Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: aim small...release on November 11, 2015, 02:50:00 PM
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I just got back from Ohio on my dream hunt and I blew a 10yd shot on biggest buck I've had a shot on shot right over his back. I'm still bumming over it. Hunted hard for 4days. It was the first deer I've had in range in 2years its been tough in Michigan ill put it that way.maybe its lack of shooting at live animals
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Two things...
one get over a "miss" just like you get over a perfect "hit". The shot is over and there is nothing you can do about either one.
Two this is the worst now, but the best later...you will never forget that beautiful buck. It will be a great memory - forever. I have have shot some nice deer and forgot some details. I have never forgot a detail of a big buck I missed.
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Read your nic. Apply liberally. LOL
God bless, Steve
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I wouldn't know, I have never, ever missed. :bigsmyl:
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Brandon, if you would have lived through my season this year you would be tickled with your miss. I've had not 1 but 6 buck in under 20 yds this year, all would have been my biggest bowkill to date with one an easy 140-150 class, and as it stands it's buck 6 me zero. I had an 11 yr. kill string going too and now this. There's 3 days of the season left and I've talked seriously to God and the two of us have decided that it's time to just say thanks for all those painful, yet beautiful memories for this year and start getting ready for next.
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I just laugh at myself.
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Turn the page brother it happens to the best of us if you killed em all it wouldn't be hunting!!
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Its always gonna be hard to get over a miss. And trying to "get over it" will just make it last longer. Accept that its just part and parcel of the game we play, and that without it the perfect hits we make would mean so much less.
Hang in there, anyone who's played this game for long has been in your shoes.
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Man that's rough! I missed two coyote in a row last weekend. I'd say it was from lack of experience in shooting at the critters and that they were moving when I shot. Im so used to targets that stand still and haven't had enough practice at moving targets.
Sounds like you have done the right thing by getting into another state. Not that their aren't good hunting opportunities in your state but I I lived in a state like michigan, Maine, NY or Wisconsin with low deer numbers and heavy gun hunting pressure I'd for sure hunt at home hard before gun season but I would plan a trip to another state or Canada with longer bow seasons as a back up and change of scenery. You are so close to some really good hunting that could really extend your season.
In Arkansas you can bowhunting from sept 26-February 28th! Other states offer really liberal seasons as well.
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Thanks guys. I'm only 4 seasons in to trad and I shot a doe my first but since then no shot opportunies until Monday morning. Its hard to believe but its the truth.
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If, at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
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Be thankful you missed. A bad hit will haunt you for a long time. Live and learn, it happens. Twenty years ago I missed five different bucks in a week. Bottom line is I didn't pick a spot. I thought I did but at the last split second I broke my concentration to see if they saw me drawing. I was real close and on the ground. Lesson learned, pick a spot then pick a hair and then pick the root of the hair and never take your eye off it until the arrow hits.
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I always feel lucky to get a shot at a good buck. Apply what you learned from this experience and start working toward the next chance.
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It's just like in golf, you have to shake it off or else the next shot will be just as bad or worse. It sucks, but life goes on.
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I was initially after a very large non-typical this year, but hunting pressure was taking the fun out of it, so I shot a lesser buck while still hunting. I hit my arm on a broken branch while drawing on an 8 pointer. In Hill/Schulz terms 'the bow hand rises slightly faster than the drawing arm'. That was the point where I hit my arm on a broken branch and let the string slip. I lobbed the arrow over the 8 pointer when he was only 15 feet from me. The other Hill/Schulz axiom, 'the ability to get that second arrow out of the quiver and onto the string, will pay off in bowhunting'. It did.
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Wow a miss is better then a bad hit and lost deer. Keep shooting maybe your next opportunity will turn out different.
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I hunted with two friends in Colorado, elk hunt. Both used high tech, high dollar, geared out compounds, because they want every chance to make good on any elk opportunity that they get. I watched them shoot at camp. Wow......
At the end of the day ( week) both of them missed shots. One of them THREE times at the same bull, at under 35 yards. He used a rangefinder, had cool calm shots, and missed with two and cut his leg ( enough to cause us to lose a day following a nearly non existent and very short blood trail) with one.
