If it can go wrong.....

[mauser06]

So thanks part 3 of Mauser's 2019 saga of dumb bad luck. To recap:

Buck #1 was on edge and I failed to recognize it. He smelled or saw another buck. He ducked and I missed clean.

Buck #2...I was walking in...stand on my back. GPS clipped to my chest harness. 15-18yd shot. Yep. GPS stuck in the string and missed by several feet.


Today. Oh yes. That wasn't enough for one season.

130ish I spot deer legs under the hemlocks. He steps out and it's a giant. He bee lines it out of my life forever...I thought.

I try a short wheeze a couple minutes after he was out of view. No dice.

I hear a grunt and see a deer take off k. The direction I lost sight of him. Dang! He was heading for a doe...if she doesn't come in, he's probably gunna keep going.


Couple minutes to by and I see a deer marching at me from where lost sight of him.

OMG! He's walking RIGHT at me!

He gets to about 20yds. I figured he's gunna break left and step into the open. I didn't think he'd wanna tangle his antlers walking under the hemlock...

I draw and get ready knowing I'm not gunna have cover to draw once he takes those steps into the open.

He proceeds to walk.... RIGHT at me.

I'm cool and calm and ready to send my single bevel into the front of his chest if he keeps walking at me.


I am having some back issues so the last few hunts I've been using my Summit Viper...

He's about to step into the wide-open 7yds below me which is REALLY close to where I walked in. I know I gotta send it as soon as he hits that hole.

I am at full draw thinking through all that....I swing the bow around the front bar. I have to shoot off the right side of my stand. I hit my anchors and I'm steady on that opening.

He steps into it and slightly turns. Better yet. Let's put the pin RIGHT tight behind that near shoulder. It's forward and I'm gunna get both lungs.

I send it.


All at once I feel a VERY odd jerk and I watch the arrow to HIGH LEFT. I am absolutely dumbfounded.



Wait wait....so is he! He took 2 hops and stops quartering away in the WIDE OPEN.

I fight with my quiver. Begging it to please let go of the arrow I so desperately need.

Right as my greedy quiver decided to give me the arrow he lets me. Ughhh!

Wait! He turned and is looking away! Nock that arrow and kill him!

The POP of nock seating on the string was enough. He took off blowing.


So...what in the world went wrong this time???? 7 yards and I missed by several feet?!?! I shoot golf tees at 40 yards daily.


If you're familiar with the Viper, it has the rails down the sides and around the front...covered by cushions that are zip tied on...

The right side rail cushion is missing it's bottom ziptie and I kept forgetting to put a new one on it....

When I was at full draw and turned to shoot off the right side of my stand, my bow string found its way between the rail and the cushion which meant the cushion was wedged in front of the string.


I am still in disbelief. It's like I'm not supposed to kill a big buck.

I feel extremely fortunate to get 3 shots at different mature bucks in a season. Typically I'm lucky to see a buck of that caliber when I am hunting...let alone 3 in a couple of weeks.

I have been putting in the time scouting and hunting and continually scouting for fresh sign to stay in the deer....it's absolutely been working. I can't tell you how many different bucks I've seen this season...most of them fine examples of a mature PA public land buck....I just have to get rid of this gremlin that seems to be coming with me.

I just can't believe it. That was the biggest buck I've ever drawn on or shot at period. Probably one of the biggest I've ever seen while hunting.



And that's a wrap on my 2019 archery season. Hopefully that's enough of the dumb bad luck. Off to the rifle range tomorrow.....

[Jackson Marsh]

WOW!

The good news is you had a healthy year of hunting.....and it can only get better.

Good luck with gun season.

[gsquared23]

Looks like you need a Sparrow

[cspot]

That is rough Mauser. Some years are like that.

[mauser06]

Gsquared, a Sparrow may be in order....but wouldn't have made a difference....my quiver itself just did NOT want to give me the arrow lol. It was accessible. But was on the same side of the tree as he was and fighting the quiver without moving or making noise was not happening easily.



