Nick87
Well-known member
That rangefinder must have been way off?
What's your worst miss? Share your story!
- Thread starter Skynard
- Start date
I never gave much thought to range finders giving different readings. A buddy and I snuck into a group of antelope one time and ranged everything around us for him with mine. I ranged a bush at 57 a buck stood right on it. Zip, arrow goes over his back by a lot. He moves a little and I range him at 52. Again over his back. Happened 4 times before he bolted. His range finder and mine were 7-8 yards difference on a given target. Neither of our range finders are cheap so we both sent them in and they said nothing was wrong with either.
he was slightly behind a hill little hill. His body was above it though (there was a bigger hill behind him so he wasn't skylined). I've since retired the rangefinder.
MarvB
Well-known member
Was a spindly ass 12 y/o kid who got invited to go deer hunt by a buddy and his dad. UO until that point all I had ever shot were squirrels, rabbits, and an occasional grouse with my .22
Took out the old 30-30 Win that was gifted to me by my God father when I had turned 10 along with the half box of shells that came with and called it good to go (I had shot it TWICE. Leading up to this hunt).
Opening day at first light here comes a forky blacktail walking down an open ridge right at me. If I’d waited I probably could have pet the damn thing but given I was such an astute deer hunter I let one fly at probably 125 yds (old style buckhorn open sites) and he just keeps walking. Lever one in and the next shot is at about 75…nope…he breaks into a trot and keeps coming! He finally sees me as I lever the next one in and blows by with me waving the 30-30 like a magic wand. Full on shakes, don’t know where on the sites to align, and then he’s gone!
I sit down on a stump, pissed at myself, pissed at the gun, pissed at the buck, pissed at the world for being round, and then a shot rings out down the ridge below me. (Friends dad).
Couple of minutes later here comes that same forky HAULING ASS right back the same way he had just came down. Blew by me at Mach Ten, hard quartering away angle as I swung the 30 right behind his shoulder…and promptly shot him right in the back of the head
Half hour later when friends dad comes up to help me finish the gutting he says “Damn son you don’t like to waste any meat do you?” Yeah right, I’m quite the shot alright….
50 years later still have that old Winchester, 50 years later still shoot it like shit but now it mainly just gets to miss jackrabbits.
Took out the old 30-30 Win that was gifted to me by my God father when I had turned 10 along with the half box of shells that came with and called it good to go (I had shot it TWICE. Leading up to this hunt).
Opening day at first light here comes a forky blacktail walking down an open ridge right at me. If I’d waited I probably could have pet the damn thing but given I was such an astute deer hunter I let one fly at probably 125 yds (old style buckhorn open sites) and he just keeps walking. Lever one in and the next shot is at about 75…nope…he breaks into a trot and keeps coming! He finally sees me as I lever the next one in and blows by with me waving the 30-30 like a magic wand. Full on shakes, don’t know where on the sites to align, and then he’s gone!
I sit down on a stump, pissed at myself, pissed at the gun, pissed at the buck, pissed at the world for being round, and then a shot rings out down the ridge below me. (Friends dad).
Couple of minutes later here comes that same forky HAULING ASS right back the same way he had just came down. Blew by me at Mach Ten, hard quartering away angle as I swung the 30 right behind his shoulder…and promptly shot him right in the back of the head
Half hour later when friends dad comes up to help me finish the gutting he says “Damn son you don’t like to waste any meat do you?” Yeah right, I’m quite the shot alright….
50 years later still have that old Winchester, 50 years later still shoot it like shit but now it mainly just gets to miss jackrabbits.
Mountain Man
Well-known member
I was 12 years old and it was my first year hunting big game. I was using either my dad’s 270 or 280. On opening morning my dad walked me to my spot and then went on to his spot so we could cover more ground. Within the first 30 minutes I suddenly looked to my left and saw a giant mule deer buck pop out of the oak brush at approximately 200 yards. This was before shooting sticks became a thing and for some reason I decided it would be best for me to rest the stock on my knee as I contorted my body to get the sight picture to line up. It probably didn’t help that I had buck fever bad and was shaking terribly. Needless to say I missed cleanly and the sight of that deer slowly bounding away back over the ridge and out of my life forever is as crisp today as it was 27 years ago. To this day, that is the biggest buck I have ever even seen in the field, let alone while hunting with a tag for that species. Man what I would pay to go back in time to have another crack at that deer!
44hunter45
Well-known member
I have three. One post at time.
Number One:
I learned to keep my mouth shut from this one. I also got a hard lesson in picking a small spot to aim.
