outdoor338

Big game hunters,

Which mistakes have cost you getting your game? was it forgetting ammo, coughing, what ever it is I would like to hear what you have to say. My big mistake was thinking I chambered a round and it didn' t feed, when I saw the nice 10 pointer..I slowly pulled the trigger.....click, off went my trophy buck..so what say you..

Dr. Mike

rather_be_huntin

Not hunting the wind cost me a nice bowhunt buck already this year. Forgot to take the safety off once when a buck was walking into the timber and I had the cross hairs on him.

Country Nate

Not practicing enough with my rifle. I want a mature muley and I want him self guided on public land. So the last couple of years I have been going out west on my own hunting public land. Well on the fourth trip out which was last year I finally got a shot at a BIG muley buck in Idaho. 50 yards broadside. I blew it. Jerked of an off hand shot and shot right beneath him. Man I was crushed. This summer while practicing (alot more than previous years) I noticed my off hand shots were almost all low. If I would have practiced enough to begin with that big boy would be on my wall right now.

CN

ironranger

Lack of AWARENESS has been my number one issue in the past. I' ve really been working hard on total awareness the minute I get to the woods and slowing down. I was hunting elk my third year running in CO and had taken a bull the first year. Opening morning I was setup on a good funnel not 100 yards from where I' d dropped my first bull. Sitting against a pine tree when up above I heard one rock clatter off another. I could see tan bodies so I slid around, got to my feet, snuck thru some trees to position for a possible shot. The first one came thru an opening was a spike and then came a shooter. I squeezed one off just behind the front shoulder and he wheeled around and fell down not 25 yards to my right in a little meadow. As he struggled to get up I pulled up to finish him and " Nothing" . I looked and found the shell hadn' t ejected fully and was sticking out side of the receiver. I pulled it out and it slammed shut. I got flustered and I needed to pull it back one more time and failed to do so. By the time It got it right he had left the meadow and a guy over the hill shot him.

Country Nate mentioned an important lesson and one which I' ll be working on before heading to Montana mule deer hunting. Practicing shots and doing it from different positions is something that alot of people fail to do. There is nothing wrong with shooting at the range to sight in the gun but I' m going to get out and shoot using my shooting sticks in the positions that I anticipate using during the hunt.

hvyhitter19

I have setup too close to trails before and missed 2 nice bucks now because of it... They ended up walking straight at me and right under the stand, and to me that' s the toughest shot in bowhunting... I missed both of them, but I think I have learned my lesson....

BareBack Jack

I hunt to fast,I' m always walking to fast and scare game.I need to slow it down a bit and look around.I missed a bull last year cause I was walking up a trail and wanting to make time,I kicked him right out of his bed by the trail if I had been walking slowly and looking I would have seen him.

BeaverJack

Let' s see. There' s the time I didn' t check my safety on my guide gun, an' it got set " on" in the scabbard. Nice bull that was. He took two shots with the safety on an' didn' t even flinch. Then, onct I fergot to prime my hawken rifle. It was rainin' an' I wanted to wait as long as possible. Then, once I was busted in a ground blind while bowhunting by a huge whitetail simply by looking to my right. When I turned back to my left, ol' mossy horns was right there at 15 yards starin' right at me. There' s been ' bout a million times I' ve gone too fast stalkin' game. I once capsized my canoe on the way to my stand an' lost my bow in the river. I spect I missed the largest buck on the planet that day. Hell, this is too depressin' . I reckin' I' ve made ALL the mistakes.

Antler Eater

...It is a beautiful Idaho morning as I climb out of my tent, stars are shining, the air is crisp, and I had made camp two days before after driving 1600 miles by myself so that I could bow hunt elk....

This near three week adventure would turn out to be a " hunt from hell" . Old man Murphy met me at every turn. The first day up the mountain I developed Texas sized blisters on the heel of each of my feet using the same boots I used on a prior mountain hunt. As if that wasn' t enough an abcess formed on one of my teeth where a root canal had been done and the side of my face swelled up making me look like an alien and it actually impeded my speech. No sleep, fatigue, and living with the " Queen Mother" of all pain with every beat of your heart were just a few of the things I dealt with on this trip...

Yes, I remember all of the problems and challenges I faced. I can laugh at my stupidity now. But the one thing that haunts me still, is the memory of a mistake I made that beautiful morning of the third day....

It took me two hours of climbing to reach the area where this magnificent bull was doing his thing. He and another bull one ridge over were sounding off in the heat of the the rut. I was hoping to get within 100 yards of him, set up a decoy, and call him in. I was also hoping for a bench or saddle of some kind, anything, that was more level than the terrain I was climbing, to set up on. As fate would have it I found that bench. The bull had been silent for a while and I was afraid he may have moved on so I gave a call. I got an immediate response. (Looking back I missed judged the amount of time it would take him to close the gap between us.) I looked around for an ambush spot and made my plan, I felt like I could call him in with no problem, I could taste elk! I laid my bow down, whipped out my Montana decoy and took about three steps before total chaos errupted to my right about twenty yards away. Looking up the biggest 6x6 I have ever seen was plowing through the trees. All I could do was stand there with my with my abcessed mouth open and drool. At around the 50 yard mark he stopped to take one last look at me with my decoy in hand. I could almost swear I heard him chuckling with glee as he turned and trotted out of my life forever... [>:]

I had made it inside that " magic circle" but I wasn' t ready to close the deal before I called him in...what a dummy!!! Ironically this " mistake" with its results turned out to be the highlight of my trip--it only got worse from there. [:' (]

plinker772000

Moving too early after the shot and pushing the doe cost me meat in the freezer. I' ll never do that again.

Jack1869

Well, we never like to admit but......

Several years ago, I was still hunting with my trusty 30-30 Winchester. I decided I had to have a scope. So, I bought one (had it put on at a gun shop & bore sighted) but could never really get it sighted in to be accurate (comfortable) so right before deer season I took it off & never shot it.

Then opening morning, a huge 10 point buck walked out of the woods not 50 yards from me. I shot 4 times, not a thing happened. I was sick (couldn' t believe it). Later, I shot the rifle and they had lowered the open sights so the scope would clear. I was about 18 inches low at 50 yards.

The vision of that picture perfect buck, still haunts me to this day. But, I learned a very valuable lesson. I never go into the woods without shooting my rifle. My dad, told me that day, that sometimes important lessons come very costly.....I will never forget.