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

[Buckmaster7600]

About 10 years ago I shot at a 3year old 6pt at 15yds while still hunting in a blizzard. He chased a doe that ran by me at a few feet. He was right behind her and stopped in the wide open. I shot he ran back where he came from. After I shot I sat down and ate my sandwich a few minutes into my sandwich I looked up and he was standing in front of me at 20yds looking at me. I shot him and he dropped. Only 1 hole in and 1 out. How I missed him I will never know it was an absolute gimmi.


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[LET EM GROW]

I"m going with your anticipation and excitement(maybe not noticable) at the time if the shot. We never think it happens even as good as the shot felt, but its hunting i think.. 

I did this a few years ago, Late season with the muzzle loader, group of does came out about 60 yards, i was sitting against a tree, i carry a branch i personally carved out for a shooting stick that comes to a "Y" at the end, i felt super comfortable with the shot, told myself to slowly squeeze, as i did.. bang.. the doe bounds away not looking hit at all. we searched in and out never found hair nor blood. I was beside myself.. it felt so perfect and it was my ML which i have more faith in then any gun i own. but i have to say it happens to us all. 

 

shot the gun the next day at 50 yrds, it was dead on, i have the nikon bdc scope on this gun and have a reticle dialed for 225yrds as well.. still dead nuts.

[BigVal]

My first gun season ever I had a big buck standing 75 yards out I put the gun up squeeze off a shot and he takes off. I called my dad and we wait a little bit and start to track. No hair no blood nothing. No idea how 

[ApexerER]

19 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

what caliber are you shooting?

.308

[ApexerER]

14 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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THIS ^^^^^ Is exactly what I bugging me about the whole thing....It has been two days and I can't understand how I missed. I am really worried that I hit the deer and there was just no blood. 5 of us looked until dark because I was so adamant I couldn't have missed the shot and then the snow came in Sunday evening. There was no snow on the ground to follow tracks but there was a pretty pronounced deer trail. If it was a clean miss...awesome...shit happens....I can't help but think that deer is dead and something whacky happened like you said above and that is why it is haunting me....

[Culvercreek hunt club]

19 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

.308

That is a point and click 200 yard round. What bullets are you using?

[ApexerER]

6 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

That is a point and click 200 yard round. What bullets are you using?

I was using Hornady Super Performance Ballistic Tip 165 Grain but they did so little damage on the 9 Pt I shot on opening day that I switched back to the Federal Fusion 165 Grain that I have had great luck with in the past.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

7 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

I was using Hornady Super Performance Ballistic Tip 165 Grain but they did so little damage on the 9 Pt I shot on opening day that I switched back to the Federal Fusion 165 Grain that I have had great luck with in the past.

Do they hold the same POI for both rounds? I can't imagine that there would be much difference at 35-40 yards. At this point I can't see beating yourself up over it. Sometimes we do everything in our power and it just isn't enough. 

[ApexerER]

19 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Do they hold the same POI for both rounds? I can't imagine that there would be much difference at 35-40 yards. At this point I can't see beating yourself up over it. Sometimes we do everything in our power and it just isn't enough. 

Yes, the Hornady grouped tighter though. I agree, I am trying to let it go but I just can't....I have never had a shot I was so positive of. Even shots I have connected perfectly on.

[Core]

19 hours ago, nyantler said:

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"

This is essentially exactly what I did on Saturday except I got a crap hit instead of a good one. The only gimme deer is when you're gutting it.

I still haven't decided if my very massive number of hunting sessions this year make me a diligent hard-worker or a person suffering from an addictive, obsessive type of personality. I think the line between the two is often blurry. This activity certainly teaches a bit of humility. 

[Core]

5 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

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.

Damn I wonder if that happened to me Saturday. I only found snow underneath tracks and my guess had been that this was because the fresh snow had fallen on top of blood trail that didn't begin for a hundred yards after impact, but now I wonder if there was blood trail near the beginning the entire time but the blood had sunk below the fluffy top. Still not a lot, but I will have to keep this in mind. 

