# Infamous Big game misses



## longbow

Gdog's post about closest shots prompted this.
What's your most embarrassing and unbelievable misses?

I missed a 5x5 elk at <10 yards. I didn't hit a limb, no bomb hit close to me and my bow didn't malfunction. I just neatly put one between his antlers...right where I was looking.

I also emptied my quiver, (EMPTIED!), at a wide-open 6x6 bull at 20 yards. He just politely circled me in the sagebrush while I sank deeper and deeper into buck fever. All shots were about 20 yards.

I have more.


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## Mr Muleskinner

I was tracking a group of elk in the Uintas and knew I was getting close. I had busted them out of their beds earlier and spent the next five hours trying to put on the sneaks. I was coming over the top of a ridge with some real large boulders around me and got a whiff of elk and overheard some hoofs on the rock. I peeked around the corner, shaking out of my boots, ducked behind the boulder, the drew my string and leaned back around. I was right on on a nice sized bull! As calm as I could be I lowered my sights on the vitals and released what I thought was a perfect shot. I had to have nailed it real good but I didn't see it hit. I looked at my quiver and realized that I never even reached for my arrow. The elk spooked and I never saw them again. Finding my arrow though was real easy.


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## swbuckmaster

I missed a 200" +/- non typical at aprox 40 yards with my bow in 2003.

I also missed a huge typical with my bow at 50 yards twice in 2002. I thought i had big buck fever because every time I got half way back the arrow would launch half way down the canyon. Found out I had a broken release. 

I had another 190" typical about 32-35 inches wide at 40 yards and didnt dare take the shot because it was too far. I thought it would get closer but he decided to leave his does and chase a smaller buck half way down the canyon. This was also in 2002.

All of these misses were with an old pse and walmart arrows. 2004 rolls around with a new mathews bow and gold tip arrows and a years worth of practice and I don't miss very often anymore. 

A few years ago I was within range of two different bucks on two different days that would gross in the 190's and one of them bedded down and never stood back up. I couldn't close the distance and it got two dark to see. The other buck was spooked off by a moronic hunter who just hiked straight to the deer in the wide open hoping to get within 150 yards so he could launch his scud!


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## horn hunter

I missed a bedded muley at 40 yards with a muzzleloader one day. I still have no clue how I did it. But I didn't miss when he stopped at 175 to take one last look at that smoking tree...


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## katorade

I missed a 195" Class Typical at 25 yds. :-| 
And a 290-300" 7 by 7 bull that didn't even know I was there......

To top it all off, all in the same year on General season hunts, after practicing every day for the 4 months...........


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## 300 Wby

When I was 16 I emptied my 308 on a good Montana muley buck at around 100 yards in about 2.5 seconds!


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## Mojo1

horn hunter said:


> I missed a bedded muley at 40 yards with a muzzleloader one day. I still have no clue how I did it. But I didn't miss when he stopped at 175 to take one last look at that smoking tree...


I have done the same thing on both turkey's and deer. -O,- I once missed a very large whitetail that was dogging a doe starting at 75 yards, again at 110, then 150 yards (all standing shots) and then he ran on all the alway across the wheat field I was hunting and he stopped at 425 (verified with a rangefinder). Where I took one last poke and made a dead center shot and dropped him in his tracks. I guess that old adage of too close to hit is sometimes true.


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## silentstalker

Missed the first two spike elk I ever shot at. Both approx. 20 yards broadside. Also missed a 160 class 4 pt. With my old hawkin .54 cal at less than 25 yards. I think I shot right under him ?? It seems buck fever gets us all sometimes...


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## HotWapities

First Muzzy deer hunt a couple of decades ago I rushed a shot at a small buck (Shooters stage). Obviously missed him but as he stood there wondering what the hell, I loaded another conical down the barrel and suddenly realized I hadn't poured any powder in first. So yes buck fever + a new weapon/hunt can get the best of you.


