corey012778

I took my first deer 3 yrs ago. knight usak 50cal, .429 240gr xtp, 85grs of pyrodex p. took two shots, first I thought was an miss at 85yrds. after an QUICK reload, the darn thing came to me, it was less then 25yrds from me. lined the gun up low and just below the shoulder. watched it flip from the impact of the bullet.

here is where the mistake was made.
I got out of the stand right after I watch the deer hit the ground. instead of an bang flop. it became an 20yrd track in pitch black. my flash light was awful.

lesson learned.
don't think the deer is dead after it gets hit no matter how hard you hit. carry a better flash light.

the next year.
I missed my an doe at over 150yrds, watched the dirty fly under the doe.

mistake
not knowing my distance limits

lesson learned
find an comfortable distance, wait for the pray to come to it.

same year
during rifle season, I was using an scoped sks with win. 123gr hunting loads. I missed an deer at 35yrds

mistake
did not aim low enough

lesson learned
I call that one buck fever

same year
I missed another doe in late muzzleloader. this time using FPB's. i had an second chance, could not get the second shot loaded in time, I could not get the fpb loaded. I was pissed.

mistake
using an new bullet with out an quick reload practice.

lesson learned
always practice reloading with what ever round you are using and have an back up loaded just in case

last year (the year I was off the board)
nothing really happened other then jumping an nice 6pt buck and not having the time to get the gun up.

over all lessons learned
this has repeated over and over

know your gun, loads, your abilities, your bullets abilities, and know the area.

bronko22000

After hunting for over 45 years its hard to recall any rookie mistakes I've made. But one that I used to do often is to start tracking immediately. (especially archery). Now I always give it at least an hour even on a good hit (if I don't see the animal fall). On a less than ideal hit I back out for at least 3 hours. Use the old adage, when in doubt - back out.

cayugad

The one mistake I did when first starting out was to ignore and go against what my Dad taught me. I pushed a deer too soon after the hit. I had shot a buck with a 30-06. It was a poor shot, but lots of blood. One of them just getting light, running shots through the hardwoods. The blood got me excited I admit. A friend came to my stand after hearing the shot. When he saw the blood he immediately wanted to get on track. I told him not to, and to let it sit an hour or so, but he refused. His Dad owned the property, and he was sure the deer was not far because of the amount of blood.

We jumped that deer a total of two more times. Finally it jumped the neighbors fence. Having had some problems with the neighbor, we decided to hold off. So we drove to the neighbor's house to get permission to continue the search (as Wisconsin law demands). He was not at home as he was hunting, and his wife was not sure if she could grant permission for us. This wasted way over an hour.

So we returned to the fence line. We decided finally we'd climb the fence and go just a short way into the neighbor's property to see if we could spot the deer. We found a gut pile. The neighbor must have hit the blood trail and walked the deer down.

Had we waited in the beginning like I wanted and was trained to do, we'd of had that deer not more then 80 yards from the original hit spot.

gman57

I think almost everyone makes that not wait long enough after the shot mistake. I think it might have been my first deer with a bow I got perfect shot at like 20 or so yds and the buck ran out of sight and I heard him go down. I got down picked up my arrow and headed off where the buck went down. Just in case I nocked the arrow I just shot him with and followed the blood trail about45 yds or so. I saw him down and as I got near he got up and I ended up shooting him again with the same arrow I first shot him with. I still get antsy and find it very hard to wait after the hit..

cayugad

I agree gman57. When I shoot a deer and it runs off, I can hardly walk. I will go to where the hit was made and inspect the ground for hair, blood, organs, etc. BUT if I see little of anything, I make myself sit down and wait. I know just what you mean. I sit there and talk to myself almost telling me... don't you get up and head after that thing.

Then as I track, if I see signs of gut, I stop everything. I found if you do not push a gut shot deer, they will normally lay down, stiffen up to where they can't get up and will eventually die in hours. So I give them the time they need to do just that.

Semisane

My biggest mistake was a combination of tracking too soon and not reloading after the shot. Knew I had a good mid-chest hit with a .535 ball on a pretty decent buck. That deer was dead for sure. Tracked it 40 yards or so into the woods right at dusk. Spotted it up ahead - down and stretched out dead still on its side. As I walked toward it, it jumped up an ran off. I had to return to my truck for a better light and found the deer an hour later after another 60 yards of tracking through thick briars. Should have waited the first time. Should have had a loaded gun in my hand the first time.

rlmx

This is all a good reminder. WAIT! And examine the blood. I need to read up on this again. I think the pink frothy or bright red blood is what you want to see (lungs or heart). Dark blood is bad (gut shot). If it is not pink or bright, plan on waiting at least an hour. I recall one hunt where my buddy shot a deer, it seemed like gallons of dark blood spilled out the deer even though we could never find the body.

My rookie mistakes: First: One I struggle with to date: follow through. Don't look to see what you did or did not hit. If you hit what you needed to hit you will know!

Second: I had arrows nocked and did not fire them (with field tips of course) before taking them out for hunting. The bonehead in the archery shop installed the wrong nocks. Low and behold a buck was directly beneath me. I placed the arrow on the string - noticed is was REALLY loose, but was apparently too excited to really realize what was going on. As I drew the bow, aimed at the buck - THE ARROW FELL OFF THE BOW AND LANDED ON THE BUCK . Leason learned: Always use the equipment before taking it in the field.

Third: Getting my eyebrow busted on my .54 cal Knight by the Bushnell scope mounted on it. Leason learned: If it is closer than the bill of your hat - it is too close.

Finally: Getting in a tree isn't all about getting as high as possible. I remember getting 30 feet up a tree and hit one of those slow motion, "this is it", scarry moments in time where I was absolutely certain I was going to fall. I think the Lord in Heaven had an Angel give me a boost, because I was sure that I was going to fall. Leason Learned: It is all about concealment (both visual and olfactory). I have harvested more deer at 10 feet or less than I can even count now, a number of them on the ground, even more than a handful from the ground with a bow.

corey012778

I do that every time I work an new load on my knight usak, lol