How many air-balls?
 

Just curious.. how many complete clean misses have you had with archery gear on bucks?

For me, 2

Two dandy bucks that still haunt me a bit. The first was on a beauty of 5x5 when I was in college. Missed him clean, shot right under him while bowhunting out of a man madeground blind. The second was operator error a couple years ago on my part on yet another dandy 5x5 mid 140s low 150's.. the old grunt tube hang up/caught my bow stringout of a ground blind.Oh I have one clean miss on an elk too. Shot right under him on a steep slope.. 5x5

How about you guys? Any air-balls you wish you could have back or one more chance at?

RE: How many air-balls?
 

i have yet to miss a buck but numerous does have had my arrow wiz by, i remember when i was 9 i shot all 5 arrows in one morning and still hadnt hit one!

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Maybe you should stop shooting at 5X5's they seem to be bad luck for you..

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RE: How many air-balls?
 

I dont know I have about a dozen of them hanging in my house..

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Just one whiff on a buck. Guessed him for 40... shot perfect for 40... he stood at 31...

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many does I've missed... dozen maybe... but hell I've killed over 40 or so. My percentage is pretty good. I've never had an arrow enter the body cavity of a deer and not recovered it... that I'm proud of.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

zero thus far...knock on wood....first ever shot was a mistake...alert deer dropped to run..i would liked to miss him. he took it high and was never found...im still betting he survived..atleast from my arrow.

other was a quick clean kill...how i hope they all happen

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Oh god. Dozens. Dozens and Dozens.

When we first started hunting, we were using freebie arrows that we dug up behind the targets at a local sportsmens club over the summer. Nothing matched. We bummed rusty old used broadheads from anyone we knew who had a bow. So, we stuffed our quivers with whatever we could come up with and went hunting.

We had junk bows, junk arrows, junk broadheads - and we made due.

We had no clue about stand placement, shot selection, ethics, bloodhounding, shot placement, etc... We just hunted. Willy Nilly.

13, 14 years old - out there with no adult supervision - 100% self-taught. See,my parents weren't exactly "thrilled" that I was running around the woodslike a wild redneck (instead of studying), so they weren't exactly thrilled about supporting my bowhunting habit, from a financial perspective. I had a couple grass-cutting jobs, (which helped), but I spent the dough on girls and the remainder onbowhunting gear. There was no free lunch for this guy. In PA you're supposed to be "supervised." I was supervised allright - supervised walking out the door, and supervised when I walked back in.

Young and stupid. We're lucky we didn't kill ourselves.

Honest to god, there were years where IknowI'd bust up 20+ junker arrows over the course of a season, just to kill 2 measly deer. As honest as I'm sitting here - if I could see the deer, I was shooting at it. I didn't care if it was 120 yards away.

I don't know if I'm the only kid who hunted that way... Or if I'm just the only one willing to admit it.... But that's what we did, and how we went about it. Just learning on the fly and driven by the sheer desire to show the world that we could do it. And in all honesty, I had a lot more fun hunting then than I do now. Now, I'm only happy when I succeed. Then, I was happy just to be trying.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Missed the same buck....twice. He was about the 4th buck to come thru on a hot doe, the first three flew by w/o offering a shot. Missed this guy both times as he walked in front of me - both were in front of him. After I retreived my arrows I noticed my site was knocked off about 2 notches from where it should have been set. Must have bumped it as I raised it up to my stand that morning.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Carry on sir....

RE: How many air-balls?
 

hahaha Fran, I didnt have a clue how to even get close to a whitetail buck in these big woods with a bow when I was a kid.. all I'd ever see was a flashing tail! Or hear the big BLOW! Deer numbers have exploded here in my last 26 years of hunting whitetails.. I remember hiking miles to cut a track as a kid. Today our whitetail populations due to logging practices, especially the implementation of clearcuting and replanting has driven our numbers way up. I can honestly say my boys will have much better odds on seeing deer than I ever did trying to figure it out on my own..

One thing about it.. you cant have many misses if you havent taken many shots at bucks either.. Kinda like the guy who has never lost a fight.. he hasnt been in many ;)

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Lmao!! He is good killadoe!!;)

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Great thread Troy!! I've missed one buck and it was in Wisconsin. I was about 15 years old and a friend of the family was also with are family bow hunting these whitetails. Well the portable stand I was in was the friends stand and when I pulled back on the little 3" spike every thing felt great when all of a sudden just as I was letting the string slide off of my fingers hoping to go in the lungs of the spike the end of the wooden stand broke. Luckily I caught myself by grabbing an over hung branch, some how I was able to hold on to my bow as well. The arrow missed the deer surprising only by about 3" over its back. I was about 20' in that tree, I easily could of been a goner if I wouldn't of caught myself.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Just messing around Kill.. I dont believe in luck.. odds yes.. circumstance yes.. luck naw.. you make your own.. :D

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Ok Ill swallow my pride 4 bucks,7 does,2 coyotes. But I have learned from my mistakes.

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can you imagine if you would have double lunged that DEER TOO!

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Oh geesh Mech.. your coyotes got me thinking.. I missed an antelope too clean miss..chit.... I try to forget these things.. :D

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Three that haunt me for sure.First one happenedmy second year bowhunting. He was abig, corn fed, Illinois giant. Easily in the 170's maybe even 180's.We had glassed him three days in a row. I got permission to hunt the farm and slipped in one afternoon when the wind was right. He hopped a fence and came in to 20 yds. right at last light. I thought I was focused on a spot right behind his shoulder...............................until the arrow flew harmlessly over his rack!