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## Bow hunter mojo

I had a nice 4 pt buck round a hillside and stop less than 10 yards from me. When I drew back, the arrow had fallen off my rest. I tried to get it back on only to have the arrow fall off. When it fell off, the buck looked in my direction trying to figure out what i was. He stayed long enough for me to slowly get another arrow ready I had drawn the bow half way before he decided to take off. A similar situation happened 2 years ago on the archery elk hunt as I pulled back on a cow at 20 yards broadside. Needless to say, I have replaced my rest.


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## wyogoob

Veterans Day, Franklin Grove IL - 1977:

I missed a huge typical whitetail at about 20 yards with a 55# recurve bow. I watched the deer at about 500 yards for hours and hours when suddenly it just made a B-line for my stand. It came by on a fast trot and really didn't change it's pace after the arrow went by. Buck fever got me.

A friend of mine went out the next day and shot it. It was #11 Pope & Young for Illinois for some time.

.


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## 2full

I missed about a 170 28" 4x about 10 years ago standing broadside at no more than 50 yards. Had watched him all summer, went in and he was right there. Never saw him again........Still can't figure out how I did that. Was a little downhill but not much.
I have always made sure I aimed at the bottom of the chest on downhill shots since.


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## longbow

Mr Muleskinner said:


> I was tracking a group of elk in the Uintas and knew I was getting close. I had busted them out of their beds earlier and spent the next five hours trying to put on the sneaks. I was coming over the top of a ridge with some real large boulders around me and got a whiff of elk and overheard some hoofs on the rock. I peeked around the corner, shaking out of my boots, ducked behind the boulder, the drew my string and leaned back around. I was right on on a nice sized bull! As calm as I could be I lowered my sights on the vitals and released what I thought was a perfect shot. I had to have nailed it real good but I didn't see it hit. I looked at my quiver and realized that I never even reached for my arrow. The elk spooked and I never saw them again. Finding my arrow though was real easy.


That reminds me of my father in law. Many years ago we were rifle hunting up Logan canyon. A buck comes up and he freaked. He had a lever action at that time. He pulled up and we saw the recoil of his gun but never heard a shot. He was going through the motions but never pulling the trigger. He repeated this until his magazine was empty. He couldn't understand how he had missed a buck that close! When we got done laughing/crying we showed him the pile of live ammo at his feet. He made us swear not to tell anyone back at camp.


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## Dunkem

longbow said:


> That reminds me of my father in law. Many years ago we were rifle hunting up Logan canyon. A buck comes up and he freaked. He had a lever action at that time. He pulled up and we saw the recoil of his gun but never heard a shot. He was going through the motions but never pulling the trigger. He repeated this until his magazine was empty. He couldn't understand how he had missed a buck that close! When we got done laughing/crying we showed him the pile of live ammo at his feet. He made us swear not to tell anyone back at camp.


Been there done that.:doh:


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## mikevanwilder

When I was about 17 a buddy and I went up the mountain after school to look for a deer. I was the only one with a tag and he was just along for the ride. Well we went up one canyon and hiked around for awhile and then headed back to the truck. After getting in the truck and started heading down the canyon I noticed a big ol buck on the hill side. I didn't even stop the truck completely before I was out getting ready for the shot. 
I had a Ruger 243 and I placed the cross hairs right behind his shoulder. He was less than 150 yards and I shot. Nothing! Racked another round in and shot, nothing again! 
The deer just kinda turned toward us and looked on in amazement which only made me madder that I wasn't hitting it. 
I emptied my gun and all the deer did was move up about 50 yards. I ran back to the truck got more ammo and started shooting one at a time. 
My buddy was laughing his guts off and I was yelling at him to shut up. After 14 shots yes 14 shots that deer let me take at him. He finally walked around the hill and we never found him again. 
My buddy now claims that the deer wasn't even real, but I swear to everything he was there but he had on some bullet proof fur or something.
My father in law once thought he had found the biggest buck in the world. We were walking a canyon and he got on the radio saying he had found a big buck. An uncle asked him where and he said not more than 100 yard ahead of said uncle. So my father in law told him to stop moving as the "deer" was getting nervous. The uncle kept saying he couldn't see anything. Then all of a sudden we hear a bang and my father in law starts yelling he got him hes down! Well when we got up to the "deer" I must admit it was a big 500" dead cedar tree! And it was dead too! He still claims it was moving and that it dropped when he shot. 
Fun thing was for Christmas that year we took some cedar branches and "mounted" them to a plaque so he can remember that "buck" for years!


