Lessons from our Misses?

[Beendare]

Per @Marbles suggestion....

Can we save someone else the grief of learning from our misses and woundings?

Yeah, I know its uncomfortable opening old wounds...but is there a lesson there for others?

I have a couple to get it started;
I was Bowhunting elk in CO many years ago and saw a big herd bull and 30 cows go into a patch of timber and not come out. I literally waited all day positioning my self and sure enough late afternoon as it started snowing they came pouring out right where I thought. Cows all around me so it was tricky trying to get a range from flat on my belly at the uphill bull going from cow to cow.

He went through an opening where I had ranged...and I shot 3" over his back. It turns out the "Bush" I ranged was the top of a small tree that was actually 10y past him on a flat I didn't see from my position. That was 30 years ago and it still haunts me, about a 330" bull.
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Heres another; My buddy- an ASA pro archer wounded and lost a 161" whitetail at 25y in Kansas. The ranchers wife killed it a week later in Rifle season and the wound was healing. We were all at camp and he said for some reason his arrow was doing Loop D Loops to the buck. We pulled out a couple of his arrows from the quiver and when we did one or more of the blades popped out on his mech head.

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One more; I called a good bull in to my buddy Kirk [also an ASA Mathews shooter at the time] in U76 CO. The bull came charging in to 25y but was slightly quartering. He shot and it looked good. The bull turned and ran...but then swung back right across in front of us and stopped at 30y. Kirk just stood and watched. He was in line with the bull preventing me from shooting.

I asked why not shoot again on such a layup shot...he said, thats a dead bull. Wrong. The last time we saw that bull he was a mile away going over the continental divide leaving no blood trail. He never made that mistake again.

 

[Beendare]

I figured....nobody wants to be reminded of their failures....

 

[Maverick1]

I prefer to not miss.

 

[Maverick1]

This time of the year the positive mental visualization of an arrow arching through the sky and going through an animals vitals is the ultimate key to success. Anything less is unacceptable.

Not going a camping trip this year or any other year. Going on a killing and meat packing trip.

 

[Gerbdog]

Dont try to shoot through that bunch of twigs with a bow and arrow. Those twigs no matter how small will deflect an arrow just as surely as a tree it seems. Wont make that mistake again.

So many other small errors ive made elk hunting... hard to put them all down

 

[5MilesBack]

Dont try to shoot through that bunch of twigs with a bow and arrow.

Most of the time those twigs/leaves aren't even in my tunnel vision view of the vitals.......but very well can be in the trajectory path of my arrow. I've missed a couple shots because of this, but also wounded a couple because of that as well. I'd rather miss completely.

 

[Chris in TN]

Most of the time those twigs/leaves aren't even in my tunnel vision view of the vitals.......but very well can be in the trajectory path of my arrow. I've missed a couple shots because of this, but also wounded a couple because of that as well. I'd rather miss completely.

I was 15-16 years old and it was a 4-point whitetail and I can still see the arrow deflect and slide harmlessly under his belly after it hit a twig about 2/3 the way to him.

I never forgot that lesson.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Peep sites need to be completely immovable objects. Most of the methods that are popular allow a little movement, and thats all it takes to put a shot in the wrong spot. Tie it like Gillingham and save yourself some heartache.

 

[TaperPin]

I sort of thought of something to learn from. Late in the evening still hunting the timber we ran into a small herd that ran a few yards, stopped with the sun behind them looking like black silhouettes staring directly at us. We are still hunting with rifle in hand for a quick shot, could clearly see the outline of a bull’s legs, ears and body and took the shot, walked up and it was a different small bull laying on the ground. It wasn’t just me, but my hunting partner would have sworn on a pile of nudie magazines that there was only one elk I shot at.

Tracks don’t lie - there were two elk so well aligned we couldn’t tell there were two, and the quick shot didn’t allow enough time for them to move.

Since then I hesitate to take a shot unless there is a little movement so if another animals is perfectly aligned it will show up. Because it’s on my radar, while glassing I now see two animals that look like one all the time.

 

[Scoot]

I prefer to not miss.

Don't we all. However, bowhunt long enough and you'll have some stories that can be placed in this thread. Positive visualization is great, but sometimes the unfortunate outcomes that happen in the real world kick you in the nuts.

 

[Wheels]

Had a big herd bull that I'd been working for over an hour and finally got him to commit. He came in 25 yards above me broadside but stopped between 2 trees. I had a 4'' gap to his vitals between the trees which at 25yds is a dead bull every day on the range, but I centered one of the trees. Looking back, I am sure I probably didn't level my bow but got wrapped up in the moment and didn't go thru my checklist.
Also, had a legit 240'' non typical whitetail 10 yards below my tree and I tried to force a shot thru some branches, the arrow ended up 30 feet from the buck.

 

[The Harbor Master]

When I was new-ish to hunting I drew a good elk tag and missed the biggest bull I've ever seen to date, from 389yds... using a borrowed .270 that a buddy promised was "zeroed" at 200yds. Guessed at a hold over, couldn't see impact, sent another 2 or 3 and never could tell where I was missing, and neither could my hunting buddy who took a few shots with his .308 and missed as well. The bull never reacted much and after a few shots just trotted away. I was in a terrible position laying in the snow, shooting uphill, and scoped the bridge of my nose on every shot. We hiked over to look for blood just in case, and found nothing. I even took a picture of where we were shooting so I'd remember how it felt.

Later that day I shot 3rds on a target at 200yds, and the zero was pretty good. That was many years ago and it's what really opened my eyes to how important it is to know my own equipment and sent me into being obsessive about learning my rifle, my scope, my dope, and taking ethical shots I am confident in.

Also later that day, we learned the scope my buddy was using had been mounted at Cabelas and the rear ring was halfway on, with the other screws hovering. The cap screws were around 10-12 in lbs and who knows if it was level...