What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made hunting?

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Too many to count. I actually have a running list on my phone notes starting in 2016 and update every year of big mistakes of the season. I re read every year before season but some how still manage to make a lot of the same ones Here is a recent one that still really hurts.

AZ late hunt, used 9 points to draw. I scouted 4 days before season and found a really nice bull. Opening morning, re found him one face over (cross canyon), in range. I had the normal late season elk mindset, once you find them, they stay relatively put and you have plenty of time. He was above a cliff face and I was messing on OnX trying to figure out how I would recover him. I sat in range, rifle ready for probably 10-15 minutes. Looked at him in crosshairs multiple times. I'm not 100% on the recovery route but figured I could get it done, in my mind this elk is already dead, I look up and he is gone. He stepped around the face and disappeared. I spent the next 6 days of season trying to turn him up, never saw him again. Eventually went over to his side of the canyon to snoop around. Turns out several groups of hunters camped directly next to the two water tanks on top. I caught him opening morning likely moving out of the area. Tough break, felt like I was doing the right thing trying to make sure I had a safe recovery route, turns out I did, but wasn't sure at the time. Wish I would have pulled that trigger....

 

[ddd-shooter]

Last season, I had a very memorable Friday and Saturday morning hunting whitetail on a little public spot I scouted. Bucks were cruising and it was very eventful. I hunted the same spot Sunday morning.

I decided to get down at 11:30 am as temps warmed into the high 50s to check out a fresh gut pile 20 yards from my treestand. I left my gear and bow up in the tree. Standing there observing the scene, I catch a deer's body approaching me in the trees, thinking it was a doe and cool, she was so close. It was on the move quickly, but not running. At 10 yards, he stops right in front of me with nothing between us, and my mouth hits the ground. I'm fumbling for my phone camera and a giant, non-typical buck stands staring at me. The moment seemed to last forever and was only about 10-15 seconds. He skirted me about 15 yards and gave him a sound to stop. He turns his giant non-typical crown toward me as if to say, "Sorry about your luck, bud," and bounds off.

Lesson: When you're ready to quit and call it a day, sit another 30-45 minutes.

I would argue that lesson is a lesson I tell myself often:
NEVER be in the woods in any open season without a weapon in your hand. Ever. Like seriously. Don’t.






Ever.

 

[bentarrow]

Givin up on an elk hunt in 2023. Draw tag in good unit. Bothers me every day. Won't happen again. Life too short.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

First day of the rut last year. Took a 60-yard quartering away shot on a large buck with my 6.5 Grendel because the wind shifted and I thought he had smelled me. He had been coming right towards me, but he turned away. He was following at least two does. One of which was stopped at the base of the small cliff at the pass where I was sitting. The other had just jumped up onto the cliff next to the rock in the picture below and was staring at me, but I was motionless with my rifle already raised. The buck was roughly in the center of the blue circle.

Watched him fall to the ground and roll. Stood up and started walking towards him. The woods exploded with deer. In turned out that he was with two groups of does. At least 8 does total. I thought he was down. It turns out, he jumped up and ran. The snow was too patchy and there were too many tracks for me to distinguish his trail from the others. No blood trail. I covered the entire mountain side for over 400 yards in every direction. I hired a drone to come look for him. Not a sign of him anywhere. Still makes me sick and probably will for years.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[dirtshooter]

Killed a bull elk solo in about 10c weather and probably could have taken more meat off the ribs/flank but I panicked and didn't want the quarters/straps to spoil so I worked as fast as I could not knowing if I had just calmed down and thought about it a little better I would have had much more time to bring it all out. Still bugs me even though it's likely minor.

 

[High Climber]

Too many to count, I messed up on soo many quality animals when I was younger and still figuring things out. Not that I don’t royally screw things up at times still but the frequency is much lower lol. That and telling buddies/ people where I have been seeing animals and taking people to spots as already mentioned…

 

[OKHunter84]

Last season, I had a very memorable Friday and Saturday morning hunting whitetail on a little public spot I scouted. Bucks were cruising and it was very eventful. I hunted the same spot Sunday morning.

I decided to get down at 11:30 am as temps warmed into the high 50s to check out a fresh gut pile 20 yards from my treestand. I left my gear and bow up in the tree. Standing there observing the scene, I catch a deer's body approaching me in the trees, thinking it was a doe and cool, she was so close. It was on the move quickly, but not running. At 10 yards, he stops right in front of me with nothing between us, and my mouth hits the ground. I'm fumbling for my phone camera and a giant, non-typical buck stands staring at me. The moment seemed to last forever and was only about 10-15 seconds. He skirted me about 15 yards and gave him a sound to stop. He turns his giant non-typical crown toward me as if to say, "Sorry about your luck, bud," and bounds off.

Lesson: When you're ready to quit and call it a day, sit another 30-45 minutes.

Man I've had that almost that same thing happen before. It really sucks.

 

[LightFoot]

What’s the biggest mistake/hardest lesson you’ve experienced in the field?

I’ll go first:

I was stalking a bachelor group of mule deer for an entire day. One of the more mature bucks must’ve been 190+. Towards late afternoon I was getting close enough to get a shot with my flintlock. But I had a problem…my bladder was reaching critical mass. Like bad. The bucks dropped over the hill out of sight and I leaned my rifle against a tree and went. Feeling better, I picked up my gun, looked up, and *SNAP*. I broke a tree branch overhead and it was LOUD. I may have well been singing the star spangled banner. I looked toward where the deer disappeard and all I saw across the top of the hill were heads with giant antlers looking right at me. They hadn’t gone as far as I thought, and I was busted.