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## Archin

First year bow hunting I was sneaking everywhere I went, sat down and broke out my favorite hunting snacks... SNICKERS... Totally lost in the moment. All of a sudden I heard something. 30" 3 point and a 24" 4 point full velvet looking amazing. 50 yards away feeding steady right to me. My heart beat was instantly in my neck. barley got my arrow attached to my string shaking like a leaf on a tree. The 3 point stopped 20 yards in front of me. I drew my bow back, I must of closed my eyes and shot. Practiced all summer long guaranteed I hit the monter. raced back to camp to get the search party "cooking breakfast" ruined that for them. Couldn't find my arrow or a trace of blood. They still tease me about the ghost deer they call him. hooked for life. Big deer are safe around me. :shock:


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## Sawbillslayer

I missed the same 4 point buck with my bow when I was 15 3 times. The first shot was at twenty and the last two were at 30. 

The most amazing miss of my life time was a an elk on my first year hunting (14 back then) it was ten feet away and over shot it with my bow. My dad was laughing so hard at me because I was so excited I dropped my first arrow and could barely pull my bow back because I was shaking with excitement. When I missed he couldn't hold it back any more and started laughing.


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## fishreaper

Very first deer took two shots to say the least at around fifty yards. I was using a break action .223, and it was the first time I'd ever really shot a true firearm. Free handing the shot out of instinct, I squeezed the trigger and hit the poor thing through both front knees. It ran about 30-40 yards and collapsed. My uncle thought things had gone kosher, up until the point that we got around to him, he lifted his head up and just kind of looked at us. I put one through his neck. Safe to say my first impression is a lasting one. The next buck the next morning was hit right behind the shoulder, dead as a door nail, to say the least. While I haven't made poor shots like that ever again, I've still made others. I've pushed two fatally shot deer to never be found again. I can't even tell you the story half honestly without going into a depression.


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## dkhntrdstn

I missed a 5x5 at 50 yards. shot right in front of his face. That miss still kills me and im still losing sleep and every time I walk past that spot I want to cry. it replays in my head what happen and I all can say it was your fault dumb a$$


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## torowy

The miss that haunts me the most was a 340/350 class bull on a general tag in Wyoming with my bow. I thought I was about 45 yards. Shot, missed... couldn't tell. He was still standing there. Shot and missed again. Then he walked off. My sight had moved or something. Went back home and shot it and I was hitting 2 feet high. I think about that bull all the time


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## bds

I've missed 2 deer at about 20 yds with a muzzleloader. One even let me reload and shoot again. I've missed a couple elk at <10 yds. I hope I've fixed that problem now though.


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## Longgun

Good stories folks! 

... btw: i never miss...






















... the toilet.


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## Critter

Longgun said:


> Good stories folks!
> 
> ... btw: i never miss...
> 
> ... the toilet.