A couple of decades ago. I was archery hunting in the thick stuff here. I was the last of the season. It was a dry year and still hunting was hard. I got to an elk highway that was churned up with tracks and it smelled like fresh dirt and bull stink. I set in a cluster of cedars and cow called. I immediately heard branches break and a cow walked in broadside right to left a little below me to under 15 yards. There were more twigs snapping and when she turned her head to look back I came to full draw. Then I heard the weirdest sound I had ever heard. Imagine an elk calf mew, but from a full grown bull. I was still still full draw and a huge 6x6 bull came in and mewing like that. He was also doing what I later learned is a "Glunk". He was the biggest bull I had ever seen. Before or since outside of Jellystone.
He started sniffing the cow's backside and she walked forward, bringing him in to the less than 15 yard slot. With his neck stretched out to sniff the cow, his mains were WAY over his back. I don't know how he didn't hear my heart pounding. I had been a full draw way too long. I found my peep and put the first pin on the bull and released. The arrow went right between his antlers and over his neck! He turned to look at the sound, but he couldn't make me out. He turned back to the cow and I was able to get another arrow on string. As I was pulling to full draw again the wind must have changed. Both the bull and the cow turned inside out and blew though what looked like a solid wall of brush.
I sat down shaking and replayed it in my head a dozen times. His bez tines on both sides were turned way out and hooked up. His whale tail was deep. And he had mass.
As I was heading back to my truck I ran into a local guy I knew with his brother in law and their sons. Like a guy at a car wreck who says too much because of the adrenaline dump, I told them every detail.
Season over, I had a good story but I had to go back to work. Fast forward to the rifle opener. I pass a regionally famous bar on my commute every day. As I was coming home from work on October 10th there was a pickup in front of the bar with a huge elk rack in the back. My bull! Turns out the truck belongs to the FIL of the guys I met in the woods and blabbed my story to that day. The bez tines told the story. It was definitely the same bull. Pics or it didn't happen? No smart phones cameras in those days. I never saw a tape put to it, but the consensus around the truck was that it was at least 360-370.
Moral of this sad story? Pic a SMALL spot in the vitals and laser focus on it. NEVER tell anyone anything that will give away a honey hole.
Number One:
I learned to keep my mouth shut from this one. I also got a hard lesson in picking a small spot to aim.
A couple of decades ago. I was archery hunting in the thick stuff here. I was the last of the season. It was a dry year and still hunting was hard. I got to an elk highway that was churned up with tracks and it smelled like fresh dirt and bull stink. I set in a cluster of cedars and cow called. I immediately heard branches break and a cow walked in broadside right to left a little below me to under 15 yards. There were more twigs snapping and when she turned her head to look back I came to full draw. Then I heard the weirdest sound I had ever heard. Imagine an elk calf mew, but from a full grown bull. I was still still full draw and a huge 6x6 bull came in and mewing like that. He was also doing what I later learned is a "Glunk". He was the biggest bull I had ever seen. Before or since outside of Jellystone.
He started sniffing the cow's backside and she walked forward, bringing him in to the less than 15 yard slot. With his neck stretched out to sniff the cow, his mains were WAY over his back. I don't know how he didn't hear my heart pounding. I had been a full draw way too long. I found my peep and put the first pin on the bull and released. The arrow went right between his antlers and over his neck! He turned to look at the sound, but he couldn't make me out. He turned back to the cow and I was able to get another arrow on string. As I was pulling to full draw again the wind must have changed. Both the bull and the cow turned inside out and blew though what looked like a solid wall of brush.
I sat down shaking and replayed it in my head a dozen times. His bez tines on both sides were turned way out and hooked up. His whale tail was deep. And he had mass.
As I was heading back to my truck I ran into a local guy I knew with his brother in law and their sons. Like a guy at a car wreck who says too much because of the adrenaline dump, I told them every detail.
Season over, I had a good story but I had to go back to work. Fast forward to the rifle opener. I pass a regionally famous bar on my commute every day. As I was coming home from work on October 10th there was a pickup in front of the bar with a huge elk rack in the back. My bull! Turns out the truck belongs to the FIL of the guys I met in the woods and blabbed my story to that day. The bez tines told the story. It was definitely the same bull. Pics or it didn't happen? No smart phones cameras in those days. I never saw a tape put to it, but the consensus around the truck was that it was at least 360-370.
Moral of this sad story? Pic a SMALL spot in the vitals and laser focus on it. NEVER tell anyone anything that will give away a honey hole.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
The Worst and the Best: my twelve yr old grandson Bode saw the elk ahead crossing the trail and was very excited. One nice bull was less than a hundred yards and crossing broadside. Bode sat down on the hillside to set up for a shot. After what seemed an eternity, he explained that he was not comfortable with the shot and told me to shoot. I quickly set up and fired as the bull was jumping across the ravine. In the time it took me to set up and slowly squeeze the trigger, the bull jumped ahead of my sight picture and I completely missed! However, the cow elk close behind jumped into the bullet and she was hit high on her back. As we began dressing her out, Bode looked up across the fence above and standing on the ridge was a nice bull, broadside, and much closer than before. Bode said, "Should I shoot him?" and I replied, "What do think?" "Nope" he said, "He's above the fence and silhouetted on the ridge ... know your target and beyond." Bode made me so very proud of two solid decisions in a short period of time. Worst shot on my part missed the bull ... however taking a cow elk with my grandson and experiencing his good decision making process was the Best!
