Fess Up - Silly deer hunting mistakes

[bootshowl]

What's the most silly mistake you've made that didn't hurt anyone. Want to keep it light hearted. Be good for the kids to check out us "ole Sages" and all out refined techniques and tips.....every now and then no matter how much experience you've had a fella has what my son refers to as a "Brain Fart". Mine was last year. Up the tree, partly sunny cold day, light breeze : I mean perfect. Got my eye on a nice 8pt. having a little brunch of acorns & I'm 70yrds upwind. If he'll come in 3-4 more yards I'll have my clear shot. Too much timber in the way. I'm thinking which way I'm gonna drag em out.....and my cell phone rings....I just held it out towards his stare, said "It's fer you". I earned that snort of contempt. It was a wrong number too!
:lol:

[Stainless]

The silliest mistake I ever made was during a bow hunt. I had a nice eight point come in and surprise me as I was watching some doe's in the opposite direction. When I picked my bow up to take the shot, my arrow fell to the ground and ran the deer off. Back then I was new to bow hunting and that would have been my first opportunity to take a buck and I ruined it. It still irritates me to this day. Everyone at work got a laugh out of it.

[catmanofohio]

i had just shot at a small non typical buck, when about 10 mins later a nice 10 pointer white rack, came up behind me within about 15 yards... i was sitting on the ground using my new bow, when i peeked around the tree and seen him, he was head down eatting persimons, when i went to draw my bow back the arrow fell off the rest and went "CLINK" the buck was gone... he was 155 class buck... ( a fellow shot him next weekend, opening season for gun ) lol.. NEXT STORY..

Well i was at my uncles fishing in his pond.. and i had a rooster tail lure on my pole and i was seeing how far i could cast it.. in and out... when i slung it real hard, it hit me in the back of the head and inbeded into my skin... i had to go to the hospital and have it cut out... OUCH.. (thank god for numing meds.. lol

[Scott Daw]

While bow hunting from the ground, I'd forgotten to take my doe in heat scent drag off of my leg. if it werent for the tree I was behind, I'd have been laid out like grandma on christmas eve. He ran right up to the tree. started coming around & saw me. Must have jumped 10 feet sideways then started circling me trying to add 2 +2 & wheres the doe? I was shaking so hard I never looked at the sights and let one fly 3 feet over his back. then he was gone as fast as he came!

[flathead willie]

I was hunting down in Georgia several years ago and had been still hunting most of the day without seeing anything. About 3pm I came to the intersection of two logging roads. By this time I had to pee like a race horse. I laid my 30-30 against the high bank of one of the roads and went to the low side (didn't want to pee uphill), I was right in the middle of checking the water level when a movement caught my eye. I looked to the left and there was three Does and a BIG 8 pointer walking across the road 30 yards away! All I could do was watch since I had my coveralls down around my knees and the wrong gun in my hand!

[laidbck111]

I can laugh at this now but caught grief for a few years doing it. I guess I was about 10 are 11 years old and sitting in the stand with my dad when a buck comes out. I am sure my now memory is distorted verses the truth but I will say 12 points and about 200 pounds. Well I took aim and pulled the trigger on my 30-30 and nothing, tried agian, nothing. By this time the buck had started to run off and my dad was laughing at me trying to ask me why I didn't take the saftey off and I heard it that shot in the distance followed by the thump of a connecting shot, my oldest brother got the deer.

[Paraguayguy]

Twice taking a dump with gun against tree out of reach when buckasaurus ambles by. Now when the call of nature hits me, I squat using rifle butt for support but the deer know it and avoid the horrible smell.

[splitshot]

This happened many years ago. It was my first bow hunt, and i had done my homework. I had scouted the area for a month before the season, making three ground blinds on three different deer runs. My clothes, and gear was sent free. I had practiced shooting my bow from every conceivable position all summer long, i was ready. Opening morning i am in my blind forty five minutes before daylight. Shortly after it turns light here comes a monster buck. If he stays on the trail he will be exactly 15 yds from my blind. Now im at full draw, and counting points, its a 12 point, and the most magnificent animal i have ever seen. With the pin on his heart i followed him till he was out of sight without ever releasing the arrow. I shook for 10 minutes. I hunted that buck for three years without ever seeing him again. Can you say buck fevor?????

