The question never asked.


olsplittoe

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This seem's to be the question never asked, but the stories are often told. Who likes to tell the truth about a missed shot? Come on and admit it we've all missed a shot or two, and with every time we tell the story the rack bets bigger, the tusk get longer and the beards drag the ground. But we all call it hunting.

Have a great season!!!

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theres no way i could list all my misses here. it would overload the forums, but i will share a few.:)

the famous tree killing incedent is perhaps the funniest of them all.

a few years ago i was in the tree, waiting for a early bow season doe to come along. low and behold here she comes, walking slowly. i know its exacty 30 yards to where she is going to stop. she stops, and i draw, anchor and im aiming so hard, when the bow goes off, i hear a sharp crack like an arrow that breaks a rib going in and out.

she jumps and starts walking off. im watching her thinking any sec shes going to drop. but she continues to walk and stop, walk and stop and look back at me. im amazed shes not dead because shes walked 70 yards. so im watching here really carefully and she walks out of sight.

im just standing there in amazement, shaking my head as to how she could have walked that far with such a lethal shot. then i look back at where i shot at her looking for the arrow. well i find it. its imbedded in a gray colored sapling not 3 inches wide. :hammer1:

i never even saw the sapling. i center punched it perfect. i guess a couple of inches either way and i would have nailed her. i cut the sapling down and got my arrow back, but it was all messed up. that tree saved thats does life for sure.

there are so many more i have missed. i missed 4 does in one season, when i had target panic. im just glad i didnt hit anything back then. luckily i got over my target panic that same season and got my doe.

Tony

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I rarely own up to a miss unless someone asks me point blank "did you miss?" :D

I don't talk about my misses because it's embarassing to me.

Although, one piece of advice a good buddy told me when I told him I'm not going to post about my miss here on the forum his answer was "why not? It makes you human."

That's always stuck with me and has made missing a little easier to talk about.

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i missed 2 this year one on opening day of bow season, i had a feeder out at 30 yards, and had a doe come in right beside the stand, thinking why let her get to the feeder when shes so close, i tried to lower the 20 yard pin low on her and watched the arrow shoot over her back, got down and she was only 6 yards away from the tree, the 2nd time was opening day of muzzel loader had a 8 point i judged at 150 yards and shot under him he was 186 yards,

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I missed a slob last year...It was early november last year and i hadn't really seen much for the morning, was freezing cold, so i got out of the stand and was heading in to warm up for an hour or so (it was around 9 a.m.)...About half way to the house, which wasn't that far to begin with, i caught movement out of my right eye. I look over and right at what i thought was 35 yds on the dot was a GIANT illinois buck. All i could see was super wide tall antlers coming out from both sides of the tree he was standing behind. Couldnt see his head, just antlers...and a massive body. Not having time to range him, i guessed him at 35, drew back and let her rip...the longer my arrow was airborn the more i knew it wasn't looking good - like slow motion. Arrow dropped right underneath the pump station and he bolted...He was easily in the 160's if not bigger. I later ranged the tree he was behind, and it was 42 yards. His giant body played tricks with my perception causing me to underestimate the distance...Oh well, i am human....

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I missed a doe last year and shot way out behind her. I couldn't believe it! Found out later that my release wasn't opening properly and most likely caused the string to twist. Whose fault was it? Mine! I should have checked the release before the day started. It's the details!! I admit it though, I missed! Missed a four point too because I got the fever and shot too soon! I know better than that but I learned from that experience but when I miss, I miss. It happens. We need to learn from our mistakes and not make excuses!

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A miss is a tough thing to talk about. A few years ago I sent an arrow through a big buck and I blamed it on the " dead space " in the deer. However today I am humble enough to admit that he shook me up real bad and I hurried the shot and it was high. That big buck lived and two years later I am still hunting him. I am not sure if it was pride or denial that made me blame the anatomy. The truth hurts sometimes. I am also human.

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I miss. I've missed alot in over 44 years of hunting. I've killed hundreds of deer though. With the bow and rifle. Mostly does. Mostly whitetails. I'm a real good shot. Better than most. But I miss. Here's one of my latest misses from last winter. Clean arrow and some hair off his back. I posted it too!Mark

hair and arrow.JPG

581c8677e3ecc_hairandarrow.JPG.26ad00ea76bdf761004491687329d149.JPG

Edited by m gardner
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If I didn't have misses I wouldn't hunt. That's what the thrill of bowhunting. If I wanted to hit ever single thing I aimed at I would be gun hunting. Gun hunters don't think I'm bagging on you. Simply we hunted in TX for 5 years..............In 5 years I only had to shoot at 1 deer more than once. 99 percent of the time it was 1 and done.

