How often do you miss during hunting?

D

dd61999

Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
692
I went turkey hunting recently and had a perfect aim on a bird and missed. The bird got away.

I could have sworn I hit it, I tried tracking it for 2 hours with no luck.

Not is it only fustrating that I missed, but it bothers me even more that I might have injured the animal and it might be suffering.

Anybody else go through this dilemma while hunting
 
I've only hunted deer and with a bow and I can honestly say I've never missed. Birds are a lot trickier.

I've passed on so many shots it's not funny though :-P

What always amazed me is how few of my hunting acquaintances actually practiced any amount before the season. I spent a few days a week for several weeks getting tuned up and generally out to 50yds+ (longer than any shot I'd normally take, though it's woods hunting here and not open fields). Practice makes all the difference. I wasn't a gifted archer, I just put time into it.
 
So far I've been fortunate with whitetail deer, and have a deer for every shot fired in the field.

But I do practice, especially for this years deer hunt with a handgun, in the two weeks before season, I shot nearly 200 rounds of practice and 40 full power rounds at 25 and 40 yards.
 
For shotgun get involved with sporting clays -it was designed for that. For rifle , if you have a good range you could set up a lifelike course and practice rather than bullseye shooting.
Never shoot unless you are sure you're going to hit !
 
I haven't missed yet on deer, birds.. quit a few. As for practicing there have been 4 years I shot a deer without practicing more then a box of shells. ($10 for slugs is expensive.. now $15)
 
I hunt exclusively with traditional archery gear and I've missed my share of shots. Squirrels and rabbits are bloody tough to hit and kill with a long bow. I've taken a few but missed many more. Deer - I've missed a few of those as well.

Missed one earlier this season. He was further out than I guessed (30 yards, thought it was 20) and he looked right at me about a quarter of a second before I released. He did a 180 and was out of harm's way before the arrow got there. Missed a NICE one a couple of years ago while sitting cross-legged on the ground. My lower limb hit some of my gear that I had stupidly left on my bow side - arrow was low and the deer boogied.

Didn't miss my doe yesterday though. :D

20101126_ac_09.jpg


---

Beckerhead #42
 
I've missed twice with turkey, never with deer. Once I shot a turkey at 20 yards but a durn limb scattered my shot to the point that he rolled and ran. He may still be running. Another time, I shot at a tom across open pasture and grossly underestimated the distance. All my shot hit the ground, and that turkey flew. Live and learn.

And of course, I've never missed a dove. ;) :D
 
dd61999 said:
I went turkey hunting recently and had a perfect aim on a bird and missed. The bird got away.

I could have sworn I hit it, I tried tracking it for 2 hours with no luck.

Not is it only fustrating that I missed, but it bothers me even more that I might have injured the animal and it might be suffering.

Anybody else go through this dilemma while hunting
Click to expand...

Guyon said:
I've missed twice with turkey, never with deer. Once I shot a turkey at 20 yards but a durn limb scattered my shot to the point that he rolled and ran. He may still be running. Another time, I shot at a tom across open pasture and grossly underestimated the distance. All my shot hit the ground, and that turkey flew. Live and learn.

And of course, I've never missed a dove. ;) :D
Click to expand...
That's because you are THE GUYON! ;):D

The times I've missed have been either turkey, (worst case of "Tom-fever" ever recorded) and the RARE pheasant... probably were farther away than I thought.
 
I shot at 1 buck with my bow. Im eating him :)
I shot at 1 doe with my bow. She is living happily in the woods still :) Shot over her back. I think I pulled the bow up to look too fast.
Shot 1 buck with my .30-30. His head is in my backyard getting a home made European Mount as we speak :)

I do plan on going for 2 doe with my bow next year and want to get more proficient than I was this year with it. A better bow is going to help that as well :)
 
Missed shots are a part of it
Always dissapointing and it makes it a good point for practice
There are some things in hunting that you can control some you cant.Of the things you can control it helps lots to be proficient at them
One of them is expertise with your weapon,some others are what you know about your intended prey,your physical and mental well being,noise and others
Dan'l
 
Several years ago I had a large doe moving through the woods at a slow trot, I wasn't able to get her to stop with a grunt, so I gave myself a short lead (not enough) and fired, I just missed her lungs (poop)..she sprinted about 15 feet and stopped behind a cluster of trees, I could only see her head, she was drooping her head and closing her eyes (obviously a fatal shot at the time)
I crammed myself back against the tree and waited for her to take a step forward, once she did I fired for a neck shot....POOF, big cloud of tree bark (she stayed still).........I racked in another shell and fired, neck shot and she was down.

I noticed my first shot after getting to her, and I managed to open the stomach. Also my first ever neck shot, like'em.
 
Hit a Doe with a 308, limped but ran off. No blood trail. I was certain I had a good shot.
Verified my zero a couple days later, rifle was dead on. The one I shot earlier this season dropped like it was hit with a thunderbolt.
 
I missed Saturday at a doe running uphill and I over lead her. Luckily she was scared of the leaves that busted up infront of her and she ran right back down hill toward me. Didnt miss the 2nd time:D

For small game I have missed many rabbits as when they get running in brown cover they are tough to see and get a bead on.
 
i'm ashamed to say i missed a big 'ol feral cat at <10m a few months back with a 70lb compound bow.

shooting downhill and i forgot to adjust enough for it. the fletching and tail end of the arrow smacked the cat across the shoulders. if i'd aimed just 2" lower, it would have gone straight through the boiler room. 1" lower and i would have stapled it's shoulder blades together.
 
I miss a deer or pig about once a year with archery equipment (I hope I'm not jinxing my rifle season). If you want to include waterfowl hunting, I'm about 50% hit rate. :-(
 
Eventually everyone misses if you hunt enough. Of course the goal is 100% hit rate but with buck or tom fever sometimes it messes us up and we pull or jerk or whatever. Learn from it figure out what you did wrong and dont do it again. Key thing is to stay out there and take a kid with you.
 
Only things I've ever missed have been doves & ducks. (Probably because I rarely get the opportunity to hunt them).


I'm lucky, when I deer hunt I don't get nervous or anything like that, even if its a buck. My heart races after the shot however. :D
 
I missed my first deer this year, with my bow. 40 yard broadside shot.
The arrow was flying perfectly, then about 15 yards from the deer, it veered left and down... :mad:

I stalked the deer all the way up this damn hill, and caught up with it feeding about 50 yards away, but couldn't get a clean shot, and couldn't get any closer.

When I walked back down the hill to retrieve my arrow, I noticed there were two very tiny branches sticking up from a blow down, and I hit one of them. Thats what caused the arrow to fly off course.

I've been hunting for about 35 years and it was my first miss. I spend a lot of time practicing whether its with a bow or a rifle, but there is always luck involved :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top