Ever mess up a ten yard shot?

[Dos Perros]

I was trying to explain to my 9 y/o how shooting paper is a lot different than actually shooting an animal. I think he trusts me, but doesn't quite get it. I'm quite looking forward to him losing it sometime as I see that as an inevitability (especially considering all the stories in this thread), and hopefully not at the cost of a wounded or lost animal.

 

[KHNC]

Personally , I have never missed a bow shot in my entire life. I just didnt always aim in the right spot apparently.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

We took a buddy with us to hunt some public, he'd never hunted public just leases and private lands. Sitting on the ground under a big fallen tree on a trail he had a doe come straight at him and stop at 10 yards. He says he want for a frontal chest shot and missed by a mile but didn't say what happened. We still make fun of him over that one, and he never came back. LOL

 

[cornfedkiller]

Missed the biggest buck I've ever seen while hunting from about 5 yards.. Watched him protecting a doe 150 yards from me from 7:30am until she finally brought him by me at about 5:15pm. Fairly hard quartering-to and dang near right below me and I was aiming just above his shoulder blade..

Hard to explain but I'm cross eye-dominant and in the moment, I used the eye and the wrong "set" of pins.. watched my arrow stick in to the ground about 18" to the left of him.

Neighbor killed him a couple weeks later..

 

[PLhunter]

Twice with a bow. First time was on a monster whitetail in Idaho. Just rushed it as it was a rushed situation. The buck was already dead in my mind. Making calls to friends, my dad, etc…. Was in shock when it ran off untouched.

First mule deer buck I shot at with a bow was in a burn. Pretty wide open. 9 yards. Shot and the arrow missed by more yards than the distance shot, I had glanced a burnt stump. Sucks. I’ve made plenty of great shots but man have I missed lots too.

 

[Point Man]

Yes, twice.

 

[5MilesBack]

The closest shot I've ever taken on an elk was 17 yards, and screwed it up. It was already raining when I went out that evening in 2013. This bull first responded aggressively from about 400-500 yards away. I was running in on him when I heard him coming. I stopped in the middle of a dog hair aspen grove and there he came towards me. He stopped behind the only evergreen in the grove and started tearing that tree up. His body was completely behind the tree so all I could see was his gorgeous huge rack raking up and down. Ski tip fronts pointing back at him, and 6th points that seemed to go on forever with a large hump in the middle of them.

After what seemed like several minutes and me unsuccessfully trying to move to get an angle on him, he turned to his left/my right, and stopped almost broadside.....slightly quartering towards me. It's pouring rain now and getting dark. I drew back and anchored. All I could see through my peep was tan fur, and I kept telling myself "just don't gut shoot him in this rain". I moved my 20 yard pin forward until I found his neck, and then moved it back onto his body and released. And stuck him right in the shoulder knuckle.

2" further left and he would have been down in short order, SMH. I followed his tracks in the mud and found my arrow maybe 150 yards into it. BH mangled and blood only covering about 2". I would have preferred a 40 yard shot to that 17 yarder. I have a better perspective for aiming when I can see the whole animal in my sight ring.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I emptied my quiver one time at small buck underneath my stand when I first started how hunting. Never touched him. Had to stand up and yell to run him off. Shit happens.

3 shots in 90 seconds under 30 yards.


Done it.

 

[doc holiday13]

Personally , I have never missed a bow shot in my entire life. I just didnt always aim in the right spot apparently.

So what I hear you saying, is that you've always hit what you're aiming at...

 

[KHNC]

So what I hear you saying, is that you've always hit what you're aiming at...

Correct. And im sticking to that theory.

 

[Meshnasty]

I was stalking a buck that was bedded on the edge of a burn when I crossed paths with another buck. He let me nock an arrow and get my release clipped in as we were staring at each other. I remember thinking how crazy it was I made all that movement with him standing so close watching me. When I got drawn I saw that both my 20 and 30 yard pins were on his lungs so I pulled through and it cleanly went an easy 6” over his back.

Short story long he went about ten yards and turned broadside again to look at me, I took a second shot through an opening in the brush and the arrow ended up getting deflected enough to go up and then back down and did a bit more then graze him on the opposite side of his neck.

I tracked him just under 3/4 of a mile over the top of the mountain where I shot him at 40 yards.

I’m still very leery of shooting through any brush openings.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Biggest buck ever made bad shot 18 yards with compound and 8 yards with stick bow.