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I've never missed with a bow...but then again I've only shot at 2 deer....haha I will end up missing alot though I garuntee.

I've missed more than a couple with the rifle though. One was even 15 yards away staring at me broadside. I have no idea how I missed but somehow I did. Luckily it ran about 100 yards and stopped and I didn't miss that time. I'm sure I'll miss many more times.

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Thank you all for posting, and being honest! I to am human and have missed my fare share of shots. Most recent was last season. A small but nice seven point walked right down the side of the wood line where I have taken several other deer. I know the spot very well. Picked a hair and settled the 20 yard pin about an inch high and let loose. I guess the dear dropped cause the shaft slipped right over his back, and the white flag was a fly-n. I only had about 20 mins to think over the shot, when a doe walked down the same trail. No mistakes this time, one doe down! I don't mind a mis now and then after all sucess wouldn't be sucess without a little failure now and then, and thank God we even get the chance.

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Missing!

If you dont miss you are not getting excited about the sport that we all love! I can shoot a doe with my legs shaking like crazy! A buck with horns just makes it a whole lot heavier of a shake! I missed a nice 12 point that I will never forget. He was taken a week later by a hunter on the opposite side of the river from me so I got to hold him in my hands after he claimed him. That really puts a knife in your back to do that. VERY disapointed!

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I missed a small buck the first year I ever bow hunted. Shot under him at 30 yards, he ran in a big circle came back on my left side, I guessed him at 20 yards but he was really 30 and i missed him again. Then the next year I missed a very large buck with a rifle. He came running across the field at about 100 yards. I grunted and stopped him, shot and he ran off into the woods. Never found any hair, blood, and we looked for about 6 hours. Pretty sure I missed. Its just part of it.

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It's been two season ago since I have missed my last deer with my bow, but if you hunt long enough you will miss. Doesn't matter if it's misjudged yardage, twigs, slapping your arm, used wrong pin, the deer jump the string, or just plain out brain farts you will miss.

If your ever in doubt of a hunting buddy at camp, check their quiver. Took one of my hunting buddies two season to tell me that he had missed twice instead of once. He washed the arrows off in a creek to cover his misses in case I checked his quiver.

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Misses are all part of the game and I have had my share. Like Tony I have killed a sapling or two myself. It is funny how the good shots really stick out in your memory, but the misses seem to fade away. I do remember laughing at some though. Also wonder about those hits on game I didn't recover. If you claim to never have missed you have not been bow hunting long enough. :yes:

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  ruttinbuc said:
Misses are all part of the game and I have had my share. Like Tony I have killed a sapling or two myself. It is funny how the good shots really stick out in your memory, but the misses seem to fade away. I do remember laughing at some though. Also wonder about those hits on game I didn't recover. If you claim to never have missed you have not been bow hunting long enough. :yes:

i've drilled a sapling before - but i didn't count it as a miss cause i hit something...And that big ole bruiser was less than 10 yds away...that took a good month to get over...:angel2:

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I guess it was back in the early 90's when I missed a huge buck at 15-20 yards with a shotgun. I had fallen asleep and the buck was running down the hill I was asleep on. The buck nearly ran me over. I woke up, saw the buck aimed at the lungs and shot. The buck just kept running. As I watched him run out of sight I rememberd that the 20 guage I had shot high (very high, almost a foot) and that I had forgot to compensate. Bought a new shotgun after that incident.

That's the only big buck I've ever missed so far.

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In my first year of bowhunting...I missed, then missed some more...on the first Thursday in November back in 1993, I missed four different bucks the same morning (my quiver holds 4 arrows!)...

I have only "missed" once with a rifle (my scope broke on the last shot I fired on the bench...after missing that 120 inch 8 point, I checked back in camp...missed a 3' x 3' target and had to switch to my backup rifle)...

I did "loose" one deer with a muzzleloader, and two more with a bow (though the shot on one was nearly perfect, the broadhead (a 125 grain Bear Super Razorhead) bent double on hitting the ball of the humerous/shoulder...probably 1 in a million chance of happening...but I am now shooting Muzzys)

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