It's a slow Saturday afternoon. I'm sure I should be doing something productive.

Nah, this is better

So with that in mind I thought it might be fun to see whether anyone else ever "missed"..........



My most disappointing miss in the last couple years came about after a long hot September day at the lease last year. I had been filling up feeders and fixing things that seem to just quit from month to month.

I have a spot that is at the back of our lease. It is about 1.5 miles in off the main gravel road we use to access our hunting areas. The path to access this spot is just wide enough to get an ATV through. I'll park my ATV and walk the last half mile uphill as its too thick and steep to access it any other way than on foot.



I call it "The Cliffs" as where I sit is a sheer rock face that is about 100' above the floor of a 350+/- acre bowl. Directly below is a dry creekbed that runs in an east/west direction






If you look closely you can see the spin cast feeder. It's about 160 yds out, to the right of the dry creek bed.





I had been working all day in the heat and had let myself get too hot and somewhat dehydrated. IIRC I got out about 5 PM. This time of year one can see until almost 9 PM.

I keep game cameras set out from time to time and Had picked up pix of a group of javelina that would come in from time to time. IIRC I had a half dozen pix over a three month period. Guess they would range in and out of the area as they did not show up on game cam regularly.



I was jazzed as I've been on this lease since 2004 and had not seen the first Javelina.

It was about an hour before dark and I was glassing the bowl. Sometimes will see Aoudad up high near the tops of the surrounding hills. I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I lowered the glasses and got just a glimpse of the hindquarter as it entered the brush and was lost to sight. I thought to myself that was strange. Sure didn�t walk like a hog. I watched the area for a few minutes and went back to glassing. About 10 minutes later I caught motion again on my left at the same spot where the critter had disappeared into the brush. I put my binocs on it and damn if it wasn�t a javelin and not only that, a monster of one at that. The javelinas I�ve killed are usually mid 20 to low 30 lbs. This guy had to have been at least 60 lbs. He was a stud puppy for a Javelina. He was walking a game trail on the far side of the creekbed and I figured where he would come out would be about 150 yds. Too far for me on a freehand shot.
I was not in the most appropriate spot or position to make the the shot.

This afternoon I was shooting my Rem 700 KS in 300 H&H, zero�d for 200 yds.

[img]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/glenn1221/latestgunstuff/IMG_0366_zpsd8f606f4.jpg[/img]

I was on an incline with my feet about 12 inches below my butt. I tucked my shooting sticks into my boot tops in order to get a rest, but due to my quivering from the heat and dehydration taken with the �buck fever� I was experiencing I could not seem to get a steady rest.

He came out of the brush and I knew I had a small window to make the shot before he disappeared for good.
I couldn�t get a steady sight pix, but I figured this might be the only chance I got and I let fly. I didn�t hear the "whop" and I sensed that I shot over him. It takes almost 30 minutes to get down from my perch to the ATV and then drive to where the Javelina was when I shot, but only 10 minutes or so to scramble down the cliff, which I did. I looked high and low till dark for any evidence of blood or fur, but to no avail. I was elated that I had got the shot, but bummed that I had missed. I hate missing.
Best,

GWB

40 yard miss with a 30.06 in a tree stand, at a doe in light brush. Never new what the heck happened and it still haunts/taunts me to this day? A humbling experience none the less.

This one. Northern Arizona and on national TV for all the world to see. Ugghhh!

heres a good one. 2010. sittin in my box stand. chair facing my left opening. i look to the right of me and here comes a nice buck making his way thro the field. i crouch down trying to turn my chair around. expecting him to still be a ways off i lift my head and there he is. maybe 8 yards from my stand. i slowly get up and lift my rifle but of course he sees me and darts off about 70 yards then stops. i got him in my crosshairs but ive never shook so bad in my life. fired a shot thinking i got him. no blood. found a very small chunk of meat which one of my friends said means i probably grazed his leg or something. looked for days for that deer. took awhile to get over that one. ida done things a bit differently if i could go back

I just watched that the other night Randy��for once, you don't suck.

I missed a warthog on my first safari with an open sighted 8x57 at about 70 yards. I had soooooo much practice with that rifle Id swear I could hit thrown clay pigeons with it. Apparently couldn't hit a stationary warthog out in the open�..

