I did the same thing to my boy on his first deer. Luckily he just gave me a look of disgust and slowly chambered a round. The deer was 136 yards so he never even knew how close he came to living.

A family friend saved up all year for a chance to go to a ranch that had some huge deer. He paid about $5,000 for an all day hunt, and two nights lodging. He gets there around dark on a Friday and enjoys some really good food and gets to review some pics of the bucks at the ranch. In the morning, he woke up to an amazing breakfast. He was feeling really excited and pampered. He gathers all his gear together and heads outside to meet the owners and other hunters.

At this particular ranch, the owners/guides drive the hunters around the ranch and drop them off at their stands for the entire day. If you got lucky and tagged a deer, you'd call and they'd come get you, load the deer, process it for you...the whole nine yards. If you didn't call, they would pick you up 15-30 minutes after last shooting light. They drop all the hunters with a small cooler, filled with sandwiches, snacks and drinks. Our friend gets to his stand, climbs up into this cozy blind and sets his stuff up.

Just before daylight he goes to chamber a round. Wait...no round in the rifle. Checks the backpack....no rounds there. Immediately grabs his phone to call the guides back at camp....no signal. Rules were you couldn't not leave your blind until the truck came to pick you up. It was a HUGE ranch and the guy had no idea where he was in the ranch even, as he got there at night and didn't drive the property with them the day before. He had to stay there the entire day, watching B&C bucks walk within shooting range. His $5,000 earned him a chance to shoot any deer he saw. He saw 5 or 6 trophies. He said one even walked almost directly under the blind, and he contemplated if the cooler was big enough to knock him out. LOL!

In the end, he left empty coolered the next morning. The owner/guides felt horrible for him and worked out a deal for him to come back the next year (since the guy couldn't make it back that particular season) at a huge discount. He never went back. He said he was too ashamed.

Upon hearing this story, I bought a little bullet sleeve for every single rifle and shotgun I owned, and all of my buddies and in-laws got them for their Christmas present that year, along with the tale of this poor guy's unfortunate mistake. I fill up my sleeve with the 9-10 bullets that it holds before I go out for any hunt. So, even though it wasn't my mistake, I quickly learned from this guys' misfortune. For what it is worth, if you don't have a bullet sleeve for your stock, it is the best $10 you can spend, in my opinion.

I feel sick to my stomach after reading this. I wouldn't ever get over that. Maybe drilling a hole in the wooden stock and stuffing it with a round or two for emergencies wouldn't be a bad idea if you don't mind ruining your stock.

Reminds me of when I hurt my ribs cocking my crossbow. I went to the stand without my pully string for my 160# draw crossbow. Deer were everywhere so I finally bit the bullet and gave it my all. I cocked that sucker but at the expense of 2 weeks with hurt ribs. I couldn't even sneeze and laughing about it hurt for a while. I got a deer but crap i had to get my son and buddy to load it.

During my first year deer hunting I did not have a round chambered when one of the biggest bucks I have ever seen came out at 40 yards.

There are so many to chose from, but the one that might haunt me the most was an archery hunt in California in the Hayward Hills above Pleasonton on some private land a buddy owned. It was in August, and really hot during the day. All the deer where mostly nocturnal and only moving around at first and last light, then it quickly warmed up once the sun came up. I had parked on top of the ridge and was hunting along a trail that led to a pond that the deer used a lot. I didn't see any bucks that morning, and waited until the sun was too hot to sit there any longer. It got hot really fast!!!

My mistake was leaving my bow and hunting gear next to the road and hiking up that really steep hill back to my truck. As I got to the top of the ridge, just past a large oak tree, I looked down, behind the tree, and 2 really nice bucks where eating in the shadow of that tree, maybe 20 yards away. I froze, watched them eat, and after awhile, decided to go back for my bow. I got about three steps when they saw me, and took off!!!!

On a quite mourning just at first shooting light while trying to reach my hunting spot in Colorado I noticed a large Mule Deer dogging a doe about 50 yards from me. My brain went dead and I tried to shoot without chambering a round. You could of heard the click for a mile. Needless to say the buck left their like a rocket and I have had bad dreams ever since about that mistake.

Let the window slam on my blind. First year on the lease and my blind wasn't finished, so I used para cord wrapped around a screw to keep my windows up. Biggest buck I've seen on my lease walks out and I'm about to kill a stud buck. I pull the window up, wrap it around the screw and bam. The para cord slips off the screw, window slams shut and the buck ran off never to be seen again.

There have been a number of situations but I guess the one most frustrating was when I failed to get a buck that appeared to have 12 to 15 points. It was the first day of deer season and I had arrived at the stand before daylight. Using binoculars I could see nothing for a while. Then after straining my eyes I thought I could see movement near the feeder. Finally I could barely see the buck, picked up the rifle and looking thru the scope I just could not see him well enough. I switched the rifle to my left as it is the stronger eye. just as I did this looking thru the scope I see him jump out of the pen. Caught him on a camera once after that but was never able to get a shot.