I'm completely beside myself that I got 3 shots at 3 different mature bucks...I actually hunted less this season than typical. I think I had 3 marsh hunts upto the 26th when I first hunted this area and had the first miss. Work and life and such just got in my way...and even after then, work got in the way a bunch. I didn't spend a ton of days in the tree this season.

Hopefully I am onto a heck of a location...


I AM completely happy all 3 arrows were clean misses. I will take a 4 foot miss over a wounded buck ANY day.

Just frustrating as heck...all 3 shots really weren't due to my shooting. The GPS and even today I can chalk upto laziness if anything. Didn't move the GPS like my gut told me to....today, had I replaced that dang ziptie, he'd been dead. Just a freak thing....I knew the bottom of the cushion wasn't secure. Never in a million years did I think it'd cost me a shot. Just the way I was at full draw and when I turned, the string followed the stand which ultimately put the cushion in front of the string.,..


Lessons learned. And confidence booster to trust my scouting and everything that went into getting on those bucks.


Not sure if I will spend opening day there or not. I'm not sure how bad the pressure is. My stand was 234.5yds from my truck. The area has enough cover that it could pay off....but, if there's a guy every 50yds, I might as well hunt at camp. We'll see...once the orange army is gone, I think they'll be right back to it in there though. Food and cover.

[gsquared23]

It’s really hard to do at this point, but eventually you’ll see this season as a huge success. You got within bow range of 3 mature deer. I’ve haven’t accomplished that in the last 5 seasons combined. I SEE about 2 shooters per season, and haven’t seen one on public land ever. So what you’re doing is working, you’ve figured out the setup, which is 99% of the battle IMO. You are setting the table for years of success. Keep grinding and you’ll close the deal eventually, but I’m impressed with your success as it stands.

[Pathfinderbandit]

Got on here tonight hoping to find some inspiration and it seems like I'm not the only one that's been having a rough time in the woods. Tonight I was setup and after climbing in the stand I didn't like the way it was angled so I climbed down to quickly adjust. Right then a really big buck comes sneaking in on an unforeseen trail, somehow I managed to quickly get back in the stand but couldn't get my bow off the hanger. He caught me moving in the tree as my heart was about to burst out of my chest and I thought I would hyperventilate. The only other big buck encounter I've had this season went slightly better, at least I came to full draw on him. After sitting for several hours I decided to take a leak out of the stand and then I was stretching out my back since I was sitting in an awkward angle. I turned around to find a buck 20 yards behind me, grabbed my bow and came to full draw. As the pin was settling I hear another deer blow just to the left behind the tree trunk where I couldn't see. It was another big buck that in my haste I hadn't noticed until they were both running out of my life. To top it all off, a guy I work with said someone had been spotted dragging a really big buck out of the area I've been focusing.

[mauser06]

Gsquared, you're right on. If you find my post from the GPS episode, you'd see I even typed something about "if my season ended tonight I'd still consider it a success".


I really do. I've worked for years to get here. I remember the days of catching a glimpse of any deer to been a great day. They weren't long ago for me. From 12-16 I hunted beside my dad..rifle only. He taught me A LOT. I started "scouting" with him when I was barely big enough to walk. After that, I hunted with him and buddies. 2006 I bought my first bow. That's 13 seasons...that's really when I started to learn to hunt deer. And 7 of those 13 seasons I didn't hunt or only did so a couple days cause I was living out of state. The last couple years I've really started to get into it and it's really paying off.


I'm very frustrated in how it's all gone this season....but it is to me, a huge success and confidence booster. I'm on the right track. Like you said, getting on deer and in bow range is a huge challenge in itself. Shooting should be easy. Lol. And for me, shooting is something I enjoy and I've always had a natural ability.

Stuff can go wrong just that simply.


My season isnt over. But I will change weapons lol. I don't really "set standards" but after archery season, I do "lower expectations" a bit.






