The Do Over

[purebowhunting]

In your deer hunting career, what's the one moment that stands out that you want back for a do over? That shot you passed for a better one that never developed, that chip shot you messed up, that tree you were going to setup in then didn't...

[Dewey]

How about all of the above.

Mine was 11/10/2012 and still hurts today thinking about it.

I started the morning debating which tree to sit in for an all day sit in a known cruising area for good bucks. I had two specific trees that I knew were good spots but chose the easier tree to approach in the dark even though my gut feeling was telling me to be in the other tree. As the morning went on everything was quiet suddenly I heard some chasing that went RIGHT PAST the tree I decided not to sit in. To make it worst they stopped right up wind of the tree. They eventually ended up in the cattails so I lost them for a bit but then suddenly saw a HUGE bleached white rack floating above the cattails. They were coming down the trail directly at me but I didn't see the doe till she spooked after seeing me in the tree. The buck kept coming so I readied for the shot but then the doe decided she wanted to take a different trail so he followed her never giving me a clear shot. Of course they ran right past the tree I didn't sit in again and all I could do is watch. Shortly after the buck chased her back AGAIN right past the other tree. At this point I was so mad at myself for not trusting that gut feeling that originally would have been a chip shot.

After some time everything was quiet so I decided to pack up and move to that tree since her scent was in the air and figured they may be back or at the very least other bucks would come looking for her. Sat till dark and never saw another deer.

Reason why this one hurts so much........this buck was the widest and most perfect typical ten point I have ever seen. Guessing he was pushing 24" wide and G2'S and G3's all looked to be close to 12" plus he had great brow tines. I estimated him over 170" and likely close to 180" with very few deductions.

Never seen the buck again or heard of anybody killing him.

Thanks now I need therapy after bringing this back up again.


[ Post made via iPhone ]

[DeerDylan]

It was the last day of my week off in 2012. I had a super slow week, I think I saw one four point and a doe all week. My heart wasn't in it that morning and I didn't even bring half of my gear with me. Right after daylight what is most likely the biggest buck I'll ever get a crack at in PA comes by and I miss him at 30 yards...... Twice.

He was killed in rifle season and went somewhere in the 160s gross.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[purebowhunting]

The one that haunts me is a late October morning I crawled into the edge of a doe bedding area, at daybreak I watched a 150 class buck go into the bedding cover so formulated a plan to move closers for the evening. That evening I see a doe then a flash of antler, a stud 10 is working it's way towards me with a doe and 2 smaller bucks. As he closed the distance he was going to present a 20-25 yards shot, then at the last second he turned and quartered away towards some brush. I had 1 chance before he was behind brush and I hit him high and back behind and above the vitals. Tore me up. Neighbor shot him the next week chasing does, scored 162" gross.

[mainebowhunter]

Just last year.

Myself and 2 friends on an out of state archery hunt. I cyber scouted and had never been there. After a few bad days, we decided to jump to a new spot and scout. We split up and I picked the nasty spot that took forever to get to. Once there I found monster rubs right where they should be. I hung my stand and left. I told the boys tomorrow is the day...trust me. I opted to get to my stand quietly vs quickly. Once there and the camera is setup. I hear what I thought was a cough, soon followed by the unmistakable sound of a deer. I see the antlers first and get the camera on and the bow picked up. The buck was traveling in a way I most likely couldn't shoot which was also my entry. He hits my trail and locks up. ITS PERFECT. He turns and heads to where I believe he beds, which will lead him broad side to me. I had the trails all ranged in my head well before hand. The deer turns and heads down the trail perfectly broadside 30 yards.





This is the best I can do as I am not good at uploading or I don't have the right software...also the footage sucked lol

Anyways he was a perfectly symmetrical 6x6, oh yeah!!! He was also at 40 yards. The buck fever, videoing, and trying not to get busted cause me to miss the fact he was walking angled away and I let him cover to much distance. Arrow came as close as it could to touching him but alas it was an air ball. I think of that buck every night.

I saw 8 or 10 bucks the next day and still was one sick dude.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Yikes. That was a stud. What a beauty.

[mainebowhunter]

The one that haunts me is a late October morning I crawled into the edge of a doe bedding area, at daybreak I watched a 150 class buck go into the bedding cover so formulated a plan to move closers for the evening. That evening I see a doe then a flash of antler, a stud 10 is working it's way towards me with a doe and 2 smaller bucks. As he closed the distance he was going to present a 20-25 yards shot, then at the last second he turned and quartered away towards some brush. I had 1 chance before he was behind brush and I hit him high and back behind and above the vitals. Tore me up. Neighbor shot him the next week chasing does, scored 162" gross.

And that was a stud also! Good that you did not mortally wound him though!

[mainebowhunter]

In your deer hunting career, what's the one moment that stands out that you want back for a do over? That shot you passed for a better one that never developed, that chip shot you messed up, that tree you were going to setup in then didn't...

