Most memorable misses!

Here's mine:

I was without a place to hunt and a buddy of mine invited me to a small lease he had. When we got there he told me he was going to put me in a tree stand at the front of the place. He was describing the set-up and in doing so said "This stand is set up for a close shot. If you get a shot it will be a Slam Dunk". Well, I spent the afternoon in the tree watching many deer when a real nice 8 pt buck came in. He worked into a good position and I began to draw. He caught movement or heard a noise and looked straight up at me. We began the stareoff. I held my bow up without moving for what seemed like an hour and my arm began to hurt. He finally turned to go back to eating. I thought, OK here's my chance. I drew back, and let the arrow fly. I missed that deer a foot and a half high and off into the woods he went. That was the day that I learned that there is no such thing as a "Slam Dunk" in archery.

Bisch

Originally posted by allan f:
I'd rather a clean miss then a bad hit.
Allan

Like a lot of guys I have had both, and if you think you beat yourself up about a clean miss, try getting a poor hit out of a miss.  Count your blessings guys.
A.

X2 - I totally agree with this post!

Bisch

[overbo]

2 yrs ago had a monster black bear @ 12ft and the bottom limb of my bow delamed at fulldraw.Scared me more than the bear.Same year in New Mexico.Stalked w/ in 25yrds of a 200'' 6x6 mulie bedded and just as I was reaching for a arro from my quiver,my hunting partner came down the jeep trail and boogered everything.I still see the ribcage on that buck.
I also have too many to confess

[DWT]

How about missing the same turkey twice, at 5 yds. This actually happened less than a month ago and still stings. The truth of the matter is I missed him 3 times twice at 5 yds and then at 16 yds. The third shot I was a little flustered. Good thing I had 4 arrows as I shot through him at 28 paces. I couldnt understand how one misses twice at 5 yds untill I saw the 2 gaping holes in my brand new hub blind in the shape of a wensel woodsman. And to top it off the tom destroyed my jake decoy after the first shot thinking he was challenging him. I left my face mask on for the rest of the week! Just kidding only wore it for 2 days.

[GingivitisKahn]

Heck - I've had a number.  This isn't technically a miss but...

A few years ago I was still hunting on a relative's land.  Moving quietly up an abandoned road towards a huge oak, I heard squirrels in the mast.  So I slipped a blunt onto my string and stalked as quietly as I could.  The road curved to the right and I could hear the squirrels plain as day.

It took forever, but finally I had the tree at my 2 o'clock about 20 yards away but still didn't see the squirrels.  Out of the corner of my eye though, at 10 o'clock and 15 feet (not yards), I finally noticed the two does standing there.

They saw me but either they didn't know what I was or couldn't believe their eyes.  Anyway, we stared at each other for about 5 minutes while I tried to figure out how I was going to swap arrows out for something a bit sharper.

Soon the alpha doe started stamping her foot and doing the fake feeding thing.  I knew she was going to snort at me and kept telling myself not to jump when she did it.  Another 5 minutes of foot stomping, fake feeding and she snorted.  I jumped.

Those does are probably still running.  :-D

[tarponnut]

When I first started hunting with a recurve bow for deer (1984?). On a very windy day, I was hunting on the ground and had a young six point walk straight up to me. Halfway between me and my trophy was a vine that kept swinging back and forth in front of its vitals. The buck was probably 15 feet away!I drew back and held my Kodiak Magnum at full draw and tried to time the swinging vine. I timed it all right and center punched it!
The buck ran off but stayed in range for two more
"shoot at the whole deer" clean misses.
Since that day, I've had several more branches sacrifice themselves to save an animal.
I even mounted one on a plaque with the broken arrow after I missed a big buck in Iowa.

[straitera]

All would rather a complete miss than a bad hit. Those ghosts don't go away.

185 fps compound 35(?) years ago. While hunting the fence line, easily one of my top 3 racks of all time coming straight towards me on the other side of the 5-strand barbed wire fence. He went UNDER & stood broadside less than 10 yards! LSS, I shot and he fell under the arrow missing by a hair his backbone. Complete numbness! How did he get that big rack under the fence? How did he fall so far to dodge the arrow? JFTR, I was using aluminum arrows & a spring rest covered w/hard plastic tube shrink. Although I never noticed the 10K times shooting at the range, it sounded like a slot machine.

