How many have missed animals due to a failed scope?

[nphunter]

Just curious with all the drop testing and scope talk lately, how many have actually missed an animal due to their scope losing zero. Buck fever doesn’t count.

Be honest, I emptied my gun in a giant buck once at 200 yards and never even grazed him. Took the gun back and rang steel at 600. My boys were both sitting next to me and will never let me live it down. I think it was karma for not letting them shoot! They were 13 & 10 at the time and both told me they would have easily hit it. Lol

My kid also missed a buck at 150 twice a few years back shooting off a tripod. He said the gun was off, I took him to shoot the next day and acted like I was making some adjustments and he shot perfect. That night he killed the same buck he missed after I re-zeroed the gun

 

[huntnful]

I was with my dad when we zeroed his Leupold Mark 5 right before our hunt.

Drove around in the side side during the hunt for a decent amount of miles on the first day. Found a good buck at 450 yards. Dial up, he missed just over his back. I think it’s him, so just tell him to shoot again. Hits the exact same spot. So just from seeing the hits, I dialed him down about 2 MOA and he kills it.

Immediately set up a target at 100 yards afterwards, and sure enough the scope had lost zero while riding in the side by side and was 2 MOA high.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Paging @OneTimer

 

[Hoosker Doo]

Not missed, but missed an opportunity. At 13 years old, I was hunting with my dad. It was foggy and we had a bull elk bugling at around 200 yards. He got behind his Redfield widefield on his 30-06 and quickly stated "Dangit. Can't see good enough to get a shot." With the naked eye, it was easy to see the bull. Getting behind my scope, detail was more obscure, but it was easy enough to see his body as long as you knew which way he was facing before settling in the scope, I could have taken a decent shot. But at 13, when your dad says "We don't have a shot", you don't question it.
Fast forward, come to find out, all he was seeing in that fog was glaring sunlight and moisture had gotten inside and clouded up his scope. He'd have had a hard time making that shot in clear conditions. If I'd let him look through mine, we'd have had a dead herd bull right there instead of a dead raghorn half an hour later, and half a mile farther up the mountain lol.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Didn’t happen to me but a family member I was hunting with. While stalking a deer in west Texas, he slipped, fell and dropped the gun. Gets to about 100yds takes the shot and spines the deer about mid body. Deers back legs hit the ground but front half still working. They end up having to chase it a short distance as it’s crawling on its front legs before it can be put down. Tough deal to watch from the plateau but can only imagine how the boy felt. Checked the gun after the rodeo and it was shooting high and way left.

 

[rackcity24]

I sighted in my 270 a week before deer season when I was in high-school. Opening day my dad misses one of the biggest whitetails he's ever had a shot 250 yards away. I figured buck fever. A week later I missed a doe at 100 yards. Later found out I was 9" left. No hard drops, just laying in the back seat of his pickup with minimal travel of gravel/bumpy roads.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

[WBT]

Just this past October I missed an ibex in Spain with a Swarovski Z8. It was shooting at least 24” high. This was on a loaner rifle and the scope was set up with a ballistic turret. The best I can tell is that the scope was dialed a lot and completely lost the ability to hold vertical elevation.