About 10 years ago I was hunting a field sitting on the edge of a wood line partition just before the sun was coming up. At daylight, I spotted 2 heavy antlered 8pt bucks in the distance that had been bedded next to a pond about 220yds away. I watched them for a few minutes deciding which one to shoot and tried to control my breathing as I didn't have much of a shooting window since they were headed towards some thick woods.
I carefully aimed the Ruger model 77 (30-06) I had borrowed from Dad just behind the shoulders on the larger of the 2 and fired but to my surprise neither of them even flinched. How could that be since I had just zeroed this rifle? Did I flinch? Did I miss low with the Federal 165gr loads? I chambered another round and aimed for the same spot but a tad higher in case I missed low but again neither deer moved after the shot. So, I chambered another and fired which finally got their attention and they started heading towards the woods at a faster rate and would soon disappear. So, I chambered the final round and shot once more but the bucks just disappeared into the dense trees.
I couldn't understand what had happened and was sure I had hit the buck I was aiming at. I waited a few minutes and walked over to where the bucks had been and found some promising sign of blood and hair which confirmed the hit. I was too eager though and ended up walking up into the woods where they were last seen and I spooked the wounded buck pushing him out further. I waited for about 45minutes and begin following the large bright red and bubbly blood trail which ended at a road crossing. The buck had crossed and moved onto a neighbor's property.. Great.
I knocked on the neighbor's door to get permission to search for my buck but there was all kinds of activity going on at his farm. There were kids zooming around on 4 wheelers and some others working in the field. I was able to find a few more trickles of blood but lost the trail. There was just too much cow, truck, and atv traffic to figure out which direction the buck had went. One of the kids on an ATV road up and said he had seen a big buck limping across the field and he had chased him around with the 4wheeler. I asked which direction but he could not remember and I could not find any more blood. I searched until dark before finally calling it a night. I searched some more the next day but without success.
It was the most depressing hunting experience I've ever had. I've had multiple dream since then where I'm shooting but my bullets don't ever have any effect. I haven't used my Dad's Model 77 since and to this day I can't understand why I pushed the deer and didn't wait. I haven't missed another one since but I also take a little extra time to insure better shot placement and I don't push deer right after the shot.
Last edited by Kaneman23; 01/30/17.