BTW, later that season Bode shot a large, impressive 5x5 bull, after a carefully set up challenging shot across a drainage.
BTW, later that season Bode shot a large, impressive 5x5 bull, after a carefully set up challenging shot across a drainage.
noharleyyet
Well-known member
I can miss a pig with the most accurate rig in the safe...them suckers excite me. I've missed the first shot on a bull once but he waited on the second.
Schaaf
Well-known member
Sat on this guy at 45 yards for 4 hours waiting for him to stand. He finally stood up exactly like I was hoping, I drew back behind a bush, stepped out, held, and let it fly. Had a brain fart and didn’t account for the steep angle I had on the shot and placed the arrow like I was level with him. Arrow finally caught on a sagebrush 300 yards later and pulled out the other side and showed liver on the fletchings. Over the next year I spent 20 days and walked over 100 miles zig zagging within a 5 mile radius looking for him. In total, I found a total of 6 other dead bulls but still haven't found him.
That’s coyotes for me. I’ve killed countless, but every time I see one I turn into a 14 year old girl in 2002 that just met Justin Timberlake.
I mean I hate to brag but I once emptied my gun at a coyote running broadside at 40 yards and never knocked off a hair.
2013 was the first year I elk hunted around where I currently live. I struggled to find elk big time! The last week of the archery season I finally bumped into a decent 5 or 6 point chasing some cows in some heavy timber right at dark a couple miles from the road. Realistically it’s kind of a dumb elk spot with low density and elk that move a lot because of road traffic and people. I went back to the same spot the next morning and within a minute of leaving my truck a bull was bugling a couple hundred yards from me. Right as it got daylight a couple cow calls and the bull was coming in fast. I fully expected to see the bull from the night before but instead got a way different and bigger bull coming in chasing a cow right past me. The bull came in to about 5 yards and was staring a hole in me behind a 10 foot tall pine. I tried not to look at his antlers too much but what I saw was BIG. Really heavy long wavy beams,a huge kicker off his right side fourth point and long points everywhere. He turned to leave and stopped broadside at 15- 20 yards. When I drew back my arrow kinda flipped off my drop away rest and didn’t settle on the launcher. It basically did the same on my second attempt and he took off. I called in a big cow group maybe an half hour later but he wasn’t with them. I never heard of anyone killing him. My best guess from what I saw was that he was 360+, but I try not to think about it too much. I had noticed earlier that the cord for my drop away rest seemed a little “off” and in reality that’s what caused the issue as the cord had slid down in the bow cable and was put under too much tension causing the launcher to raise too fast. I still beat myself up about it as it was a simple shot and simple fix if I had just paid more attention.
The closest I have to a silver lining is that I shot a different, but smaller 6 point in the same spot the next year on a ridiculously easy hunt. Shot that bull at 20 yards about 10 minutes after daylight and only had about an 800 yard pack out
The closest I have to a silver lining is that I shot a different, but smaller 6 point in the same spot the next year on a ridiculously easy hunt. Shot that bull at 20 yards about 10 minutes after daylight and only had about an 800 yard pack out
It was so unbelievable at the time, all I could do is laugh. I was bow hunting elk in the early morning just before sunrise, slowly working my way through some heavy timber. There was very poor visibility but I managed to stumble onto a spike bull. He wasn't even 20 yards away, broadside and looking away from me. In my mind I was already grilling up some backstrap. I drew back and released the arrow but when the arrow got about ten feet from the elk it made a sudden right angle turn and flew off into the timber. I stood there dumbfounded as the bull ran off through the trees. Upon investigation there was a little but very strong 3/4 inch thick, 5-foot tall, dead red fir sapling with no branches. It was completely invisible to me because of the low light and my total concentration on the elk, but I managed to hit it.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I got into deer hunting later in life (40 years old), and decided that I wanted to do it with a bow. But I was frugal and bought a 20+ year old bow. I shot it a lot in the off season and felt confident with my aim out to 50 yards, but felt like 20-30 yards would be the most realistic shots.
About a week into the season during a midweek shooting session, I notice that every 10th shot the little spring steel tines on my arrow rest would get loose and the arrow would slip down. Picture a whisker biscuit rest, but instead of bristles they are three spring steel tines or fingers that hold the arrow in the center.
