Have you ever had a miss you couldn't explain?

[ApexerER]

So I have missed several deer over my life. I am not afraid to admit missing a deer. But yesterday I had a crazy experience. We were pushing and I was a sitter on our final push. I had a doe come in through some thick stuff down in a ravine. She stopped at about 35 40 yds tops. I had my rifle rested on the tree stand shooting rail. Shot looked perfectly clear through the scope. Put the crosshair on the her shoulder, she was stopped and looking at me. Told myself to squeeze the trigger. Bang...she bolted. Thought for sure she was on a death run and I was going to hear her pile up. I never heard her crash but I was positive I drilled her. Sent a text to the group that I had a doe down and waited out the rest of the drive. When the guys came out I climbed down, went looking at the shot site to find blood. Couldn't find any at all. Followed where the deer went. Couldn't find a drop of blood. There were 6 of us and the guys started razing me for missing. I was adamant that I made the shot and that we would find the deer. We did half circles for 200 yds. Spreading out looping around. I was positive this was a good shot but we couldn't find a speck of blood or the deer. I was so adamant we looked until we could no longer see. I went back to the shot site. I couldn't find any brush or small trees that I hit. I couldn't sleep last night. I was not nervous, had a steady rest and a 40 yd chip shot. I played it over and over. I still can't believe I missed. I am going to get to the range and fire my gun. Maybe I wacked it doing drives?? It was fine before the season and on opening day. I can't help but think that deer is dead and just never bled...Is that possible? I have a very bad habit of recoil anticipation if I don't tell my self to relax and squeeze the trigger but I did that this time and didn't feel like I pulled the shot at all. I am sitting here at work, still replaying the whole sequence out....

[the blur]

Rifle too big.  90% of hunters have ridiculous calibers for a little deer.

I downsized to a 7mm-08.  &  .243  Depending on the day.

I can sit at the range all day, and I know you can't with whatever ridiculous caliber you are using.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

If the gun is zeroed I would about guarantee it was a small twig that didn't show in the scope. especially ones that are very close to you, the lens focuses right through them. one little touch and that bullet isn't headed where you think. I've had it happen. 

[ApexerER]

12 minutes ago, the blur said:

Rifle too big.  90% of hunters have ridiculous calibers for a little deer.

I downsized to a 7mm-08.  &  .243  Depending on the day.

I can sit at the range all day, and I know you can't with whatever ridiculous caliber you are using.

I am shooting a .308.....Not really sure what makes that ridiculous for deer hunting....I have recoil anticipation problems from too many years of having to hunt with a 12 gauge....but I thought I was well over that by now...

[Steve D]

Had the same thing happen last Fri. with the shotgun. The gun has always been true and I even checked later in the day and it was still on. Not dead nuts like I like it but could still hit a 4" x4" target. I have scratching my head since I made the shot also but the bottom line is some times it happens. All I can do is re-zero and be 100% sure before I use it next season.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Steve D

[Culvercreek hunt club]

.

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Culvercreek hunt club

[grampy]

Mayby just maybe did you raise your head at the shot, to see her drop?

[turkeyfeathers]

Typo 

Edited December 12, 2016 by turkeyfeathers

[Core]

I'll use this thread to post what happened to me on Saturday. It's kind of eating me up a bit so I can get it off my chest here.

Long story short, after 20+ hunts in a row without a chance at a deer I had one walking in front of me broadside at 40 yards and I somehow missed the vitals even though I had a perfect rest, I've shot my rifle a lot, and its zero is dead-on. I believe I got just behind the vitals based on the fact that eventually I did find a blood trail (a light one), but I could not successfully track the deer (snow started falling heavily after the hit, which damned me and although I was able to find blood under its tracks by brushing the snow away--confirming a hit--I could never find it, and the blood trail dried up). and it absolutely wasn't hit double-lung, else it would have piled up.

