Howdy. We all post about our succesful hunts thought it would be fun to hear about some of our screw ups im sure we all have some.

shrpshtrjoe

Well when I was 14 standing next to my dad and a couple other guys, a 2x2 mule deer buck came running out of the bushes, and down the road towards us stopping about 20 yards away before it saw us.

I was the only one with a gun handy and promptly ejected the only bullet in my gun onto the ground as the deer wheeled and ran away. My dad still reminds me of that from time to time.

Another time, we were using a big plywood cutout shaped like a horse we used to walk up on geese in an open field... all was going great until we walked into a ravine that had drifted over with about 8ft of snow. I'm sure the geese were telling themselves... "Hey where did that horse go???".


-DallanC

Howdy. 1977 my first year archery huntin for deer.Was in a tree stand shot at this doe and heard a smack well it got dark and i had everybody at deer camp convinced i hit it. So everybody gets lanterns and off we go looking, after about 2hrs of looking one of them started looking in the trees. I shot a 2" birch tree about 15 ft up those guys werent very happy. The same year my dad shot 7 times at one deer took hair off its belly with 2 shots deer would walk in a circle and come right back he took 2 pictures and threw his coat at it so he could get his arrows back. It was a good first year though i learned alot.

I was hunting squirrel in Maryland some years ago. I was quietly going through an abandoned apple orchard to get to the woods I want to hunt. I was carrying a 12ga. and a pocketfull of low brass no. 6s. As I went through an open section of fence near some apple trees I came face to face with a grizzled old warrior and damn near died, literally. That deer wasn't 6 feet away. It just stared at me for what seemed an eternity (maybe 3 seconds), then I saw only the tail where the head had been (not a sound made), then it disappeared. Then suddenly my chest felt restricted, I could hardly breathe, and I became very dizzy. I managed to grab the fence and hold on. Apparently I came close to dropping dead on the spot. I was 55 at the time. In several dreams I've had since I can still see those eyes penetrating into me. Who would ever think they'd be eyeball to eyeball with a buck? I still hunt squirrel, rabbit and woodchuck, but no longer go after deer. The experience simply unravelled me. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Howdy. man o man cal that sounds like it would have shaken anybody. I haven't had that happen and hope i don't. You just don't what they might do when you come up one like that. Well glad you walked away!

My first deer was following the on I thought I was shootin' at. Pretty embarrisin' when your a teenager. But then what ain't.

Many years ago I was hunting sharptails out in the Badlands of the Dakota's with my Dad. As it was also deer archery season, I also carried along my old recurve bow just in case an oppurtunity presented itself, but this was mainly a grouse hunting trip. Towards dark, two mulie does popped up out of a small ravine about 100 yds. off the road and stood there. Dad spotted them and stopped the truck. You going to shoot one of them dad said. No I said, they're better than a hundred yards away. Now dad was a crack shot with a rifle. Expert marksman in the marines, and he thought very little of bows and arrows. Well I thought I'd just put one arrow out there towards the mulies to show him that it was near impossible to hit one. So I let one fly and sure enough missed by a mile. So I went out to retrieve my arrow. Once back on the road, I started walking back towards the truck. Dad was standing by the truck just appointing away at me. Couldn't figure out what he was doing. Finally I looked behind me and there was another mulie doe following me down the road. She was perhaps 35 to 40 yards away. No such thing as range finders in those days. So I thought, here my chance to show Dad what this old bow could really do. The mulie gave me a shot, but she jumped my string. She didn't run off though. Took five more shots and she jumped everyone. Now I was out of arrows. Not much to do but go look for them. The mulie was still standing there and moved off about 30 yards to let me retrieve my arrows. I found a few of them but I'd had enough and headed back to the truck. Dad was standing there just shaking his head. He never said much about the whole deal, but I really wished I'd had left my bow at home. I never took it along any more when dad was along. It was completely humiliating.

The one that got away!

I was living on Long Island New York at the time. I hunted Deer in Pennsylvinia, Pike County. As one of the younger guys in the camp I was pretty much sent in to left field every hunt. But being yopunger I got up earlier and was in the woods an hour before everyone else.

About sun up, I hear the rest of the group moving and talking as they go to their spots. Low and behold here come the deer over the hill away from the noise. Along with the does is a very nice older buck with nice antlers and a strong body. I wait and fulfill my hunt.

The next part of the story is what counts. After the weekend hunt and we all travel to our respective homes mine is New York. I park the car go in house start putting things away like guns and ammo ect. and get cleaned up. After about an hour I go back outside to put the deer in the back yard. No deer ! Someone came and stole the deer right out of the back of the truck.

Go figure.

On my first hunt with My Boss (who I was doing my apprenticeship under) in 1960, I spotted a 3 point (Northwest point count) and brought my .30-30 to my shoulder and fired that rifle 4 times or at least I thought I had heard and felt every round go off and the deer was still standing. My boss was rolling on the ground behind me haughing his a$$ off. All four rounds were lying neatly on the ground with nairy a nick on the primers. Absolutely unfired. I had jacked all four rounds out without pulling the trigger even once. One must have a case of Buck Fever at least once in his life time.

I was 12 or 13 using my grandfather's Ruger 44 carbine with it's 2.5 Weaver fixed powered scope. A nice little fork horn was about 30-40 yds away. Well, it was situated where I couldn't get a shot left handed so I switched to my right shoulder. Well, I rolled my head over until my left eye was behind the scope. I'm not sure where the bullet went, but it was not anywhere near the buck.

A couple of years back I was shooting targets on a farm in South Africa (I go there every year - gotta go somewhere!!) with my shotgun, using 'home tuned' solid slugs. A tiny Duiker, not much bigger than a domestic cat stuck it's head through a bush to have a look round and I let fly from about 20yds. The guy I was shooting with went over to take a look, I thought 'lunch - light the fire'. Back came a shout... "Too much gun!!" I went to take a look and found two tiny back legs and a large red smear on the ground! The legs were quite tasty though................

Last year i was hunting a portion of the desert that has lots of lavarock,when i noticed a deer bedding down about 4 feet away in a hole all i could see was the tips of his horns sticking up over the rock.I proceeded to slowly move to where i could see the deers head through the scope had a clear shot and fired and blew about 1/4 of the top of the rock apart and of course the deer just ran away with a big grin on his face.After wondering how i could have missed this deer i went back over the shot and noticed that through the scope i had a clear shot but looking down the barrel i noticed that the barrel was aiming right at the top of the rock, dam near blew my foot off lol.

Yup...A learning experience about the highth of the scope above the barrel. It DO make a difference up close and personal...

Thats pretty funny, I did the same thing a long time ago when I was shooting rabbits. Couldnt belive I had missed till I realized how close I was. Welcome to the site Idahobowhunter, stick around for a while.

Knifeboy

I did pretty much the same thing idahobowhunter did. It was a 350 class bull elk just over the break of the hill 60 yards or so. I tucked the crosshairs as low behind the shoulder as I could and shot. I'm pretty sure that big 6X6 is still picking gravel out of his hide. Welcome aboard IdahoBowHunter and tell some more good stories. Like maybe how you almost knocked a hunting buddy off the hill with a small 2 point?