Weakness, Failures and Mistakes?

[Izzy]

So,,, what did you do or fail to do that got to you this season? I know we are all superlative woodsmen and women without peer, (wink, wink) but sometimes even the great ones blow a grand opportunity. Hopefully if you did make a mistake that cost you a critter you've learned from it and maybe you'll share it with us so that we may avoid such blunders.

      Myself? My biggest mistakes were (1) being careless in that I didnt brush in my treestands to break up my outline. I relied on chance and it bit me more than once this year.

                                                           (2)  Failing to prepare the night or morning before a hunt and several times I had to scoot back to the truck after realizing that I forgot my safety strap,  haul rope, arm guard when wearing a heavy coat or what have you. This is unfortunately the hardest part for me to change, I find that Im always hustling for time, guess thats just life with a busy family and Ive always been kinda been "The Absent Minded Bowhunter".

                                                          (3) This was probably my most costly mistake this past season. Forgetting the wind even though I was conscious of less than ideal wind direction. Several times I took a chance and got busted. I have a brand new Summit viper but I hate it and its a little bit scary to me so Id rather hunt from my old reliable ladder stands most of the time and I still dont have enough set up to exploit all winds at my sites.


 Well, If you dare, please tell, what do you plan to improve on next year? Maybe it could help some of us green horns out next year.Im sure I could pick out a few more of my blunders if I was brave enough to look but I feel that I can certainly improve on at least two of the three above mentioned shortcomings.
 
     I guess a wise man would call these learning experiences but Ive repeated some several times always expecting a different outcome.    

[bryan r]

Lesson learned tonight with my first traditional harvest, is to wait a minimum of 30 minutes to begin tracking, no matter how good I "think" the shot is...

Plan to have him found and hanging before breakfast tomorrow.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

When on public property, dont think the close spots are as overlooked as they look.

Don't sit a spot more than 3 times with good wind, without seeing something before trying somewhere new.

[Red4arm]

1) don't sit where you don't have good cover to hide, no matter how good the sign looks, you will get busted
2) don't "mahh" at a good buck to stop it a 5 yards. It will stop and pin point you EXACTLY where in the tree you are!
3) hunt the rut more and everything else less
4) Watch the wind every hunt and sit accordingly.
5) And the most important. Don't stress over the hunt, slow down and enjoy my time in the woods and time with good friends.

[30coupe]

PICK A SPOT!    

[JamesKerr]

Brush myself in and that no matter how good the shot looked until you find the animal you really don't know where you hit it (our deer are super jumpy).

[jsweka]

Lack of scouting.  It's just tough when you travel a lot for your job, have a wife and little kids, and hunt an hour and a half away from home.

[RC]

I learned to shoot at the first I know I can make it opportunity.
  I had a fine 8 pt step in a scrape in a very thick area in November I had a 12 yard shot but waited for him to step into a little bigger opening. I could make the shot 25 of 25 times but waited . The deer turned and walked away . I stood there holding a fine longbow feeling really stupid...RC

[KentuckyTJ]

My last hunt I saw two sets of antlers coming through the thicket towards me. So without a buck tag I decide to grab the camera and take some photos if they get close enough. So I reached for my camera in my backpack. When I finally got it out and turn around there is a doe staring at me at 20 yards. Busted by the deer I was after. Note to self...don't be lazy even though I am only doe hunting.

[Frank V]

Well I learned just how accuratly a Whitetail can pin point you when you are using a deer call!
You have no choice if you are hunting alone, but if with a friend one of you can be far enough away that a deer won't pin point both of you.
Frank

[stykbow67]

What 30coupe said!!!!

[fireball31]

Best season I've had. I finally forced myself to enjoy the process. there's going to be a lot more of the "process" than there is of the conclusion.

That and Tag soup is delicous as long as you add enough hot sauce.

[Matthew Bolton]

1. Not sure of the shot, let the deer lay.
2. Don't take quartering to shots. (I clipped a doe and have been kicking myself since oct. 4)
3. Try and get through target panic when you realize it is happening to you mid-draw. (This caused me to gut shoot one which we found and shoot another doe way forward but it missed the shoulder bone by a half inch or so)
4. Not hunting areas I should have
5. Not scouting areas and just running by the seat of my pants all season.

So yeah...

[GRINCH]

Just me,I lost my hunting area this year been down about that but haven't scouted any public land I can hunt.

[Ground Hunter]

On public land - stuff happens.

[Knotter]

My weaknesses -

I lack patience
I listen to brain too much and don't follow my gut enough.


Mistakes-
drawing too quickly
shooting at the whole deer
not doing enough "honey do" chores around the house to liberate more time

[elkken]

As I've gotten older I like to stay in my warm bed/bag on mornings when it is 17* outside .... and you can't kill anything that way !

[Over&Under]

I made the same mistake I have made in years past....moving too quickly and not glassing enough.  I need to slow down and actually hunt!

Also learned the value of picking a spot....  

[Jerry Jeffer]

Dropping my bow arm turning a great shot into a low shot and watching the big boy skip off untouched. Izzy, don't worry about time and rushing to be ready. I used to do that, but find when I take my time, I'm always on time no matter what time it is.

[Glunt]

Until you confirm otherwise, believe that bull is still where he should be even if he stopped bugling.  A buddy and I were working in on a bull the last weekend of season.  He went quiet and instead of being set-up to allow one guy to drop back and call, we got caught together too close and too open for one of us to drop back.  We tried getting him in anyway and he came on a string to about 60 yards.  Like they often do when they have cows, he came to where he should be able to see the source of the calling and no farther.

Real nice bull for our area.  Hung around for a couple minutes bugling at us and offering every angle a guy could ever want...just out of reach.