What is your most heartbreaking miss when hunting.

William81

I have one that still haunts me. Two seasons ago, I missed a 45 yard shot at a tall, wide 12 point. It was spotted this year a couple of times near where I hunt but no one got a shot at it.

The gentleman that hunts the property next to where I hunt saw it after season this winter and believes it will net over 180 Boone and Crocket. I know I missed it because I was too busy looking at antlers instead of my sights.....I cringe just thinking about it....

Edited by - william81 on 05/04/2002 21:03:14

William81

I have one that still haunts me. Two seasons ago, I missed a 45 yard shot at a tall, wide 12 point. It was spotted this year a couple of times near where I hunt but no one got a shot at it.

The gentleman that hunts the property next to where I hunt saw it after season this winter and believes it will net over 180 Boone and Crocket. I know I missed it because I was too busy looking at antlers instead of my sights.....I cring just thinking about it....

DaRoosta

No specific story. My reply would be anytime anyone else in my hunting party has seen me miss. It must be the pressure or something because the few times I've been with people in my hunting party and had an opportunity for a shot, I've missed. Just one of those things. I've never missed when I'm by myself. Seriously.

andersk

Two years ago I missed the biggest buck I ever saw in the woods (must have been 12 oer 14 points). He made so much noise I thought it was a moose, but I was ready anyway - just in case! He came around a tree and was so big I knew I could not miss. I had just walked by the spot on the way into my stand, so I knew he would sniff me out pretty soon. I was on my stand, but I had to squat because of a few branches in the way ... yup, I missed.

Moral of the story, do your tree triming and homework before the big buck arrives ... or better yet before the season starts.

Ken

buddyb

Perfect shot at a respectable 8 point at about 25 yards, using T-C New Englander 50 cal.Missed,my fault,can't blame the gun,can't blame the deer.I missed.No Excuses.

timberbeast

Have never missed a deer, not brag, just the way it is. Pop told me every deer he killed dropped in its tracks from one shot because it was the only shot he'd take. I've carried that on, and only shot at one running. Got lucky and hit it through both shoulders and a fragment cut the spine. Was dead when I walked up to it.
Most heartbreaking???????????? Whip me, chain me, kill me, but don't ever go duck hunting with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have made some phenomenal shots on ducks, and when old George the Lab was alive, I never lost a wounded one, hell, he'd DIVE after them! But was one day some years back, the first year we could shoot Cans in Wisconsin. Had two look at the blocks, set, (I wait), then circle around and come back (I didn't blow the call, I suck at it!), and they are coming in, wings set, maybe 30 yards, I draw down on the big one on the right with the A-5, he's almost sitting still about 8 feet over the blocks. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Not even a feather came down, missed clean as clean can be!

1blitzer

I missed the opportunity to shoot a 12 pt buck last year when my brother called me on the radio about lunch. I was watching three does and I heard a noise behind me. I turned around only only got a quick glimpse. The buck went behind me about 50 yards into the laurel and disappeared. All I saw was a massive rack until I heard a shot and walked over to see someone tagging it. That was the biggest buck I ever saw on state game lands.

andersk

When timberbeast said "he's never missed a deer" that reminded me. Neither had I ever missed a deer (again, like he said that's not boast, it's just that they were all so close you could NOT miss! The reason they were close is that the woods was such a mess, you saw nothing beyond a pretty short shot ... like maybe a super long shot of 75 yards and most of the time much less!) ... so, I thought I could not miss the biggest target that I'd ever seen! Guess that is part of the fun of hunting in the wild ... what could NEVER happen does happen when you are hunting.

Ken

He Dog

Gemsbok Oryx, once in a lifetime hunt, at 63 yards.

Just not possible.

Big Sky Redneck

The worst one for me wasnt even a buck, it was a doe. First shot at a deer with a bow and I almost quit bowhunting after that. After practicing all summer and "staking" out my spot I was ready. When she came into the predetermined shooting lane I drew and let it fly. Shot right over her back, and I was so heartbroke I never wanted to try again. A friend talked me into going back out and 2 weeks later I nailed one.

steve45

The last one.

sig-man

Last year a wallhanger 10 pt. the heartbreaker is that where I was hunting in Va. was buckshot only, I hit the deer , but must have only got one lung, plenty of frothy blood that led right to the swamp and dissappeared into the water, that was the first deer I have lost, and it makes me sick every time I think about it...

R.I.P 45, 28, 3

RockinU

I can't recall having missed one once I squeezed, but last year I had 2 trophy bucks come out of the brush following a doe at a brisk pace. one was a 10, the other a 12, they came within 150 yds but were traveling fast, and they were nice enough that you don't take a high risk shot. went back the next day and right after daylight the 10 came by, and I shot him with the video camera, and talked myself out of shooting because I figured the 12 might be somewhere behind him...didn't see another thing all day until the 10 came back with about 15 minutes of leagal light left, and I decided to harvest him. Measured 170 3/8 inches...really made me pine for that 12 who was much bigger. Saw the 12 later in the season with most of one side broke off. Received great admonishment from my buddies about ever videoing a deer like that while it was still alive.

