Weakness, Failures and Mistakes?

[Izzy]

TTT With the seasons getting close maybe we could learn a bit here and save a hunt as well. Im ready for some hunting stories to be told.

[thump]

If you loose an arrow at a deer while he’s looking at you that arrow won’t find him.>>---->

[Tsalt]

My bowhunting sins were many this past season... resulting in zero deer in the freezer.  

1.  Missing because I failed to pick a spot!  I know better, but in the moment this is the toughest thing for me.  Not sue why, I just see the whole deer.  So I'm trying to work on this in practice more.

2.  Being lazy about scent control.  I know scent can never be eliminated totally... and I'm not going to spend a bunch of money of "scent proof" clothing.  But I know there are common sense steps I can take and I'm already working on it for this season.  

3.   Staying loose when it's really cold.  My worst moment last season came the day after Christmas.  It was about 8 degrees with the windchill and I had been sitting for three hours.   I had a doe come in to 10 yard.  I went to draw back and I literally couldn't pull my bow back to anchor.  I let down and tried again... still couldn't get it back.   I was frozen stiff!   Then I made and even worse decision and tried to shoot without hitting anchor... resulting in a poor shot. Stupid!      
Fortunately that doe lived despite the wounding as I saw her later on my trail camera.   Moral of that story... pull back your bow a couple times every hour in cold weather.  And don't take the shot unless you reach full draw!

[tradarcher816]

What do I do wrong??? .......
Geez where should I start? I think one of my biggest weaknesses is being slow to try a new spot.  If I have a little luck in a spot I'm notorious for not changing locations even if all the "luck" is dried out or the wind is wrong. We'll just leave it there for now for lack of space to write.

[Shawn Leonard]

I failed to get down and stalk a 160" plus monster whitetail on my Ohio lease(which you hunted with me)and waited him out instead. He was following a doe and got within 65 yards and a smaller buck got up and he ran him off. I than watched him(from 200 yards) with that doe for 2.5 hrs. and they never moved more than 50ft. I had a big drainage(you know the one)that I could of climbed down into and most likely got within 30 yards of them and than made my next move. Still kicking myself for that one!! I also passed a 120" buck the first 10 minutes I was there, I had him within 20 yards and closer for over an hour and should of shot him, would of should of could of!! I would maybe have never seen the monster if I had shot him though. Hopefully this year will be different and I will get my Ohio monster finally. The buck I speak of was killed the next day and I saw him on the ground. We had no tape but we all figured no less than 165"s!!! Shawn

[frassettor]

Always my biggest thing I NEED to work on is sitting  still while ground hunting in our cedars. I have gotten busted with deer that were CLOSE because I didn't hear them come through and I was switching positions because I was sitting on that one position a long time.

[BrushWolf]

I was set up in a downed pine tree. I had noticed a small hole that I thought should be filled in with brush. I never took the time to fix it. That is were I messed up because that same night I got busted by a wide eight pointer. He looked right at me through that hole. If he would have made it pass the opening he would have been about 12 yard slightly faceing away with a few more steps. Needless to say I fix the opening but never seen him again.   :(

[khardrunner]

Shoot at the first good opportunity. It may not come again!

Not letting down and starting over when I got frazzled by a black bear on bear quest! It cost me a good bear.

Bisch

[VictoryHunter]

I missed several deer because I could not pick a spot resulting in a big goose egg for the season! That will all change this year.  

[LimBender]

Shooting at a doe on super high alert - won't do that again, but probably should have known better.  Don't use a new bow that you have not shot much (even if shooting it well in limited practice).

Also some bad luck (and too few shooting lanes) - 2 very nice bucks at about 20 yards that I could not get a shot on.  Both were 1 or 2 steps from taking an arrow.

On the bright side, I didn't wound a deer and hopefully learned a thing or two, and got the misses and excuses out of my system.  
 

[Sam McMichael]

Yeah, not picking a spot is my greatest weakness.