Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Confession, I have missed

I've missed dozens of Deer

My buddies grandfather told him. I have never missed a deer and I always hunt alone! Edk

Had one I missed with my dad's rifle he handed to me as we went to try to move some deer to us.

I blamed that scope for my offhand 100 yard miss at a deer facing me...until I took it to the range and it shot great off a rest.

Whoops.

I've never missed, I have merely failed to aim where the intended target was "a few times".

Tom

Haven't missed over the last couple seasons, but 3 years ago I yerked the trigger on a pig at 280yds and missed him clean. Same year, I missed a whitetail doe at 60 yards when I tried to shoot lefty from my treestand. There's been plenty of misses before that, but those are the most recent.

1st time muzzleloader for whitetail. Siting in an ambush point overlooking cut soybean field. Wind dead calm. Spot some humps approaching over low ridge, wtf? Turkeys!

A couple does follow turkeys to top of ridge, maybe 75 yards or so out. Sight on a doe, squeeze trigger, huge cloud of smoke. Can't see chit, hear hoof stomping like a stampede.

Get up out of smoke, critters gone. Looked real good for blood, hair, nothing. Wandered around and nothing found. No snow to help out either.

Took a shot at a whitetail bouncing through a goldenrod field. I bumped this deer up from her bed. Clean miss, never again took a shot at running deer.

I saw Kenny Jarrett miss a bear on tv once, well his bullet hit a limb and deflected before it got to the bear. I was never as self critical of my missed shots thereafter.

Muzzle loader!

If you haven't missed with a flintlock, you haven't used one much!
Have seen a lot of guys humbled by them.

^^^^^^^^^


THIS

Its VERY rare when I miss, but I can remember it happening twice in recent years.

Between Flintlock season and deer drives during Rifle season I have plenty of misses

It's hard to miss a whole moose inside 50 yards, but it can be done...... He was running and dropped over into a 3' depression just as i shot..

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Now, about shooting off the end of that caribou's pecker - well, that wasn't intended placement but it wasn't a miss, so doesn't count

There have been others, but not with range finder use

I've missed a whole Moose at 80 yards broadside. I was holding on it ready to trip the trigger and my buddy kept saying "don't shoot I don't have the camera set up yet". When the finally said he was ready I was already wobbling and I blew it. I killed him a few seconds later on the run

Funny you mention that. One of my ‘misses’ was a walking/trotting Muley that was rutting after a doe. I was framed hard in the timber and had to either take a shot immediately or not. So I shot as the buck walked forward. The range was lasered at approximately 285 but that was before the shot as he wandered thru a little gap in the brush. I was cocky - pardon the pun - and thought my 270 Wby was flat enough to aim dead on over some shooting sticks across a little draw. Wrong. I was a little low and his pecker tip walked right into that little 140gr boat tail. Of course he reacted as we all would have and bucked and swerved all over the place. I knew I had messed up
real bad. I cut my pack loose and closed the gap to within a hundred yds or so cuz I couldn’t bottom out in the little valley and shot him again in the shoulders to punch his ticket right where he stood. When I got to him I immediately apologized for what I had done - I should have never taken a cavalier shot like I did. Glad he didn’t suffer long but 20yrs after the fact I still feel just as bad. Beautiful 3x4 heavy like a rocking chair. Paonia, Colorado.

I’ve missed plenty of ducks, geese and dove. I’ve missed a couple deer and a bobcat with a bow. I’ve missed prairie dogs out past 1/4 mile. I’ve missed on pig #2 after the first one falls and the sounder goes ape-schidt.
I’ve only missed one deer with a rifle back in the mid-80’s as a young teen…first buck I ever saw in the woods and “the fever” got me.

And I missed an antelope cleanly at 500 yards but killed him at 420 about 20 minutes later.

growing up in PENN I killed 4 ruffed grouse, and rough estimate missed at least 50

I feel like forest grouse are the hardest creature for me to kill. I try to head shoot them with a 22 and avoid using the shotgun. There are times where I felt there was no way I could have missed, but they go flying away.

Oh, yeah, grouse and woodcock. And I've been absolutely humiliated by doves.

Amazing how so many post their experiences as gospel for all.

There is so much difference between waiting and shooting,

VS

Hunting and shooting,

They are different sports.

Was never too much into big drives, mostly a couple person push or
still hunting. But, we used to join a group to drive in muzzleloader season.
It was a blast. A lot of blasts. Some deer died. Much profanity and laughing.

If there was snow, there might be a bunch of clicking.

We quit one day due to the snow on branches. It was dam hard to keep your
powder dry. One guy couldn't get his gun to go off. He had gotten water in
the pan and the charge was damp. He took out the touch hole liner, filled
it and the pan with 4F. The blast out the side was epic!