DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?? (The bad luck thread)

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Rich M
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Re: DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?? (The bad luck thread)

Unread postby Rich M » Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:08 pm

I was working for a guy who's shop abutted a landfill and state park. He had permission to hunt the landfill and invited me to join him. Cool - we put out a couple trail cams where the chain link fence was down and had some nice bucks on there. (YES - the ultimate funnel). He even had one of his guys go and brush hog the waist high grass so we could move around easier.

Meanwhile I'm shooting my bow and getting ready to shoot a big 7 pt with daggers for tines. Buddy calls and wants to borrow my bow for an out of state hunt but will be back before opening day. Sure thing, he's been good to me.

2 days before opener I go to get my bow and he grabs it off his back deck - he's been shooting targets out back.

Opening day comes and we hit the woods! I go to the place where I have the most pictures of the big 7. Set a ladder stand in pre-dawn - against a horizontal limb since it gave me the best shot and cover from a pine tree.

So, there I am, sitting there and I start to feel uneasy. Something or someone is watching me... I look left & right - nothing. I look between my legs - straight down and there is the big 7 standing directly under me looking up, trying to figure out what this dude is doing in that tree. His eyes got as big as saucers and he bolted back the way he had come.

Talk about a downer. I'm really mad at myself - get down and stomp around a little, THEN I see movement 200 yards down a path. It is a doe and she's headed my way. I step off the trail and behind a bush, get ready to shoot her when she gets there. She works her way, browsing as she goes... The moment of truth arrives, she is 15 yards, broadside, head down behind a bush.

I draw and she turns inside out getting out of there. WHAT????? Turned out good buddy left my bow out in the rain and never used it. Deaf me couldn't hear it squeak but everyone else could and said it sounded like nails on a chalk board.

I quit bow hunting for the 2nd time right then and there.


Loppy
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Re: DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?? (The bad luck thread)

Unread postby Loppy » Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:42 am

This is going back about 25 years. I was hunting on of my favorite stands in early November. The rut was really starting to heat up. I could hear a bunch of crashing to the North of me and just knew there was some chasing going on. About a minute later a huge horse head doe came running up the path to my stand and stood right under my tree. I grabbed my bow and got ready. I could hear the buck grunting with every step. It wasn't just a short grunt but he would draw it out for 10 seconds. It was awesome. I finally see him coming up the trail and saw that he was about a 130" 8 pointer. I can still remember he had some really good mass. He stops right in one of my openings and I get ready to shoot. I come to full draw and put the pin on his vitals. While I was pulling back the doe started getting pretty nervous. I don't know if she saw me move or if it was because the buck was closing in on her. Maybe both. Well she takes off when I'm releasing and he is right on her heals. The arrow ended up hitting him in the hind quarter. Oh No!!
I knew I was in for a tricky tracking job so I called my cousin for some help. We were following pins drops for the first 40 yards and then he broke open. At this point, the only thing that I could hope for is that I hit an artery. We had good blood for about 120 yards and then it was back down to drops. I was on my hands and knees going thru some thick brush and I thought I could smell him. I kept on asking my cousin "Can't you smell that? He's got to be right up here!" He just looked at me like I was crazy as he said he could not smell anything.
After being on my hands and knees for about 45 minutes we came to a small opening. I needed to get up and stretch for a bit. We took a little break and were talking about the tracking job. As we were standing there I put my hand in my pocket. I could feel somehting wet in my pocket and pulled my hand out to see what it was. Well I found out what I was smelling while we were tracking. I forgot I had a bottle of buck pee in my front pocket and the lid came off saturating my pocket. I was not happy. My cousin thought it was pretty funny though.
I decided to take the spotlight and shine around to see if I could see the buck laying anywhere. I was scanning around and I yelled "There he is!" and I took off running. My cousin didn't see what I was looking at and just stayed put. I get up to the buck and much to my surprise there was a full skeleton from an 8 pointer. It was there for at least a year. Of course I said oh !@#$! I grabbed the skull and went back to where I left my cousin. He tried to talk it up that it was a cool find but I wasn't having any of it. All I saw was the rack at first and I really thought that it was my buck.
Needless to say after trailing for a mile we never did find him. I was of course was disappointed. When we get together and are talking about hunting that story sometimes comes up. Remember when you spilled the buck pee in your pocket. And how cool was it that you found a dead head that night. At the time I did really care about either of those things but looking back at it now it was a fun adventure.
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Boogieman1
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Re: DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?? (The bad luck thread)

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:01 am

This doesn't really fall into the category of bad luck, more of stupidity. Last season I stacked the deck with intell of a buck headed to his bed it was a 50/50 shot. Sometimes he came in b4 first light, but majority of the time it was 1/2 hour after 1st light I discovered his turn where he scented his bedding area so I moved in for the kill. Shortly after pink light, I new if it was going to happen it would be anytime now, so I stood up and reached for my bow, Surprise!!! it ain't there! I stopped to pee at the edge of the woods and left it leaning against the gate. I got down out of the stand immediately and just called it a day. I never saw that buck again!
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
-John Wayne-


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