Where to begin?? LOL...I am not a very gifted hunter, just really persistent. I have screwed up so many times. Like I mentioned before, I missed/wounded 700" of antler in 2004. I have hit buckles with my string, bottom limb on stand and plain buck fevered others.

Probably the one that hurts the most...I wounded a buck in Maine. He was a buck I was hunting. He was not a giant...but a nice 3yr old. Buck came into to my set at 3:15 on Sept 27. Came into to the apples. 23yds....I drew, picked a spot, just as I am getting ready to fire, he turns and quarters away HARD. I stuck to my spot...shot him way to far forward. Got pics of him ...he made it. Not a mortal wound. Its the only good buck I have wounded/missed post target panic.

That one still hurts.

[matt1336]

I have way too many stories....they range from mistakes due to inexperience, buck fever, picking the wrong tree, bad luck- I'm collecting some good karma and I hope it pays off big time one of these years

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[JoeRE]

A bunch of course here and there....but one in particular. I hit a really big buck bad when I was 17, and made several mistakes blood trailing him jumping him not once but twice, forced him into a river and then didn't search downstream as far as I should have following that. He was laying down there somewhere I know without a doubt. And I was a stupid teenager, getting dejected, so I quit. Still makes me sick, literally getting nauseous thinking about it right now. God I hated about half a dozen decisions I made in the course of that. Still hate them. I caused the entire debacle start to finish.

The ONLY good that came out of that was I have become very careful (and very successful) on recoveries since then.

[Rich M]

I'm not your typical Beast, I'm a wanna be.

2014 - sight new 165 gr 30-06 ammo in at 100 yards and assume 4-6 inch drop at 200. Miss 2 decent mature GA whitetails of about 120-130 inches at 200 yards on 2 consecutive mornings. Check gun and ammo shoots 1 inch low at 100, 12 inches low at 200. Should have checked after missing deer #1 but it was windy and tree stand moving. Private lease.

1994-1995. Doing a push for my father, uncle, and ex-wife. Shoot deer ex-wife nicked the day before at about 10 ft in a thick swamp, get blood splattered all over me and scope. Hit hardwoods and ex-wife is right there in front of me. Said she heard something in some briers about 65 yards left of her, push thru them and a cluster of deer break out away from her and across in front of me, towards my uncle. Big 8 running at 40-50 yards thru wide open oaks. Had the crosshairs on him (everything was red hue from the deer blood) and did not shoot the buck cause the freezer was full with the deer I had just shot (#3 in 2 days). Buck was 140 class and 200+ dressed. Private farm.

1990-ish. Sneaking around with a bow - went left around a bush and got that inkling in my nugget to go right, backed up 2 or 3 steps and went right. Enormous buck sneaking away to the right. Looked like a horse with a rocking chair on his head. His main beams were dark chocolate, thick & gnarly, low and wide, tips out past his nose. I was taught not to lead a deer with a bow cause the arrow would go in front of it. Let's just say that's not true. Good height but thru guts and one hind leg. 2 splotches of blood and a bent arrow... I sat right down and didn't move for 30 minutes on my watch after shooting and then snuck over to the arrow to assess the damage. Never found him. Deer was what I'd call 180 class and 250 dressed - enormous. Public land.

Not intentionally dwelling on those events, they would be good do-overs, but all were "accidents". Time to make the opportunities happen on purpose.

I think that's what traps folks into bad hunting habits - every 5 to 10 years they get an opportunity at a good one and they feel that the guys who take them consistently hunt private land managed for big deer. After all - they saw a good one, hopefully got him, so they must be doing it right.

[thwack16]

Unfortunately I have too many to single out one. I killed my first bow buck that grossed over 125 this past season. I'd previously shot at seven.

Quick little glimpse of three that haunt me. All three of these were during Mississippi gun seasons.

First one was a morning in late January 8 seasons ago. 21 degrees at daylight, was a very windy 27 at noon where I was still sticking it out with no deer seen. Shortly after noon, I got a visual on the buck below working his way toward me. Work a rub, then a scrape, and repeat. He was inside 75 yards for 45 minutes finally making his way to fifteen yards. By that time I was a nervous mess and pulled the arrow in front of him. That was my first archery encounter with what I would call a stud for MS.


Four seasons ago I had two consecutive encounters with the below buck. I was hunting a gentle sloping ridge side on the 2/3 elevation at the beginning of our rut. Morning 1, the buck came right to me. At twenty yards he was set to jump the little barb wire fence and come under me, I'd planned to draw as he jumped it. For reason unbeknown to me, he got to the fence and then followed it, never crossing the fence on my side of the ridge.

The next morning I was in the same tree. At sunrise he came through again, this time 60 yards below me. He was moving briskly and no matter how loud I grunted, I couldn't make him check up. Finally I snort wheezed, that did the trick. The ol boy thrashed every little sapling he could on the way to making a half circle around me and finally catching my wind at thirty yards. I had a hole picked out and was drawn waiting on him to hit it. My mistake was waiting on a perfect shot instead of the first good shot.


