OK………now what was your WORSE momement/miss

Ok, here goes…. kind of fits with the scope/no scope discussion. Last year Opening morning of Wisc deer season. I’m up in my stand around 9:30. Several shots in the area have already rung the morning bell so I pretty much was on alert. Anyways, I started to get a little hungry so I grabbed my pack off of the back of the tree, opened it up and grabbed out two pieces of beef jerky. Picture this. Now I am standing up – facing the tree – my gun slung on my shoulder with two pieces of beef jerky in my hand….
Although I am quite sure the rest of you can fill out the rest of this story with “keen” accuracy, I’ll go on..
So..I look over my shoulder because I caught movement out of my right eye. By the time I got halfway turned to see what it was that caught my attention the deer was already about even with me. I realized…whew…it’s just a doe..relax. So as she is trotting by I grab my grunt call, just to see what she’d do. Now add that to my handful of goodies (1 1/2 pieces of jerky, gun slung on my back, and a grunt call in my other hand). Well she didn’t stop trotting after several burps on the tube by me.
I start to lean down to hang the grunt tube back on the tree when I hear buuuuuuuuurrrrrrrp. burp. burp (no it wasn’t me with gas). So I quickly, un-sling my gun and get it to “ready” position. As I looked up, down the trail cames a large buck (an honest 130 class but a trophy for me). Needless to say he was on a raging sprint after some tail (whitetail). I shouldered my rifle when he was about 20-30 yards away. I caught two glimpses of brown through the scope before I realized that if I didn’t do something quick he was going to be over the fence and gone in a matter of minutes. So, I whistled when he was dead level with me on the trail (15-20 yards max). You guessed it, he kept going. He got about 20 yards, and I yelled “HEY” (couldn’t whistle anymore cause all of the salt on my lips from the beef jerky). He kept running. And up and over the fence he went in a matter of seconds. I didn’t end up getting him in the scope again as he disappeared into the thicket. So, as for the scope debate: here’s my two cents. Scope, no scope it doesn’t really matter, the only thing that I can think of that would have worked in my situation is a machete.
ps-I realize that there is not much that I could’ve done to better this situation (kill the deer), but I have darn near woulda..shoulda…coulda’d myself to death. Ah well, that’s why I keep going back…too get my next chance at ol’ mossy horns.

No worries Swat. I’m no threat to the species. I only get one about every 3 years. I don’t hunt them very hard. I reserve that for Grouse!

No worries Swat. I’m no threat to the species. I only get one about every 3 years. I don’t hunt them very hard. I reserve that for Grouse!

Last year opening weekend of WI deer season I had just bought a new muzzleloader and was determined to use it instead of the old reliable pumpkin thrower. A little after daylight a gun shot went off so close I dang near jumped out of my boots. Then another round, and another, then a pause, and finally another one. I am sitting there just wired waiting for something to come my way. I figured if a guy shoots that many times he had to have missed and the deer was moving to the next zipcode. After awhile I peak over the side of the hill and see my buddy looking around on the trail. He had hit the deer way low in the leg resulting in a very spotty blood trail. I am a better trailer then he is so I took up the lead and followed the pin drops into some pretty nasty stuff. In the middle of the thick stuff it opened up into a little clearing about 30 yards wide. I was standing there talking to my buddy when 20 feet in front of us I see a deer slowly start to stand up. At first all I see is his tail, then his butt, then his awesome tall snow white headgear. The buck is standing there and just turns his head and looks over his shoulder at us. He didn’t have any signs of bolting or any alarm. It was almost unreal. I quickly raise the muzzleloader and put it right between his eyes and squeezed the trigger. My heart just sank when I heard the infamous CLICK. My buddy couldn’t get a shot off due to him being behind me. The buck then made a beeline up over the knob and I never saw him again. But, I went back to the same place the next day and harvested the buck I posted in the deer pic thread. I just laugh at it now, but it took awhile to be able to do that, lol.

Last year opening weekend of WI deer season I had just bought a new muzzleloader and was determined to use it instead of the old reliable pumpkin thrower. A little after daylight a gun shot went off so close I dang near jumped out of my boots. Then another round, and another, then a pause, and finally another one. I am sitting there just wired waiting for something to come my way. I figured if a guy shoots that many times he had to have missed and the deer was moving to the next zipcode. After awhile I peak over the side of the hill and see my buddy looking around on the trail. He had hit the deer way low in the leg resulting in a very spotty blood trail. I am a better trailer then he is so I took up the lead and followed the pin drops into some pretty nasty stuff. In the middle of the thick stuff it opened up into a little clearing about 30 yards wide. I was standing there talking to my buddy when 20 feet in front of us I see a deer slowly start to stand up. At first all I see is his tail, then his butt, then his awesome tall snow white headgear. The buck is standing there and just turns his head and looks over his shoulder at us. He didn’t have any signs of bolting or any alarm. It was almost unreal. I quickly raise the muzzleloader and put it right between his eyes and squeezed the trigger. My heart just sank when I heard the infamous CLICK. My buddy couldn’t get a shot off due to him being behind me. The buck then made a beeline up over the knob and I never saw him again. But, I went back to the same place the next day and harvested the buck I posted in the deer pic thread. I just laugh at it now, but it took awhile to be able to do that, lol.

Thanks for the story AmWatson, is this the buck you shot?

Thanks for the story AmWatson, is this the buck you shot?

Thanks Steve, that is the one. In hindsight, things actually worked out better with me not harvesting the first buck. The buck that lived was around a 130 class while the one I did get was a 154 2/8 gross. Bow season is so close I can taste it . I am anticipating another fun year with many stories to hopefully tell. My hunting experiences follow closely with my fishing so it should be interesting

Thanks Steve, that is the one. In hindsight, things actually worked out better with me not harvesting the first buck. The buck that lived was around a 130 class while the one I did get was a 154 2/8 gross. Bow season is so close I can taste it . I am anticipating another fun year with many stories to hopefully tell. My hunting experiences follow closely with my fishing so it should be interesting

Great story AmWatson. It’s always great to hear the stories behind great deer. Especially from the person who shot it.

The count down is on! 9/18 can’t come soon enough!

Great story AmWatson. It’s always great to hear the stories behind great deer. Especially from the person who shot it.

The count down is on! 9/18 can’t come soon enough!

Duckilr, sounds like you should maybe eat a little breakfast before you go out in the woods. I know how a guy thinks he has to have treats all the time though. I am the same way.

P.S. this year is going to be the year man!!

Duckilr, sounds like you should maybe eat a little breakfast before you go out in the woods. I know how a guy thinks he has to have treats all the time though. I am the same way.

P.S. this year is going to be the year man!!