I think I made two mistakes: 1) I didn't take enough time with the shot. After all, who could miss vitals on a broadside deer at 40 yards? There was truly nothing obstructing my view, but I must have gotten just behind vitals. 2) I will not use 223 again. I used a bonded round specifically made for medium size game, and lots of people use this for whitetail, but I had the same issue other uses of 223 have had: light blood trail. Missing vitals was my biggest mistake, and 223 into them will drop the thing, but I can't help but wonder what a .50 cal muzzleloader projectile would have done, and I wish I had brought my MZ on Saturday instead.

[philoshop]

The short-range shots tend to make the shooter a bit complacent and non-chalant about technique, whether they're aware of it or not. Watch a pro golfer make a beautiful 25 foot putt, and on the next hole screw up a 1 ft gimmee. It happens. I've missed a few deer at short ranges even though I was trying very hard to maintain proper form and technique, but sometimes the brain just takes over and screams too loudly that it's a done deal and don't worry about it.

[ApexerER]

36 minutes ago, grampy said:

Mayby just maybe did you raise your head at the shot, to see her drop?

I could have....I honestly have no idea....

[growalot]

Just  some questions...when sighting in the scope did you sight in close  or at a hundred yards for center/zero..how ever you guys say it? Have you shot that close since sighting it in? You said she was looking at you..even at that range could she have dropped just at the shot? You mentioned you reminded yourself to squeeze the trigger...could you have done that a tad too hard? 

 I know when I had the miss on the 10, due to his snorting, he spotted me turning for the shot or I'd spooked that fawn when I moved. I know he dropped loading his legs...he then jumped into the open broad side but the second he hit was dropping again to make that sharp rt turn. I having to get on him, know I pulled the trigger..that always takes my shots  a bit high and for some strange reason...don't ask me why but to the rt...I think I miss spoke in another post I'm left handed gun and right with the bow. Point is it could have been a combo of trigger pull and her dropping...

Things to keep us up at night thinking.....

A thought...could you have leaned down on your stock at the shot causing the barrel to rise?

Edited December 12, 2016 by growalot

[E J]

I missed a doe at 50 yards during the first week of gun season. I couldn't believe it but there was snow and I looked good and long. Later that day I redeemed my self with a different doe from the same stand.  Every one misses sometime!

[Core]

1 hour ago, growalot said:

Things to keep us up at night thinking.....

That's the worst thing, not knowing exactly what went wrong. With a bow at least you know if you missed and if not vitals you'll know approximately where you hit, but with a gun it's harder to figure out. Eventually we'll all have video cameras tapped into the scopes so that we can look back and see what happened. When you screw up and know the cause you can work on it, but if you don't know the cause all you can do is play the moment over and over and over and each time you play it, it's probably a bit further from what really happened.

[ApexerER]

1 hour ago, growalot said:

Just  some questions...when sighting in the scope did you sight in close  or at a hundred yards for center/zero..how ever you guys say it? Have you shot that close since sighting it in? You said she was looking at you..even at that range could she have dropped just at the shot? You mentioned you reminded yourself to squeeze the trigger...could you have done that a tad too hard? 

 I know when I had the miss on the 10, due to his snorting, he spotted me turning for the shot or I'd spooked that fawn when I moved. I know he dropped loading his legs...he then jumped into the open broad side but the second he hit was dropping again to make that sharp rt turn. I having to get on him, know I pulled the trigger..that always takes my shots  a bit high and for some strange reason...don't ask me why but to the rt...I think I miss spoke in another post I'm left handed gun and right with the bow. Point is it could have been a combo of trigger pull and her dropping...

Things to keep us up at night thinking.....

A thought...could you have leaned down on your stock at the shot causing the barrel to rise?

All possibilities I guess. Never thought about leaning on the stock. Gun is zero at 100 yds. I have not put it to paper at any other range. Any other time I have missed I have been able to find a sapling I hit or tell my self I am an idiot for pulling the gun or punching the trigger in a rushed shot. I really felt like I did everything correct this time. I don't believe the deer ducked but I guess anything is possible. Grampy's idea of raising my head knowing I am going to drop her right there. That may have been what happened. I was so sure of my shot I peaked...maybe

[Culvercreek hunt club]

what caliber are you shooting?