[NFA-ADK]

Most of my misses I can explain. 

1) I took a poor shot, I peeked, I did not squeeze the trigger

2) I did not compensate for a slow 308 bullet in a semi-auto gun sighted in at 50 yards shoots real low at about 10 ft.

3) Misjudge the distance on a deer and the size of the deer, another chip shot gone wrong! 

I could go on but the main point I would make is to be an expert or as good as you can be with your weapons, most of the best hunters are expert shots and rarely miss an opportunity due to bad shooting, poor form or follow through.  I have a buddy who will not even shoot free handed and must use a bench, I try to explain the seat and bench probably will not be available when the times comes and a shot is presented but it falls on deaf ears.

Shot selection is another issue, many can not pass a deer in view and must shoot even if it is a bad angle especially if the time they have is limited.  I was guilty of this when I first started seeing deer consistently and my time was limited.  Real easy to say "It was my only shot."  Not so easy to admit it was a poor choice!

[grampy]

28 minutes ago, NFA-ADK said:

Most of my misses I can explain. 

1) I took a poor shot, I peeked, I did not squeeze the trigger

2) I did not compensate for a slow 308 bullet in a semi-auto gun sighted in at 50 yards shoots real low at about 10 ft.

3) Misjudge the distance on a deer and the size of the deer, another chip shot gone wrong! 

I could go on but the main point I would make is to be an expert or as good as you can be with your weapons, most of the best hunters are expert shots and rarely miss an opportunity due to bad shooting, poor form or follow through.  I have a buddy who will not even shoot free handed and must use a bench, I try to explain the seat and bench probably will not be available when the times comes and a shot is presented but it falls on deaf ears.

Shot selection is another issue, many can not pass a deer in view and must shoot even if it is a bad angle especially if the time they have is limited.  I was guilty of this when I first started seeing deer consistently and my time was limited.  Real easy to say "It was my only shot."  Not so easy to admit it was a poor choice!

X - !000 !!   Well said!  I could not agree more! 

[dbHunterNY]

7 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

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 because 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. 

done that before while on the trail.  it otherwise would just look like a spot where something tiny blew in the wind and then fell into the surface of the snow.  i've even had to pick the snow up and rub it between my thumb and index finger to be sure.

[dbHunterNY]

only twice i didn't know right after the shot.  both with a muzzleloader.  the buck i thought i saw the impact but no blood and no deer.  that one was early muzzleloader in another state.  it was a heart shot though and died out of site within 35 or so yards. second was a doe here in NY.  close and didn't understand what happened until after i started tracking it.  i was then obvious in the snow that she was hit in the upper front leg.  had to track her down and catch up to follow up.  i chaulked that one up to a twig.  it was thick where i shot her.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

2 hours ago, NFA-ADK said:

 

2) I did not compensate for a slow 308 bullet in a semi-auto gun sighted in at 50 yards shoots real low at about 10 ft.

 

I don't understand that one. Can you elaborate a bit more?

[NFA-ADK]

2 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

I don't understand that one. Can you elaborate a bit more?

Called in a nice wide racked buck first light to within about 7-10 ft, aimed at the heart like I typically do.  The hit was really low about 3-4 inches low at almost point blank.  (Bullet still rising to meet the mark.)  The semi auto action I was using requires a relatively light powder charge due to the roller bearings in the action would lock up if you use high shock or high powder charge so at 50 yards I was dead on at a few feet the shot was much lower than expected causing me to loose the deer.  Horrible blood trail, I pushed him and he clotted up after his first bed. 

I let him walk into the sight with the gun sitting on a rock, after the shot he ran to my other side at about 5 ft, needless to say he was not going to stick around for my follow up shot when I pulled the gun up and around to finish what I though was a dead deer walking.  He covered the 60 yards back from where he came in a few seconds like I completely missed him.  Chased him for the next 3 days with no luck.

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by NFA-ADK

[NFA-ADK]

I must have been slightly low on my aim in addition to not compensating for such a close shot.

Edited December 13, 2016 by NFA-ADK