Post your not so successful hunts.

Mine was my first WT doe, I was young, rushed the shot, and hit gut instead of heart.

Another was a night shooting blackbuck doe(2). I was tired and sleepy and aimed low.

What about y'all?

Shot a doe with a 44 Magnum Ruger Vaquero. Made a pretty good shot on her and had a good blood trail. While trailing her I took a Mesquite thorn right to the eye ball and couldnt continue the search. That was in 2007 and my eye has only recently gotten to the point that it doesnt cause me problems anymore. Would have been my first deer with a handgun.

Hunting with Dad down in Falufurias (sp) when I was probably 10yo with his 30-30. Muy Grande walked out (164bc) and shot at about 60yards broad side..missed.. How do I know he scored 164?..the guy in the next stand drove by about 45 min later with the deer on the front rack...

Opening day of bow season 2010, slight rain, but had rained all day. Was down in a creek bottom up in a ladder stand. A nice 120-125 class mgt 8 walked out.. shot broad side right behind the shoulder, clean pass through (was using grim reaper broad heads 125 grain). Deer jumped straight up and did the tuck and slow run down the creek. Didnt think he went 40-50 yards, but after 2 days and about 8 hours of looking.. no luck. I've since changed broad heads, but I know thats probably not to blame. No bloood trail with all of the rain.

I was shooting at a doe one time and just as I was squeezing off the shot I snoughed, (sneeze and cough at the same time), and just scraped her belly!!! I saw her later on that season, after I could shot does legally, and she was fine!!!

Shot a doe with my bow. Thought it was a perfect shot behind the shoulder. Trailed her for over 600 yards and the blood finally stopped. Two weeks later, she returned and I had shot her too low. You could still see the wound, but it was healing well. I let her walk after that.

Shot a cull 6 pointer with my rifle. We had only caught glimpses of him and seen him once out of the truck. He was around 22" wide and mature. I was hunting my Dad's stand and the buck came running in after a doe. I shot the deer while he was moving and he spun. I jacked another shell to put him down, but he made it about 15 yards, stopped, stumbled and I watched him hit the ground and his feet come up above the grass. I kept him in my scope for a few minutes and he never moved. I waited about 15 minutes, went back to camp, got my BIL to help me load him and he was gone when we got there. Followed the blood for about 300 yards. Only thing I could figure is that I blew his front leg and that is why he stumbled. When we were following the blood, you could pretty much figure out where each step was for that leg and there would be a drop of blood. Never saw him again.

Missed what would have been my first bow buck at 35-ish yards when I was 16. Misjudged the distance - laser rangefinders were just starting to be common and were too expensive for my budget at the time. Skimmed an arrow over the top of his shoulders. Deer was seen by the other hunters and he got named Chip for the missing notch of hair on his back. Live and learn.

I have wounded 5 animals total in my life with a rifle and a bow. Of the five 2 lived since I seen them again later in the season. The other 3 were never found nor seen again. Of the two that were seen later, one doe I was wounded and hit low with a rifle and I killed her a month later. The buck I wounded with a bow was on LF in the Hill Country. He ducked under the arrow at 20 yds and I hit him high in the shoulders in the blade and under the spine. I watched him crow hop about 50 yds. Stand for about a minute and then run off with the arrow. I only found a couple of drops of blood after many hours of looking and no arrow. I was sick. I knew I had not hit anything vital with the shot it appeared. 6 weeks later I saw this same buck at the same location again with a slight limp and he had lost quite a bit of weight. I did not get a shot. I seen him off and on the rest of season a couple times and let him go. He was seen all the next summer and on trail cams late that summer. I was able to take him in late Oct. that season with my bow. No visable signs of being hit at all. He has also gone from a main frame 9 point the first year to a main frame 10 point when I killed him.

i have clipped the top of the neck of two does, one whitetail and one axis, when i was hunting for meat.

both dropped, kicked around then took off.

certain that both of them made it.

also shot a doe in the ear one time....she just walked around shaking her head.

saw her later on with half her ear missing. she was a mean old broad

What would have been my first doe with my bow I hit her high. No blood anywhere. Tracked her for almost 300 yards and never any sign of a hit. Saw her 2 weeks later, she was fine. Missed my second buck I ever shot at. It was to long of a shot for an inexperienced 14 yr old kid to take. Prolly close to 350 yards. Lots of blood, but I was young and kept pushing him. Never found him. There have been one or two other not so well placed shots, but hard work paid off on recoveries.

