Misses and Maybes

[Kevin Dill]

Well...

Sometimes we get so focused on what we (or someone else) kill, that we forget to pay attention to all the close calls, the "I could'ves", the turn-downs and the "just out of range-ers". Even the misses count for something.

So list 'em or post a picture. Tell a story. There's more to this than just what we kill.

Here's a pic for starters. I passed this guy up a couple days ago. He was 6 yards broadside to me, but I'm after something quite special this year...so he gets to walk.

 

[mississippidave]

Wow, that one would be a keeper down here!  I missed a fat, young 8 point this weekend and got busted by a fat nanny yesterday.

[penrosefred]

Boy, that one would be special to me

[rolltidehunter]

saturday morning i had 3 does under my tree. two mature does and a large fawn. i was waiting on the big fat granny doe to turn broadside. i was being greedy and i wanted to shoot her! the other doe was 10 yards broad side! well she slipped away and didnt give me a shot!!! i should of shot the one that presented me the shot! so thats a should of could of but i blew it!

 also missed 3 does this year. one of them twice.

shot another doe but didnt get a leathel hit. shot her low and gave her a nice slice!we tracked pin drops of blood for about 400 yards till it quit!

finally connected with a doe last sat and a 8pt this past sunday morning

[30coupe]

I passed on several so far this year. One was a 2 1/2 year old eight point, that I'm still kind of thinking I should have in the freezer. Another was a bruiser 10 point that just didn't give me the shot I wanted. I don't regret that one at all. I've also passed on several does and fawns. Pretty soon, though, it's going to come down to filling the freezer. Then if it's brown, it's down!

I haven't missed because I haven't taken a shot...yet.

[jsweka]

Last week I missed a small 8 point.  If you could imagine the perfect shot opportunity with a longbow, this was it.  10 yards, broadside, stopped in the exact spot I wanted, and oblivious to my presence.  Pulled up, drew, released, and watched that arrow pass harmlessly under his chest.  After I calmed down, I picked a leaf on the ground where he was standing and drilled it with a field point.  I don't know - "Buck Fever" I guess.  It should have been my first buck with a longbow I made  

[glenbo]

Shot over a doe last night.All I ended up with was some back hair.15 yards.I hate wasting opportunities.Very humbling

[customcrester]

So far this season i have past a shot on a nice 8 point(head on shot)and past shots at alot of small buck(spikes and 4 points)and does.I don't have alot of doe on our property so i want them around to draw in the buck.I am enjoying this season very much so far.Good luck to everyone and shoot strait.

[kwc]

took my nephew and brother out hunting they shoot wheels nephew is 13 his first year.draged out aladder stand for him got the bouth of them set up whent off and got set up ended up shooting a turkey and a spike 20 mins. apart. just goes to show you take a kid hunting

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I passed on a nice 10. He was at the edge of my comfort zone and walking just inside the corn. If he was on the outside  :rolleyes:  Somehow they just have that sence  :confused:  

It was a nice sit in my old stand back in WI.

[Bonebuster]

I`m not sure what you call it, but it still haunts me.

About ten years ago, I was on a picture perfect morning hunt, on November 6th. Cold, and quiet, with perfect weather conditions predicted. The rut was really getting wound up.

I had taken a doe early on, and was hunting for a buck...pretty much ANY buck. I was perched comfortably in my climber in some oaks with very little brush, it was pretty open. I catch movement to my left, and see a bruiser buck with his nose down in typical fashion. I retrieve my grunt call, and give it a hoot. He stops and listens, so I give a slightly quieter version of the same. He looks intently for a count of about thirty, then away he goes. "Grunt, grunt, grunt"
I try, but he just continues on his way.  I`m happy at just getting to see such a buck.

About an hour later, I hear the slightest noise right beside my location. The frost covered leaves would certainly alert me to a deer coming, so I recklessly turn my head to see what the tiny noise was. IT WAS HIM...and now he has caught my movement. Away he goes...AGAIN. Now, I`m not so happy. Open woods, where a mouse sounds like a moose, and I have no idea how he got so close without my knowledge.

I settle in to lick my wounds, and comtemplate.
After a time, I am stiff, and hungry, and wondering if I shouldn`t take a break, and get some chow...I slowly stand up, and stretch. One last careful look around, and I lower my bow to the ground. As I turn to face the tree to begin my descent, I hear a sort of "huff". I turn my head, and THERE HE IS AGAIN...and again, he is looking right at me. He is twenty five yards from me, in the wide open. Away he goes.

I can still see his big, white, tail, waving good bye...and I still wonder HOW he could possible move without any detectable noise.  

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Took a shot at a doe this evening, I know I didn't pick a spot. First shot at a deer with a selfbow I made and some flint tipped arras that I built all except the heads. 12 yards and right over the back.

 Got to go find my arra tomarrow after the morning hunt      

 Stiks

[bolong]

I've let a few walk this season,none that good. I would have had to try to take him home with me.

[Benjy]

My deer stand decided to let one walk this morning by squeaking as I shifted to draw my bow.  

[Mudd]

I was caught off guard. I was set up in my ground blind and expecting the deer to come in from my right.

It doesn't always happen the way we've played it out ahead of time in our minds' eye.

I had a few little shoots of scrub brush that were giving me a little problem when I'd go to pick up my bow. The string would snag on that junk so I decided to snip it off.

I ease my arm over get my nippers and get it cut and put the cutters back in the fanny poack and start to raise back upright.. well I don't know who jumped the biggest, me or the doe that was about 8 ft straight in front of me..lol
She ran back to the ridge top about 30 yds out and turned around to take a second look as if trying to decide if she had really seen something move or not.

All of a sudden her attention is drawn down the ridge-line and she immediately turns and leaves(I assume) the way she came into the opening.

I turn my attention to where she was looking and see what got her going. Here comes a buck so I ready myself but as he gets closer I can see he's clearly not a legal deer here in Missouri(must have at least 4 pt on one side).

Oh well, I had fun and it is called "hunting"..lol

God bless,Mudd

[Stumpkiller]

In 1995 my Father had just passed away three weeks before and I was out on opening day - sitting on a stump.  A little four point walked up and spent 20 minutes walking around the scrub hemlocks as close as 15 feet from me.  I drew and "took coup" but let down, packed myself up and went home.  Didn't go out again that year.  I just lost all heart to kill anything.

It did pass and I guess that's a good thing.  Up 'till then I was "driven" to get a deer no matter what.  Now I occasionally let a deer and even a year slide if I haven't had the right shot present itself.  I gotta say I do enjoy the hunt more now that it's not driven by the self-inflicted pressure to kill.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I would not pass on that one. I hunt huge public land that covers thousands of acres. My chance for some thing like that comes up infrequently. I have missed on plenty of deer (bucks and does alike). I'm glad to miss, I hate a bad hit. If I hunted where I knew I could pass on what ever, well may be I would. I have one buck tag burning a hole in my pocket that I am going to hold out on for a big one, but the closer the end comes, the quicker I will use it.

[Kevin Dill]

I don't have a large area to hunt, but I do have some nice deer around. I'm not posessed with needing to kill an average buck, so passing them up is easy for me...usually!

Here's one that I just passed up. He's a basic 8, and I had him walk right past me at 8 yards broadside this year:

 

 

[adeeden]

I have been after a special buck this year as well. I have had three very close encouters with him including missing him once. I have seen more deer this year than I have in years and put a couple does in the freezer.

If season ended today I would feel good about it just from the close encounters I have had and the sheer number of deer I have had close this year.