

Never pass up a high percentage shot opportunity on a mature buck that you want to take thinking "he will come back by, or he'll keep feeding this way". We were starting a drive and I was a poster. It is a mile long drive along a river, thick betting areas that feather out into fallow/pasture. I had just gotten to my posting spot while the drivers were probably still driving on the road to the other end of the push and I saw a buck chase a doe out of the woods right out into the meadow I was covering. I was resting comfortably with a good rifle on a sturdy sapling, no wind, and had my crosshairs on that bucks chest at about 150 yds. He was a mature 5x5 or better with some trash, probably mid 130s or better. He poked around with that doe in that field for 10-15 seconds and was still for a fair bit of it. I hesitated for a multitude of reasons, none of which involved an unsafe or unethical/low percentage shot. One thing was the thought that "he's trapped in this drive" which was being conducted by a bunch of us that are pretty darn good at driving this particular piece. So, he pushed that doe and he chased her back into the thick stuff.

So, he was still in the push and we pushed out a pile of deer. I was passing and passing thinking he would come out my way, where he had just been. As the drivers approached there was only 10 yds or so of woods left before they hit the meadow where the posters were about 70 yds out. 15 or so deer had come out, one small buck and a couple does were down, and darn if that big old boy didn't wait in the far corner of the woods til the driver about stepped on him and bolted out the corner but out the back at the same time, right towards the road. No shot. I had that deer dead to rights and never took my safety off. If I can see a deer is legal, mature and possibly within the goals I have for the caliber of animal I'm after, and he's up on his feet with any possibility of disappearing I shoot. If there is ground shrink, I have no one to blame but myself. For someone that has limited time to hunt and hasn't killed many "trophy" caliber animals, that's a lot easier to swallow than realizing it was a shooter while you get a final glimpse as they bounce out of sight.

 

[QuazyQuinton]

1. Being in a hurry and going too fast
2. Being in a hurry and going too fast
3. Being in a hurry and going too fast
There are a few others, but that covers 95% of them.
QQ

 

[CrossCreeks]

Not my worse but could have been, this year ML for deer I was climbing from down my 12 ft buddy stand like I have done 100 times before. On the top step threw my ML and pack both over my left shoulder did not take time to lower my gun with the string I had. Was holding on to the pack and sling with my left hand and holding onto the to run with my right. The camo netting around the stand caught a buttion on my military style pants. I let go of the top run and reached down and pull the netting loose, next thing I knew I was laying flat on my back on the ground. It took me a couple of mins. to remember what happened but I walked away with nothing broken and I was only sore for a few days from the 12ft. fall. It scares me to think that I could have ended my hunting career by getting in a hurry and being so careless. I always thought when I hear of people falling from trees stands that they must have done something stupid and that it could never happen to me ! Well it did and have learned my lesson, it can happen to anyone if you get careless and in a hurry.

 

[robsev]

We were deer hunting in western Wyoming a few years back. Driving up a mountain trail while it was snowing big old snow flakes. We came up on a very fresh set of big tracks on the trail so I told my buddies to stop, I wanted to jump out and follow the tracks for just a little ways. I was in a hurry, so no coat or GPS, because of course, I was just going a little ways and I'd be right back. I was keeping my eyes on the tracks and looking ahead for the deer. He apparently knew I was there because all of a sudden there was a set of human tracks, they were mine! The deer had taken me in a complete circle. I decided that was enough because by that time it was snowing so hard it had covered my tracks so I couldn't follow my tracks out. I looked up and all I could see was trees and steep mountainsides and I swear I couldn't have been more than 50 yards from the road. I shot my rifle 3 times in the air hoping my buddies would signal back, but nothing. I waited a while and shot 3 more times, and I heard a horn honk, in totally opposite the direction I was walking. I turned and headed back and was back at the vehicle in just a few minutes. They said they didn't honk the first time because they thought I was shooting at the deer because I was so close. That was a huge lesson for me. Any time I leave a vehicle I grab my backpack, which has everything I need to live for a few days, including mu GPS, and a coat.

 

[robsev]

Another one is making sure your rifle is sighted in. I had previously been hunting elk in the mountains and now was headed out antelope hunting. I spotted easily the biggest antelope I had ever seen and snuck to within 100 yards. I was prone and he was standing broadside eating grass. Chip shot, right? I pulled the trigger and saw dirt fly waaaaay over his back and he was full speed over the hill in a flash. I made a target and set it up, shot a few times and found out my rifle was shooting a foot high at 100 yards. Apparently on my elk hunt I had bumped it hard enough to move it way off. Never saw that buck again.

 

[Engideer]

This year, I missed a chance at a really nice bull. He came in behind a cow as I was scouting out a new area. I had my bow attached to my pack, since I was only "scouting". With all of the movement it took to get my bow in hand, the cow had pinned me down at 25 yards, and the bull was behind a tree at 40. She spooked, and he calmly walked straight away. If I had of been ready, it would have been an easy shot and a short packout. Always be ready for an animal to appear, you may only get one chance.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

I've made so many mistakes I would not even know where to begin. Success doesn't mean you didn't make mistakes, it usually means you didn't quit.

 

[marcusvdk]

I would say if there one mistake that I learned right a way is making sure to have the right clothes and gear for the hunt. I had one really bad hunt where I didnt have the right footwear and clothing and was freezing most of the hunt. It makes the experience miserable and 95 percent of the hunt is the experience

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