I shot a doe in the neck with a .204 acouple years back while my buddy was filming me. She was quartering away and when I shot she turned her head a little. Ended up taking about a 4 inch section out of her throat. Shot 2 more does and watched the film to make sure I put a decent shot on her before we went to get her. Didn't think she would make it far. Jumped her after following a solid blood trail for 500 or 600 yards. Didn't see her after that. Only deer I've ever neck shot that even took a step.

Like any other sport, if you do it long enough it will humble you..
I have been hunting for over 50 years and have been fortunate enough not to lose very many animals in my long hunting career and it has been a long time since I have actually lost an animal....till last year.
I shot a really nice buck, I guessed him around 145-150", with my bow, but I made a bad shot thru the back of the gut. The arrowed passed completely thru but there was barely a blood trail.
I looked all weekend (along with my family's help) for that deer and the next two weekends following but never found him.
It made me sick! And it continues to remind me just how thrilling it is when you shoot and recover an animal and how bad it feels when you know you screwed up.

Once when I was 16 many years ago I took a running shot at a six pointer that the neighbors had spooked off there land while driving through there property. It was an ill advised shot for the deer was 250 yards out and running at a pretty good clip. But being 16 and invincible I threw the gun up and took a shot.

Much to my amazement the deer had went down. I got out of the stand and went to retrieve the deer. As I was walking towards where the deer was down in the brush I kept looking back to make sure I was still in line with the stand and going the correct direction to where the deer was. When I turned back around the deer was there 10 yards in front of me standing up.

I was shocked to see him. So I put my rifle up and put one through the shoulders to ensure he was done. After closer inspection of the deer I seen where my second shot took him in the shoulders, but could not find where I hit him the first time until I went to grab his antlers to start dragging and that is when I noticed the holes through his ears and the bullet track acrooss and through the top of his scalp.

I had actually knocked the deer out with the first shot.Nedless to say I never tried any ill advised shots like that again. Luckily I was able to get the deer and not have wounded him more severly or even lost him. Lessons learned.

A few years ago I was hunting on a cool misty morning. The deer were moving all morning. I was seeing deer out of each window at any given time. Things started slowing down around 11:00 that morning. As I was getting ready to get out and head to camp for lunch. I took one last look behind me and there he was Mr. Big. When I say Mr. Big this deer was a upper 160’s class buck. He was moving from left to right and I figured he was on his way to his bedding area. I waited about an hour to give him plenty of time bed. I exited the stand and circled wide and downwind so not to bump him. I sat by a big oak with a clear view of his bedding area and started to rattle. He came charging to within 50 yards of me and stopped broadside. I placed my crosshairs on his shoulder squeezed the trigger. The buck went down on his chest and started pushing himself with his back legs. At any second I just knew he was going to go down for good. He rounded a corner by some thick oaks and diapered. Again I just knew that I put a great shot on this buck and he was going to be down just around the corner. So I went looking. I was following a great blood trail. I just knew just a little farther I would be rewarded with the biggest buck of my life. What I found was a huge blood puddle where the buck had been laying down. I heard crashing in the brush. At this point I backed out and went to camp for lunch. While at camp I heard the crack of thunder and the sky’s darkened. Next the heavy rains came. I waited for the rains to lift and headed back to where the buck had laid. I never picked his blood trail back up and never found him. I searched the rest of the deer season with no luck. It still makes me sick to this day.
I can assure this mistake will never happen again. When in doubt - Back out.

Chital, where are those pictures from your Oryx hunt?

Your still young.

Been watching a big 8 for a few years..finally it was his time.

Spent two day patterning and making sure his home range hadn't migrated.

I was on crutches and after two days of scouting that left me two days to hunt..before I was to have knee surgery.

First evening I was in a popup blind on the coner of a wheat feild...two little bucks started sparring behind me... About 10 minutes into their play session big boy comes over the Fence... Let me tell you an 8pt in the 150 range will flat rattle your cage watching that rack go up and over a fence..

I lined up and at 75 yards I grunted and he stopped... I let the muzzleloader eat..

Now it gets fun...first I didn't have the muzzle out of the blind...there for the whole blind filled with smoke... I start choking but doesn't matter my heart is beating rapidly..I waiting for the smoke to clear... So I can see that white belly...smoke clears....instead if white belly I have a 150 class 8 looking right at me..

I go into oh crap mode....and start trying to reload...I have caps going every where, smoke still in the blind, trying to get the power rod out, all while trying to keep a watchful eye the bucks location...finally he gets a little distrubed and desides to leave.. as he goes over the fence...I toss the blind over my head and start trying to chase/hobble and reload at the same time..I due get loaded back up but can't find the caps as he makes its back into the bottoms.


