Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Most posts and threads on here are of success and good stories, and for good reason. We all like to share our successes and accomplishments. Anyway, to humble ourselves I thought I'd start a thread to see what some of the dumbest/most stupid/biggest bloopers you've done in the deer woods. That ONE thing you just wish you could have back or done differently. I figured we could all learn something from everyone's mishaps and get a laugh out of some of them too.;)

My biggest mistake was thinkin I was smarter than the deer I was huntin. Stupid I know. But this past season with just one week left in the season I was looking to take a doe out of the herd. They same bunch of does was goin to feed in the same field, at the same time, every single solitary afternoon. I thought for sure my setup would catch between bedding and feeding. I had 3 different setups establsihed and none of them worked! If i set up at stand A they'd go by B. If I setup at blind C they go by stand A. Needless to say the same ole does kicked my butt the last week of the season because I thought for sure I had them patterened. Guess not[&:]

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Get down from my stand with plenty of time still to hunt thinking this other spot might be better. Kills me everytime.
Not hunt the wind and say to the hell with it.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

My first year deer hunting I had a chance to shoot a doe. She came around the back of the tree and stopped broadside about 30 yards from me on my right side. I slowly twisted to my knees, took careful aim, squeezed the trigger and then....nothing. I forgot to pull the hammer back on my 30-30. She took off and I missed her running.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

How much time ya got?!?!?! I am the Sad Sack of Bowhunting!!!( Jeff, T, and other guys my age .... you remember that comic book?:D) I have made every possible stupid mistake bowhunting at least twice! [&o]Oh well .... the shotgun is always the equalizer ;)

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

I climbed into my stand one late October (2005) morning and got settled in. About 45 mins or so after daylight I seen two does coming running right at me with a good shooter buck behind them. The does stopped about 10 yards in front of me and the buck stopped right behind them. I drew, placed my pin on the good spot and touched the release. It was at that moment when I realized I never even nocked an arrow that morning.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

kickin butt--HILLARIOUS!

I once got lost when I was young dragging a 6 pointer out of the woods...I shot the buck on unfamiliar territory at 7:30AM....I didnt get out of the woods until after sundown. I drug the buck the whole time because I was afraid someone would steal the biggest deer I had shot until that point.....needless to say I was severely dehydrated and worn out to the point of exhaustion. I was very close to giving up and spending the night in the woods as I had no cell phone, no compass....I was done.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Could be one of the dumbest I do, considering if I die from an ammonia...?
But probably the most consistant dumb thing I do...
~ It's not paying attention to details given out by the "accurate" weather forcaster. (if that's what you want to call them)
This usually leads to not dressing for the weather conditions, properly.
One Muzzleloading day (I know this is bowhunting ???) when I sat in my stand I had "heard" of "rain showers", and I contemplated wearing my rain gear and should have.
The sky opened up with rain and everything including my taint was pruned beyond recognition.
Now - I usaully shoot my muzzleloader after any moisture eppisodes happens, but didn't do it that rainy day.
A couple of days later I went back in the woods and had a nice 6 pointer broadside @ 35 yards and countinued to snap off 5 caps before he finally walked away.
There was no BOOM after the cap because of my moisture problem, live and learn?!!

So the weather can be a DUMB thing not to pay attention too!

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

I used to be bad at the See one from the stand with an hour left of light, and try to climb down and put the stalk on it technique. Needless to say, it never worked.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Not pulling my insulated cover all sleeve far enough out of the way when I was taking my morning dump wasn't one of my brighter moments.

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Just use it as face paint, it's natural right!

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I decided to go partying on a Friday night the 1st week of November. Like an idiot I over slepped being I was planning on getting up early Saturday morning to go hunting. I took off in my truck and got to the woods and quickly grabbed my bow and headed into the woods a good 1/2 hour after sunrise. I slowly and cautiously walked through the woods heading to my stand and there he was. I took the bino's out and glassed him in shame, he was 60 yards from me and 10 yards from my stand screwing around at a scrape. He was a 150" class buck. I watched him for 15 minutes until he slowly walked away to the cat tails in the slough. He never knew I was there. Lesson learned for me, never do any partying when going out the next morning hunting!! What an idiot I was!![:@]

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Amen!

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Kyle I don't like the first line of your signature :D

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Leaning my Muzzloader against a tree as I took a leak!!! Just then twenty deer come around the bend on the loggin' trail below and my gun was two steps away. NowI keep the gunat arms reach and let'er allhang outif i have to take a shot!!!!!

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Ummmmmm......I missed 4 doe inside of 20 minutes one morning. I later learned my rest was broken. The mistake? Not checking out my equipment often enough. I now check it all the time. ;)

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Amen to that Shultzy been there done that!! Doesn't work out well!!

