the wind caused me a miss

[Scott Beitzel]

well i got off work early and decided that it would be a good night to set in the woods just my bow and me .
so off i went made it to my stand and setteled in as much as i could in a double ladder stand got my war paint on and layed my bow on my lap and hung my camera .
as luck would have it it snowed here in western md last evening and the snow was falling as well as the temps but boy oh boy the wind was picking up .
just as i was contemplating getting down and calling it quits a small doe kinda just flew to the bait pile watching over her shoulder the whole time so i stood waited and shivered lol.
turned my camera on and here he came a monster im talking antlers out to well almost his ears and just a hair higher lol.
but where he stopped was right behind a branch that was in front of me ( an over looked trimming that i didn't make when i hung my stand .
so i waited and waited the wind howled and cut right through my cloths i drew on him 3 times only to let down so i decided when the wind blew on more time the limb would drop and show me his spot so the wind blew the branch dropped and i drew and released perfect ( so i thought ) but upon my release of the arrow the wind stopped the branch rose ever so slightly and kicked my arrow which glided just above his back hit a tree behind him and he was gone . so i spent the rest of the nite sitting waiting and freezing thinking he would come back . and he did but behind me guess trying to get my wind he never did i guess as he walked back and forth across an area about 50 yards long but never got close and i can;t shoot behind me anyhow .
so mad at myself for not getting it right the first time i made my self set untill dark to remember lol.

thanks for reading and i just wanted to rant a little ,

Scott

[GreyGoose]

Scott,  wind is vexing me, too - this is the first Saturday I've had free to hunt all year, but it's just too gusty (and to be honest, wet) for me to sit in blind or stand so far.  Maybe you'll get some snow to track 'em before the weekend is over.  Hang in there!

[Doc Nock]

Archery has always been a game of inches!

I coined that phrase many years ago or read it soemwhere, but it's stuck!

"back in the day" we used to get a lot of archery chances, but then there were few guys afield with bows...

We didn't know squat about archery hunting, shot at deer looking at us and watch them literally duck an entire quiver full (quivers held 8 then) arrows and then when we were outa "bullets" they would saunter out broadside and thumb their noses!

Devil's in the details and that limb is a detail.

Congrats on the close encounter! That is what memories are made of!

I'd bet dollars to a box full o donuts you'll trim that limb, eh?  

Good luck rest of your long season!  Did your camera pick up the action?

[Mudd]

I think that in my book of excuses that one is in chapter one, paragraph 3, line 2...lol

It was hopefully only a learning experience for one of you but from what you've said, maybe not. Sorry!

I wish you better hunting/shooting/luck next time.

God bless,Mudd

[Scott Beitzel]

oh it was a learning experiance maybe stand sooner and shoot faster lol.
and for sure that limb will be removed . the camera only got a small pic of the doe as the limb ( grrrrr) was in the way of the buck lol.
and grey as far as snow right now we have about 4 inches on the ground and it is still coming gosh wold swear it's jan here .

Scott

almost has me wanting to get my ice fishign gear out lol.

[Kentucky Jeff]

If you killed a deer every time you pulled the string back we would call it deer shooting not deer hunting.  

May you have many more....

Success is sweeter when you have a few failures under your belt.

[Killdeer]

Kentucky Jeff, I have gotten old enough to realize that you are right. Sucks, but you are so right.

Funny thing, how the failed hunts are not paled hunts. They burn as bright in the memories as the kills, and far longer than the taste of the backstraps.
Killdeer  

[Bud B.]

Windy and rainy here yesterday so I sat it out in the house and went to a few places about. at least you ventured out and toughed it out. Sounds like hunting memory you'll have forever.

He'll be back at some point.

[Hawkeye]

Originally posted by Bud B.:
He'll be back at some point.

And maybe he'll bring his Daddy (or even Great Grandpa!!!)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I had a similar experience on a black tail this year early in the season. This was no trophy animal, but it looked like i should send a pointed invitation to dinner at the time, so i did.

i was on the ground with a perfectly broadside angle and she was standing on the other side of a small alder tree feeding. the wind was breezy and the leaves of the tree were moving slowly up and down showing me her vitals.  when the wind would stop, there was a big leaf covering the spot behind the shoulder i wanted. so rather than trying to time my shot, i decided to shoot the leaf that was 5 yards in front of her.....

well i was pleased to see my arrow hit that leaf dead center, but didn't see the 1/4" branch behind the leaf.....  needless to say i harvested a nice alder branch instead of a fat doe.....

That's archery hunting for you eh?

[Doc Nock]

Why do I have visions of Kirk making that alder branch into something in the way of an archery accessory?    

Snowing here, too.  I had an unprecendented experience with a Rubber Attack Boot as shared in the "Can you Bait Deer With Pound Cake?" thread, so I can't go play in the snow cause them boots is all I got and they're not going back on me anytime soon!.  :mad:  

After tearing a hamstring getting that sucker off my foot, I lost out on a hunt, couldn't but hobble for a week in camp and returned home sore and purple.

I'd take missing a deer in the wind over any of that!  But seriously, what's up with this "blizzard" in Oct?

[Scott Beitzel]

doc noc i feel for ya on the injury andything that stops us from doing what we want is a great hin derance no matter big or small .
and oh it's not something that up sets me or anything of that sort its something like the others have said that i can talk about for years and the big thing is noone was hurt or wounded during the making of this funny afternoon .

and i heard a fella at work say that this was a robin snow well for his information robin snows come in the spring and a robin would have to have snoeshoes on to walk around here today we are up to like 6-7 inches and it's still coming . the kids are having a blast of course . but it will all be gone in a day or so .

don't love nothing better than a fun hunt except a win sometimes lol.

Scott

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Why do I have visions of Kirk making that alder branch into something in the way of an archery accessory? [laughing]
 

I wish i would have thought of that Doc....        

Oh well.... there's always next time. and as much as i love wood, I'm not very fond of young alders and vine maple at all.    

[Tom Leemans]

I feel your pain.
Last year, I had a shot at the nicest buck that had ever walked within shooting distance. It was at the outside of my comfortable range but I felt o.k. with the shot. It was a very windy day. I normally hunt from the ground, but switched it up that day and hunted my brother's tree stand. The stand was about 10 yards inside the tree line surrounding a pasture of rolling hills. A doe trotted out into the field as I was digging through my pack for something. She was looking over her shoulder, so I hung the pack up and grabbed my bow as quietly as I could. Sure enough, the obvious king of these woods ran out and stopped right out in front of me. He was one of those very obvious mature deer in his prime. I don't keep score but he for sure would make Boone and Crockett. I picked the smallest spot I could, drew back to anchor, my finger touched the corner of my mouth and away the arrow went. The shot looked perfect, but it had another 15 yards or so to go after it cleared the trees. As soon as it cleared the trees, the cross wind caught the fletching and I watched in horror as the arrow started making a hard left. I felt sick, thinking I was going to gut shoot him. It ended up that the BH missed but the fletching brushed his butt. He hopped up and did a 180 in mid air. He had no idea what just touched him. I could see the arrow sticking in the ground behind him. By the time I got a second arrow ready, he had walked off another 30 yards towards the doe. I issued a snort wheeze that had him looking back my way, but then the doe ran across the field and his priorities changed. Oh well.... Great memory anyway.