outdoor338

Ok hunters, which mistakes have cost you a shot or spooked your game. I have made my share of blunders, how would you prevent it from happening again. My big one was when I thought that my rifle fed a round into the chamber, boy that cost me a nice 10 pointer. I would like to hear your stories..thanks.

Dr. Mike

Ramone

I pulled the classic no-no a few years ago....... went into the woods without my rifle. I was going out to check on a trail that I thought a buck was using for late morning. It was right below my camp and I just wanted to see if he had crossed that morning..... yep - you guessed it... he had crossed.... I crept into the thicket and there he stood. [:' (] Note to self: kick self in butt : repeat as necessary.

BOLTACTION

I was hunting a trail that a large buck was using. I sat under a tree near the trail, and feel asleep and when I awoke there he was, a large 8-10 point beautiful buck looking straight at me. I attempted to slowly bring my rifle up, but of course it didn' t work. The last thing I saw was a " white flag" waving " bye-bye!" Never saw him again!

Kindest regards to all,
Bolt Action

BOLTACTION

I forgot to mention that I was hunting in the state of Texas, Nacogdoches, Texas to be specific. Due to that fact, it seemed the buck' s " white flag" was larger than most!

Cheers,
Boltaction

skeeter 7MM

I have committed some aweful sins in the hunting terms over the years, thankfully with each mistake comes more knowledge. One such sin was when rattling 3 years ago in amongest full blown rut on a blustery day in mid nov. It was the day I dream of to be in the deep bush, snowing off and on, cold and low ceiling made for a perfect day to get in deep and do some rattling. It all started out well having rattled in 2 respectable bucks in my first location in the early morning. Moving to my honey hole as the wind lined up perfectly I rattled out a nice 4x5 which I passed in hope of my monarch I had seen in archery and ml season. Around 2pm following my rattling sequence I spotted movement, I had a deer creeping the edge of this meadow to the east and thought(having never seeing it' s head gear yet) this just be my beast. I focused so hard on getting a glimpse of this deer, I missed the one coming in my back door, until a SNAP drew me back to reality. Oh oh that came from my back door and I just committed the sin I so harderly preach----watch the back door when rattling! As I turned I came face to face with my monarch at close range, one snort and a wave good bye didn' t allow me an opportunity to squeeze one off. I then watched as his rack bounced through the bush, my heart sank, mouth dried and I started to kick my pants. Then as I turned back to the way I was originally facing my day got worse, I caught enough of a glimpse of the deer I had been so intently watching, to find he was a wide racked 5 before he disappeared into the bush. Not one but two chances blown by not paying enough attention to my surrounding, having tunnel vision and reacting inappropriately. I have learned many times that if a deer has you cued than you better not make any movements or it' s flag time, but the sight of those horns got the better of me.

I could have given up after that day but I vowed to use my new gained or revisited education to not make the same mistake twice (or in my case a third time)

rebel wolf

I was running late from work trying to hit the woods, ran home quick shower, everything already loaded, get to the woods, get dress grab cover scent, spray self, grab bow and release, climb tree, sit take deep breath, here deer moving, raise bow quietly, see beautiful 9 point standing broadside at 22 yards, NO ARROWS, I did encounter the beast later in the season with a quiver full of arrows, that deer then became venison....

mauser06

notr having the gun up for me....last day of the season(still had a 3 day doe season...) but last day of buck and i could take a doe being a junior hunter...i was out for anything i didnt care....i sat down and waited...a doe walked down the gulley how it was supposed to but then turned and walked right towards us and i didnt have my gun up...it got to about 10 yds and turned around...told her big sister to go see whats down there.....she followed the gulley how she was supposed to...turned around behind a big tree....walked out and i dropped her......now i always try to keep my gun near ready...not laying across my lap totally useless and hard to get up motionless....it may be uncomforable to have it up all the time but it wont cost me a deer again.......another mistake was putting a junk tasco scope on my rifle.....in one season i wounded 2 deer to never find them and totally missed one....and the ammo wasnt doing its job either and barely putting a hole in them so i had barely any blood to follow even wit ha bad hit....one i had a faint trail for 20 yds or so then another i had a single drop...it made me so sick i wanted to sell all my guns and hang up my boots and just quit...my dad blammed me...i knew it wasnt me though..ive been a pretty good shot all my life and made some good shots....i just knew it wasnt me......dad took my scope off my rifle for a sluggun and when he took it to get mounted and bore sighted the guy showed him how broke the scope was....when you adjusted the powers the crosshairs moved too!! so after i found out it truely wasnt me i saved all my grass cutting money and bought a leupold.....my bullets havent missed their mark since...

Scooter59

I must admit to making my great fair share of OOPS' and UH OHS over the years.

Here' s some of my better ones:

Had a rather nice size buck walk within 25 yards of me once while I squated against a tree answering mother nature, my rifle was on the other side of tree;

Hurried one afternoon (from work) to try and catch the last 1/2 hour of shooting light, pulled coveralls on over my suit pants and shirt, threw on my boots, grabbed my rifle and headed to my favorite spot - went to load rifle - left shells in truck [:' (] Think every deer in the county gathered as I walked back to my truck to jeer at me [:@]

Lastly, and my most shining moment, I work at a law firm where I' m on call some weekends. On the last weekend of deer season I was scheduled to be on call but arranged to trade with another member of our staff to cover the weekend. I went hunting, of course. I spotted a bunch of does being chased by a buck on the ridge over from where I was, so commenced a two 1/2 hour stalk. I got within 250 yards and was getting into a good shooting position. Just at the moment of truth BEEP BEEP BEEP my pager goes off (I had it on in case of an emergency). Needless to say deer don' t react well to pagers and the last time I saw them they were headed towards the next county. I later found out someone forget to tell the answering service I wasn' t on call. [:' (]

DaveH

When the buck of a lifetime stepped out broadside at 10 yards in front of me, I drew my bow (with fingers) and saw the arrow come off the rest. I steeply canted the bow to allow the arrow to fall back onto the rest. When I did this, the top limb of my bow hit my rattling antlers which were hanging on a nearby branch. The MONSTER didn' t hang around and I never saw him again.

jerseyhunter

I knocked my arrow in the darkness. Sunup brings 2- 6 pointers within 10 yds. Draw back (at that time only fingers), let loose and the arrow must have come unknocked. It sounded like a missed cued cue ball. Shot sideways and hit a 4" wide sappling. If that tree wasn' t there I would have hit the other Buck. Another time I was so intent examining a freshly made scrape I failed to see the Buck that made it Just about 35 yds away during shotgun season, Oh well live and learn. I also drove 1 1/2 hours to hunt and didn' t bring the arrows. That NEVER happened again.