[nyantler]

6 hours ago, philoshop said:

The short-range shots tend to make the shooter a bit complacent and non-chalant about technique, whether they're aware of it or not. Watch a pro golfer make a beautiful 25 foot putt, and on the next hole screw up a 1 ft gimmee. It happens. I've missed a few deer at short ranges even though I was trying very hard to maintain proper form and technique, but sometimes the brain just takes over and screams too loudly that it's a done deal and don't worry about it.

This is so true... I missed a chip shot a few years ago with my 870... before that day I had never had to so much as rack another shell with that gun... it's a tack driver. On that particular day I tracked this buck and got the drop on him walking broadside to me at less than 40 yards... The situation was so exceptional I got complacent and had that buck in the freezer before I pulled the trigger... I forgot to bare down and concentrate... and after the shot caught myself having already peeked over the gun thinking the buck would just drop. As he ran off I wasn't even thinking that I missed. I just thought I'd find him around the corner piled up in a heap. There was plenty of fresh snow and easy to see any blood trail. When I walked to the spot that he stood at the shot there was nothing.. no blood, no hair, and most of all no deer... I tracked him until dark and never caught up to him again. Lesson learned... there is no such thing as a "chip shot"

Edited December 12, 2016 by nyantler

[doebuck1234]

Had similar situation as others stated with close range shot.had a fat doe 35yrds.thought i did everything right till dirt was flying under her.had another situation 2 years ago which i resolved the issue.was a winter morning nice blanket of snow not seeing a single deer.went for a slow walk out of patch of pines and as i got right to the edge of pines where hardwoods meet i could see a doe bedded down 50 yards infront of me facing opposite direction.i get down to 1 knee,steady gun and boom!she just layed there looking around.so again boom!and again boom!she finally said screw this got up and ran off.talk about puzzled how this deer just layed there as i shot 3 times and not a single shot hit its mark.after walking back to house disgusted i pull gun up to look through scope and crosshairs were crooked.mounts loosened up.you just never know!

[chrisw]

I've biffed a few archery shots in my earlier years pretty bad, the result was almost always that the deer was 15-20 yds and I just rushed it thinking how I couldn't miss one that close, well... I did. I used to peek to try to see the arrow hit. I would say either you caught a branch you never saw or you picked your head up off the stock as you shot to watch her reaction. I'll take a clean miss anyday over a wounded critter. I once took a gimme shot on a doe at 40 yds quartering away with my 35rem, she took off and disappeared instantly into thick hemlocks, I walked up in the snow and to my dismay, no blood, no hair. Not a thing!? I sat there wondering how I missed an entire deer at 40 yds with a rifle... I decided to follow her in the fresh snow in hopes of another shot, I went about 150-175 yds and it looked like she was bedded in front of me, I snuck around her and she was dead as could be, not a single drop of blood on that trail. I caught her just behind the diaphragm and the bullet lodged up in her brisket. Even where she layed there wasn't a drop of blood any where. If you shoot enough deer you'll have some odd things happen once in awhile that are hard to explain, misses are one of them. I've never had a miss haunt me, but a wounded one that I could never find will always gnaw at me.

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[wolc123]

No, but I have had a couple of hits that could have easily been taken as misses, based on all the evidence I saw.  Each time there was excellent tracking snow on the ground, but it did not help me find one of the bucks.   I think I hit that one close to where I aimed, with my 50 cal ML, from a range of about 175 yards.   I had a good rest, a good scope, quartering away standing deer, and was very confident in making the shot.  He showed no sign of being hit, but ran thru a creek and across a field, then crossed the road and ran into another half-overgrown field.   I walked over to where he stood at the shot and there was not a drop of blood, or any hair on the fresh snow there.  I picked up his trail on the other side of the creek in the snow and I followed his tracks for about 300 yards before loosing them amoung many other tracks.  The whole way, not a drop of blood on the fresh snow.  I circled wider and wider, for about 2 hours,  from where I lost the trail, finding nothing.   

