RE: ever missed a 15 yard shot
Yes, I have, at least I thought it was 20 yards...ended up being more like 26 or 27. Made me sick. Mis-rangeda nice mature buck and shot under him (clean miss, thank God). The important thing is to learn from the experience.From that one, I learned to properly range every shooting lane as soon as it is light enough. One thingI have learned from others' mistakes (which is an even better way to learn, IMO, and one of the great things about HuntingNet.com!) is to carefully check all of my shooting lanes as soon as it is full light, so that I am aware of any twigs, vines, etc. that might deflect my arrow in any of my shooting lanes.
Bowhuntingis a difficult sport with a long learning curve. It's one reason why I like it. Keep your chin up and keep learning!