FossilThomas

crawl under the covers and cry.

longislandhunter

Thanks to everybody. I have made some posts in the pastwhere people on this forumwere kind of nasty and judgmental.I was hesitant with this one but you guys were reallygreat. I am heading out tomorrow so I will take all of that advice to the field and lets see if i can't redeem myself with a nice Long Island buck.

Oh by the way FossilThomas I did crawl under the sheets but all of the antidepressanst I took after missing the shot made it almost impossible to cry!! JK.

Happy Hunting All!!

chaselton

I missed the only buck that I have seen all year. I sighted my muzzeloader in at 100 yards and got a shot at an 8 pt. at 20 yards and in the heat of the moment forgot to compensate and shot over him. This literally has made me sick and trust me if anyone knows how you feel... I do. I have replayed this moment @least 100 times. I just don't know what happened.

djschuett

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!

It's better to miss completely than to wound and not find in my book. You have the experience of taking that shot with you now. As you increase your experiences, your confidence and abilities will grow!

"The only bad mistake is that from which you do not learn."

Beezer

I'll tell you exactly how I cope, buy something else. I got one with my bow and wanted to use the shotgun to get one also. I missed three times with slugs, clean misses...not wounds or lost deer. After checking my scope after each shot, it was off. For whatever reason after it was sighted in, the next day it was off. I give up, the shotgun will be for turkey....I've waiting on the UPS man to arrive with my new muzzleloader right now.

Deerhunter_515

This season I was totally embarresd when I was hunting. 3 doesran up from the left of me and one of the does stopped about 10 yards away behind and to the left of me. I had to turn all the way around and I aimed but I had so much clothes on I couldnt get my head all the way down level with my shotgun. When I shot I was suprised that the does didnt even move! so i pumped again and shot AND MISSED then he still didnt move and I shot AGAIN ANDI MISSED. Then he ran off and I was discoraged but I realized my mistake and next time I will trynot to do it!

Champlain Islander

LI hunter don't despair...it will happen again. I am 59 years old and can remember each and every miss like it was yesterday. Fortunately I have far more kills than misses and that sort of over shadows the misses. You feel bad at first but slooooowly get over it especially when you do score. Learn from your misses and try to take care of the problem next time. Most of my misses were a result of rushing the shot. Next time try to compose yourself and make that shot mechanically just like you do on the range or at a 3D shoot. Pay attention to limbs and brush that can sway your shot. After the miss I always sit down and look at the reason why it happened. Most of the time if I went by the numbers I would have scored. The hardest ones are when you make a poor shot and don't recover the animal. That is far worse than a clean miss. I feel it makes it more of a challenge when misses are occasionally factored in. The deer truly have the advantage and that my friend is why they call it fair chase. Good luck and get right back on that horse.

Firehawk7309

Everyone misses at one time or another. The same for buck fever. Replay the events in your head, decide what you think went right or wrong. Fix what you can. Relax and try to steady yourself and your breathing, then aim and shoot. Every deer encounter is different but hopefully the next one will turn out in your favor.

DoctorDeath

Yeh LI ....take Franks advice ...hell he should know..... hes so old he use to shoot with Davy Crockette

dd

Champlain Islander

Some call me a dinosaur...some say fossil. I like to think fine wine perfectly aged. Yup Davy C and I were there and Scott you were the guide. My only salvation is I hunt with a bunch of great hunters in their 40's and I don't have a problem keeping up…even in the high thin air of Colorado and the endless hollers of south Ohio with all the green briar. The only difference between them and me is I go to bed earlier and probably drink more. Another difference is they do it while on vacation and I get to do it every day. ML tomorrow morning near the house and it is going to be coooooold. Going down to near zero tonight with some wind. The lake is still open out front. I plan to soft push a few swamps to see if I can scare up a doe for my nephew who is 13 has a permit and looking for his first deer.