Rookie move. Should’ve just wet my pants.

Biggest mistake…

Spending more money on stuff (especially rifles) than on hunting.


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[buffybr]

My biggest hunting mistake was in not hunting enough when I had the chance and was young enough to do it.

For most of the first 10 years of my hunting life I had lived and worked off and on in Steamboat Springs, CO where I had killed 7 elk and as many deer along with a black bear and a pronghorn antelope. But it wasn't until 1975 when I moved to MontanaI that I ever thought about applying for special tags, like for bighorn sheep, moose, or mountain goats.

Back then Montana even sold grizzly bear tags OTC for $25. I bought one of those tags every year, but didn't really hunt them, I just hoped to find a griz on the gut pile of a deer or elk that I had killed. Then they banned grizzly hunting.

I did draw a mountain goat tag the first year that I applied, but I got snowed out the first day that I hunted, then thought "no big deal, I'll come back later or just apply for another tag as the odds of drawing were 1 in 4 in that unit." I did draw another tag a few years later and killed a good billy, but in the 47 years since then all of my goat applications have been unsuccessful.

In the late '70s and into the '80s Montana had 9 Unlimited tag bighorn sheep units adjacent to Yellowstone NP. Seasons in these units opened in early September and ran through the end of November. Back then the harvest quotas in some of the units wouldn't be filled. Most of those units were only 100 miles from my home, and for 10 or so years I would buy a tag every year, but I would usually just hunt for just the first few days of the season. I didn't kill a ram or even see any rams every year because again, I didn't realize what a good deal those hunts were and I didn't take those hunt as serioulsy as I should have.

Now, several of those Unlimited units have closed and others have gone to limited drawing tags. However, I am very grateful of the 3 rams that I have on my wall, and of the memories of all of the hunts that I did do.

Another sheep regret that I have was in 2000 or 2001 an Outfitter friend that I had in Canada called me and about a cancellation Stone sheep hunt for $11,000. At that time I was going through a very expensive divorce and I could barely afford anything after the payments to my lawyer. Now, you just about have to add another 0 to the cost of that hunt.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I got an offer from an old family friend back in Wisconsin to do a moose hunt in Manitoba. I think the cost was around $3500. This was around 35 years ago. That was one of the dumbest things ever to turn that down.

 

[dtrkyman]

Left early!


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[IdahoElk]

Taking someone to my best spots before proving they could be trusted, Word of honor and hand shakes mean nothing to some people when bulls are bugling.

 

[taskswap]

I was helping a friend try to track a wounded elk mid-day a few days after the opener. I was tired from my own hikes and it was like 1pm so I figured I'd leave my rifle back at camp. While sneaking along a log, I bumped a pretty big bull and despite having a tag, was completely unarmed. He was so close I could have hit him with a rock. Nice bull, too, at least a 6x6 - wouldn't have won any awards but I would have been very happy to take him that year because I came up dry myself.

Now I chest-carry a 44-mag for those trips when I don't have my rifle. You never know.

 

[jwf93]

Not hunting enough in my 20s when I was intimidated by public land.

 

[chasewild]

So many.

1. Slow down and aim.
2. Do anything for your good hunting partners.
3. Hunting partners with opinions on everything=leave em.
4. Hunting partners that want to go home early = leave em.
5. Hunting partners that don't understand why you don't share spots = leave em.
6. Hunting partners from work = leave em.
7. Hunting partners that don't match your commitment level (high or low) = leave em.
8. Pack your wife more warm clothes than you think she needs.
9. Did you remember your food? Pack more food. It's fine.
10. Did you remember your sleeping bag?
11. Did you bring extra contact lenses?
12. Never go home early: "you never know what's gonna happen in the woods."
13. Bone it out, hang it up, and take all the time you need to get it out. Leap Frog.
14. Black bears taste good.
15 Velvet bucks in the high country is heaven.
16. Move to Alaska before you have kids.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Moving to WA.

 

[Splitear]

By far taking poor shots and losing an animal. I can't remember all of the deer I've killed, but I distictly remember those that I wounded and didn't find. I hate wounding an animal, especially when it's because of something I did wrong. Fortunately those moments are rare and become fewer and further between the older I get.

 

[MNGrouser]

I think I've made this confession on here on another thread. I was stand hunting Minnesota white-tails. I shoot left handed so shots to my right are easy, shots to the far left cause me to strain a bit more. I have a small (2.5 acre) food plot to my right and three shooting lanes covering about 90 degree field of view (straight north, northwest & west). I'm on the stand for about the 8th straight day. I've only seen the same damn-near pet does & fawns snacking on my food plot. Mid-day I text a buddy asking how his hunt is going. As I hit send I catch movement at the extreme end of my northwest lane. Nice buck cruising. I tuck my phone in my pocket and reposition so I'm lined up when he crosses that west-facing lane. I'm kneeling with a solid rest. Then I hear two things: my cellphone, which I haven't tucked deep enough into my pocket, falls out and tumbles to the plywood floor of my stand. Sound #2 is the sound of a very nice buck crashing dead-away from me. Never had a chance to see him a second time. What I had seen would have made him my biggest white-tail to date...if only I weren't an idiot.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Always have a gun when in the woods. You never know when you're going to stumble on something you think is better off dead. You can't really kill anything by throwing a camera at it.

 

[fatlander]

Not admitting to myself that I had target panic sooner. I missed some world class animals in a couple year’s time.


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