Strange (comical) stories for messing up on big bucks.

[stash59]

I read the thread "Call Outs" and saw most were reluctant to share their experiences. Some said they'd be embarrassed to share their failures. Someone noted that sometimes we learn more from failures than successes. I actually had thought of this thread while having a sleepless night a couple weeks ago. I wasn't called out but thought maybe this could be an outlet for those of us Beast members with the heart but not the "luck" or successes of others. I've been bowhunting for over 40 years. While I've had plenty of successes the failures have been many. Especially on trophy class animals. Alot were because of uncontrolled nerves. More because of misjudged yardage or unseen twigs/limbs. But some were down right strange. Here's 2. The first isn't so strange but an example of ignorance on my part. I now have to laugh about it or it would drive me crazy. They're inter connected because they involve the same buck I hunted on the Montana State Prison Ranch bowzone in the Deerlodge valley. The first occurred mid-December 1991. It was a cold windy morning with flurries. I was in a tree near where while scouting a few weeks earlier I had found some better tracks going through a small snow drift left from an early snowfall. A good rub was also nearby. I was close to the boundary of the "safe zone" around the dairy worked by inmates. Most of this zone was an open pasture that a handful of deer used for daytime bedding. Including a true slob of a buck. I hoped the tracks I had found were his. Which would mean that at times he left his sanctuary. As luck would have it he did just that. He stopped in the open at what I guessed to be 25 yards. Having arrowed a 120's 10 pt. 3 weeks earlier I was full of confidence. I had never felt so cool calm and collected before and through the shot ever before. Especially on an animal of this class.To say I was shocked when the arrow flew cleanly over his back is an understatement. When I got down I counted 22 steps to his tracks in the snow. He had not ducked the arrow either. On the ride home I finally realized what happened. First I wasn't shooting with a peep. Second the wool mask and glomitts I put on to combat the cold combined to drop my anchor point. Thus the high shot. A peep was installed that afternoon and I've shot with one since. Fast foward about 2 years. I was in a different tree but again near the dairy "safe zone". It was also mid December but now unseasonably warm. The deer including the big buck all bedded in the pasture again. But only about 80 yards away. With the warm weather I decided to stay all day in hopes the deer would go to water at the stream 70 yards behind me. By 3:00 pm I was getting more uncomfortable and fidgety. I decided to try and make something happen by making some bleats and grunts on my call. The buck turned his head my way but stayed bedded. 20 minutes later I did another sequence. Another head turn but no other movement. Some more time passed and I was about ready to do another sequence when a couple of does rose. Gradually each deer got up with the buck being last. After a bit he turned my way. Unlike 2 years earlier the long sit and anticipation had jangled my nerves somewhat. He reached the brush in front of me and I lost track of him. Suddenly he was there in front of me. Broadside at 30 yards but still behind the brush. I was no longer controlling my nerves and my body was trembling. Deep breath. It helped a little reducing the hammering of my heart in my ears. As I took another deep breath I heard it. A small metallic rattling. It was coming from the business end of my knocked arrow. My nerves got more jangled and the rattling seemed to get louder. I kept breathing and tried to concentrate on the bucks vitals. All I needed was one more step. The bucks ears were pivoting searching for the strange sound. Slowly he turned his head my way cupping his ears my way. It seemed like an eternity but probably wasn't even 2 seconds. He looked back forward again pivoting his ears. I started to draw when he lifted his front leg but instead of going forward he spun in his tracks and slowly headed back to his small harem. Once near they all slowly turned in the direction of the beef cattle feedlot where they fed every night. Before it got dark I unknocked my arrow and looked at the 100 grain 4 blade muzzy broadhead. One of the slots that the blades slid into had a burr left from the milling process. The first blade set against this burr when I had tightened the Trocar tip. This kept the second blade from tightening against the base allowing it to stay loose and therefore rattle. I had killed other animals while in a similar state of nervousness. Yes the noise made me more nervous but I still think I could have pulled off the shot. To this day I believe that buck couldn't pinpoint what was going on. But like most big bucks the instinct to play it safe took over and he went on to live another day. So what can we learn from these failures. Attention to details. No matter how minute. I now check all of my equipment for abnormal noises. Practice with all of the different clothes and extra equipment I carry to make sure nothing gets in the way or changes how I shoot. And it goes on with everything. Attention to details. By the way an aquaintance of mine killed that buck the next year. He had gone downhill a little but still grossed in the low 170's. Sorry for the long read.