[wylie catter]

Several years ago when I was first getting into bow hunting. I was hunting on a freinds property after work. It was early bow season, and I was the only one who had permission to hunt there. I was in a "sit down" style climber about 25' high over a trail, and only about 25 yards away from a real active scrape. I wanted my first bow kill real bad. I had practiced all summer and was very confident in my shot making ability. All I needed was the deer to get close enough. Three does came out of a thicket about 60 yards up from me, and got on the trail I was over. They were walking right for me at a good pace. All I could think was I've got to draw when they go behind that tree or I won't have a chance. So I did. And then the deer stopped about 40 yards away. So I'm sitting down and holding my bow at full draw. This last for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then they change derections and go right under me. When they get under me I've been shaking so bad for so long I can't stand it, and I let the bow off. Not very quietly I might add. They hang out under me for a minute or two. Then one finally steps out in my shooting lane, with its back towards me. So I draw aim and shoot. The arrow does this funky spiral flying thing and sticks in the ground beside the deer. The deer blows and runs off. I later found out that during all my shaking and drawing and redrawing I had broken the knock on the arrow and didn't know it. I'm surprised it flew off the string at all. One half of it was gone. But like somebody else said I shook like a leaf for probably 15 minutes before I could calm down.

[223reload]

Just this past season I walked a good three miles through canyons and brush then got back to the truck unloaded my rifle which wasEMPTY and didnt have shells in my pockets eithwer..........id say brain fart

[flathead willie]

Just this past season I walked a good three miles through canyons and brush then got back to the truck unloaded my rifle which wasEMPTY and didnt have shells in my pockets eithwer..........id say brain fart

I did that once! I lived way out in the country and have no kids around so I got in the habit of leaving my gun loaded all season in case that big buck showed up in the field behind the house. We had company w/kids for dinner one day so I emptied the guns. The next morning I climbed 1800 feet up the mountain in the dark and sat in a tree stand until noon. Before I climbed down from the tree I went the un-chamber the rifle.....only to find I'd been sitting there the whole time with an empty gun! That was the only time I've ever been glad the "Big One" didn't show up.

[cook]

add me to the list of hunting with an empty chamber:embarassed: :embarassed: :lol:

[jlingle]

Add me to the list of ding dongs who have forgotten shells. My hunting partner came by and picked me up so we could head out to a Paducah, TX hunting spot. It was about an hour from where we lived at the time. We got there & as I got out to open the gate, it dawned on me..... I don't have shells.

Now for the really smart part of the story: George just smiled & asked me which gun I brought. I told him my 7 Mag & he went to his gunbox & came back with a box of the shells I shot out of that gun. He owned the local gunstore & he said he always carried a box of shells for each of my guns, just because he knew I'd forget my shells one day. The next day I went out and bought a shell carrier that went on the stock of each rifle I owned.... now I don't have that problem.

[richard dunbar]

Fall turkey in pensylvania 8yrs ago. Im walking with my friends dad to set up where we had seen some Toms all week. I did'nt have a license so I was just along for the friendship. Now i coud've been carrying the call and the decoy and the thermas, basically everything but the shotgun. But no I was walking empty handed while my friend toted everything. We come to the edge of the woods where it starts to slope down, and saw the biggest turkey either one of us had seen in our lives. This turkey wieghed 25 pounds if he wieghed an ounce. Now my friend seeing this huge bird starts fumbling with everything trying to mothodicly put everything down. By the time he gets everything down the bird is in the air and flying away at a very high rate of speed. We coud've done two things different that day. One I could have carried all the gear or two, he could have droped all the gear except the shotgun on the ground and got that bird. Well lessons learned.

