How many have missed animals due to a failed scope?

Have you missed an animal due to a defective scope?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 47.8%
  • No

    Votes: 36 52.2%

  • Total voters
    69
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Messages
79
Location
SK, Canada
In 2020 shot at my PB whitetail with muzzleloader and 3-9x40 vortex viper. Scope was zeroed prior to season and no noticeable drops or hits to it.
Deer was at 100 yds broadside and I hit it in front knee. Stumbled away on 3 legs. I was able to track it down and finish it thankfully. I wasn’t sure if it was buck fever or equipment. Confirmed a week later scope had shifted the same as my POA to POI on the deer.
In my opinion it was a miss and led me to re-evaluating my gear and making changes. Also got me reading on this forum that my experience with vortex is not an isolated incident.
 

S-3 ranch

WKR
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Messages
1,142
Location
Texas / Hillcounrty
In 1982 I had a used rem 700 .270 with a redfield wide field 3x9 my dad had my uncle buy as a Xmas present and it never held zero ever, missed a few deer with it and then the reticals broke
Replace it with a leupold 3x9
 

ChrisAU

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
Messages
6,720
Location
SE Alabama
In 2017 I had one of my target bucks step out at last light around 150 yards. Had the ol trusty Leupold 3-18 VX6HD on 3x, went to zoom in a bit and a lens shattered internally turning the image black. That was the last primary use Leupy I had.
 

Seeknelk

WKR
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
847
Location
NW MT
Yep...drew a nice muley tag finally back in 18. Ended up hitting a nice buck way too high...barely clipped his back I think. Checked zero and it was no longer zeroed. Was hitting high. Vortex PST. Absolutely loved the warranty that day! Came in so clutch. 🙄 Never used it again.
 

robtattoo

WKR
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
3,517
Location
Tullahoma, TN
I had a Vortex diamondback on my last Savage .223. It fell over in the safe & by fell over, i literally mean the muzzle shifted 6" before stopping against the rifle next to it. I never gave it a second thought.
I hunted with it the next day & wound up missing 3 deer with 10 shots, the furthest being 80yds.

Took it to the range & I was hitting 4 FEET left at 100yds.

That was the last Vortex I had & I didn't even mess with the warranty (id already sent 4 or 5 things back) I tossed the damn thing & I've been SWFA all the way ever since.
 
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Thegman

WKR
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
709
I (mostly) missed a black bear once with one of my Redfield Revolutions that was on my Tikka 30-06. I say mostly because there was a little blood, but nothing fatal apparently. Got home and checked it and it was about 3 inches off at 100 yards from where it should have been. Sent it to Leupold to check and they said it was fine and returned it.

I put one of my Leupold 2-7s on the Tikka, none of which have ever lost zero in 15 years or so. I've long since lost track of exactly which Revolution scope that was (I have a few of them) but I still use them and that hasn't ever happened again with any of them...?
 
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JDBAK

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 12, 2019
Messages
191
Me, 4 deer on 2 hunts. Shot about 2-3 MOA low, missed and had to correct. Leupold 1.5-5.
Partner, zero shifted 6 MOA right. Weaver K-4
Partner, zero shifted about 12 MOA high. SWFA 10x.

In all cases zero was checked after the hunt
 

JDBAK

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 12, 2019
Messages
191
There are probably more, but those are the ones that come to mind that I actually went back and confirmed zero on after being baffled. All shots were prone with rest.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2018
Messages
491
Location
Nebraska
Not flat out missed but poorly shot and had to be tracked down YES. Grew up with a hunting budget of $0 so had to borrow guns for the first few years where I learned killing a deer with a Simmons scope was messy and lot of work.
 

Reburn

Mayhem Contributor
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
3,430
Location
Central Texas
leupold vx-3. Lost zero and was hitting 24" right 6" high. Rump shot that deer. Luckily it took out his hips so he wasnt lost. gun was never dropped. Never figured out what the cause of it losing zero.
 
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Messages
1,343
Location
Bozeman, MT
Another Leupold for me. Missed what would be my PB mule deer at 280 yards. 190”+ deer. Shifted 4” low at 100 when tested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

BBob

WKR
Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
4,430
Location
Southern AZ
The last one I remember was helping a guy on a late Dec cow elk tag. Slipped one evening in the dark and slippery mud and landed on his butt/back. Later that evening looking at the scope (Vortex) it had a small ding scratch on the objective bell. He didn't want to check it the next morning (nudged him several times to run out down the road at daylight to check) so off we went to hunt. We got into a herd of cows early morning and he dinged one somewhere on a front leg. Shot again and missed and they ran off. Didn't kill it. Tracked blood for several miles till it quit. He later verified at the range that it was off a lot. Can't remember how much but it verified that the scope got knocked out.
 
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
2,468
Location
Timberline
Screenshot_20241123_134831_DuckDuckGo.jpg

@The Guide

Let me spell this out for you in crayons: no scope failures meaning no misses because of it. Doesn't surprise me you thought I referred to it as never missing since the very topic of the thread is about misses due to scope failures.

Complete flyby on both, wasn't it....
 
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