Most Forgettable Hunt?

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<DK>
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Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby <DK> » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:33 am

I was thinking today how everyone asks about the best hunts but hardly ever asks about the worst.

This is my 8th year bow hunting hard and I can say there a few I wish I could forget or re-do... Mainly bad shots are the ones that really stay w me. Some are an embarrassment but its part of learning and growing hunting alone.

One that will haunt me forever is shooting a trotting buck and hitting him in the neck, right where the bottom jaw meets. Real young deer too. The sun was in my eyes and I was deer hungry. I just wanted to sling anarrow. Not a good combination for a young guy. He came quickly by me at 10 yards. When I hit him he ran up hill and laid down. Just thrashed around for 5 mins. I could see where the arrow hit, the shakes and regret set in. So I climbed down to try sneak up there and put another in him. Luckily for both of us, he expired... Terrible day.

One other that is very close would be losing my one and only true giant. Last day of rifle season it was 20*. I saw an absolute giant step out of the woods to circle around and cut off does he was dogging. About 225 yards, wide open. At that time I was shooting a .270, 180gr. Certainly a capable rifle but not the most capable shooter. I settled in and gathered myself. This is exactly what I waited and planned for but i was very calm. Waited for him to clear one sapling and squeezed it off. He ran down hill as expected. Hands down the best feeling shot iv ever taken w that gun too. I said to myself - if there is blood, hes down! Waited for my grandpa and we set off. Well there was blood and good blood too! Unfortunately he was right there by us bedded down, plugging the hole. We jumped him and he was gone. I searched for days looking for that deer and never found him. I only wish that I knew where that deer was hit. Im guessing low, brisket. Either way Idk how he survived bc those 180gr are ridiculous. Since then iv changed scopes and practice a lot more preparing for the next one. Thinking I'll somehow redeem myself. Thats the only deer iv lost with a rifle too, go figure.


Anyone willing to share a forgettable story?


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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:17 pm

This is too emotional of a question to answer :oops:
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:17 pm

This is too emotional of a question to answer :oops:

See, I answered twice :o
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby flinginairos » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:02 pm

I’d have to say the hunt where I shot my target buck one morning only to realize he had just been shot by another hunter in the rear leg maybe five minutes before I shot him. That situation took every bit of joy out of that buck for me. I ended up keeping the deer (his hit was terrible and most likely not fatal) but I felt like I had somehow cheated and didn’t kill him the way I wanted it to go. Just a weird situation that I didn’t care for.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby ThePreBanMan » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:10 pm

LAst season for me... :lol:
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby hunter10 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:14 pm

Early in my hunting career having a very big and wide buck come through and hit him high at 20 yds. Didn’t have the knowledge being that young about waiting, backing out and tracking. Excitement took over and never found the buck after pushing him. Rain started soon after dark and 2 days off school trying to find him came up empty. Learned a lot about those mistakes
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby muddy » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:48 pm

Worst. Day(s). Ever.

Panic. Bad hit. Rain storm. Utter sorrow.

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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby jwilkstn » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:06 pm

Tonight.
What a waste of time.
I didn't have anything to be too excited about from my scouting.
Record high temps in the 90's with no wind, no rain for weeks and none in forecast. I checked a hidden man made water hole on public several days ago at midday and jumped deer bedded 30 yards away. Tracks all over the banks of the pond and 2 heavy trails leading in from the E and W. It had to be a ground set due to zero trees big enough to climb.
I should have waited until a windy day, but it was the most likely spot I knew of for today and falling acorns may change things by next weekend, so I went there this afternoon. Opted to intentionally wait until pretty late due to the heat and needed predictable falling thermals to make it work. While sneaking in I had a fawn run out in front of me and I froze, knocked an arrow and got ready in case I could get an easy doe 100 yards from the truck. Momma showed, but she was too far. Problem was, I had no cover and she knew I didn't belong. She stomped and stomped and, blew and blew, until I finally had to just run her off. The time lost cost me dearly. As I approached the final stretch of approaching the pond I could hear blue Jays carrying on and I could imagine deer already at my destination. I checked the wind again and decided to stalk in anyway. I get 15 yards from where I could peer around a thicket of 10 year old tree growth at the pond, and feel a random gust hit the back of my neck :roll: Sure enough, I got winded and the whole place cleared.
Dejected, I elected not to pressure it any further by leaving my scent down in there. Figure i can come back in a couple weeks. I was walking out about 30 minutes before dark and a shooter pops out right in front me. I had put my arrow back in quiver and release in pocket :doh:
Just not my day.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby stash59 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:23 pm

I've had so many I can't pick just one. But dang DK I'd thought I'd forgotten most of them. :doh: :oops: :cry:
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby Jdw » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:37 pm

Several monumental chokes immediately come to mind.
A few still sting a little but those are the lessons that stick with me so learn from them and hopefully do better.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby Dewey » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:44 pm

Bow hunting I can’t think of too many forgettable hunts because they old hold good memories except the two bucks I never recovered. That part obviously sucks but the hunt leading up to those moments were very exciting so I don’t want to forget that.

Easily my most forgettable day was during the rifle season. I had one of the biggest bucks I ever saw in the northwoods standing broadside at 30 yards. Lined up my crosshairs already thinking about how nice he would look hanging on the game pole, pulled the trigger and CLICK.......No BOOM. My rifle miss-fired. :doh:

By the time I cycled another round in he didn’t like all the commotion and was gone out of my life. :cry:

Worst part is that happened before with that rifle but that hunt was the final straw. I sold it and bought a new rifle shortly after.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:10 am

ThePreBanMan wrote:LAst season for me... :lol:


Haha been there! 2016 was it for me.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:11 am

muddy wrote:Utter sorrow.


Great wording
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby Bonecrusher101 » Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:08 am

I was bowhunting one afternoon it was my second season bowhunting. I had a very old bow and was only good to about 25 yards anyway. This raccoon wandered up and I had a field tip on one of my arrows for practice or squirrels. I made the most regrettable decision in my bowhunting career and shot that raccoon in the face. He let out confused squeal and ran off with my arrow sticking through his face. That was the last time I ever carried anything but broad heads while deer hunting.

I still wish to this day that I could take that arrow back. I absolutely learned what kind of hunter I didn’t want to be that day.
Be original and Enjoy every step along the adventure.
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Re: Most Forgettable Hunt?

Unread postby SC_z7 » Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:35 am

Brutal topic. In 2015, I had the deer in my avatar in his double drop tine glory at 40 yards opening morning of the shotgun season. I did not get a shot off. Mistake #1, I forgot to take the shooting rail for the tree stand I was hunting with me in the morning. Mistake #2, Without the shooting rail, i laid the shotgun across my lap and under my handwarmer muff. Key detail, the scope was under the muff. Mistake #3, After the deer came crashing down the hill after a doe and I had to scream at him to stop him, I mistook the fogged up scope lens for having the scope on full zoom (it wasn't and now in panic mode i have put it on full zoom). So i figure out its the lens fogged and do my best to wipe them off, pull up the gun again (he is stopped behind a tree) and can't pick him up because its on 9 power, still partly fogged, and he's at 30 yards. So i fix the magnification, gun on the deer, and the only shot i have is in the guts. The only thing I did right was not taking that shot. By that time he knew he needed to get out of there and took off on a sprint. The combination of the deer and situation is painful to think about...


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