[Edcyclopedia]

That's one heck of a long paragraph - don't let Spysar see this! LOL

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[stash59]

Sorry I haven't figured out ho w to get paragraphs. I've tried.

[Hawthorne]

I liked it. I can relate especially in my first few years of bow hunting. I think I missed my first 5 or 6 deer because of buck fever. Then I learned how to control it and turned it in to concentration. I have also missed them relaxed too but was usually because of a form or equipment issue.

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[Dewey]

Sorry I haven't figured out ho w to get paragraphs. I've tried.

Hit return or enter on your keyboard.

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[mauser06]

First chance I ever had at what I'd call a big buck...


Was 2006...my first year bow hunting...opening day of rifle came...it was a few weeks since I was to my spot...literally hunted there nearly every day I archery hunted that season...

I got in 2 hours or so before light...I could hear footsteps in the dark...sounded like 2 deer...could hear what I could only describe as a CD skipping in the old portable CD players...(some kind of buck grunt).

They walked around and grunted back and forth for what seemed like hours...I mean they were within bow range...at one point one stood in the moonlight and I could see his rack...I about fell out of the stand...I could have easily dropped him in his tracks and drug him out when it got light out...

That's not my style...I hoped he'd stay there till it got light....

Sure enough as legal light came the footsteps fadded away into the thicket..I could have cried...heck I might have lol...

It was right about 1000am...not a deer seen...I look to my right and standing on the ridge 25yds away in the sunlight is that same buck!! OMG! Look at the rack on that sucker! Behind him stood the other buck...a freaky rack... Straight up but had points..NO! I'm shooting the big one!

For whatever reason "instinct" took over...I never rifle hunted from a stand...instinct was there is a deer...stand up..I had the opportunity so I slowly stood up...

That was a morning my strap to secure the top portion of my stand fell to the ground and I was too lazy to climb down and get it...and really I didn't know its purpose...

When I stood and took my weight off the top portion of the stand it crashed down onto the bottom portion making a heck of a racket...

Oh noooo! They are gunna bolt!

They both looked at me...I stood there..I remember I held my eyes open so long it was painful...

They started walking after a while...steady walk...25yds broadside...no problem with a scoped rifle...


Well...they never stopped and I couldn't get any kind of clear shot...and I'm fairly confident in my shooting...

I was sick...they disappeared and we never seen them again...



Well...the freaky buck was killed by a buddy...he setup on a push 100yds away from that spot some days later...that buck walked out into the field on its own before the drive started and he dropped him...freaky buck and still had velvet on parts of his rack...

The biggun...a kid killed him a half mile or so away later in the rifle season ...I think he went like 145" or something....



Bunch of rookie mistakes...

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[hunter10]

Many years ago it was one of my first years hunting alone without a mentor. I had picked a hidden hay field, built a fairly sturdy but likely unsafe wooded ladder stand about 10ft off the ground on the field edge.

I was new to the whole hunting alone aspect and i remember that morning walking into the farm with wind at my back killing the whole place before i started until i got in my stand and the wind was now right! I had seen a couple does and at that stage i was ready to fling an arrow at anything.

I remember sitting there in the warm sun on what i believe was likely opening morning and around 10am i was planning on climbing down when 200yds away standing up on the high section of the field was a nice 10pt! I didnt run trail cameras, practice scent control etc and for some reason this buck was pulling some head scratching moves. He was standing with a cross wind (wind coming from my truck 100 yds from him which he could see, he was standing near my boot tracks in the wet dew from day break and was standing in the middle of the field on opening morning) Im betting now that i think of it he was bumped from the neighbouring farm.

Anyway, what should i do? being a young hunter full of and vinegar i climbed down and snuck towards him somehow unseen and made it to within 30 yds of him i guessed since there wasnt much talk of range finders back then. I kneeled and drew back only to be so excited and nervous that i just aimed my bow at him (forgot to look through the sights) and shot!

Well of course my string slapped my baggy jacket and arrow duffs into the grass 10 yds from my and the buck ran off never to be seen again and because not many people were killing mature deer and I came from a non hunting family, my dad didnt believe my story for a second. Just laughs all around. I no longer hunt this farm but driving by I can still see that ratty old stand barely hanging onto the big oak

[Kraftd]

Hard to pick just one!