[Wil]

What's the most silly mistake you've made that didn't hurt anyone. Want to keep it light hearted. Be good for the kids to check out us "ole Sages" and all out refined techniques and tips.....every now and then no matter how much experience you've had a fella has what my son refers to as a "Brain Fart". Mine was last year. Up the tree, partly sunny cold day, light breeze : I mean perfect. Got my eye on a nice 8pt. having a little brunch of acorns & I'm 70yrds upwind. If he'll come in 3-4 more yards I'll have my clear shot. Too much timber in the way. I'm thinking which way I'm gonna drag em out.....and my cell phone rings....I just held it out towards his stare, said "It's fer you". I earned that snort of contempt. It was a wrong number too!
:lol:

that right there is why my friend i keep my phone off or on silent. lol

[rednecksportsman511]

one day on my first ever deer hunt last season right after Christmas, i was sittin in a shootin house that was one of the most productive on the property. people hardly ever go out there and see nothing, they almost always see a deer.

So anyways, this shootin house is located where one lil trail/road branches off to the south off the main road which runs roughly east/west. it overlooks a huge greenfield dead ahead, to the left is the road, to the right is a long straight stretch of powerlines. well it was gettin primetime, had about an hr til sunset.

suddenly in the woods up ahead and to my left i hear noise. lots of noise. leaves and sticks snappin. whatever it is sounds big and is walkin straight out to the intersection of the dirt roads. if it pops out it would only be about 15-20 yards away. so im holdin the rifle waiting to see this deer pop out of the brush (mind you i didnt have it up, just holding it). the noise comes right up to the edge of the thick brush. im full of adrenaline by now, and all of the sudden-it steps out. one big bruiser of an armadillo. it is from that day on that i have hated dillos

[Itch2Scratch]

Fess Up - Silly deer hunting mistakes ........I can't even imagine what you must be referring to.:embarassed: :roll_eyes: :big_smile:

[blackhorse83]

Just a few minutes after legal shooting time I shot what I thought was a doe, it turned out to be a spike in which I had to waste my buck tag on. 30 minutes later a really nice buck walked up to the same spot and I had only a anterless only tag left. Dumb, dumb,dumb.

[ka_c4_boom]

ok gary but remember you asked for it :lol:
i was bow hunting a few years back and had a good 8 pointer come in ten yards out quarter and away perfect couldnt ask for no better wind in my face the smoke from my cigerrette blowing back over my shoulder i took my best arrow from the quiver , brand new muzzy raizer sharp (that was my downfall) i nicked my string in a nervous panic and that was all she wrote thawump string from my pse nova went every direction ended my hunting for the day and that was the last good buck iv seen since .
it cost $6 and a good buck but probly saved me $250 in mounting fees

[LiquidSteel]

Famous reply from a buddy of mine on his first black powder season........

"I dont understand it. I got this awesome rifle, the best camoflauge, a really nice deer stand. All Im doing is sitting there, drinking coffee and smoking my cigarettes.......":ooooh: It took very little explaining for that one to get through to him.

Mine..... First time I went bow hunting, I was sitting behind a huge fallen log overlooking a deep ravine that had alot of deer trails with deer scrapes on neighboring trees. My brother in law and I were sitting there just waiting for something, and something came allright. I could hear something moving up the ravine on us, and fast. It made alot of noise, especially for a deer I thought. My brother in law gave me the signal, two fingers on top of his head, which meant draw your bow and get ready to shoot. I pulled back full draw, and slowly peered over the top of the giant log. Just then, about 20 turkeys I had spooked took off for flight, in my direction. I thought we were being invaded by helicopters with all that noise. In all the confusion I had realeased the arrow, only to kill a small pine tree.
My brother in law asked me if I wanted to have it mounted.........:crazy:

I know better than to pull back without seeing my target..... NOW!!!

