Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Your most disappointing "miss"

Screw the misses. Them I can live with. It's the not-misses that got away that churn the guts.

Ya, I know. Scavengers, flies, and bugs gotta live too. Better off you guys than me, tho....

The one that bothers me most was a medium 42" moose pegged at about 160, offhand, quartering to. I think I only got one lung (at least, one shoulder blade showed a nick out of the back edge, later). At the shot he whirled and ran, we lost his trail about 50 yards later. He had turned into a grassy overgrown side trail which I didn't find 'til 10 days later, back-following it from farther up the hillside, amid numerous other tracks on the well defined main trail. There was no blood trail, no hair, and in fact, no indication of a hit at the shot-site. I hadn't heard the bullet hit, either.

After 8 or 9 hours of grid-searching for 300 yards around through second-growth 8 foot high birch so thick it was very difficult to force one's way thru, it was coming on evening, and we were 5 miles from the road. We reluctantly concluded I'd just flat missed.

10 days later I was crossing that hillside farther down and I caught a whiff - and followed my nose to the bull. I was literally one step away before I could see his remains- a mat of fur, bones, and squirming maggots. He was only about 40 yards from where we had lost his tracks, in the center of a near perfect 10 foot circle of 10 or 12 foot high spruce - obviously the result of a squirrel midden, sprouted following the fire.

Until one stepped through/inside those spruce branches he was invisible. There was a pile of deadfalls around the spruce circle that one had to literally climb over, getting several feet off the ground to navigate into the maze. He was obviously dead on our first pass across the hillside after losing his tracks, as I had passed within 15 feet of him, diverted around the spruce circle by the deadfalls. Several subsequent passes ditto within 30 feet- it was just too damned difficult to penetrate into that isolated spruce clump- it was all second growth (burn) across that hillside- except for that one isolated spruce clump.

That was early in my moose hunting career, and had I known then what I know now, I'm pretty sure we would have fond him. Fuggers always die, if possible, where you are least likely to access! And in the heaviest cover.

A somewhat similar loss several years later convinced me lung shots aren't all they are cracked up to be in heavy cover. Inside 100 yards now, I take the CNS out if possible. Bang. Flop.

On one subsequent moose, I deliberately whacked a bull in the spine just forward of the pelvic girdle- the only shot I had, at about 60 yards. He went down right there in a pile of deadfalls and tall grass. When I again caught sight of him, my feet were just about 2 yards from his butt, at which point a round to the back of his head secured the year's meat supply.

October 14 2010 I was perched in a tree at approximately 3pm. The night before I heard a couple bucks sparring, so at 415 I figured I'd tickle the horns a bit. Immediately I hear crunching coming up behind me. Slowly I turn and there stands a young 6pt I had passed on a few times. He gets a little nervous and walks back where he came from. I tickle the horns just to see if he comes back, but no dice so I sit down and face forward. I look up in the opposite direction the first buck came from and here comes the buck I've hunted for. Wide, not too tall but heavy 10pt that is pushing 150"+. Where I hunt that's a lifetime buck. I stand and get ready, he follows the script, comes down a run at 20yds along side me. I blat him to a stop at 18yds, he turns his head in the opposite direction.....settle my pin on him and think about the victory I've just tasted. Release the arrow and it goes right over his back! I let out an unintentional loud ugh and the buck spooks. Gone. Buck never ducked at the shot, I just blew it. Stand was 22' up on a ledge, so I was 33' or so above the deer. I dropped my bow arm and never bent at the waist. Now, when I give lessons on shooting the bow, I give extra emphasis to bending at the waist when shooting down. Neighbor killed the buck with a rifle later that year. I can close my eyes and relive the entire afternoon. I've had a few more misses, a few marginal hits I never found, but this miss is by far the most devastating so far. More will come I'm sure.

I have two. The first was a beautiful 4x4 mulie in Wyoming that I completely missed at 120 yards off a rest after about a one hour stalk. To this day I think about it and it still makes me sick.

The second was this bear broadside at sixty yards, which is literally like missing a barn. We had spotted him through a spotting scope and he was backed into a snow bank sleeping like a baby. We went after him and as we came over a little rise the bear must have winded us and jumped up. I missed completely, and my Russian guide that did not speak one word of english yelled "F*CK" perfectly clearly. "Bear fever" is the only excuse I have. I gathered myself, dropped to a knee and sent one through his pump house. Thank God for second shots!