Pathfinder, that's a bummer man....but that's hunting! Moments after the GPS fiasco I snuck another 100-150yds tongue spot I wanted to hunt. As I was taking sticks off my stand I heard something....I looked up to catch a great buck take off.



Keep at it. Sooner or later it'll work out for both of us lol.

[backstraps]

MAN mauser06! That is some kind of luck brother! BAD LUCK! Or well I guess great luck for the bucks. Stay after man you know with a run like this it has to get better and youre gonna get another chance

[stash59]

Some seasons are just like that. Murphy's law reigns. But I bet you'll be super picky about all of those small gear details from now on.

[Wannabelikedan]

I can relate though I haven’t sent an arrow yet. The 7th I had this guy within 40-50 yards while I was scouting with stand on back.

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He was chasing off scrubs and I never saw the doe between him and I. Took 2 steps to close some distance and poof she was gone. You know the rest.

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The owner of this ^^^^^has been in range twice in the last week. First time he caught me drawing my bow hunting from the ground. Today I was putting my first stick on the tree and a doe leads him by me at 17-18 yards. Bow on the ground and release in my pocket. My arms were wrapped around the tree when she appeared. Just had to freeze and watch. Believe me, I feel your pain.

[218er]

Man, I’ve been there. But then a buck makes a mistake or you get a break and you look like a genius. It’ll happen. Persistence is undefeated. It’s all all statistical, if you keep putting yourself in these type of situations you’re going to score.

[EllieTheChubb]

Rough. But I see two positives. You are seeing good deer and you missed completely. eventually things will line up!

[SwampBrian]

I feel your pain, yesterday I missed a big 8 thanks to a small pine branch, then 2 minutes later he came back but 5 yards further. I was shocked he came right back in. He ducked the second arrow. November 16th was the same day last year I missed a real tall 10 that was standing 30 yards away from where I missed the 8.

[mauser06]

I still can't get over yesterday. I don't know how big a buck rack has to get to just look "silly". But that's how big he was.

Normally if I'm describing a whitetail rack I use my hands. That thing...Id have to use my arms. Lol.

Man hes a toad...and likely out of my life forever. Between the rut right now and the orange army coming, who knows whatll happen. He might not live in that area...and we have 4 days of bear driving...2 days off right into deer rifle. Not real hopeful I will see him again.



Ellie, you're absolutely right on both accounts. I will absolutely take a clean miss over a wounded buck any day. It's actually comical how far off course and arrow goes when your string catches something fairly minor and forgiving. The GPS and the seat cushion both were moved out of the way by the string easily...but man...those arrow miss BAD lol. 7 yards and don't even touch a 200+ pound buck. That's crazy.


Stash, I was thinking about that last night and it likely is going to start some kinda OCD type behavior from me. But, that's not a BAD thing when chasing animals of this caliber on heavily pressured public lands.


Wannabe, yep...I can relate! Lol. I've seen more big bucks at in-opprotune times than I have gotten a chance to shoot lol.



I'm very determined to break this land down and locate where these bucks are living. I've covered several miles over this season and not ONCE did I get any kinda hint that bucks of this caliber were there. But, it's been from Oct 26 till Nov 16.

One issue will be that the gate gets closer the day rifle season ends. I can still access it. But it'll be a hike in. I can use the exercise though.

Also that gate throws a wrench into early season...it's closed till mid October.


I was determined to learn to hunt "the rut" this season. It's always been a downfall of my hunting season. I'd say I learned a little bit lol. I can now look at the land and find similar locations.



I wonder if my snort wheeze didn't bring him back. I waited till he was well out of sight. And in that area, you can't see much. Perfect storm of small hemlocks scattered around. He then bumped that doe...she took off and he bee lined it RIGHT for me...though it was a bit of time after I snort wheezed. With all the bucks using that area, calling MAY be a viable tactic. One which I have gone away from bothering with.


Season isn't over. Don't know that I will get another shot at a buck of that caliber...but, I will be out there!