Do you miss game often?

[threeunder]

I thought this would be a simple question to answer, and thought I would know what the answer would be until I started thinking about it.
The question is do you miss game often...but, I consider most trad hunters to be very ethical and unwilling to take shots they are not comfortable with.  If that is the case, then I would think a miss may not be as common as I am thinking as compared to say a wheelie bow shooter.
I apologize if I am over-complicating this.
Ken

[Terry Green]

No

[m midd]

Nope,  but not to say i havent or wont miss.

[heydeerman]

Answering this can be very humbling for some. I have missed a few. I would rather miss than wound. I have done both. In fact about 4 years ago I shot 4 deer that I could not find. That was very discouraging and I had a hard time accepting it. I stopped hunting and worked on my shooting until I felt confident to go back to the woods. Since then I have put heart shots on every deer except one.

What had me so worked up was at the time, I had total confidence in my hunting set up, stand placement, shot selection, ect. But when I released the arrow it was not going where I was looking.

[RC]

I once had a streak of 33 kills with one miss.RC

[manitou1]

Yup... I miss them from the end of January until mid September when the seasons open back up! Heh!  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[gregg dudley]

No

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Haven't missed a deer in the past 18 years with any weapon.

[flyne]

If u count blown stalks I miss them all the time but if I get the chance to drop the string on a med or large game a miss is very rare
Jim

[BAK]

I missed now and then  back in the day, but hasn't happened in a number of years.  Not that it isn't possible I guess.

[JamesKerr]

I tend to shoot over deers back sometimes, but I rarely wound game.

[bawana bowman]

Not when I shoot.....but I do miss them when they just don't show themselves!

[buckeye_hunter]

Here are my tallies.

0 for 5 on deer. All shots were slam dunks at less than 15 yards. Buck fever or something. The deer never moved. I just flat out shot poorly.  

[rastaman]

Nope, but I take short shots. I've said it before and I'll say it again; you have to be almost cocky in your shooting ability when shooting at live animals. No doubts whatsoever that you are going to make the shot, or don't take the shot..that's what works for me.

[Hot Hap]

The first 33 years I bowhunted, I killed every deer I shot at. The last 10 years is about 50%. I was thinking of quitting, but with health issues and long hrs. at work, believe that to be the reason. Now that I'm retired, I hope to get back to being better.
Hap

[Gordon Jabben]

Miss a lot of small game.

[LBshooter2]

Well when I shot a compound I was 0 for two on deer and missed a few tree rats and a pheasnat or two. When I went back to trad bow I am 4 for 4 on deer. I am sure misses will come but I try to keep shots real close so a miss never happens, i can only hope that continues.

[Drewster]

I've missed three chipmunks recently......small little targets and one actually scurried out of the arrow's path.

[Bowwild]

The worst day of missing I ever had was my 2nd year in 1971. I missed 3 different deer that morning. I was 17 (56" Grizzly).  I was so bent out of shape with buck fever that I doubt I could hit the ground if I dropped my arrows from the tree!

Since then I've killed deer most years and 3-4 some years. I'm sure I don't miss more than one shot every 5 years but I'm a very conservative shot.  I do wish I had missed 2 of 5 shots I've taken with my recurve since returning to this equipment in 2010.

In 1983 or so I missed an entire herd of Antelope near Lost Cabin, WY. Very humbling. The miss cleared  my sinuses and an Antelope Doe made me 50% later that day.

[Bill Skinner]

I don't miss deer or hogs because if I think it's a poor shot, I don't shoot.  I miss squirrels a lot, usually don't miss rabbits, never been able to get to full draw on a turkey, I gotta start using some sort of blind.