 

[omegahunter]

Friday morning I had a doe come in around 8:30. She came in pretty quick on the trail I was sitting on. I thought she was going right under my tree and she turned and went by on my right side. I bleated and stopped her, had my pin right on her chest and pulled the trigger. She mule kicked and then just walked away like nothing happened. Once I seen how she reacted I knew I screwed up. I sat for two more hours then got down to check my arrow. There was no blood on the arrow, just fat and hair. I followed drops of blood about 200 yards. She stopped at two different scrapes. I'm pretty confident she will be ok. The shot was 10 YARDS! WTF? I could have made that shot in my sleep, but I didn't. I know exactly what I did. I dropped my left arm. I was 25ft up and the shot angle was a little steep. I wasn't thinking about keeping good form and bending at the waist. I wish I would have missed completely but luckily it was a grazing shot. Just something to think about next time you are hunting from an elevated position.

I've had two does wheel at the shot and then walk away like nothing happened. Neither went more than 40-50 yards. That second one was this October the 7th. The first one was my first bow kill and it had me worried until I saw her drop.

 

[roosiebull]

Friday morning I had a doe come in around 8:30. She came in pretty quick on the trail I was sitting on. I thought she was going right under my tree and she turned and went by on my right side. I bleated and stopped her, had my pin right on her chest and pulled the trigger. She mule kicked and then just walked away like nothing happened. Once I seen how she reacted I knew I screwed up. I sat for two more hours then got down to check my arrow. There was no blood on the arrow, just fat and hair. I followed drops of blood about 200 yards. She stopped at two different scrapes. I'm pretty confident she will be ok. The shot was 10 YARDS! WTF? I could have made that shot in my sleep, but I didn't. I know exactly what I did. I dropped my left arm. I was 25ft up and the shot angle was a little steep. I wasn't thinking about keeping good form and bending at the waist. I wish I would have missed completely but luckily it was a grazing shot. Just something to think about next time you are hunting from an elevated position.

Sub 10yd shots seem to be the easiest to mess up.

 

[50fps]

I launched one right between the legs of one slightly quartering away at approximately 12 yards years ago from the stand. Told myself that from here on out I'll let them get out a little farther.

 

[416safari]

I never missed a deer with my bow but I've shot some damn nice trees!

 

[mi650]

I missed the same buck 6 times within an hour. He came back a 7th time, and I was tempted to pull my pistol!

 

[Point Man]

Close shots are the easiest ones to miss.

 

[np307]

So a few years back I was on a lease with a few friends and the opener of muzzleloader and opener of rifle were both days when all of us would be up there. So the evening before muzzleloader opener I had hunted with my bow and then a few others arrived and we all went to town to eat at the usual Mexican restaurant. Well this time, it was a massive mistake. I slept terrible with my stomach churning and I just knew something bad was coming my way. Things settled down around the time everyone was getting up, and I didn't want to miss the opener, so I went ahead and got my stuff together and went back to a great stand overlooking a creek bottom that would almost certainly have deer coming through.

About 10 minutes after first light, that burrito and chips and salsa came right back up the way they came and a puked right over the side of the stand. As I'm sitting there trying to wash the taste out of my mouth, here comes a little spike. He comes directly in front of me, I pull the muzzleloader to my shoulder, and let him have it. Complete whiff. He almost hung around long enough for me to get reloaded but moved into the thick brush just before I could get another primer in.

 

[tkhuntsman]

I missed a bull elk at 6 yards. I was on a knob glassing and spotted a really good bull with some cows about 1/2 a mile away. As I watched them I noticed a satellite bull off to their right a couple hundred yards. I threw out a bugle just to see if either would respond because I had a couple of new elk hunters with me and I wanted them to hear some bulls just to get em fired up. Well the satellite bull picked up his head and bugled back the herd bull didn't even look. I gave it a minute and cow called twice really loud and that silly single bull turned and started coming on a dead run. I sent the 2 new guys to either side of the knob about 60 yards from my position and in a couple of small saddles. I figured the bull would approach from either side through one. After about 3 minutes I called again but quieter and the bull answered from the bottom of our knob (think anthill about 200' tall in a pinon/juniper jungle). I expected to hear a shot from either guy any second but instead the bull came straight up the face through the rim rock to my position. The top of the knob was about a 40 yard square with a current bush in the middle I kneeled down behind said bush. I drew right before I could see him when I heard him come through the rim rock he came head on to 6 yards and turned to go around the bush and Released only to see my arrow go right under his vitals. He turned to leave and I called on my mouth call several times and he stopped just on the rim rock at 62 yards (ranged after) quartering away. I guessed him at 60 drew and released a perfect heart shot. He jumped off the rim landed in a skidding slide and died in about 3 seconds less than 100 yards away. I called to the guys and we met up they didn't even hear me shoot and had no idea what happened.