Gets worse I could hear my cuz laughing from over
300 yards away.. he watched the whole thing.

Good and bad news... I got to hold those antlers later... bad news neibhor.got him two days after I left

Thanksgiving day 2010 I missed a really good buck with my bow. Would have been my first deer with a bow. He came in chasing does and would not stand still at all. It was getting dark and he finally stood still and I rushed my shot. It went right over the top of his back. Never had pictures of the deer before and never got pictures of him after. I thought about that evening for a long time and what I should have done different. Just got to slow yourself down sometimes and not rush it. Here is a picture my game cam took of him that evening. I know it isnt a good pic but its all I got of him.

Thats a good buck!!! Maybe he's still lurking around!!!

Knock on wood, but I've recovered every deer that I've shot.

I missed one back when I was a teenager. I was walking a ravine out of San Angelo and jumped a big buck. He ran straight down and then straight up the other side of the ravine. I fired 2 rounds at him running. He never missed a beat and disappeared over the ridge. I learned then to not waste time or ammo shooting at running deer.

First deer I ever shot at. Was shooting 30 carbine with a fixed 4x scope. Shot was 50 yards or less. I shot deer ran 10 yards behind a ceadar and went down. Dad said that didnt look good lets get down. Dad had the rifle deer got up and took off he had a shot at it but didnt take it because it was my deer and he didnt want to mess it up. We trailed the deer a long ways, crossed the fence off of and onto our lease 2 times. Went home and cambe back the next morning, no luck. Saw him later in the season, I had just barely nicked the front of his brisket. The scope mount had come loose and the gun was shooting 11 inches low and left, jusdging from my hit if the gun would have been on still i would have had a nice behind the shoulder shot.

I have made way to many off the cuff and fast shots at hogs to even begin to count the ones I didnt find.

Hopefully next year will bring a big buck for you. I was in a stand for over 3 hours when my mature target buck finally came out. It was the first time and last time I didnt have a round in the chamber, I moved the bolt back and started to slide forward and he heard it. Starred in my direction for a few seconds and bolted. I spent another 15 hunts in a stand and have not seen him again.
Gotta love the offseason

I took a bad shot with my crossbow back in 1993 in Ohio. The buck was right below my stand sniffing a scent tag. I shot and there was good blood. Followed that buck on our hands and knees for a loooong way. We felt we were pushing it but the blood was scarce and it was threatening rain/snow. Came to a patch of long,wet grass in a corn field. A bunch of blood but no deer and after that no blood trail. We came back often looking for buzzards and checked after the corn was harvested. STILL bothers me!

When I was 12, I only owned two guns, a single shot .22 and a single shot .410. My dad took me and my brother deer hunting for the first time, and we both took our .410s loaded with slugs. I was sitting on my makeshift tree stand (actually a couple of 2x8s nailed up in the limbs of a big oak tree). After two days of seeing nothing, I finally saw a 6 point buck come out of the trees. I aimed my little .410 for what seemed like two minutes and finally pulled the trigger. Suddenly, the dirt exploded at the deer's feet and he disappeared in a flash.
When my dad heard the shot, he came over to my stand to investigate. He told me I had tried an almost 75 yard shot (after he had told me to not shoot more than 25 yards). I guess my young eyes thought the deer was a lot closer. Another guy on the lease shot the deer later that morning.
I was really disappointed at my shot, since I was pretty good with my .22. So we took the .410 and 5 slugs for target practice. At 25 yards, the slugs went all over the place. I could only hit a 5 gallon pail with one shot out of 5. So before I went out deer hunting again, I had a brand new Winchester .30/30. Since then, I've shot 4 deer, and none of them ever took a step after getting shot.

2010 New Mexico Unit 30. 186 yds away I missed a 30 inch muley. Yep, emptied my 300 mag and he stood there looking at me. Didn't run until after the last shot. Got back to camp to shoot my gun and at 50 yds it was shooting 8 inches to the left. I had shot the gun and sighted it in out to 200 yds the previous day. I do not remember banging the gun or scope but obviously something had to have knocked it off. I lost my religion for a few hours that day.

Sitting on the edge of a wheat field 2 years ago I spotted my first, and only, monster whitetail. I was just sitting in the dirt jacking with my phone when I saw him way the hell out there. Even from a long distance it looked like a damn mesquite tree on his head. Non-typical giant. I about shat my pants and fired 3 times at him before he was gone. I was sick.

2 weeks later I loaned my .270 to my buddies son, (11 years old) and he dropped him dead in his tracks at 43 yards on the same wheat field. Scored 172 inches and some change.

His first deer ever.