My worst one was about a decade ago. Had just broken up with a long-term girlfriend in early October, generally just kind of in a rough mood. Left work early enough on a Friday to get an hour in a stand when I got to our place in Central Wisconsin. Got settled in a pre-hung in a perfect funnel with an hour to go. Gave it a couple of minutes and blew a couple of soft grunts just in case I could fool something that heard me walking in that late. A couple of minutes later I see a Monster of a deer coming right down the creek bank into my set-up heading for a chip shot. Big old main frame 9 with a bunch of trash, huge bodied deer and tons of mass, would have been my biggest buck by a wide margin at that point, and probably still. No idea I was there, wind was good, this is going to be too easy. I was shooting instinctively at the time, as he stepped out at 15 yards from behind some brush I was already drawn, and let it fly. Never bent at the waste and shaved some hair off his back right above the vitals. I drank a good amount of whiskey that night....

Someday I hope my stories with dead buck pics outnumber these kind!

[Stanley]

In 1986 I had real nice 145 (10 point) inch buck patterned. I was watching/glassing him from a river in a boat. I spent a lot of time watching him in the early morning, as I could float the boat in near the bank n the dark and watch him. It was early season, but the area I had permission was void of cover/trees. Finally the right wind from the north and I decided to make a play on the buck.

There was one clump of grass about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. This was my only option for a hide to get close to his travel route. Half hour after first light a spike comes by and makes a small rub. I could have arrowed him easily at 20 yards. 5 minutes later the 145 comes down the same path as the spike. He is in the cover, gets to the rub the spike had just made and looks directly at me hiding by the clump of brush. He slowly turns around and walks off not giving me a shot.

The only shot I had was when he stopped at the new rub. If I had drawn back as he was traveling to that point I would have arrowed him. My mistake was many and plenty. Not enough cover for me. Expecting the bigger buck to act like the spike. Not being at full draw when the buck was in the clear. I carried that lesson over in the years to come. I believe that lesson served me well. Another gun hunter ended up killing the buck during shot gun season.. I never saw the buck again that season or ever again as he was on the other hunters wall.

Those dumb moves on my part have haunted me ever since.

[JoeRE]

My most embarrassing story is one probably most won't believe, heck I probably wouldn't believe it if they said it happened to them. But it did happen.

I think I was 17, peak rut, big 9 point buck comes swaggering by. I was shook, biggest buck I had seen up close! My first arrow at about 30 yards hit a branch at the top of its arc, landed behind him. He moved toward me away from where the arrow landed. I knocked a second arrow and let fly, he was only about 20 yards away. The string snagged on my open jacket collar or grunt call I am not sure which and the arrow hit him on the inside of his right main beam and stuck there CRACK (His left side was toward me, the arrow went between his left G2 and G3 and stuck in the right beam). He ran off with the arrow stuck in his rack. No idea when it fell out/broke off.

[hunter_mike]

One i am fairly embarassed about is when i was 15 or so I went and sat in an old wooden treestand on my uncles farm on a really cold morning. I was underdressed and curled into a ball and just layed up there. As the sun came up, a nice buck (thinking back probably a 2.5 yr old) appeared, and my shivering/buck fever became severe. The buck seemed far away and I did not move... I continued to watch the buck.... and DID NOT MOVE! I then watched the buck calmly walk away. After getting down I realized the buck had walked about 25 yards from me. The end

[Dewey]

I have a funny story about the first buck I ever released an arrow on. It was early in my bowhunting years well before I had some common sense.

This was a morning rut hunt early November and I was hunting in a ground blind made from brush. Had a doe come past shortly after daylight and was hoping a buck would follow. Waited about 10 minutes and sure enough here comes a nice buck. He walked past my blind at less than 10 yards and as I came to full draw I was picturing him hanging on my wall. It was a gimmee shot and no way I could screw it up.........I was wrong. Ended up shooting just under him never touching a hair.

The buck never had a clue what happened since he was so focussed on the hot doe he was searching for. I wasn't about to let him get away so decided I wasn't going to stay sitting here and go after him. This is where my youthful energy took over my common sense. I ran after the deer with another arrow nocked hoping for another shot. Amazingly he didn't notice right away since he was so rut crazed. Suddenly he turned around to see what the commotion was and here is this lunatic chasing him. The bucks eyes about popped out of his head from panic as he bounded away. I wasn't giving up so went in a full sprint chasing him down the hill. Funny thing is he stopped to look back again noticing I was still hot on his tail. After that pretty sure he didn't stop till he was in the next county.

I can only look back at that and shake my head! What an idiot I was.

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[kurt]

viewtopic.php?f=157&t=29150

I've been told the hunt I wrote about this year is pretty funny. But it's so fresh in my memory it's more of a missed opportunity. Eventually I'll join everybody laughing at me.