I tightened the screws holding the tines and think I have the problem fixed. That weekend I go out hunting and about 9:30 in the morning I have two bucks chasing a doe around and the bigger buck is chasing the other buck away from her and he runs to 12 yards in front of me and stops.
I am hunting from the ground and not really well hidden but I pull up my bow and get to full draw all in one motion and put my sight on the crease right behind his shoulder and let the arrow go.
Unbeknownst to me, the arrow had slipped off the tines and instead of being centered in the rest it was laying on the bottom the circle that the times are attached to.
That angle over 12 yards equated to a 8" drop from my aim point, which meant my arrow blew through his leg bone about halfway between his hoof and his first joint.
He goes running off on his three good legs and I am left to wonder WTF just happened. I decide to sneak after him and nearly got another shot at him before he jumped the fence and left the property I had permission to hunt...
I almost quit that day. But instead I bought a new bow with a better rest and became a lot more aware of the horrible outcomes that are possible if you aren't prepared. Not saying I'm perfect in that respect, but I'm educated first hand. I never want to have that happen again.
Since then I have taken 3 deer with my bow and I will probably bow hunt the rest of my life.
About a week into the season during a midweek shooting session, I notice that every 10th shot the little spring steel tines on my arrow rest would get loose and the arrow would slip down. Picture a whisker biscuit rest, but instead of bristles they are three spring steel tines or fingers that hold the arrow in the center.
I tightened the screws holding the tines and think I have the problem fixed. That weekend I go out hunting and about 9:30 in the morning I have two bucks chasing a doe around and the bigger buck is chasing the other buck away from her and he runs to 12 yards in front of me and stops.
I am hunting from the ground and not really well hidden but I pull up my bow and get to full draw all in one motion and put my sight on the crease right behind his shoulder and let the arrow go.
Unbeknownst to me, the arrow had slipped off the tines and instead of being centered in the rest it was laying on the bottom the circle that the times are attached to.
That angle over 12 yards equated to a 8" drop from my aim point, which meant my arrow blew through his leg bone about halfway between his hoof and his first joint.
He goes running off on his three good legs and I am left to wonder WTF just happened. I decide to sneak after him and nearly got another shot at him before he jumped the fence and left the property I had permission to hunt...
I almost quit that day. But instead I bought a new bow with a better rest and became a lot more aware of the horrible outcomes that are possible if you aren't prepared. Not saying I'm perfect in that respect, but I'm educated first hand. I never want to have that happen again.
Since then I have taken 3 deer with my bow and I will probably bow hunt the rest of my life.
This is what I was going to say. Misses are embarrassing, but not recovering a wounded animal is so much worse.
Kaitum
Well-known member
Missed a mule deer doe at 15 paces with my flintlock once. I was standing in the open, she came running out of a draw straight at me before hitting the brakes and standing broadside. She even stood there long enough for me to reload, prime the pan, and @#)(# the hammer before bolting as I was shouldering the gun. Considering the pack out was 500' straight up a very steep hill I consider that miss a blessing.
Same, pigs. 30-30 in the brushy canyons. I know I have sent a few that missed.
I have a 30-06 Nosler AB that sits on my bookcase. My only miss fire in all my years of game hunting.
That 7x8 bull never let me get close to cycling another. 35 yards. Broadside.
Biggest bull I've ever seen while hunting.
Threw a turret scope on an AR one day for fun . Jumped a coyote at 50 yards in a small brush pile with a 20 round mag of 223 Varmit ammo . Shot high and low of him all 20 rounds . Never hit him once . Turret had a half rotation in it . Still can’t trust them turret scopes 15 years later lol
recon6036
Well-known member
Myself and a few friends headed to the Wyoming Black Hills for the first time to do
some deer hunting.
We arrived, set up camp, and still had about an hour of daylight, so a buddy and I went for a walk towards an area I had marked on my GPS from Google Earth.
As we were walking, we spotted a decent buck in an opening on private land. Not long after the buck came running our way, onto public, with his nose to the ground.
He got to about 35 yards away, uphill from us, and I stopped him with a mouth grunt.
I touched off a round way to quick and off he ran; unharmed.
I saw him a few more times after that, but he stayed on private.
Embarrassing for sure, but at least I can laugh about it now.
some deer hunting.
We arrived, set up camp, and still had about an hour of daylight, so a buddy and I went for a walk towards an area I had marked on my GPS from Google Earth.
As we were walking, we spotted a decent buck in an opening on private land. Not long after the buck came running our way, onto public, with his nose to the ground.
He got to about 35 yards away, uphill from us, and I stopped him with a mouth grunt.
I touched off a round way to quick and off he ran; unharmed.
I saw him a few more times after that, but he stayed on private.
Embarrassing for sure, but at least I can laugh about it now.