The third was 2 seasons ago. I have no trail cam pics of him, though I believe him to have been killed the following year. The year prior to my encounter, my neighbor had one tc pic of a 4 year old 8 that looked 135 by my guesstimate. I guessed him in the 140s as an 8 on my encounter. He went 164 as an 8 when my neighbor killed him the following season and had enough junk to gross him near 180.

The morning I had my encounter, we were at the tail end of the pre rut and had a warm morning following a rain. I had already missed a -130 9 at 35 yards not too long after daylight. Though upset with that miss, I settled in and watched a great morning unfold. I'd seen 10 deer when a doe crossed the ditch below me and hurriedly made her way through the woods and under my stand. Where I'd want the do over was not realizing there was a buck behind her(dumb). She got ten yards past me and stopped, that's when I heard the other deer coming. He was across the ditch and bearing down on me when I got my bow off the hanger. He was on an incline toward my tree and I had no chance to draw and had to hope for an opportunity to do so after he passed. Unfortunately he got directly under my tree and stopped. That view through the bottom of my summit will forever be etched into my memory. I was able to draw when he finally followed the doe up the trail, but he never quartered a bit to give me a shot.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[isitseasonyet?]

I just wish I had found this site before I ever had a chance to read those hunting magazines haha!

[ Post made via Android ]

[whitetailassasin]

I think all seasoned hunters may more than one story compiling all the scenarios you can achieve in screwing up. I have 4 of them.

First one and it's the worse one happened about 10 years ago now, but it's never left me or anyone who knows the story. I was hunting with my dad and we had scouted and patterned several mature bucks on the edge of a swamp/ag field. After a lot of contemplating and game planning, and me getting my way, we decided to set up in the actual field early morning in hopes of catching them back to bed. There was a strip of high grass and tag alders we used to conceal our movements and get into position. Because of how early we got up and in there I was starving and about 5 minutes into first daylight I pulled out my jerky and decided to eat it. I laid my bow off in the grass and started quietly removing and eating the jerky. When all of a sudden I heard walking, I look up and there a doe, I scan and see nothing else so I go back to eating my jerky. I hear walking again so I look up, this time it's a 100" 8 so I grab my bow and ready for a shot, when out of the corner of my eye I catch movement. Still to this day it's the largest bodied, and largest massed, funky, stickers and junked buck I've ever laid eyes on. I'd love to give you a score but I honestly couldn't effectively explain it. I watched that deer walk out of my life and he walked by me at 35-40 yards and I never knew it until it was too late. But if you think that's the worst, it's goes farther south. Out of me wanting to get my way, my dad sat in the field but not the spot he wanted and shorter after that buck disappeared, 2 matching bucks we watched all season came out at that spot he wanted about 30-45 minutes later and both feet where 130" caliber bucks.

The second worse one for me was last years buck I shoulder shot. 15 steps, blew the shot on a stud buck I was after. 140s 10 point.

The next was a spot I had two shooters patterned coming in at 9-9:30am to bed and I went in early to set up on them. One was a 120s 8 and the other a 140s 10. They both ran together. At 9am I hear deer coming so I ready for a shot, out of the cattails the 8 appears and gives me a 12 yd broadside shot, I draw and I'm getting ready to release when I hear another deer coming. I can see horns in the water relfeftion so I pass the 8 thinking the 10 is right behind him. There's only a small window to shoot through so once I passed there's no chance at another shot. As the second buck emerges it's a 1.5 old 8 and I literally almost died right there. Greed whooped me they day.

The last happened before I got my range finder and prompted me to get my range finder. I say a funnel pre rut and had a 150s buck pass by me at 40 yards but 20 feet up and inexperience made him look out of bow range for me. Deer stood there for what seemed like 2-3 minutes rubbing and scraping and just taking his sweet time. Vowed never again.

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[DaveT1963]

This is kind of a spin on the question but my one do over would have been to slow down and enjoy each moment more... and not just hunting. I wish I would have known how quickly time slips by and how much I took for granted. Not saying I was all work and no play but man there really is something to this whole stop and smell the roses thing..... kids grow up, relationships come and go, jobs change, etc...... Walk slower and look around; take it in.

[seazofcheeze]

I believe it was 2011. I got permission to hunt a piece of private land for the first time. I could shoot does but the landowner told me that the bucks had to be 3.5+. It was my 2nd or 3rd day ever hunting the property. It was late October and I rattled right at grey light. I should say at this point that I had never rattled a buck in before. After about 20 seconds of rattling, I hear a deer literally charge in, cross a small creek and stop about 10yds from my tree. I could hear him breathing and make out the silhouette. I could tell it had antlers, but I couldn't tell how big. The buck stood there for a good 3-4 minutes as I prayed for it to get just a little bit lighter out. He finally walked very slowly away over the next 10-15 minutes towards the horizon and I finally made out the rack...I should have shot. Later the land owner tells me about a big 130-140 10pt that's been hanging out in that part of the farm and says "he's definitely a shooter". Morale of the story, make sure you can see at least 20yds before you rattle, sometimes they show up real quick!

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