Was elk hunting in Colo many years ago with my buddies from PA. They set me up in a tree stand. This is the first and only time I have ever hunted form a tree stand and it was up a lodgepole right on a game trail.
I hear something on my left behind me and here comes 2 bulls. Since they are up slope from me I am right at their level and totally exposed. I started hyperventilating and my heart was pounding so loud I couldn't believe they couldn't hear it. As the bigger one passes behind a tree I tried to turn and raise the rifle but they saw me and start hauling down the mountain. I swung and shot at the bigger bull but he didn't flinch or slow down. Climbed down and tracked him several hundred yards in the fresh snow but found no blood and he didn't show any signs of slowing down.
A couple of days later one of my friends is hunting towards the bottom of the canyon and tells me he found a dead bull tangled up in a fence at the bottom of the canyon. Next day I go down there and here is the bull I shot at. Looked him over real good and could not find a bullet hole in him.
About 50 yards down from where I gave up looking for him he came to a fence and when he tried to jump it, he caught his front feet between the top and next wire and it flipped him over and he broke his neck.
If I would have tracked him just a little farther I would have found him. Also, if I had just relaxed, he would have probably walked down the trail right under me and I could have shot right between his shoulders from about 10 ft above him.

I saw you do that. You suck. Shoulda took me.

Man, I'm sorry to hear that Bt.

A miss? Buck fever walloped me and I plum forgot the rifle in my hands, I can still with eyes closed see it.

while a senior in high school I sat in an oak dropping acorns with by Ben Pearson Hunter. I had never taken a deer with a bow. A bobcat stalked in on a doe and two fawns of the year and I hit it in the shoulder with the Bear Razor Head tipped MicroFlight.

After retrieving the cat I climbed the tree again. 30 minutes later a big 10 point buck came by in front of me on the same trail the bobcat had used. I don't know if it dropped at the sound or what but the arrow went right over its back.

It was many years later before archery videos would show how often deer duck an arrow, but the misery of missing that shot had already stabbed at me for ages.

BigFin Please keep it real as allways I'am fan.

Couple years ago, I hurt my ankle pretty good at work about 3 weeks before my deer hunt, so I wasn't very mobile.. Opening evening I glass up a stud 105"+ Coues deer.. I couldn't get to it in time so I sent my buddy and his girlfriend after it. She missed him at 200 yards.

The next morning I glassed him up again but couldnt make a move on him

Two days later I glassed him up again and headed after him. I got to 672 and let it rip. My buddy who was spotting said I drilled him and that he was DEAD! We walked over to where he was and found out I missed just a touch low. That was the biggest coues Ive shot at.


I also missed another 105" type buck a couple years ago...

If only I would have connected with both those bucks, I would have two very nice bucks on the wall!

8 yard herd bull with a bow and a 55 yard shot at this deers twin, ducked the string. Except, he was in the velvet and it was one year later and one mile away from where I got this one with a bow.

I had a chance to take out a coyote a couple years ago while sitting in my tripod. The tripod was on a little knoll and there was a pond below it. The 'yote pocked his head out of the grass by the pond about 70 yards away. I put the crosshairs right between his eyes and squeezed off a shot.

But forgot my Tikka was zeroed 1.5" high at 100 AND I was shooting downhill. Flew it right over his head.

I missed a prairie dog today. The shot musta been real close, because it scared him so bad he lost his brain in his haste to escape down his hole.....

I have missed twice
6 by 6 bull 50 yards/ rifle/witness
Sheep killer responsible for 50+ lambs under 100 of sticks/ 2 witness

interesting deer

The gal next door getting the paper,I had spam sandwiches..grin

To eat the gal has to be pushing 70ish though she rides the depends rather tight..

kawi you make me laugh.


As far as missed go, i've had lots but this one was the worst. My dad, best friend,and myself had drawn the late buck hunt in Idaho's Unit 40, Owyhee mountains. First day out dad shoots a real nice 4x4, 2 days later Nathan drops an even bigger buck. The next day out we are riding the 4-wheelers back from glassing all morning, we are on an old mine road. I look up the mountain and there are 3 bucks and probably 10 or so does. The big buck of the bunch is like nothing I've ever seen, being from the North part of the state and mostly hunting whitetails. He is a big 4x4 with a little trash on both sides and about 28" wide. He would have scored somewhere between 180-190. Real nice deer. I jump off the 4-wheeler and get my rifle loaded up, I was shooting a Mauser 98 in 264 win mag, I shot it so much it I could take grouse heads off with it. The deer is about 200 yards up hill. 1st shot miss. 2nd shot miss. The big boy mounts a doe and goes to town. 3rd shot miss. He was done at that point and left the country. Nathan says, "sure wish I had my camera, that was a damn nice buck."

I worry more about bad hits than misses. There's no animal suffering with a miss.

Eric

+1, isn't that the truth..

Late muzzleloader 2012....

I'd been holding off through bow season and rifle season because we had a really good buck visiting the farm. His range was pretty big, as a few guys on adjoining farms were getting pictures of him too. In fact, a buddy of mine was getting several pictures of him on a big creek about 1/2 mile from the far end of my property. I'd busted a few does, but nothing with horns yet..

Anyway, opening morning of late muzzleloader (mid-December) I had my one and only encounter. It was raining steadily and I was about to pack it in for the morning. I was cold and wet, no deer had graced my presence. All of the sudden, the buck below comes busting over the ridge! When I first see him through the open timber, he's probably 80 yards away. He's in a big lope/run and coming straight to me. I keep waiting for him to stop and look back as deer normally do. He's getting closer and still moving pretty quick. At 20 yards he changes direction and is completely broadside. Still moving, but it appears to be an easy shot. I fire and he doesn't even flinch. He never breaks stride and continues to run for 100 plus yards until he's out of site.

I get down and find my sabot at the base of a tree. Look up and there's a fresh chunk of wood missing from the tree. I followed his tracks in the mud for a while, but nothing materialized.

I'm still sick about the miss....and I have no idea what caused the deer to bust into the run. No coyotes were following, no other deer were around, no humans -- nothing.

He was killed in 2013 during rifle season about a mile from the house. Everybody that hunted nearby and used cameras had pictures of the deer, but none of us had actually seen the buck in daylight or while hunting in 2012...or in 2013 until the rifle opener.

In my early 20s, get invited to a buddies new land, 200 arces, deer sign all over the place he wants to build a tree stand, in the middle of the place, I fig that we are not going to hunt just build his stand and scout for the next weekend! its about noon we load my old bonneville up with tools lumber cold beer ect. drive to the spot. even turn on the radio hammer away, talking ect. build a nice ladder stand, so its about 4:00 he says we should get ready to hunt, he wants to hunt the new stand, and my spot is about a 100 yrds away,6" up in a old ceder tree, it was about 3 ft. around tho.I tell him its a wast of time! No showers just wipe the sweat off, no sent killer back then. about half drunk, thinking we were wasting our time I even took a 16oz. bud with me. we did walk back out to our NEW spots, buddie had never bow hunted before, had a recurve I have my bear Polar II coumpond bow, well an hour before dark I look to my left theres a Monster buck 12 pointer standing there, 16yrds, I I draw and release shoot right over him, he trots off to the edge of a swamp now hes at 25yrds broad side again I had got another arrow nocked but was shakeing bad, and dam if I didnt shoot right under him he walked away forever, the guy on the next place got him in rilfe season scored in the 160s biggest buck i have ever seen before of since while hunting! Oh and when i went to tell my buddie hes looking for his arrows shot eight of them at deer never hit one! I did take a big doe the next evening! my 1st bow kill!

In 1993 I shot a 72" antelope near Gillette, WY. The following year I stalked a buck that made him look like a runt, probably at least 80", maybe B&C. I crawled up over a ridge and folded out the bipod. Had him dead to rights at 300 yds. Crosshairs high on the shoulder, squeeeeeeze the trigger, CLICK! Dud round! Quickly cycled the action but he was long gone, never to be seen again.

Out of the couple thousand center fire rounds I have loaded and shot over the years I've only had three duds, all on game! The antelope rifle was a Ruger MK II 30-06 and the other rifle was a push feed Winchester 70 338 WM a couple of years later on what would have been my first elk. Had two duds in a row, later in the day got another shot and it went off, heart shooting a big old cow. I suspect gunk in the firing pin assembly on that one. 20 years later I can still picture that stud antelope buck in my crosshairs.

Last January. Walking down the lane to watch a trail I knew that nilgai were using after they came thru a hole in the (low) fence. Sliding underneath. About 1/4 mile from cabin and I'm ditty bopping along about 1/2 paying attention to the woods and all, when lo and behold there's what looks to be a blue bull standing staring right at me thru the liveoak and mesquite scrub, not 60 yards away. Can see him about 1/2 way up his neck and head.

Throw safety off the old 9.3 x 57 and make a Hail Mary as he turns his head a bolts. All happened pretty quick. Open sights. Clean miss and all my fault!

Young son did same thing a year earlier. But he had the ague so bad before and after the shot I didn't think he'd ever stop shaking! He didn't realize they were so big. He admitted the thing scared him! As he said it just came up outta the ground! LOL!

Great stories, enjoyed all of them. Great fun. Wish I had a miss to report. http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/images/icons/default/wink.gif

I've missed but was not too upset because they were nothing special. The worst "misses" were on two animals that I did not get to shoot at...for differing reasons.

They were both toads and once in a lifetime chances, one an elk, and the other a whitetail.I can still see them both clear as day.

All the biggest mule deer I have seen alive on the hoof while hunting are dead.

+1 on the great stories.....

and super T, hunt long enough and you'll prolly have one!LOL

Best,

GWB

geedubye, just fun'n I could fill a book. Killed My first BG animal in 1954 so you gotta know I have my share of f&*@ ups.

Gotcha!

Best,

GWB

Snuck up on this buck in his bed in Mexico and had him at 40 yards. I was hunting a deer that was easily over 200" so I decided to pass this buck. I didn't miss this one with a rifle but I missed him when I judged him. I thought he had 18-19" G2's



Whistled to get him to look at me for better pics....



This will give you a better perspective of how big this deer is. It's an old, mature Sonoran desert deer...



Anyway, fast forward to this year and I found his left antler laying on the desert floor. It was from the same year and it's unmistakable due to the curvature of the antler. It's definitely his....



Anyway, I really missed as the G2 wasn't 18-19", it was 22" and the G3 is 13". World class back fork and I missed him by a fair margin at 40 yards. Kind of embarrassing but I don't regret not shooting him for a second. Seriously fellas, y'all should have seen the big deer

I 20 years old and hunting with an uncle near Rock Springs, TX. I was toting my M70 270 Win with 130 gr PP. Around noon my uncle saw a rock squirrel on a ledge about 100-125 yds away. He said lets see what that 270 will do. At the shot the squirrel jumped and I hit it's tail which broke about 1/2 way to the tip. I can still picture that poor squirrel running away with a broken tail.

I really need to hunt Sonora. What a buck!

Eric

I bet the squirrel was ok with it considering the alternative

Six or seven years ago I was sitting in a field one crisp morning when the biggest buck I've ever seen in the area comes ambling along the fenceline about 130 yards away. It was the buck spotted in the area that the locals were talking about. Not huge but respectable. An easy shot sitting, my lucky day!

He stops, I shoot. He trots off a little and stops while I'm wondering how the hell I could have missed. With resolve and grateful that he stopped I shoot again. Now I'm wondering WTF and he's looking around wondering what's going on in his peaceful haunt. Third shot I saw dirt kick up about 70 yards so I silently wished him well, come back tomorrow morning.

Did some paper shooting at my cousin's place and way WAY low. Turns out the scope, a good quality one, went bad between range shooting a couple days earlier and that first shot. I always take a backup rifle with me but none of us saw that buck again. And none of us shot an equal or better buck in that area since.

Actually the second time that a gun working perfectly at the range a few days earlier failed the next shot at a deer. Then there's center punching saplings I didn't see between me and the deer. Two shots at a trotting buck under 40 yards, two center punches. The only saplings between me and the buck. Why I don't buy Lotto tickets.

They were all disappointing--how can I pick just one?

There are three that come to mind. The first was the worst in that I hit a large whitetail poorly after four hours in a tree stand in single digit weather. When he paused by a bedded doe about ten yards from my stand, I was so cold I could barely get my recurve to full draw. Instead of through the chest my shot went through his huge neck and though I was initially hopeful, he did not bleed well and the snow was mostly gone. I lost him after spending that day and part of the next trying to find him. Someone else did and eventually offered to sell the rack to me. I shouldn't have taken the shot though he was the buck I'd been patterning and went about the160-170's.

I missed a 6x6 bull elk in Co as he was bedded broadside across a small canyon from me. The range was ~ 225-250 yds as nearly as I could figure if I was remembering my geometry correctly though the answer could lie in the fact he was significantly further than I realized (pre-LRF use). Should of been DRT with no difficulty as I was sitting and had a good rest against a quaky. No hair; no blood and tracked him in the snow for an hour before it became apparent he was completely unscathed. Have no idea what happened. On that shot I also had the apparently very rare pleasantry of a Rem 700 extractor breaking in half.

The third was a beautiful taupe colored black bear in the Bob marshal that was feeding behind a dead fall so only his head and neck were visible. I had to watch him for awhile to determine he was a blackie and not his bigger cousin due to the color. Had about 150 yard shot with just head and neck visible but it should not have been a problem at all. Again, complete miss on a real trophy animal for me anyway. No blood; no hair and again I had no ready explanation for the miss.

There was a fourth. A big bull, about ~ 350-375, in a late CO hunt in January. He was at a ranged 350 yards and I took two "good" shots only to see him run away. Turns out earlier I had slid down a rockslide knocking my POI off a foot to the right at a hundred yards, some forty inches at the bull's position.

No harm no foul on the last three but I admit to poor decision making and ethics on the first and I regret it even more as I get older.

Favorite miss....heck there's to many to pick a favorite.
W:)

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!