96harley

Black bear Ontario Canada. Missed his vitals by inches. Knocked him down and in my excitement I forgot to follow up with another round to keep him down. He jumped to his feet and escaped. Found blood trail but no bear. Boo Whoood all the way home.

pickenup

A few years ago my hunting partner and I were walking back to camp for lunch. Came around a point and the whole mountain side seemed to be moving, cow elk everywhere we looked. We both dropped to our knees and had rifles at the ready in a second. Only had bull tags so we were looking for him, knowing he would be there somewhere, and with the size of this herd he would be big. Finally laid eyes on the biggest critter I have ever seen. He was broadside to us, when he raised his head and his antlers came down it looked like a tree falling over, his antlers went almost all the way back to his tail. I counted at least 8 points on one side. Took aim and squeezed the trigger. Funny how in the field there is no recoil to a 7mm mag. A split second later my partner's 300 mag split the air with the sound of his discharge. We watched as he bolted and disapeared over the horizon. Knowing the terrain and where he would go, we sat down full of expectations. Planning the ordeal of getting him back to camp. After about 1/2 hour we went to where he would be. Sneaking up to the draw where we were sure he was, we spotted him laying almost exactly where we thought he would be. Hiding behind a fallen tree we were crawling on hands and knees to get closer, when out of nowhere someone fired one shot, it sounded like a pistol. (Never did find out who it was, no one was camped anywhere near us, and nobody else in our camp saw anyone else that day.) The shot caused that monster bull to get up and run. Before we could fire a shot he was gone. We tracked him all that day, until it was to dark to see. He had a lung shot from me and my partner had taken a front leg out. Caught sight of him once, just for a split second, in black timber. Bright and early we were tracking him the next day. Then along about 2 p.m. it started snowing. We kept tracking all day. When it again got to dark to see we had to stop. Next day with 12 inches of fresh snow on the ground, and still snowing, we spent the whole day trying to cut his trail, but never did found it. Hunting season was over that day.
That night when we went to "town" (population 37) for dinner, everyone knew about the old man of the mountain, but no one had ever got close enough to take a shot. That is the (one) and --ONLY-- time I have ever pulled a trigger and not taken what I was aiming at home. Sorry about making this so long but you did say ---HEART BREAKING---. After this experience and what happened the next year I quit hunting, but that is another story.

If I knew then, what I know now.

SixStringer

I love my pistol, but I think I'd have a hard time trying to kill such a beautiful animal.

allen griggs

I have a Mauser in 30-06 made at the Oberndorf Works in the '60s. With this bad boy and the 2-7 scope every deer I saw that I wanted I killed, and that is about 30 deer. Of course in the Ga. woods the shots are short, my longest was 194 yards, got him through the heart. It ain't bragging if you can do it. So, I got a little bored with the Mauser and got a Thompson Center .50. Well this proved to be a good deer killer, the patched round ball in the lungs killed them even better than the 30-06. I had killed five in a row with the muzzle loader. Then one day I was staking out a scrape. I put my ladder stand 35 yards down wind from the scrape at 3:30 pm and climbed right up. At about 4:30 here came the buck, a nice 4 pointer, a nice Ga. deer especially for a muzzle loader. I mean, I for one wouldn't be taking a 194 yd. shot with a muzzleloader. I felt so confident I went for the neck shot. I fired and the deer collapsed. I sat there without moving and just looked, completely content. The cloud of blue smoke slowly drifting away, the red and brown leaves smelling so good, the dead deer and the beautiful muzzle loader in my hand. And me so good a shot I can take the neck shot. Then the deer twitched an ear, and while I was quickly pouring powder down the bore, he jumped up and ran away and he was running real good. I had a rifle in one hand and a ramrod in the other. I felt not like Davy Crockett, but I felt like a chump. I got down to examine the scrape where he had collapsed and saw 2 drops of blood. Six feet in front of the scrape a 1 inch grape vine was cut in two by the bullet. The grape vine had caused the bullet to deflect and go high, just nicking the neck and shocking the spine. Had it deflected low it would probably have cut the aorta, if it just nipped the bottom of the neck I doubt it would have shocked the spine. I tracked the deer for 2 hrs, nothing, no blood trail. I came back on 3 consecutive days, no buzzards, I am pretty sure he got out of it with a scar on top of his neck. With the scope I would have seen the vine and just lowered the shot an inch. Had I taken the lung shot a deflection of 3 inches would not have mattered.

"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."

Iconoclast

My most heartbreaking is also my most infuriating. After being the target of idiots twice, I swore off rifle hunting and stick to waterfowl. Opening day the first year of universal 'steel shot,' I was in the bow of the canoe headed upstream when the mist parted and a pair of mallards came in to land right in front of us. I shot just as the drakes feet touched water, at a distance of less than 25 yards. I could see the shot hit the water all around him; he was in the exact center of the pattern. Knocked him 15 feet back, cartwheeling across the surface. Down & feathers all over the water. Put the shotgun down, pick up the paddle, and then away he goes, complaining all the way. Didn't even think to try another shot, I was so stunned. Yeah, sure that steel shot is 'almost as good' as lead. Experience was repeated several times that morning. I lost more birds that day than I had in the previous 25 years. Traded my 12 for a 10, went to smallest possible shot available (#2) & a modified cylinder. Now I have good chance of breaking a wing, or having a fatal head / neck wound . . . but still lose too many birds - and all well inside 30 yards. I've picked one - repeat, one pellet from a body cavity in 200 + birds in the intervening 10 years, and that pellet had traveled up the alimentary canal from a tail shot. Can't afford the tungsten stuff, but all these scientists and writers who tout steel shot are full of horse crap. And I'm sure more birds have suffered a lingering death from a crippling wound with steel shot than ever did from eating lead pellets off the bottom. OK, rant mode is now off.