Missing a giant

[Hatchetman]

Spine shot a real dandy 4.5 yo back in 2001. For some reason the arrow didn't jar his spine enough to put him down even for an instant just bounded up over the hill with my arrow flopping across his side. Actually bled pretty well, but ended up losing him after a 2 day tracking ordeal. i was really bummed...

How do i know he was 4.5 yo?

Cause I shot him in October of 2003 with my broadhead still lodged in his spine!
Sent in his tooth and came back as 6.5 yo.
My biggest Wi buck at 147.
So i guess sometimes it can turn out good after all.

[austin1990]

There's one that still haunts me and I think of every season, a big 8 point I hunted hard in 2015. I never knew he was around until November 2nd, he showed up at 1:30 in the afternoon cruising from one bedding area to the next. This was before I started mobile hunting, got to my stand at 2:00 and pulled the card to see that he had just came through, I was sick! Never seen him in person or camera again til November 20th, on a different camera 1.2 miles away as the crow flies at 11:30 in the morning. I hunted a different spot that morning but pulled the card as I went in at 2:00 for the evening hint to see I had missed him again! Anyways over the next month I hadn't seen him anywhere and was winding down my season with a buck tag still in my pocket. There's another property I hunt that's about 3/4 mile between both cameras but east 1/2 mile or so on some high ground out of the river bottom them 2 cameras were in. It had came a flood in the bottom and it was end of December, I found some sign where the water had pushed some hogs up so I went to try and bait them in on the high ground. Put out corn and went to check it the next day and low and behold there was the buck I had been after gpurging his self! I repaired and the next day he was back and this Time just before dark so I knew he was bedded close but the wind wasn't right, but the next day it would be right! It was December 31st, I slipped in around 1 and quietly got in the tree, it was cold and windy but the wind was right. It was muzzleloaderseason but way this spot sets you can only see about 40 yards and I decided to take my bow, didn't see nothing til right at last light caught movement and it was him coming in! He moved extremely slow and cautious taking his time, finally got to 25 yards and I got ready to draw and shoot soon as he turns. Then just like that he knew something was up and turned to leave, I drew and anchored and as he went through a open spot at 42 yards I thought was 35 I released and the arrow went right under him! I was sick, couldn't believe after chasing him all year I got my chance and blew it! I was mad and sour for the next week or so and to this day that deer has yet to show back up any where around, he just vanished after that one encounter, but it so wasn't his home range, just where he happened to be during the rut. Thinking back on what I've learned i figured out why he got alerted and knew I was there, the wind had calmed just before dark and there's a small slough he was walking up the bank of. I think he was getting the thermals from in front of him by walking that slough, even though the wind was blowing the other direction earlier. So I did learn from him that and that to get a shot at a big buck before dark you need to be close to his bed and that's how I've made it to here from reading and research the last couple years. Here's some pics of him, sorry for the long post!!

[Uncle Lou]

Killed the first two deer I ever shot at, one with the bow and one with a gun, both bucks, well kinda. The first deer was a button with the bow my senior year in college. I was bragging once, in my late 20s after I shot a few more with no misses, around the wrong guy, my neighbor Randy. He said if you never missed a deer you haven't shot at very many. Boy was he right, I have missed a few since the late 90s. One was a real nice up north 10 point. Didn't even get the shot, made a noise and sent him running. I still call that one the Field & Stream cover photo buck

[Dunning Kruger]

Not a giant by any means, but a nice wide 7x5 i missed last season. Still kicking myself. He has a g5 and split browtine on his right.

[Grizzlyadam]

Going on 30 years of bow hunting I've had my fare share. The more I think of it the more I start to remember. All were lessons learned the hard way and always left a lasting impression. Every time was a learning experience that forced me to analyze what went wrong and make sure it never would happen again. There were two that haunt me on a regular basis. Both were public land big mature bucks. Back in about 2006 I hit one dead center of the scapula on a 20 yard perfect chip shot. Got no penetration and spent two days looking for him, I'm confident he survived. That was the last time I ever used a mechanical broadhead. The second one maybe in 2010 was another 20 yard broadside chip shot. I grunted to stop him in a window and he dropped at the shot, I hit over the spine. That buck looked like a horse coming through the woods. I had to do a double take. I made a conscious effort not to look at his rack, it wasn't necessary he was huge and I didn't want to psych myself out. I followed his blood trail for a long way till is fizzled out going into a thick bedding area. Not a trace after that, again I'm confident he survived. The following season I went back to where I lost that blood trail and found a ladder stand someone put up right there.

