txjourneyman

My first year bowhunting, (3 years ago),I had my first opportunity at a buck. I was sitting in a natural ground blind when he came in. I drew and had my left index finger holding my arrow to the shelf. I drew the string but not the arrow! The arrow fell alerting the buck. As I fumbled around trying to renock the arrow I was busted and off he went. I have not repeated that mistake!

Tbyrnzy82

Last year in Shawnee National Forest on our annual hunting trip my most disappointing moment happened. After only a half hour in the stand the wood exploded. Four does sprinting around like they has lost there mind. So I stood up preparing for the big boy. Ten min later... nothing. So I sat back down and waited patiently fro any more passer buys. Right after I sat down a very nice tall racked 8 point come following the path the does had taken. Only on problem some how my frickin' stabilizer got tied up in the front bar of my climbing stand (still not really sure how? think the front tip got wedged under the zip tie of the foam pad). I struggled with that for what felt like forever and by the time I look up he is right on me looking right at me. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Well being the hunting that I am I still stood up and by the time I got to full draw he was 40 yards looking striat back at me in between about 50 trees. You better believe that bar no longer exists!

BobCo19-65

Woodchuck at 15 yards at my house. I crepted up to the upstairs window, opened it undected, loaded up my recurve, drew, and didn't take the window sill into consideration. [:@]

Justin

I'm going to say it was 2002 or 2003 I don't recall which. It was the first or second week in November and I decided to call in sick from work that day and head out to my hunting spot. It was a Friday so I figured I'd make it a long weekend. So I woke up nice and early, drove the 2 hours to my spot, and headed in.

About 1/2 hour after sunrise I was standing up in my stand, looking to the West where the sun was rising. I figured the deer would be coming down a hilltop from behind me into the woodlot I was in. Like a moron I had my bow on the hanger, and both hands in my pockets (it was cold that morning) as I leaned against the tree. Not seeing or hearing anything I decide to stretch out a bit. Just as I take my hands from my pockets and turn my head to the left I see a 150"+ buck standing 30 yards away looking at me. He had been working a scrape line to the South and was headed right for me, I just wasn't paying attention. Off he ran into the neighbor's property. I'm not sure how big he was, but he was huge to me at the time.

That evening I decided to hunt one of my dad's stands and set a decoy out. He told me the day before when I talked to him "If you hunt my stand and a buck comes up the fencline in front of you, it's a 30 yard shot. It looks closer than it is, trust me." Of course this was before I owned a rangefinder and when I got up in the stand I said to myself "He's nuts. That's 25 yards tops." Sure enough, a nice 140-ish buck with some broken tines came right into the decoy, stopped, and I let an arrow sail right under his chest.

Saturday morning I saw at least 4 different shooter bucks, one from the ground while walking back to camp at about 10 yards that I couldn't get a shot at. The rut was kicking for sure.

Sunday morning I went to another spot that was on the ground. This time my dad told me "If a buck comes up on the other side of the ravine from you, that's only a 20 yard shot. It looks longer because the ditch is so deep, but it's not." Sure enough, the sun came up and I spotted a nice buck working down the ravine. A few hits on the can call and he was headed my way. As he got into my lane at what I thought was 30 yards (of course I knew better than my dad at the time) I stopped him and let an arrow sail so far over his back I think it ended up in the next county. Off he went, taking is 140-150" of antler with him. I threw my bow on the ground and all but gave up for the season.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Siman08/OH

Last year, for some reason i can't remember, i left my stand early. On the way out of the woods, i decided to walk through the pines where i shot my first buck. Well i get to the pines and their is still a little light left, but im not really being that cautious about moving around. I get to the edge of the pines and look across the field and, of course, a large 9 point is staring me down from 100 yards away or so. I quickly jump back in and hit the horns but when i look back out hes gone. later that week i shot a button buck ([:@]), and then the next week i saw the 9 point from the road, not sure if he made the season or not but the chances are good. Heres a vid of when he was feeding across from my house:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=03tsKu-ONtg

The video is shaky and dark but you can still tell the size of the buck

chrowski

Drawing back on a buck and not realizing my glove got pinched into the trigger, causing the trigger not to lock all the way. In mid-draw the trigger blew open, shooting the arrow god knows where....and as a cherry on top, I punched myself in the face b/c the trigger let go.

rybohunter

I don’t feel that I have ever panicked on a deer with my bow. I made a lot of mistakes and misses, but none I feel were due to panic.
Now this past spring gobbler season might be a different story. I had the shot I dreamed of and panicked and rushed it badly.

gbrownlee

I got a bad one that still haunts me.

2 years ago i was bow hunting when i saw a giant 165-170" 10 point dogging a doe. I grunted and he stopped, but quickly moved on after this doe. Out of desperation i hit the horns together and to my surprise he stopped, paused for about 10 seconds and came trotting toward me on a string. Well when i saw this I put my antlers on the tree but the rope was not around the limb i was trying to but them on. As i reached for my bow, the limb of my bow hit the antlers and they both fell out of the tree, hitting the ground when he was about 10 yards away. He was stopped behind this big cedar for about 10 minutes just looking toward me. I had no shot and he just went back to the doe. I never saw him again although i did find one of his sheds. The single shed scored 76" with a broken brow tine at the base. Still one of the coolest things i have ever seen while hunting though!

Seif5034

I was about 13 and hunting with my bow during the firearm season with my dad on some public land. I was toying with the idea of shooting with both eyes open. I didn't use a peep at that time either. A doe walked up and stopped about 20yds away broadside. I drew back and anchored but I kept both eyes open. creating a pin and a phantom pin. I shot using the phantom pin and missed the deer by about 5 feet[:@]