You biggest bone head moment

[magicman54494]

Here's mine:
I'm hunting opening morning rifle season in Minn. At about 10 AM a doe comes by in a hurry. I ready the gun for what I anticipate will be a buck in tow. He comes head down sniffing out her trail. Well he's a good buck - probably 130" 10 pointer. He stops 35 yds away and just stands there. Well I look him over for a while deciding if he's big enough. Finally i decided that it would be foolish to pass on him even if it was the first day. I have to back the story up a bit. I'm on the transition edge of a swamp and there weren't any good trees so I'm in a pine that is just too small for the climber I was using. As I lean forward to take the shot my stand shifted on the tree. It scared the crap out of me and as I jerked back real quick I also pulled the trigger.
Bang! The deer ran further out in front of me and stopped with his head behind a small pine. I pumped another shell in the gun but my hand slipped and I knew I didn't totally close the chamber. I opened the chamber and slid the pump back and tried to reclose it. I slid the pump too far and a second shell tried to load. JAMB! Meanwhile the buck is still standing there. I try to remain calm and clear the jamb. I keep peeking up to see if the buck is still there. Finally i get the second shell out and close the chamber just in time to see him disappear into thick cover.

[backstraps]

Man that sounds like some of my luck.

Here is my worse:

I was hunting funnel that was really by all stretch of the word "funnel"
This was the mack daddy of stand sites to be in. As daylight broke I had bucks
cruising one after another, maybe 10 minutes a part.

8:05 am a doe comes in by herself, with that "swag look" I knew she had to be hot
and ready. I kept watching her, my eyes focused on her until I couldnt see her anymore.

Here is where my bonehead move came into play... well it is RUT time, HOT doe just came
through, what do I do...sit there in my stand and never pulled my bow off the hanger all morning!

I normally have it in hand until at least a couple hours pass daylight. Well sure enough, the biggest deer
I have got to see in the woods to this date comes in walking fast! nose to the ground zig zagging following her
trail. By the time I first seen him, grabbed my bow, came to full draw, tried to stop him, he was practically already gone!

If I would have had my bow in hand and ready (like the HOT doe was telling me to do 5 minutes earlier!!) , he actually stepped broadsided right across one of my shooting lanes at 20 yards!

My chance of a lifetime, walked in and out before I had a chance to think!

[Kodiakman]

It was opening morning of Rifle season in Buffalo Co. A two and a half hour drive from my house. I pulled up to the farm, got out, grabbe my rifled, and realized the bolt was sitting back in Jefferson, in the basement, where I took apart all the family's rifles to clean them since we sighted them in, in the rain. Yeah, not real happy. I did have a old back up .308 that hadn't been cleaned or fired in 15+ years. I would have had more luck throwing the rifle at the deer with that. I don't know why I didn't sight that thing in too. Stupid.

[BigHunt]

it was opening day of gun season, i remember it well

i sat all mourning and didn't see a deer, so i got board and took a walk and moved my stand....it was about 11:30 as i set my stand up in my location....at the time we used walkies so we could communicate until we found out it was illegal any way , my grand father was on stand almost with in site of me. i was young 13 and he liked to be with in sight of me for safety reasons i just hung my stand, climbed down to get my rope then i started heading back up the sticks. suddenly i was interrupted by my grandpa on the radio" Tyler, Tyler, here comes a big buck" ....i responded back " yea right stop messing with me"....i continued up the sticks and suddenly i seen movement out of the Conner of my eye....... BUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG BUCK running right at me i suddenly jumped off the sticks hitting the ground grabbed my 30-06, took the safety off and he came running by at 7yards. ........ i threw the gun up and scoped him, all i seen was hair . BOOM 1 shot BOOM 2 shot and then no deer.......needless to say, i missed about a 150 inch buck looked and looked for blood , nothing no hair nothing. we walked up and down valleys , nothing

lesson learned, next time you can bet im going to look over my shoulder

[MattyG]

last year at the end of october my car broke down and i was useing my brothers truck for a week. and on a saterday morning he needed it for working on his house so i told him i was going to go bowhunting in the morn. and ill text him at 9:00 to see when he wanted it. so it was a slow morn. and i didnt see anything and 9:00 comes around and i pull my phone out to start texting and im looking down at my phone starting to text my brother and i catch a deer out of the corner of my eye and he comeing right under me. it was about a 120ish 8 point and by the time i put my phone away and grab my bow he was to far away for a shot. and then the kicker was he didnt even need the tuck till noon.

[Zap]

I pondered my moments......and decided there were too many to post.