I watched a buck for so long last year telling myself I wasn't going to shoot it. After about 30 minutes I changed my mind and didn't go through my pre-shot routine. I failed to account for the downhill angle and spined him. Shot was high. I had to go up and finish him off, in front of my son. I used it as a learning lesson but I felt bad of course. Oh and when I use my Dad's Mini-30 I've failed to remember to let the bolt slam like an AR. Click is a terrible sound for sure.

Biggest mistake ever was when my father and I were walking back to camp from a morning hunt. I was using a single shot .357 max that used to be a pistol, but had been converted to a rifle. When we were about 40 yards from camp I cracked it open, took the round out, and placed it in my ammo sleeve. As soon as I snapped the rifle shut we both hear and see hogs scatter. They were bedded down about 8 yards off the trail and we spooked them. They all ran about 10 feet or so and stopped. I was looking at a decent sized sow within spitting distance and no round chambered... My dad shouldered his rifle and dropped on, and they all took off. Shoulda, coulda, woulda never taken that round out until we were at the house. Never again has this or will this happen.

ditto

You guys must be on leases with some real winners.

It wasn't until I was well into my adult years that I realized the key in shooting from your opposite shoulder is to use your non-dominant eye to aim through the scope or sights. I was amazed at the ease in which it can be done once you realize this simple fact. Not sure how many deer I may have passed up knowing there was no way I could twist in the stand without being busted.

Several years ago I went to hunt at my dads in Missouri. I bow hunted seven days before the rifle season and then rifle hunted for four days. I was able to get a couple of does opening day of rifle season but never saw a buck I wanted to take. On Wednesday morning, the fifth day of rifle season, I woke up and was absolutely exhausted. I decided to sleep in.

Well I was laying there telling myself to get up and get to the stand. I laid there and laid there. I finally got up. By this time sun was already starting to come up. I got dressed and was fixing to leave the house but I could smell coffee brewing from the kitchen. I went and had a cup of coffee with my dad because it was very cold outside. I drank the coffee, grabbed my rifle and out the door I went.

As I was walking to the gate that I walk through to got up the hill to my stand I looked out across my dads pasture and walking down the fence was a doe and five steps behind her was a buck. My jaw would have hit the ground if it could have. This was a buck of a lifetime. I took off running parallel to the fence to get ahead of the buck to possibly get a shot. I was far enough away that he never saw me but he made it to the neighbors fence and jumped it and I never saw him again. After seeing this deer and running the distance I ran. I couldn't of gotten a shot off anyway.

Now here is the sad part. The stand I was going to hunt that morning was on that fence two hundred yards from where I first saw him. He would have walked right under it following that doe. If I would have got my butt out of bed I could have possibly harvested this buck.

Now here is another sad part (at least for me). That afternoon the neighbor shot that deer. It was a perfect typical 12. Heavy main beams, long g2s and g3s and it Scored 182. I've learned not to sleep in anymore. Lol

My biggest deer hunting mistake is all the years I wasted not deer hunting.

A few years back, we were on a lease out in west Texas. I had taken up bow hunting a year prior. I was determined to kill a mule deer buck with that bow while stalking. Sure enough, I spotted this 4x3 with a jacked up rack. He was an old deer, and was in the middle of the wheat field heading towards the fence line. I started slinking through the trees to head him off. After 45 min or so, I made it to the spot he was going to cross, and was about 15-20 yds from him. I decided to go ahead and draw, so when he walked through the opening, I'd just let it fly. I didn't chack my surroundings, and as soon as i hit full draw and saw his head appear, a doe behind me stomped, and took off, taking him with her. I went back out that evening and dropped him from 150yds with my rifle.

Another was watching the biggest typical 8pt WT i've ever seen on opening day last season. I was after a big 11 we had been seeing, and didn't want to end my season so quick. Well, after having him pass at 15yds, seeing his true size, i decided to get an angle on him and shoot. He never gave me a shot, walking directly away from me for 200yds. That 11 never showed his face the entire season. Needless to say, that 8 is now on my hit list this year and will not get a second thought.

First time deer hunting - I was on the Caddo South Public hunting land. A huge buck came right at me and stood twenty yards away. I was blocking the path he used to go into a creek. Problem is I did not have a round chambered in my .308. As I tried to work the bolt he gave out a grunt and was gone. Lesson learned always have one chambered and ready.

My biggest hunting mistake. Well, It's not really a mistake, but when i see a deer, especially a big buck, I get the shakes really really bad......
One year i had to wait about 5 minutes for the shaking to subside to climb out of the stand...

300 mag.

'Hate that round.

Biggest mistake: Hunting without a license...

no, just kidding. [b][/b]never ever do that!

Not going hunting