We'll have to ask your wife about that one. -/|\\-


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## MWScott72

Back in 2006 I told myself that that was the year I was going to whack a good whitetail back in OK. I get home for the opener the weekend before Thanksgiving and the deer were still in the rut. On opening morning, I didn't see much to crow about, but being the rut, I decided to get back in my stand in the black walnuts about 2pm just in case a big boy was out on the prowl. I fully didn't expect to see anything though until the last couple hours of daylight. I'd just gotten into my stand and pulled my rifle up on the safety rope. Hadn't even gotten settled with I looked to my left and just about fell out of the tree! A 150-class 10-point was nose to the ground and following a trail about 50 yards away through the trees. I couldn't believe my good fortune and proceeded to do everything wrong! I didn't stop him, and then jerked the trigger - even so, how could I miss at 50 yards with a rifle?? On the shot he actually ran right towards me and circled behind my tree to come out 180 degrees to where he'd been when I first shot. At that point, he swayed like he was going to fall over and I thought "he's done, but I'd better put another one in since he's still on his feet". The crosshairs were just coming down to his vitals when he bolted and I proceeded to dead center a small tree that was next to him. Never found any blood, and to this day I don't know how I missed him at 50 yards with a scoped rifle. To make it even worse - I haven't seen a bigger deer out there since!

To make it doubly worse, my mom was sitting in an elevated blind about 300 yards away, and this guy fast walked right by her after my botched attempts. She never shot, saying that she didn't have a window to shoot thru because of the brush. My brother and I went over to check it out, and come to find out, there were several openings that were just fine to shoot through. Talk about a lucky deer!!

I ended up shooting a smaller 120ish 9-point during the last hour of daylight the same day at about the same distance. Bullet went right where it should have...of course...


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## CROC

There were 3 of us on THE MUZZ just starting up a hill, about 2 hours before sunset, long before u see deer in the afternoon. Suddenly, 60 -75 yds out there were two bucks feeding right in front of us(broadside). We weren't being quiet headed to where we were going cause deer weren't supposed to be at the beginning of a hike. We all missed TWICE before they moved. 6 SHOTS before they decided they were done feeding and it was time to go. I have been by that spot almost every year since and I can't believe I could miss at that range, and they still stood there feeding for us to reload and do it again. O*--


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## Duckholla

I'll bite! I can remember two that haunt me. The first real mature deer that I ever had a shot at was when I was about 16 and was hunting with three buddies. We were coming off the mountain right at dusk, and saw about 6 does cross the road in front of the truck about 100 yards in front of us. When we got to a point where we could see the deer, I threw my bino's up and notice a very nice main frame buck, standing with those does about 100 yards out. In my rush to get a shot off, I grabbed the first gun available to me which was my buddies. I knew it was sighted in, I helped him so I was confident in the gun, but what I didn't know was if he had already racked a shell in. I asked him three times, crosshairs right on the vitals of the deer...but he didn't answer. Finally, when I turned around to ask (why I didn't just open the bolt haunts me as well) by buddy had his fingers in his ears and couldn't hear me asking. He finally answered that he did rack on in for me, so I threw the crosshairs back on the deer, but this time he had turned and was running off. All I had to do was flip the safety off, and squeeze the trigger. Dang.

The second, was only a couple of years ago. I was in Montana hunting Whitetail for the first time, and had spotted a beautiful buck in the bottom of a landowners field. We asked for permission, and were granted permission. My Dad and I put about a 150-200 yard belly crawl on the buck who was laying with about 20 does through cut alfalfa. Finally, we got into position for what would be about a 130-150 yard shot. The buck was bedded, I was prone, with a bipod and dead steady. Earlier that season, I shot a mule deer at 445 yards, and 2 Antelope at 400+ yards, all were very clean shots. This should have been a chip shot...but it wasn't. I shot 3 times. The first one while the deer was bedded, nothing. The second shot was after he stood up and gave me a perfect broad side shot...nothing. The third shot was a hail mary and nothing. The next day I ended up shooting a small 8 point at about 50 yards, but hit it in the neck when I was aiming for it's vitals. When I got home, I took the gun to the range to see if my sights were off, and sure enough. 8 inches high about 4 inches to the left. When I went to adjust my scope I had found that my turret caps had been spun completely off. Probably from pulling my gun in and out of my case. Ugh....it was complete luck that I hit that small 8 point.


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## mtnwldman

Our worst miss (my wife and I) was on a large buck (all horns in the scope) started at about 40 yards just went up the hill at about a jog. We both unloaded our guns and reloaded as it topped the hill at about 180 yards. The worst part of the story is two days later same buck, same spot, same result.


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