[Ahawk116]

It happens when you get enough opportunities. I’ve hit a limb I didn’t see, had one jump the string and shot over him, misjudged yardage, hit one in the shoulder, and not taken a couple of opportunities that I should have. I try to learn what I can from those opportunities and move on.
If you have doubt when you draw don’t shoot. You’ve already missed. If your confident let it fly. Most of it is between the ears.
My 3D coach used to say, “A shooter has no conscience,” meaning shrug it off and focus on your execution for the next arrow.

I’d recommend “golf is not a game of perfect” for any archer to read. I’m not a golfer, but the principals are the same.

The same things that enable you to hold it together while people watch you shoot also enable you to control buck fever.

Practice a shot execution and use it in the tree.

[may21581]

The sting doesnt hurt as bad but the memory never goes away. Been there done that. This year I got a few of those memories. I guess this is why I love bow hunting!

[JoeFranchise]

I have only missed one.

The first deer I ever shot at with a bow and the second biggest I have ever seen on the hoof. Still think about it from time to time (ex: today thanks to this thread...).

17 yard chip-shot, perfectly broadside on a slow walk. Came in to a 5-yard wide opening, touched the release and can still picture the arrow (as though it is in slow motion) on its way to vitals and ~3-5 yards before the deer skip off the top of a j-shaped, downward-hanging, riverbank grape vine. Went about 2" over hit back. Buck trotted to 60 yards, snorted ~10 times, and continued back the direction he came from.
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What is now beginning stick with me, over the last 2 years, are the close calls with a longbow. On 4 different occasions, over the past 2 seasons hunting exclusively with the longbow on WI public, mature bucks managed to skirt me (1 frontal shot @ 20, 1 hard 1/4 away @ 20, 1 medium paced walk @ 25, 1 high-alert @ 25). All of which could have easily been killed with a compound (better shot opportunities presented at 30-35 yards for all but 1). My max shot distance with the longbow is currently 25 (and that is absolute max with perfect conditions). I keep telling myself that when everything finally comes together, the end accomplishment will be worth the effort.

Joe

[DaveT1963]

I have missed my share over 40 years - but what gets me the most is when that buck comes in and freezes at 30+ yards, never offering me a shot, made me question the trad bow thing a few times - but then I remember why I am out there. All part of the game - I personally wouldn't have it any other way.

[Ridgerunner7]

I've missed a few good ones. One in particular had mulie splits and a drop tine in Illinois. Skipped it right off the top of the back. That was heart breaker. I was extremely bothered by my lack of control and composure when I drew on that buck or any buck I miss. I never let it go really. I use it as motivation to improve. I become obsessed with mistakes and do the work to make sure it doesn't happen again. I realize things happen when shooing at a live animal and I can live with that. I can't live with me making the mistakes and work at nauseum to correct or eliminate them.

[218er]

I’ve missed so many over the years the clean misses don’t really sting anymore, I just think no harm no foul. When it’s a wallhanger it really is a different story. 2011, shot an 11 point that based on trail cameras was 150ish at that time the largest buck I’d ever hunted and seen in northern mn. I was hunting a rub line during the rut and this monarch comes ripping through and stops 45 yards away in heavy timber. I put the cross hairs of my 270 on him, bam, he flops over for a second, pops up and tucks his tail and motors off. It is literally within two minutes of the end of legal shooting light, I gather myself, get down from my stand and can’t find blood. Look for about 1/2 an hour and find some hair and blood but not a distinct easy to follow trail. I’ve followed about 20 yards of trail and have an idea of direction of travel and I jump a deer. I assume it is the buck I shot, and now I’m thinking about backing out. In retrospect who knows what deer I jumped, it’s night now. I remember sitting down in pitch black at this point devastated thinking what am I supposed to do now? For some reason in my head I was thinking, “when in doubt back out.” I check the weather forecast, zero percent chance of rain. (Last time I trusted apple weather) I make the decision to back out, I put my orange hat on a tree branch. I wake up like 1am to a crazy storm ripping outside, rain like you rarely have in November, I feel like puking. That was a Friday, I spent the next two days looking and into the spring and never found a thing. Nobody else hunting in the area ever saw him on trail cameras. Such a bummer, I sometimes just think how great that buck would look on my wall. I doubt I’ll ever get over that one. I’ve since seen and shot bigger deer, but that one was special.

[oldrank]

I have missed a few in my day. I went through a really bad stretch in my early 20s. My bow was a pile. I couldn't keep it tuned. It didn't fit me right either. That caused a ton of issues in my form and confidence.

2 big bucks haunt me. I don't think that will ever go away. One I missed at 15 yards. The other I could have killed with my muzzleloader but didn't take a broadside neck shot at 25 yrds.