THE BIG MISS!

[AaronBlaine]

finally got a shot off on a nice sized buck and i blew it! Though i had em dead to wrights but after checking there was not a drop of blood! I dont know how i missed but i did! Anyone have any stories of missing a shot this rifle season lets hear em!

[132 eight pointer]

Are you sure you missed ? 2 deer this year I tracked after being shot with 12 ga. slugs didn't leave blood but were mortally wounded.Both times the entrance hole was high and the exit plugged up.I know how ya feel though,I missed an older buck with my bow this year.

[AaronBlaine]

damn i tracked em for a while but could not find em! I hope to god i didnt injure him i could have sworn my shot was on point but you never know

[greensider]

missed a giant one antlered at least 300 pounds farther than i have ever shot a gun before then i shot a nice 8 with my hand gun found hair no blood rained all night looked all morning nothing

[growalot]

When I shot my buck I saw it impact and ripple through him...he spun and jumped a few yards then baby stepped away...I watched him for a long while moving very slowly then lost sight....I went to where I shot and tracked by foot steps...there was NO blood and No hair...I tracked him for fifty five yards before I found first blood and he was dead 60yrds from the shot...with no snow...I'm, glad he was pulling up leafs and I had carefully watched where he went...The lack of blood surprised me seeing where I shot him....

Sorry for not having him hanging...good luck tomorrow

[Jennifer]

Agreed... my dad was standing next to me once a few years back, when a buck danced into view, chasing a doe. I didn't have an angle, but dad did, and he shot the buck; the deer didn't act hit at all and ran off a bit, stopped, goofed around a bit and walked off casually. Snow was on so we were able to go to the exact spot and search for blood, hair, etc.. didn't find anything! We followed his tracks a ways to see if there were any blood drops, and no. None! Dad was baffled how he missed, but I was stubborn and stayed on the track. After about 80 yards I found little flecks of dark red blood in the snow and we pulled out for a while because we weren't sure how the deer was hit. We went back in later and tracked it for about a mile, out and off of the property where we were absolutely forbidden from going (privately owned "nature preserve"), even to retrieve a deer. We were pretty sick about it, and when we were out there post-season doing some work we talked to one of the people that was allowed to do land work on the property and they said they found the buck about a hundred yards in, lung and liver shot. Poor dad still gets sick thinking about it.

If you can, it might be worth going back and doing a bit more searching tomorrow. Misses do happen, but you might've hit him. Either way I am sorry about the situation! Bad stuff happens to us all in the woods, sometimes.

I missed a deer cleanly once, though I found the sapling that I blistered! He was at the edge of my range and I didn't see the sapling, somehow. I was a bit relieved, to be honest, to walk up to that broken beech sapling, because I knew that I missed clean instead of having the situation above.

[HuntOrBeHunted]

I missed a doe this year I know the feeling. Biggest thing don't get discouraged. Stay after them and spend more time at the range I have been doing the same. Lots of scope practice witht the 22. rifle.

Good luck brother.

[mtbuck]

missed a buck opening weekend , would have put money on it that i hit him the way he ran off, but it was a clean miss .followed his tracks in the snow for about 200 yds, looked up toward the ridge and there he was looking right at me,but no chance for a shot.

[First-light]

When I shot my buck I saw it impact and ripple through him...he spun and jumped a few yards then baby stepped away...I watched him for a long while moving very slowly then lost sight....I went to where I shot and tracked by foot steps...there was NO blood and No hair...I tracked him for fifty five yards before I found first blood and he was dead 60yrds from the shot...with no snow...I'm, glad he was pulling up leafs and I had carefully watched where he went...The lack of blood surprised me seeing where I shot him....

Sorry for not having him hanging...good luck tomorrow

Grow,

That rack is so cool-real nice deer!

[Suilleabhain]

I missed a 50 yard chip shot at a standing doe with a fairly good rest. No, flinch, no flagging, no back scrunch. Me & my brother walked her trail for over 100 yards, nothing went back and did it again, no hair, no blood nothing. Went back and checked the trees to see if I hit a branch or something, nothing. I have been running the shot though my head daily. I keep asking myself if I closed my eyes when I pulled the trigger. Never did it before but its the only thing I can lay it to. Last miss was in 1994 and I know I undershot that deer because I was using a borrowed post & crosshair scope & it was not sighted for the top of the post where i aimed. This one just baffles me.

[Jeremy K]

Would you guys rather miss clean or not see anything that day , i would rather not see anything than miss clean , missing just haunts you for ever ,im usually over not seeing anything before i get out in the woods for the next hunt.

[AaronBlaine]

good stories!

[the blur]

Usually, if they run, or jump, or do anything, they've been hit. A clean miss, they would not flinch at all. Keep on munching acorns. assuming the shot is 100 yards or better.

After a clean miss, check your scope at that distance. I bet it's off.

[Five Seasons]

i had a double lung go 50 yards. a few drops at first then nothing until right before he died where he sprayed everywhere. 2 years ago i had a single lung archery kill leave no blood as the exit wound plugged up. You just never know, especially if you're confident you made a good shot. However I did miss an easy shot 3 years ago on a nice 8 that most of us like to call "holy crap a big buck" syndrome. haha.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Belo