[pcappy08]

My most memorable one isnt on a big buck or a tough shot it was probably the easiest shot ive ever had in my life...The first deer i shot at with my recurve sitting in a stream bank watching the corner of a corn field a doe came down the edge of the corn and stopped literally 6 feet away from me broadside...needless to say i never even thought about picking a spot and all i remember is that doe running at me and across the steam at the sound of the arrow tearing through the corn behind her right over her back....still makes me laugh to think about it        

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

This is mine from a similar thread I started in November of last year:

I went out tonight after not having much time to hunt this season and thought I'd do some ground poundin'. Well, as I aproached an opening in a field I stopped to glass and spotted a doe. There was nothing between she and I except 80 yards of two foot tall grass, so on the belly we go. I crawled across the field in the direction of the doe racing against daylight. Finally at my destination I raised to my knees to situate for a shot and noticed that she was walking right towards me, I didn't think this could get any better. I sat and waited for her to clear some brush so I could shoot but what came out the other side wasn't her. It was a very nice P&Y 8 point! he was walking right past me, upwind with a slight quarter away, no clue I even existed. I estimated the shot to be in the neighborhood of 23 yards, a comfortable shot. I raised my bow, drew the string to my cheek, and sent the arrow on it's way, right past his antlers!  I can remember at the "moment of truth" thinking "I finally done it". Then I began to come apart all in that half second while releasing my arrow.  Guess that's why it's called huntin' and not killin'. Anyone else had these type of bonehead moments at the "moment of truth"?

[BobCo 1965]

I was creeping around the edges of on open field one evening on a very, very windy day looking in the high grass/brush surounding the field. I ended up stalking within 10 yards of a bedded doe. I had the wind in my favor. I knew if I waited long enough she would get up. She finally got up and started walking right at me. She ended up coming within about 6 feet of me when she finally figured out something was wrong. She started running past me and I drew hoping she would stop. She did, about 15 yards in the wide open field she stopped to have another look standing perfectly broadside. I released and watched my arrow fly directly over her back. This was the most perfect hunt I ever had, but ended up missing.

[PICKNGRIN]

The year was 1976.  Hunting a public hunting area in western Iowa.  This was before I had ever taken a deer with a bow.  A yearling whitetail allowed me to shoot all 4 of my arrows at it (3 high, 1 low).  There I stood in my treestand with no arrows til the deer finally wandered off!!!

[leatherneck]

1999- Hunted a particular buck for 3-years but never got a shot. One evening we saw him hit a field and knew what stands to hunt the next morning. 3 of us were set up in a sort of a triangle and guess what, I picked the right one. He was following about 5 does right up the trail. I readied my bow and waited until he was at 10 yards broadside. I picked my spot and was ready to draw when he looked up at me. I panicked and lost concentration and shot at the body instead of a spot. My broadhead sliced the hair acrossed his back. I never saw the buck again until the night of opening day of gun season. A gun hunter killed him about a mile away on opening morning. He scored 191" non typical and had 16 scorable points.
I hung up my recurve that day and went back to a compound. What a fool I was. After several bucks on the wall I came to my senses and came back to trad a couple seasons ago. That day taught me a lesson that took 7 years to realize. It wasn't the buck I was after, but the hunt itself. That is the most memorable hunt I have, not most memorable kill. And thats what is is all about isn't it? One mistake I'll never make again. 1st year back into trad I was blessed with a 150" 9 pointer. But the hunt is what I cherish most.

Mike

[tim roberts]

The first year I started hunting "slick top whities" in Montana.  I had been driven out to a treestand and was told to wait there till they came back, along with that instruction was the one: Wait for the last one or you will mess it up for the rest of the season.  Well that evening 85 deer passed with in 18 yards of my stand.  When the last one came I was pretty tuned in and some of the excitment factor had worn off, or so I thought........As she came by I proceeded to place an arrow right where I saw the crease behind the shoulder, only to see her run back in the direction she had come from untouched by the broadhead.  She ran about 40 yards, turned around, and looked back in my direction.  After she huffed and puffed for about 2-3 minutes, much to my surprise she came back, only this time she was closer to the tree!  Wow!!!!!  I was thinkin' this one needs to be removed from the gene pool, or she has a death wish?  Neither proved to be right as the second arrow pretty much followed the path of the second!

[BowHuntingFool]

My most memorable miss was my first time I ever pulled back on an animal hunting with a Longbow, this last season and also my first season with the Longbow in tow. I had a 2 Does come right into my set up. I thought, how perfect, my first kill with my longbow, awesome. The big Doe comes into the clearing, stops broadside on her own 2o yards out, I draw, release and right over her back! Ouch! She had no idea what just happened. I reach behind me, pull out an arrow from my arrowmaster trying to move as slow as possible because the other Doe was directly underneath me. I get an arrow nocked without looking, bring my bow up to draw, dang, it has a judo tip on it. I manage to get another arrow out, this time with the correct head on it and bring my bow up to draw, the Doe got nervous and moved offering no shot. I look down and the 2nd Doe was about 12 yards out....... done deal........... I missed again! It was AWESOME!!!! In the matter of 3 minutes I missed twice on 2 different deer. I was hooked from that point on. I killed plenty of deer with my gun and compound but these 2 misses had me shaking soooo bad, I looked down at my knees and literally could not stop them from shaking! I love it!