It happens to the best of them. Shake it off is all you can do. You aren't alone, or bad.
CHuckC
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Make no bones about it..the only sure kill is when you have your arms around it. Get on that saddle again...I had too.. Good luck!
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This past weekend I made a perfect shot on a doe at 15 yards. She was down in 35 yards. An hour later I blew a shot at a very nice buck at 13 yards. Man was I bummed.
Then I just went back to hunting waiting for the next opportunity and thanking God for the one he gave me.
Shake it off, get back out there
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You must learn to laugh at your self . Lock and load and be ready for the next .
That's the difference between hunting and just killing . Things happen , enjoy the experience .
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You are seeing deer and you also got a shot. How many are not seeing deer never mind getting to take a shot. I would say you are pretty lucky and next time is the ticket.
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You get over it by pinwheeling the next one. We all Miss, It happens and is always the archers fault regardless of the excuse.
Keep at it and best of luck the rest of the season.
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The best way for me to get over a goof is to get back out there and make a good shot on something.
Bisch
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I missed a huge 8 in Oct. Shot would have been a high lung, but he dipped, and thankfully dipped out of the path of the arrow. But man what a memory!!
Better a clean miss than a bad hit, but most, if not all of us, will have both at some point in our hunting adventures.
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Man, that's too bad. I don't know how to help you with getting over it but everyone of us that has hunted very long with traditional equipment, have missed some easy shots.
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I'd say whiskey and redheads....works for me man ;) .
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As they told me in MT, "if'n ya never been bucked off a hoss, ya in't rid much"...
Guess that applies to archery...never missed, better hunt with a gun, but it happens to them saps too!
Remember the rush, drink deep of the memory a nd keep on keepin on!
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I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life . And that's why I succeed.
- Michele Jordan
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Get over it? What's to get over? All the fun, none of the work and you get to keep hunting! When the freezer is empty at the end of the season, that's the only hard thing to get over! I missed a bull elk at seven paces the first year I switched to trad, talk about missing the barn door, but it was exciting as hell and never had a big regret till end of the season, heck nothing new there!
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Shoot Again!!!
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I don't think you ever do. I think you learn from it.
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Thank God it wasn't a wound and learn from it.
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I don't. I'll never crawl out the window and stand on the ledge, but I never forget them.
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X2 on rather miss than wound!
Don't feel bad, I missed a doe earlier this year at 7 steps from my tree, shot under her.
Best thing to do is think positively, learn and keep on trying, another opportunity will arise, I guarantee you a big buck will come in close again at some point!
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The opposite can be bad too. I'm 2 for 2 this year so far but you can't get cocky either. Take it one at a time and make the best shot you can. If you practice a lot your skill will come through for you.
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You enjoy and remember the encounter. It's not a guarantee and it's OK to miss. It's hunting not killing. Chalk it up to a great experience in nature!
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I get over an easy miss...easily. No big deal. I don't get over a bad hit, however. I would much rather miss any day.
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Happens top us all.
And I will say a clean miss is WAY, WAY better than a poor hit.
Shakes your confidence up. So what you have to do is go out and shoot some stumps. I think we get into a pattern where we practice at one distance so the eye and muscle reflex are geared for that. Then a close shot comes and we just pull and release without PICKING A SPOT. I know that is what my post blooper analysis revealed. I was walking back from my stand mid-day a few years ago and a large doe was walking down the same path. I stopped and, at CLOSER than 10 yards, I put an arrow right over her back. D'oh!
So go out in the woods and practice some 5 yard, 10 yard, 15 yard shots.
When I first started bowhunting (still-hunting) I had many, many opportunities that I never capitalized on because I was afraid to draw. Waiting for that perfect moment that never came. I'm not sure if it was buck fever, fear of being made, or just over-awed by being that close to a deer. This is not to say being reckless is called for - but the fact you got a shot off at a close deer is a good sign.
I've also watched deer drop and bolt and it is astonishing how fast they convert energy to motion and dropping to get the legs bent for a push may take them below your arrow.
Wait until the deer appears relaxed and then get the arrow off. Here's hoping you next opportiunity comes soon. :thumbsup: