Blowing my load too early.
It was a nice snowy afternoon hunt. first snow of that elk season. I Came up to an opening with a cow feeding on the edge of a bench, maybe 80 yards. put my scope on her to look for horns or if there are any other elk. as I am watching her, another elk walks up from down below onto the bench top. I put the scope on his head and see 2 long spikes. I start lowering the reticle on to the vitals and BAAM. Excited as hell, I just shot my first elk. I get on the radio and call in for back up. they ask if he's down..... I would bet the farm he is. So I make my way to where he was standing last. no blood anywhere. I follow the tracks down hill in fresh powder for 100 yards and not a drop of blood. totally missed. Only thing I can think of is I never stopped when lowering when I pulled the trigger, and shot under neath him. this scenario is replayed in my head constantly. I just cant let it go. I redeemed my self next year with a bull on opening morning less then 300 yards from my miss.