The other two happened two seasons ago which was my first hunting with a recurve. The first one was a MASSIVE 150 class 8 pt. with kickersthat I had at 10 yds. and I was 20 ft. up. Yep, right over his back, I almostvomitted out of my stand.The second one happened exactly three weeks later. He was a good solid non-typical. Not huge, but he would of been my first with a droptine. He came in broadside at 15 yds., again I was at least 20 ft. in the air. The whole time he was coming I was telling myself "pick a spot, don't shoot high". Another clean whiff right over that bucks back. Talk about wanting to put your saftey harness around your neck and jump out of your stand!

Redemption will be mine this year with a recurve. (hopefully)

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Geesh Brett, those are some HAWGS.. best of luck with the recurve redemption!..hope to see you with one of those big corn fed beasts, recurve laying over his back..

RE: How many air-balls?
 

I have air balled one buck that I come upon on the way to my stand chasing a doe. He ran right in front of me and stopped!!! He never new I was there!!! A-I-R--B-A-L-L!!!![:o]:([:@]

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but as an ending note, lets say im better with a bow than a gun[:o] i have missed at least 5shooters with my gun[:@]so..........i am now a bowhunter only unless im hunting for elk, moose etc..

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Steve, where ya hunt elk moose at??

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound(s) Shed, geesh!;)

I have managed to kill some good bucks, but I am fortunate to live in a state where you have a chance if you do some work. I grew up in mid-western Illinois in McDonough county which is close to the famed Fulton county and about 1 1/2 hrs. from Pike and Adams. After I missed the first big deer I mentioned, we managed to get the lease on that farm and myfriends still have it. One of them killed a 213" non-typical therethree years ago during gun seasonand they consistantly kill P&Y deer every year during bow season. Ifmy business partners scanner still works I'llscan a pic. andI'll post it for you. I now live in the southern portion of the state and while the bodies on the deer aren't quite as big, butthe antlers are still there. The other two I mentioned were on a farm that has been managed well for over 10 years and that I am now in on a lease with a few other guys. Contrary to what theOutdoor Channel might have you believe, there aren't Booners behind every tree here, but we haveour share.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Lots of flung arrows in my younger days,to many to count.As far as real nice bucks just one but the second shot found it's mark.:D

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Brett, I didnt mean too.. sorry.. I have no doubt you've killed some dandies.. I guess I came across wrong.. I applaudyourhonesty on the clean misses... Like I said earlier.. no misses usually means not a lot of opportunities..not always but most of the time.. there are a few likeRybo that just flat out rarely miss ever!Not I... I've had afew whiffs myself.. as for yourrecurve efforts I have the highest respect for the archers that get it done with those bows.... and again I hope you hammer a slammer this fall!

Send me some pix please, and while your doing it..show me that bow too! good luck

RE: How many air-balls?
 

I cant remember for sure, but I think 3. I had several misses back during my first couple of years bowhunting. Usualy with bucks I have no problems its the does that get me.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

2 clean misses on bucks, both in my first year of archery hunting. The first was a 1.5 year oldbuck at a scrape. He was sniffing the tree trunk when I shot. My arrow clipped the overhanging branch and it fell into the scrape. I think I may have been admireing his headgear.[:@]

The second was a buck I saw as I was walking back to my truck. I had reached the edge of a field and he was following a doe across it in my general direction. He was a good sized buck too, 130" I bet.I thought he was 30 yards, he was more like 40+. Right under his chest.:(

That was the last time I missed a buck that I have launched an arrow at.:)

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Shed-I was just giving you a hard time. I can take, and give, a hard time with the best of them. I will try to get some pics of that big non-typical scanned and posted for all you guys.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

i killed a 6x6 in colorado at kesslercanyon, the place is amazing, i also cot a 10 pound rainbow there, wish i could live there.....we went 8 for 8 on bulls and every one was over 300 inches, check it out

www.kesslercanyon.com

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I have to be truthfull, I have never had a deer get away unscathed. Its a very odd stat considering I have taken more than a dozen deer and not one I am proud of....I have had a few(too many) shots I wished I missed after the fact. I missed one buck due to the string catching on my collar, but he didnt get away unscathed - I got a second shot that I wont discuss as no one would believe me....he got away relatively unharmed anyway.

I have missed a few dozen squirrels, a bunch of turkeys, and many coyotes. Turkeys I just have a hard time hitting:(, and coyotes have insane reflexes.

RE: How many air-balls?
 

Do we really have to talk about this?:DComplete misses would be 2,one of which was confused enough to allow me to nock another arrow and take him.

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That would of been something Troy!! I'm just happy I'm able to tell the story.:D

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I've hit 2 small bucks (not that it makes itOK) withpoor shots, and didn't recover them. No air balls though. As far as does go, I'm sure I've air balled a few of those in my daythough. This was when I was much less competent.;)

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I don't know if I should admit my number. [:-]

I've managed to break into double digits. But sadly enough it wasn't due to wildly flinging arrows. Probably only one of those shots was over 20 yds, and one deflected off of limbs. I was just a very poor shot when I started out. I was fortunate to make clean misses and no wounded but lost deer.

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2, one was during my 2nd year bowhunting, was a smaller buck but I clean whiffed and shanked the shot in fron of him. The 2nd was far more painful, it was on a definate book buck. I misjudged the yardage. The buck came in a spot on a small trail no deer had never approached from in all my years of hunting that stand. I shot and watched the arrow fly true...until at the last second she ran out of gas and dropped right under the buck and stuck in the ground behind his front leg.[:@]I could've puked.