[Horne Shooter]

Very first hunt with Trad gear five years ago.  Caribou hunting in Quebec.  Staked to a P&Y bull to about 8 yards.  I had been practicing all summer in 100 degree Texas heat with a tee shirt and shorts.  I drew on the bedded bull and released with the string slapping my heavy clothing and sticking the arrow into the ground about 10 ft. in front of me.  He got up and looked around but I was back behind a tree and he just took a few steps and looked the other way.  I drew again..he was now about 12 yards and I proceeded to shoot under him.  Now he KNEW something was amiss and ran up a hillside and was about 30 yards away.  I drew for a third time and made my first clean release of the day.  Right behind the shoulder and through the other side.  Missed two chip shots and heart shot the third which I probably should not have taken.

[Longbowz]

In the mid 80's or so,  I decided to try a compound bow.  Up till then it had always used a recurve.  On about the second day of deer season I saw a huge muley buck that would cross a steep meadow each morning to the timbered edge as sun came up. This was the biggest mule deer I had ever seen.

So next morning I hiked in the dark to the point just below where the buck would hit the timber and waited.  As the sun rose the buck as if on a string appeared and walked down the trial toward me.  

Besides the new compound I was using vanes on my aluminum shafts for the first time and one of those crosswire sights that were popular then.  Since I already knew where he would walk I felt pretty cocky about my chances with my new fangled bow.

As the buck came closer I drew back and anchored sure he would soon be mine.  This should have been my first clue something bad was going to happen.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that one of the vanes was only attached by it's tip, the rest hung down from the shaft.  Frantic I slowly and quietly let down so I could change arrows.  I still had just enough time before he would hit the timber above me at about 20 yards.  Unfortunately I dropped the bad arrow on the only rock near me. In the early morning mountain air the normally small tick sounded like a firecracker going off.  The now nervous deer angled up across the meadow at about 40 yards.  Rushing to shoot I drew back, looked at the maze of wires on the sight and let fly, 4 feet over his back and at least that far behind him. To say I was dejected would be an understatement.  Worse as I stood feeling sorry of myself a bowhunter toting a recurve stepped out from a rock at the top of the meadow.  He had seen it all, and had the same idea after he too spotted the deer the day before.  Having a witness to my biggest failure to date was more then I could take.  The recurve was back in business soon after.

[smokin feathers]

Mine is a miss that turned into a hit last year. Was down in the river bottom and seen a bunch of hogs down the pipeline and put a stalk on them. As I got into range I saw a nice eatin size hog bedded down asleep at about 14yds. She was in a rooted out hole and only half visible but I felt good about the shot and let fly. I hit the ground just in front of her and the arrow richocheted(spell) right into her. she jumped up squealing and mad with a snuffer stickin out the other side, giving me time to grab another arrow and miss clean!! At that shot she took off but only made it 50yds before going down for good.

[PAPA BEAR]

my most memorable miss was actually that i didnt shoot.i believe it was 1999,i had chased this big bull around on the juniper flats in my hunting area for three years in a row,i named this bull groaner because he never bugled just a deep deep groan would echo through the junipers.the third year i hunted this bull i finally worked my way into his herd.it took me several hours of working back and forth keeping the wind in my face.i was talking back and forth with his cows with my mouth reed.i crept closer and closer making sure not to be to quiet as this is a dead giveaway to elk.i finally saw his huge heavy rack in front of me,he was just ten yds away,i peeked around an 8ft pine and there he was standing there in all his glory looking away from me at his cows.i i rough scored him at 340-350 heavy all the way back huge thirds at least 25 inches.i pulled my string back picked a spot then something hit me like a ton of bricks...this bull had led me on many a chase through those junipers and he was up on me at least 20 to 1....i let down turned and walked off.what would i do without these memories this old bull had given me,i love the hunt the kill is not important to me.i could care less if i ever kill another bull....yes i have and will kill more for the meat but the hunt is what its all about....larry      groaner you are the bull  

[wapitimike1]

All of them!!

[FubarFred]

Hunted the Beltsville, MD ag farm with my buddy Mike. Still had not connected on anykind of animal except the littler ones, squirrels,nutrias, frogs. Ag farm rules stated a doe first. Doe comes in at 8 yrds and I'm ready to take the shot. I don't hunt with a ball type hat on, but had one this day for some reason I can't remember now. Of course the string hit the bill and I looked up just as let go. Watched as the arrow flew a couple inches over her back. To add insult to injury she moved 10ft into a bit of cover and stood for 20 minutes stamping her foot and making noises. Dang critters.