Mike

Randy - That's why we love ya, man.

I love the bear story and pic! Very cool! Where did the hunt take place.... Russia?

Eric

Yes, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Mike

Missed a booner whitetail at 157 yards broadside because my $1800 Swarovski scope got eaten for lunch by my 300 RUM. Factory replaced the internals and I bought a Schmidt & Bender and never looked back.

SC last season gator hunting. We had only seen a few small 9ft gators in this area and it was the first night and just getting dark. I was told in the Southern Zone the biggest they had killed was under 10 and closer to 9 ft. We saw a few 8-9 footers and we circled this cove but could see 4 gators so we cruised in. They all had their noses shoved into the alligator grass on the banks making judging them difficult. To make matters worse another gator we hadn't been able to judge jumped off an embankment at about eye level and me being in the front seat of a 18' what I would call jon boat looking rig he head butted the boat and just about knocked me into the water. Suffice to say when we saw these 4 gators my nerves where a little jumpy.

We spot light the first three and they are a no. We see the last one and he only has one eye. We cruise in to check him out and the guide is lined up behind me with the spotlight. I have a 250lb.s crossbow with a harpoon tip on it. " Not yet" he says " still can't tell". Well we kill the motor but are being pushed a little to fast and in only seconds we cruise right over him. The guide looks directly down and yells "Holy &^%" or something to that affect to which I let loose with the harpoon tip. It shoots straight out into the alligator grass and the guide says" did you see that monster, he must have been going 100 MPH"


Well slight setback he wasn't it was the arrow/harpoon tip bouncing off his noggin. We circled back two more times but he was wise to us and would just submerge. The last time we setup 10 ft from him and waited in the dark without saying a word for him to resurface. Then out of nowhere he charges from the grass and hits the boat and scares the life out of me.

We figure he is pretty spooked so we bug out and check some more. I wound up coming across the one on the bank again and this time he is pointed away. I got him as he was charging the water/boat and all I saw where jaws and teeth at 5 ft in a very exciting fight I wouldn't have changed for anything. He was just shy of 11 ft and the biggest for the guide in Southern Zone. He has taken 13+ ft gators out of other zones and traps for the state year round. I still wonder about the one eyed gator and how big he would have been.

I would also add if you ever get the chance to take a big gator with a harpoon and knife do it. Whole different experience than shooting them on the bank in FLA or hooking them on bait lines in LA.

About 10 years ago I assume I missed the biggest buck whitetail I've ever seen. Was sitting on a treeline on the edge of a cutover in a tripod with a brand new Remington 7600 .35 Whelen. Right at dusk, I glanced to my right and saw this huge form standing partially obscured by brush in a narrow lane on the edge of the woods, about 80 yards away. I looked through my binos and it was the rear end of a huge deer, looked like a horse. I slowly got the rifle up and pointed it in the right direction. I was hoping he'd continue forward and enter a small opening in front of him. Instead, he spun around and started coming in my direction, head down. Suddenly, he stopped and threw his head up and looked right towards the stand. His rack was as impressive as his body size, tall and wide. I HATE straight on shots and was praying he'd turn broadside but he slowly raised his foot and had that "I'm 'bout to get the f*** out of here" look. I really don't recall being that rattled and I placed the crosshairs of the Burris 1.5-6x on the center of his chest and squeezed. The muzzle flash blinded me in the twilight and when things settled down I saw and heard nothing. I assumed he'd dropped right there and was obscured by brush so I slowly climbed down and went to the spot. Nothing. No deer, no blood, nothing. I crawled around on my hands and knees with a flashlight praying for blood, hair, something. Nothing. My partner finally showed up and we searched for an hour for sign and then pattern searched in the surrounding woods for another hour. Nothing. I was heartbroken. I had to work the next morning but my buddy went back the next morning to search in daylight. Nothing. I don't know HOW I could have missed at about 70 yards but have to assume I did. I feel sure a 250 gr .35 would have left some sign, even with a frontal chest shot. But I'll never know. After that, I swore I would not take another frontal chest shot and I have stuck to that. That one haunts me to this day and I still pray that I did miss. Buck fever is a bitch!