[Edcyclopedia]

Forgot to put a cap in my muzzloader while on an enormous track ALL DAY...

I probably would have had a nervous breakdown if I caught up to that buck and pulled the trigger!

[Swampthing]

I shot a real nice 10 point out in a drainage ditch in the middle of a field. Went to tag him and realized I had forgotten my deer tag at home. So I ran 3/4 mile to my truck drove 5 miles home to get it. Ran the 3/4 mile back to him. All the while hoping that he would still be there. Luckily he was. Then already exhausted drug that big guy back to my truck.

[ Post made via Android ]

[natvbearhntr]

after all these years of hunting I still get buck fever. While hunting in a small homemade ground blind a nice buck came through and instead of being patient and waiting for a good shot I paniced and hit the riffle off the side and top of the blind, sounded like someone beating on a 5 gallon bucket. And yes the buck ran off.

[magicman54494]

Forgot to put a cap in my muzzloader while on an enormous track ALL DAY...

I probably would have had a nervous breakdown if I caught up to that buck and pulled the trigger!

your not alone on that one!

[magicman54494]

I pondered my moments......and decided there were too many to post.

Don't be shy!

[Sweet Shot 7]

Leave my release in the truck more than once and not realize it till im in the tree

[rizzo999]

Leave my release in the truck more than once and not realize it till im in the tree

Yep...have done that one more than once.

Mine actually involves me, but was a friend/former boss. My boss struggled for 4 years in Northern WI on his buddy's property to get a deer. At 39, he had not shot a deer in 25 years and was getting anxious. for 4 years he saw nothing "up north". Last year I invited him to hunt with my Dad, another friend and I in another part of the state. Opening morning, which is a very holy time for gun hunters, I walk out to my Blazer and start it up, but forgot to unlock all of the door. My boss passes me on his way to my Blazer to put his gun in the truck. He gets to the back door and realizing it is locked opens up the drivers side front door and pushes a button that he believes is unlocking the doors. He shuts the door. He attempts to open the rear door, but realizes that he locked all of the doors. Oh yeah....the truck is still running!

He comes walking in and tells me that he might have just done something really stupid. I asked "what...did you leave your bullets at home?" He responds, "no, I just locked your keys in the truck and it is still running!" All of our guns are in the truck locked. No extra key (that has been taken care of now). I ask the young lady working the front desk of the motel if they have any wire hangers as my Blazer is older and might still be manipulated with a coat hanger to unlock it. She responds no, but she would take a look around.

As the minutes pass by I decided that I will just bust open one of my windows with a rock and we would be on our way. I walk over to grab a rock and as I was making my way back to the truck the front desk lady comes running outside "I found one, I found one!!". I quickly bent it into a shape that might unlock the door on the passenger side as I did not want to mess up the internal components on the driver's side. I was muttering 4 letter words under my breath when I felt a click within the first few seconds of working on unlocking the door. I calmly told my Dad to try the door and it worked.

We still made it out to the property prior to daylight in a very warm vehicle! My boss shot 2 does that morning making for a very memorable day all-around. I have since found a nice little hiding spots for an extra key on the truck. Finally, I used to unlock vehicles legally when I was a tow truck driver from 1990-1995 so I did have a little experience in that area.

[hoyt]

I've had many and the more senile I get the closer together they are. Probably my least favorite was when my Contender 7-30Waters handgun snapped instead of going boom.

I'd already had a chance as this buck early that morning and couldn't get the crosshairs settled on him. I was back in a tree at 3:30 that afternoon when I saw a redish color what I first thought was a hog coming through some thick sapplings. However, besides the big rack on the deer I didn't shoot that morning the thing I noticed most was how red it was and here he came again.

I was in a Summit Climber and had a mono-pod rest with me. I laid the hangun on the rest and when he cleared he was 5 steps from my tree standing broadside with the Burris Scope centered behind his shoulders and the hammer back. I squeezed the trigger and SNAP! He jerked his head up and looked right at me. We both frooze and my mind was thinking I must not have seated the primer good enough, I'll try to hold the trigger and pull the hammer back as far as I can to try and get all the force I can on the primer...then he bolted.

The night before I decided I better check and make sure I had the gun set on center-fire and got the book out to make sure I did it right. Don't even know why I even checked because I'd never shot the gun on rim-fire. But I did and ended up switching it from center-fire to rim-fire.

[natvbearhntr]

Leave my release in the truck more than once and not realize it till im in the tree

I've done that twice. Although it didn't cost me anything because only doe came out.