Handles

I do have a couple of wounded buck that were never found, those haunt me every time I pull my bow back or raise my rifle, doing my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.
As for bucks that I saw but never got a shot at... I figure I'm just lucky to see them and that makes me happy enough.

BagginBigguns

This is what kills me about some of the hunting videos. They wait for friggin' EVER to take a shot. I realize that a video full of 10 second hunts wouldn't be very entertaining, but usually I'm screaming SHOOT, SHOOT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, WRITTEN PERMISSION?! Don't get me wrong. I love watching the videos.

For me, I always take the first good shot that I'm prepared for. Second chances are rare. Make good when the gettin' is good.

silentassassin

I am always telling my wife that I hope the guy doesn't get the shot just for waiting like that. I figure it serves them right. I personally take the first good shot that I can get. All that waiting has ever got me is bad memories[:'(][:@]

RiverBottomBowHunter

Here is my worst(or best) of many.

I had only BH for 2 years when this happened. I'm sitting in my stand when a doe being chased by a 110" or so 8 pointer comes running down the hill towards me. They do circles underneathe my tree. I drew back, and every time they would come to the front side I would whistle. Well the whistle wasn't working, so I started meeping, louder and louder. No reaction, and they run off. This whole episode lasted about 2 min. Well, I let down my bow, sit down, and look up. There the whole time watching was the biggest buck I've ever seen in the woods. He knew exactly where I was at thanks to all the noise I made. He turned and jogged away. I'm for sure he would've came by my stand if I hadn't been noisy. My dad shot him that afternoon. He grossed 190" and netted 171".
Every deer season since I can still picture all of this.

good thread.

shed33

Year 2000, hunted a specific deer the year before and my brother missed a shot on him. I set up on him November 20th at daylight. I felt strongly he'd be back in there breeding those does he had the year before. 9:30 a.m. I see a doe moving toward me. I look behind her and there he is. I am thinking you got to be kidding me. He's back same day as last year, same area, on the same doe group, were my brother had shot over him.

He and the doe work by me at about 70 yards. I sit patiently in my stand, bow in hand. I decide I will not call at him. He right on her and I know her travel routes. She always seemed to feed up out of this thicket in the evening so I plan on hunting my stand close to where I see these two deer go into the thicket.

1 hour after seeing these deer go into the thicket I hear a 4 wheeler come up from below. It's rifle season and I am hunting with my "bow." He'd have been a dead deer walking if I had chosen the rifle. I pray this guy coming up from below doesn't spook these deer out of this thicket. I hear the 4 wheeler stop. I hear a shot about 250 yards below me. I cringe. I later hear the 4 wheeler leave the woods about 1 hour after the shot. I figure he whacked a doe.

I stay another 2 hours and leave my stand. I get home and my neighbor has a huge smile on his face. He says, I just shot the biggest buck I have ever killed! My heart sank. I ask him if he was who I heard on the the 4 wheeler. He says yup! I go look at the deer. Sure enough the big heavy dark antlered 4x5 is hanging there in his shop. I don't say a word to him about knowing his buck pretty well. I congradulate him on a fine animal and go home. I didn't want to hunt for a few days, I couldnt believe how that affected me. Then realized this is public land and I could do nothing about it but go find another buck to hunt. I later scored the buck for the guy. It grossed 151 and netted 146 typical.

justhrowit

Oh yeah. It was about four years ago. Was in Central Illinois hunting iwth a friend and had my video camera with me. Had deer out early. Was only in stand for about 20 minutes. Had about 15 does all around me, when I spotted bone in the brush off to my right. He was about 60 yards away. Big mainframe 10. Well, he was very calm and relaxed just watching does. Got him on Camera for about 15 minutes. Then he dissappered. About 20 minutes later I heard a noise but coudln't find it. Then I looked down and there wa sa doe right under me. No idea how she got there. Well, she got nervous and went back up a draw. She froze midstep, and was looking at soemthing I couyldn't see. Then a bush to her right starting shaking and he stepped out again. She ran and he chased. I got more video of him chasin her around. I was going crazy. Well, the doe wrnt to the other side of me, and he follwed. She htio a trail and started walking towards me. Thought she was going to draw him in. Well another doe came out and they went the other way. Great experince. Well, two days later I went tot he same stand for a morning hunt. I kept looking left in hopes of seeing him. It was gettign later in the moring, was kinda giving up hope, when I looked rigth and bam...there he was. Started shaking like crazy. I knew how big he was now because I was able to look at the video. He was just messing around with some fallen down limbs. He was very relaxed when he started on a path leading right to me. He would have crossed in front of me at 15 yards. Well, at about 45 yards a CROW started going crazy. He stiffened up and went on alert. Turned around and went back into the draw. Watched that deer on two different occasion for a combined hour and never got shot. Got plenty of shakes though! Fun stuff and great video.

