What was your biggest mistake deer hunting?

[Usi05]

1) when I was 12 I got all set up on our property and my dad didn’t take me seriously. Gave me his rifle I never shot before and missed a big buck at 30 yards. I’ll never forgot the noise he made coming through the woods.

2) two years ago I set up quickly on some public but got in late so picked a crappy tree. Big buck walks out 40 yards from me but tree I picked had a limb in my draw area and my harness was way too tight. Couldn’t draw my bow quickly enough without finagling. By time I got it drawn he was out of range. Found his sheds that year and he would have been my biggest easily.

3) not getting mobile sooner

[BA-IV]

My biggest mistake was growing up learning deer hunting off TV shows. The only thing that saved me was half of my knowledge came from any deer hunting book I could get my hands on. I should have been learning from the deer themselves. Which this mistake lead me to believe I should only kill big bucks, so I didn’t learn to really kill deer til later on. I would pass deer after deer after deer waiting on that stud that TV guys said was going to be there. I remember at 12 and 13 years old passing well over a hundred deer both seasons off a rye grass field and the staging areas close to em.

I was mobile back then though, I hunted out of a Lil Ol Man climbing stand, but had no clue about being mobile. Just knew I needed to move a lot if I wanted to keep seeing deer.

[tim]

There is no such thing as mistakes only happy accidents at least that’s what Bob Ross preached lol

[Ghost Hunter]

There is no such thing as mistakes only happy accidents at least that’s what Bob Ross preached lol

Lol.

That's funny. At farm we only get like four channels to watch. One of them is Bob Ross. I have it going a lot watching him draw his happy trees. Funny how I look forward to it each year.

[Grizzlyadam]

Probably the biggest mistake I've made and wasted more time because of it than anything else was sitting the same spots over and over. I just didn't realize the importance of my ground scent and access and how fast the deer would pick up on my routine.

[thwack16]

Mine have just been encounters with big deer and messing those up. From 17-24 I was able to put a ton of time in the woods and there's 5 such encounters that will haunt me for the rest of my life. My "wall" would look a lot different if I'd just capitalized on a few of those. And 4 of the 5 happened while bowhunting during rifle season.

The other big mistake was to not start traveling to the Midwest earlier in life.

[Brokenarrow1980]

I forgot to mention all the times I saw nothing not knowing I made a mistake. If there is sign of heavy doe traffic and you see nothing im learning you probably did something to tip them off.

[Hawthorne]

Not killing on some easy shots on nice bucks. Still can’t believe I blew some of them but learned from them all. Another one is not carrying my bow while scouting or not wearing my release at all times in the woods. Not having an arrow knocked walking thru bedding areas also

[Tennhunter3]

Trying to stand too shoot with a mature buck at 10 yards.
My list is a few miles long but this event changed how I bow hunt.
I now practice and shoot sitting down.

[BA-IV]

Mine have just been encounters with big deer and messing those up. From 17-24 I was able to put a ton of time in the woods and there's 5 such encounters that will haunt me for the rest of my life. My "wall" would look a lot different if I'd just capitalized on a few of those. And 4 of the 5 happened while bowhunting during rifle season.

The other big mistake was to not start traveling to the Midwest earlier in life.

My wall would be the same. Bow hunting is a tough sport for sure. I can think of 5-7 encounters that would put mature bucks on my wall IF AND ONLY IF I’d have capitalized on em. You live and learn and it’s taught me a lot, but it’ll haunt me forever.

[Tsom]

Definitely sitting the same exact tree all season. If I sit here enough times a deer is bound to walk by on this trail mentality and not a care in the world about wind direction or ground scent.

[mauser06]

1 thing came to mind instantly.


#1...having a target peep on a hunting bow. Cost me a shot at a p&y class buck.





If you've followed my tales through the years, you know if it can go wrong, it probably has to me. Biggest thing I can say is learn from every little situation. It's really what keeps helping me. I've been hunting mobile long before it was cool because of my mindset. I strive to learn. It's easy to get comfy. It's not easy to make changes...locations..gear...strategies...whatever. We ARE creatures of habit and comfort.



If you don't learn from every little situation...every little mishap...you're just going to stay where you are. And to many guys, that's fine. If you want to get better, you have to always be learning and analyzing everything. That's what sets guys like Dan apart from the rest.

[Andyschulte]

I had what would have been by far my biggest buck in my crosshairs. It was my first time hunting the area, and I didn’t know if he was on public or private. I ended up not shooting, then went over the look where he was standing, and it turned out he was well onto the public.

[greenhorndave]

I had what would have been by far my biggest buck in my crosshairs. It was my first time hunting the area, and I didn’t know if he was on public or private. I ended up not shooting, then went over the look where he was standing, and it turned out he was well onto the public.

I had one like that, although I didn’t even think about drawing. It happened incredibly fast in the rut and I thought all of it was private. It would have taken a lot of luck, but it was not impossible. Well, the corner he went through was on public when I went back and looked at the aerial. He was at least a 160.

[Jimmy wallhanger]

I have been busted a few times climbing down early after a slow evening thinking nothing was moving. Both times were real big bucks I was hunting. Never again. I don’t move till closing time now. Those last few minutes are prime.

Yeah my second season I actually missed a small doe on a monday evening hunt at 11 yards.... then on wednesday I lowered my bow down with about 30 minute remaining and and packing up my gear and hear some rustling and its momma and her yearling, she busts me and was the first time i heard the big sneeze, was shocked at how damn loud it was.