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

I was hunting on november 3 and a small 6 walked in and i had bought a new coat and wanted to see if it made to much nosie when idrew. I pulled back on the deer not planing on shooting and well i accidently hit my released and sentsome air mail right over tittle guy. i have never seen a deer run that fast in my life......lol. Oh ya the coat didn't scare him. Ihad a 100%kill rate with my bow till then. WOW.......did i fell like a tard.

But i am only 15 there willbe more dumb mistakes to come. But i guess i definatly willlearn from them all

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

I've read about these types of mistakes!

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I was positive I didnt empty my shotgun yesterday evening! At least thats what I thought when I headed into the woods! Good thing I had a box of shells in my backpack...after pulling the trigger on a nice 7 pointer...about 4 times!

My buddy was with me and thats how I got my nickname, click.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Tried to jump across a creek that was flooded. Looked about 5 feet wide, I'm 6 feet tall (and 17 at the time)....no sweat.:eek:Forgot about all the extra weight of a shotgun (unloaded) and ammo in my pockets. Water was cold...and deep LOL. Lets just say I earned a bronze medal in the special olympics that day.[8D]

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Missed the same buck twice, I thought I shot high the first time, so I aimed 5yds shorter the second. When climbed down to retrieve the arrows and stood there looking back at the stand trying to fugure out what happend I realized I didn't shoot high, I shot in front of him - both times. My site had been knocked loose hoisting my bow up that morning.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

A few notables:
[ul][*]Going bowhunting and leaving the bow at home. Great feeling;[*]Hunting with an unloaded gun;[*]Closing the (locked) door while I was taking awee andletting my car warm up after a long day's hunt in West Virginia. Cell phone and all my gear already conveniently packed inside. It's hard to walk away from your car to call for help when the headlights are on, it's running, and you have a $1200 deer rifle laying on the back seat;[*]"Dude, I lost the coon hound."[*]I drove away one time with my bow on the roof of my car. Well, it was on the roof until I went around the first bend. At that point, it was no longer on the roof, and went bouncing down the road. [/ul]
The King admits, he's had his fair share of misadventures.

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Ed, it is not natural to smear feces on your face. [:'(]

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Not believing my compass.

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how about being attacked by 7 raccoons and fighting them off by swinging my arrow around at them, and then having a giant jump up 15 yards away when i started screaming at them

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You are correct sir!
The "action" of doing this is not natural, but the product itself is natural.
Gives the saying "got egg on my face" a new meaning.?? Enough poop talk already

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I almost forgot about my dumb expierence with this as well. It cost me 7 hours of walking in the dark in the mountains because I thought my compass was wrong. The real bad thing was I hunted that year all by myself. I'll never go again by myself on an elk hunting trip in the mountains! Well maybe I will If I want to go bad enough.;) Always trust your compass folks, it can save your life.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

I was just kidding, Ed.:D

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Mr.H - Me joke also!
Kidding aside, it's hard to tell someones facial expressions or tone of voice while typing.
I'll just let everyone know that I love to joke around and if you haven't figured it out, I do so with sarcastic humor.
This is way different from regular sarcasism, as I'm having fun and not being condescending.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

Ran over my bow. Layed it down when I got to my vehicle, climbed behind the wheel just to rest, forgot about the bow and took off. I dusted it off, and it was ok. Bent my sights and a few arrows, but otherwise ok.

Was hunting a bucks only area once (landowner's call), a doe comes running in, I decide to stop her just for practice. It works perfect but then she spooks, and there was a buck behind her that then went around me. What was I thinking?

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Ouch! You just jogged a bad memory loose...
Laid my bow on the ground to take off my scentloc suit, got in the truk and drove away.
2 hours later I remembered I left my $800 bow on the ground and went back to get it.
Well you guessed it, it was gone!
After 3-weeks of going crazy calling the game warden, police, pawn shops, I even posted a $100 reward on a tree at my parking spot.
I then broke down and spent another $800 for a new bow, by this point my wife was lovingme, really loving me.
Sighted it in and went back out hunting and bumped into a guy who had found it, so I dished out the $100 reward and now had two bows.
Sold the older bow for $200 (-$100 reward, so I got $100 for it).
The stories not so bad, as I'm still married though!

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I was about 1/2 mile away from my 4 wheeler when I looked down at my bow and saw that I forgotmy quiver. It was a fun walk back in eighty degree temps. So much was getting in the stand early.

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Hung stands in July and got about three hunded deer tics stuck to me. had to get a shot because it had my blood pressure all screwed up. my wife was not to thrilled picking them off my backside either :Dne'ked!!!!

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I was actually turkey hunting not deer hunting and i was using an old farm truck to get around. The gas gauge dosen't work so i was driving across this feild and the damn thing ran out of gas. I had 0 bars on my cell phone so i had to walk a 1/2 mile to the neighbors house and call my dad.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

the worst thing i've recently been doing is listening to my dad in the woods. Few examples for you guys.(keep in mind that my dad, my uncle, and my grandpa have been hunting together since my dad & uncle could carry a gun.)