We we looked at the video he was a monster main frame ten with two kickers of his right side and a kicker off his left brow. Mass like a baseball bat. Estimated him in the high 180's. My friend has him on game camera and video the follwoing year. Same kickers, mor tine legth and more spread. Close to 200". He hasn't seen him since.

J

adams

The only deer that haunts me is the buck I lost on opening day about 6 years ago. It was good shot placement, lots of bolld for about 100 yards then nothing. The buck did a total disappearing act. I serched for more than a week to no avail.

I've never been haunted by a deer I missed or didn't get a shot at. That is part of the game, Some times you win, some time the animal wins. That is why I love this sport so much

BagginBigguns

Another thing I often wonder when thinking about my missed opportunities is what the ultimate fate of each deer was. Did someone else stick 'em? How big was he, really? How does he look hanging on someone else's wall [:@]? Did someone else miss him earlier in his life which allowed my opportunity? I works both ways, I suppose.

The statement about the crow stirred my memory of a mulie hunt in Colorado about 5 years ago. I was creeping along through some rough country and came to the edge of a small meadow. I slowly panned the far edge through my binos and just about had a heart attack. There, bedded just inside the far edge, was a magnificent 5X5. My mind raced 1000 MPH as I formulated a plan to put a leak in him. I watched as he stood up and slowly began feeding his way up the far slope about 100 yards away. I snuck around the meadow and took a path parallel to his as I knew there was an opening up above that he was headed for. I made it to that opening without making a SINGLE sound. I remember literally feeling proud that I had made such a stealthy stalk and that surly I would get my chance. I knelt and waited for about 5 minutes when suddenly a bluejay-looking bird swooped in and landed about 10 feet from me. He immediately spotted me and began this hideous sqauking that was amazingly loud for such a small animal. In no time at all, there was at least 1/2 dozen others that showed up and joined in the chorus.

To this day, I am convinced that, had it not been for the feathered ensemble, I would have killed that buck. He was huge. Would have scored at least 700" B&C! AT LEAST.

Anyway, I could go on all day long. I'm 26 years old and have more stories of this nature to tell than most people twice my age. Sometimes I wonder if I really just suck that bad. But then a smile will come over me when I think of all of my stories that admittedly may seem far fetched, but are true as can be. Maybe I've been luckier than at first thought. Blessed is more like it.

Cougar Mag

Why was this brought up? Arghh, the memories. Thanks to you I will have to go back for counseling.[]

In 1999 I had passed up a nice 10 pt. and saw him 2 other times. He was a 125-130 class buck. I just knew I he would be around the next season and be much bigger. He looked to be a 3 1/2 yr. old deer. In 2000, here he came, had to be the same buck(at least I think it was). I watched him too long as he crept along the edge of the cornfield and finally entered the woods. Slowly he would look around, then stop and sniff. At 12 yards he finally presented a brush free shot but as he looked up at me(yes he did), I became plumb stupid, got mesmerised by his rack, and did not focus my pin on him. I shot over his back!!!!! Off he trotted, then slowed to a walk looking like the monarch he was..... 150-160 class. Looking back on it I had the feeling I had placed my stand in the wrong tree and in the wrong location.[:@]

2 weeks later a young guy shot him a 1/2 mile away in shotgun season while he was chasing does, his first big buck, then got him mounted. Good for him.

I've got another story from years back I could tell, but right now I need to take some aspirin.[&:]

wihunter402

Well I kind of have 2 stories in back to back years. This was back in 1990. I set up in early November about 2:30. I wasn’t in the stand for more then about 15 minutes and here comes a buck. He had points all over his head but the size really wasn’t that big. Just lots of little points. I have never seen anything like it since. He comes by trotting and I am following him with the site. Well he stopped about 15 yards out and I guess my bow just hadn’t caught up to him. I think I ended up gut shooting him.[:@] I never saw where my arrow went (remember this for the next story) so I do not know. Anyway I tracked him on to the neighbors property. I asked for permission to go look for him and was told “NO”.[:@] Well that got me upset so I called a buddy of mine who was in law enforcement. I told him to come out and tell this guy to let me go get my deer. He informed me that all he would be able to do is tell me that I couldn’t go on the property. I guess in WI, at least back then, you don’t have to let someone on your property even if they have a blood trail from property they have permission to be on. It is the right thing to do but the law is on the land owners side and if he says no then you are screwed.[]

Well I quit hunting for the rest of that year. Then the next year I have a nice (but not huge) 8 point about 15 yards out again. I take my time and to make sure I see where the arrow goes I figure I will drop the bow out of the way as soon as I fire. Yeah you know what happened. I buried that arrow at his feet. He just walked out of my life laughing at me.

After those 2 years I figured maybe I shouldn’t be bow hunting. My son was 3 and daughter was 1. My son wanted to go with me more so I started to hunt ducks and geese. Just got back to bow hunting 2 years ago. Can’t believe I ever quit. I sure won’t make that mistake again.