I've been hunting State Lands for years. I finally joined a club this year. I spent hours scouting and preparing my stands sites. My rifle is shooting 1 MOA at 100 yards. Everything was perfect.

This past Saturday (opening day in NC) I reach my stand location at 5:30am, I'm all set-up and comfortable in my Viper by 6:00 with an hour before sunlight. As the sun rises a can't wait until the 7:04 shooting time. At 8:45, a decent Doe appears 75 yards from my stand. I hunt for meat the first week so I decide to take her. My heart rate increases, and excitement level rises! She's has no clue I'm there, she's relaxed, in no rush, and is in a clear cut. I had all the time in the world. So what do I do, I raise my rifle quickly and fire off a round and MISS. She runs back to the hardwoods and is GONE. No sign of being hit - no blood - Nothing.


It gets worse! I head to my second stand at 11:30am just to see if here was any new tracks. This is a ground blind I plan to hunt with my son on Monday (no school). I didn't expect to see deer there at noon. Sure enough, tracks all over the place. I was please and headed back to my truck. I'm 100 yards from my truck (parked on a logging road) and I catch movement just around the bend. Next I see antlers. He saw me first and stopped for one more look just beind a small bush, but I can still see just behind his shoulder. I raise my rifle (no rest availabile) and fire. No blood, no sign of being hit - I look for two hours. It this point, I'm sick to my stomach. I figured my scope was off after bumping it against the tree. I set up a gallon of water in the sand pit and shoot (from a rest) at 125 years. Perfect hit.

My learnings for the day! I'm getting better at selecting stand locations. I need to relax and use a rest when shooting. I've been hunting for several years and have never had this happen, never mind twice in 3 hours.

Has this ever happened to you? Will the shots mess up the deers patterns and if so, for how long? I honestly don't expect to see the buck again. I'm hunting the second location this moning with my son. It's been two days and I pray I didn't ruin it for him. It will be his first deer.