The next week I ran in to a neighbor who was hunting the back of that big field across the road.  He said "I saw that doe run by me that you missed" (the buck had pushed the doe out of a cornfield below my stand).  When he told me he did not see the buck, I knew he was dead somewhere.  I found him in a clump of brush, half eaten by coyotes, with the help of the crows, a few days later, about 50 yards beyond the widest circle I had made.  Probably a single-lung hit, based on the 500 or so yards he traveled after taking the hit.   With my ML, the accuracy was there but the energy was lacking at that range.  A little more and he probably would have shown some sign of a hit or left a little blood.  

The other one was a Button buck that I shot with an old, solid lead 12 gauge sabot from about 70 yards.  He was standing broadside, feeding on clover, and I had a great rest - chip shot if there ever was one.  At the shot, he bolted into some heavy cover.   I walked immediately to the trail, expecting to see blood, but did not find a drop on the fresh snow.   I backtracked to where he had been standing.  Looking very carefully, I found a single drop the size of a pin-head.   I got on his track and found him piled up in a little clearing, 30 yards into the brush, right next to the gut-pile of his momma, who I had killed 1 week earlier.  It was a high, center lung hit and all the bleeding was internal.  

My money say's your doe is probably dead and was probably hit similarly.   Sometimes snow makes it harder to find deer because their white belly does not show up as well when they are upended.  

Edited December 13, 2016 by wolc123
typos

[JRod 8G8H]

I missed a doe at 60 yds with my 30-06... Shot went high.. Looking back I feel that because she was so close I peeked to watch the impact... I'm new to rifle after growing up with shotguns. Lesson learned

[genesee_mohican]

I missed a golden opportunity at a nice buck the first week of gun which took a few days to really figure out. A great hunt, but the disappointment in my miss won't go away anytime soon.


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[Jeremy K]

10 hours ago, ApexerER said:

I am shooting a .308.....Not really sure what makes that ridiculous for deer hunting....I have recoil anticipation problems from too many years of having to hunt with a 12 gauge....but I thought I was well over that by now...

I still get it at the range ,luckily when the shot counts ,I don't get it . I have a bigger problem then that though ,not seeing anything to shoot at.

[ATbuckhunter]

So far I haven't had one I can't explain. Most of the time it was 100 percent me but one time my scope must have been knocked when I wasn't aware because my scope was way off.


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[Culvercreek hunt club]

12 hours ago, chrisw said:

I've biffed a few archery shots in my earlier years pretty bad, the result was almost always that the deer was 15-20 yds and I just rushed it thinking how I couldn't miss one that close, well... I did. I used to peek to try to see the arrow hit. I would say either you caught a branch you never saw or you picked your head up off the stock as you shot to watch her reaction. I'll take a clean miss anyday over a wounded critter. I once took a gimme shot on a doe at 40 yds quartering away with my 35rem, she took off and disappeared instantly into thick hemlocks, I walked up in the snow and to my dismay, no blood, no hair. Not a thing!? I sat there wondering how I missed an entire deer at 40 yds with a rifle... I decided to follow her in the fresh snow in hopes of another shot, I went about 150-175 yds and it looked like she was bedded in front of me, I snuck around her and she was dead as could be, not a single drop of blood on that trail. I caught her just behind the diaphragm and the bullet lodged up in her brisket. Even where she layed there wasn't a drop of blood any where. If you shoot enough deer you'll have some odd things happen once in awhile that are hard to explain, misses are one of them. I've never had a miss haunt me, but a wounded one that I could never find will always gnaw at me.

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I've seen that happen two times and both were on very cold days and the snow was that light fluffy cotton candy snow. They both played out the exact same way.  The hot blood would literally fall through the snow and leave no signs at all on top. I talked the guys I was with to follow  both up becasue we did find a small amount of hair at the shot location. after we found both deer I walked the tracks back and kicked around in their tracks a bit and the blood was there right down towards the bottom of the 6" of snow and there was quite a bit of it in both cases.