Kenny

[laidbck111]

one more to share with you. We had to cross a creek to get to some of the stands well Being the hard headed 15 year old I was i decided I was going to use the "bridge", a fell tree. Well I got about 1/3 of the way across it and the tree broke loose from the bank and down I went into about 5 foot af water. I have never been so cold since. Every layer of clothing I had on soaked boots full of water and gun full of water. It was dark and in the low thirties and I had to hiked back to the camp house, about a mile.

[smokey]

It was my frist hunt and I was hunting with my dads 32spl. that I got when he passed.A little fork horn came out of the swamp about 70 yds away.I held my breath and squeezed off a round.The buck dropped like a sack of rocks.I started to walk over to the deer and he started to get up. I racked a shell into the chamber then anouther and so on till my gun went click.I loaded up with 1 more shell, by this time I was right next to the deer and shot him in the neck for the kill.My older brother by this time had come up to help. I was tellin my story as we walked back to my stand.and we found one of my shells,not fired. few more steps another shell, not fired. and so on . We found 5 shells that I had just racked thru that ol 32spl.I could just see my dad smiling down at me. smokey

[Itch2Scratch]

When at deer camp:oops: ....no matter how much your wife and kids plead and beg:amazed: ...DO NOT set up an unanchored dome tent as a privacy enclosure for the Porti-Potti:baffle: .................................Especially when the gales of November start blowing!:lol: :lol: :lol: Been there, done that, had to clean it up!:crazy: :ah: :beat_shot:

[Veets]

My buddy and I usually camp the night before opening day for dove hunting in Illinois. I hooked up my camper, threw all the camping and most of the hunting gear in the truck and took off for the 40 mile drive to where we hunt.

A half hour into the drive, as I itemized everything I had loaded, I realized I was so busy loading up all the camping gear I had forgotten to put one item on my hunting gear list in the truck. Needless to say we had a late dinner that night as I had to drive all the way back home to get the most important piece of hunting gear, my shotgun.

[riverratmatt]

this gun season ive had my stande on my great granmas property about a mile back in the woods havent seen any thing.then got a call from her yesterday she had 2 doe's by her chicken coop. every day me and dad has walked by scraps thinking papa did it with his mower the path we take an 8th of the way to the stand is a highly used deer trail. so get this we go 100ft behinde her house and the is the othere part of the trail they use. so ive relocated it a large dog wood and im halling out the bow

[squirtspop]

Back when I lived in Illinois, I bow hunted every Saturday morning with bow and arrow at Sand Ridge State Forest. Had me a nice tree I climbed into and could sit on a limb with a nice foot rest. Nice clear shooting down the fire lane and a deer trail went just to the east of the tree. A big scrape was just about 20 yards from the tree in the fire lane so it was a "perfect" spot.

So one Saturday morning I got up, made coffee, had a cup and put the rest in a thermos. Got dressed and already had the rest of the stuff in the car. I got to the forest about a half hour before daylight so thought I'd have a cup of java before heading for my tree. When I finished it was just light enough to see so I grabbed the gear and headed out. I got to the tree, tied my string on the bow and put the other end in my mouth. I climbed the tree and was catching my breath when this nice 8 pointer decides to check out his scrape. He sniffed it a time or two then walks right up under the tree I'm in and starts sniffing on my bow still laying on the ground. Needless to say I don't have that extra cup while waiting on the sun to come up anymore.

Then another time here in Arkansas I'd been bowhunting and was heading back to the truck when I heard this noise coming thru the timber, crunching leaves and brushing against the saplings that still had leaves.
It was a decent little 6 pointer. Bout 50 yards out and heading right towards me. I ease behind this big red oak and nock an arrow up and ease out from behind the tree at full draw. The buck decides to stop at a white oak and eat acorns. I'm still at full draw and he is out of range to get a good shot. So I wait and wait some more....at full draw..arms getting tired and start trembling and shaking and he is still munching. Finally I can't hold it no longer and ease off. A few seconds later he is on the move again and within 15-20 yards off and doesn't even know I'm there. I try to pull back and don't have enough strength left to pull it back to the break away spot. Little buck goes on his merry way and I cuss all the way back to the truck.