1. last year my dad was leading the way to his ground blind about 1:00 prior to sunlight. he turned the wrong way and we ended up in a thicket (my GF was with us and this was her 1st time out ever) we stopped and my dad told me that we should probably head North thinking we were on the wrong ridge. I rechecked my compass and headed South and found his blind. luckily for him he wasn't out of sight. I flagged him down with a flashlight

2. a couple years ago i turned 14. for a christmas/birthday present my dad bought me a much anticipated 1st firearm. I was extremely excited. it's a Moss 385-T 20ga. bolt-action. It's a nice gun However it has a full choke. and a smooth bore. We went to the range and it seemed to shoot slugs fine at 30m. I have killed one doe with it using a slugand that was a few years ago. The past couple years i've missed ridiculously easy shots with that gun. 3 @ 15yds running/1 @ 15ydsbroadside standing / and 1 @ 20 yds standing broadsidefrom kneeling position.

people told me it was "The fever" and I believed them up until last year.(when i missed those twobroadside shots)I talked to some old men (that i trust) and they said that the choke was probably throwing off my slug and messing up the choke in my gun. i had noticed some barrel corosion and was suspecting that but it was a used gun so i asked anyhow. A couple freinds and I went shooting and itested it with 3BK buckshot on some 2L bottles at about 50yds. I'm much more confident now.

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One morning my brother(chipper1) and I were walking out of the woods and notices some smoke coming out of the wetground. We both were standing over this smoke, sniffing it, but it had no smell. Come to find out there are a couple of oil wells where we hunt and the power line going to them had gone to ground just a few feet from where were. Sad thing is, he works for the phone company and I work at a power plant and we both should have known better.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

woke up late, started up my stand, got 1/3 of the way up, turned around and saw a 150 inch deer lookin at me, he smiled at me and trotted of, not a regular trot, the kind that means ha ha ha i got you didn't I.

RE: Dumbest thing you've done in the deer woods
 

In lower Michigan I have chances at 120 - 140's...(rare occassions though)...In the thumb of Michigan where I hunt we have 115s - 130s.....Only on rare occasions though...tons of doe and small bucks...

SO I'm in the Thumb of Michigan hunting my 500 acre piece...in 2003 which would put me at 17 years of hunting this spot..I had taken 60 + deer or so in this spot but only 2 I put on the wall....

Its just a normal morning...Its 9AM on Oct. 28th....And my knees are aching and I can't stand it anymore...I slowly stand up from my stand....and I have this weird sensation take over my body...AN INSTINCT Shultzy....

I slowly turn my head and a 140 class 10 pt.. is looking me in the eye....after a few seconds he turns and bolts...I draw and look for a shot and he is gone.......

Have your ever heard that song?...Some guys have all the luck...some guys do nothing but complain....Rod Stewart?

well....I've had to work hard for everything I have in life...including whitetails with calcium on their heads...

And there is no doubt....I can put an arrow in the spot....I just have that luck...and I live in Michigan...the land of...if its brown its down....

But Its the outdoors that brings me back..the sound of a breaking branch...a fox squirrel in your tree...and chickadee on your arrow....this is why I enter the woods...

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A few years back while doghunting--A buddy killed a little rack buck had cut his throat and drug him to the road-the buck moved a little so he stepped on one side of therack to hold him down--I got there a few minutes later stood around for a few more then told him to move his foot so we could see the rack and take some pics. I was standing behind the buck about 10 feet when all of sudden he came too turned and ran straight at me,I shoved his head down and he ran between my legs--That wasn't the stupid part the stupid part wasI clamped my legs shut as he ran through--Now I'mabout 6'2"and a big boy but that buck had no problem toting me about 20 ft backwards before I got smart an turned loose--I look back now and relize how close I came from bad injury or even death--I'm so glad the "GOOD LORD TAKES CARE OF STUPID PEOPLE"

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Not bowhunting related, I was muzzleloader hunting in Kentucky in Dec of 06. I had not been successful with the muzzleloader, that still hasn't changed. I had cleaned the gun good a few days before. I had a decent 8 point, big body buck walk out of the woods just 40yrds from me into an open cut bean field. He saw me but just trotted off, no run. I squatted on one knee to get steady and lined up perfect and pulled the trigger. Expecting a pretty good kick, only getting a small poof of smoke I was dazed as he looked back trotting off. I later realized thru conversation with an experienced muzzleloader hunter that after cleaning the barrell, you need to turn the gun muzzle down to let the oil drip out. I did not have powder in the gun when cleaning, but when I did reload the pellets, they soaked up the oil that was waiting in the bottom of the barrell. Painful lesson learned,one I will never forget. To this date, that is the only deer I have pulled the trigger on with the muzzleloader.
chris