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I screwed up #6958185 11/13/17 03:45 PM
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budward Offline OP
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I've hunted all my life, and I screwed up today on a deer. I shot a buck that was too small. I never thought I would be capable of screwing up this bad after all my years hunting but I guess it can happen to anyone. I had been hunting HARD for 9 days, not missing one hunt, hunting in the rain, cold, etc etc. Saw maybe 3 bucks during that time, passed on all 3 along with more does than I could count. My friend comes out one day, immediately shoots a trophy 11 pt in one sitting. While being Extremely happy for him, It does kind of wear on your hunting fortitude after you've been busting butt the past week. Well, yesterday one of the bucks I had passed on earlier that week came busting out of the brush chasing after a doe and it was one of those moments you just get caught up in, after 9 days of not pulling the trigger I got so excited I shot the buck thinking it was much bigger than it was. I immediately knew I had screwed up and have been chastising and beating myself up about it since. After all the protein, year round corn and herd management efforts, I feel like i made about the dumbest mistake you can make. But, it happens. I figured it would make me feel better to admit it to a bunch of people I don't know. So here it is. Feeling pretty low right now! So don't go too hard on me.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958186 11/13/17 03:46 PM
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Too small or too young?

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958201 11/13/17 03:57 PM
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Chit happens.

I did almost the same thing 3 or 4 years ago. I was about to get in my blind and saw what appeared to be a real nice and wide 8 point 30 yards out staring at me through a small opening in the brush right at my blind, my heart started thumping hard. Snuck up into the blind looked out the window and he was about to go onto the neighbors property to the east, before he went under the fence he turned quarted back at me and bam.

Excited as heck until I came upon his small young bodied what I believe to be a 2 1/2 year old 8 point with an 18" inside spread, kicked myself for a month over that hammer


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Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958208 11/13/17 04:01 PM
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AdvTX Offline
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I did the same thing after 15 years of bow hunting I shot an 11 point 4.5 yr old. Out of 8 bucks he is the youngest by 2 years. I've been pretty upset with myself too, but can't put him back in the pasture so we must deal with it.


Bow Only
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958211 11/13/17 04:02 PM
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The big buck you were hunting will be bigger next year.


Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958218 11/13/17 04:09 PM
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"Ground shrinkage" happens to the best of us, especially as the season draws to a close. It was most likely the peer pressure that made you a victim so soon.

Like all lessons in life, you learn from it and move on.


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958229 11/13/17 04:17 PM
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Didls Offline
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I appreciate this thread! It certainly makes me feel a little better about my mistake. At 100 yards I had a positive identity on an 11 point that I had on camera. I had been seeing this buck all summer. My other feeder at 50 yards for pig went off. I thought he had headed for it. In a new blind and the sun gone i see him there. No real excuses here but my rookie status. It was not him but a buck I had passed on twice earlier in the hunt.
In a couple of years he would have been a real trophy. When I went to retrieve him now dark I saw the 11 pointer in the tree line with my flashlight his red eyes glowing.
Lessons learned
Patience, Re ID, Scope magnification,

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958230 11/13/17 04:17 PM
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It's just a deer. Don't worry about it. Younger ones are better eating.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958237 11/13/17 04:21 PM
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It happens. Don't beat yourself up.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958252 11/13/17 04:27 PM
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If you hunt in an AR county as long as the buck was 13" wide or unbranched on one side, don't worry about it.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958262 11/13/17 04:29 PM
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cameron00 Offline
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YOU IDIOT.








Just kidding, it's just a deer. Who cares.

Re: I screwed up [Re: scalebuster] #6958279 11/13/17 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: scalebuster
It's just a deer. Don't worry about it. Younger ones are better eating.


Originally Posted by Sneaky
I believe in science and I’m an insufferable [censored]
Originally Posted by beaversnipe
Actually, BBC is pretty damn good

"You Cannot Simultaneously Be Politically Correct And Intellectually Honest!"
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958302 11/13/17 04:47 PM
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Don't worry about it. Enjoy the meat, and you've probably learned something for next time.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958320 11/13/17 04:58 PM
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xitnet Offline
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At 64 years old and hunting most of it, I've done that more than once. Just laugh it off and think about the quality time you had a chance to enjoy instead of working, chores or honey do's. Congrats!!

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958322 11/13/17 04:59 PM
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worthless

It happens


AVOID.....Luna Canyon Outdoor Adventures Chacon NM Elk Hunting. Owner James Duran

https://www.huntnorthnm.com/

PM for details
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958330 11/13/17 05:04 PM
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It's not like we have a shortage of deer in Texas. I wouldn't worry about it at all.


In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958620 11/13/17 08:14 PM
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It happens. Shot a 1.5yo-fork horn a few years back. He was running a doe, could have sworn he was 2.5 and a good cull to take.

And, about 5 years ago in NM I got mixed up between the spot and the stalk in some fog and shot the wrong Muley buck. He's not bad at 150 or so, but the one I originally spotted and thought I was shooting was 180 plus.

As said, Chit happens! Learn from it and move on.

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958646 11/13/17 08:37 PM
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Deerhunter61 Offline
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All these mamby pamsies...BEAT YOURSELF UP! You screwed up big time! Feel real bad! Real bad! Kick yourself in the but a few times...























roflmao

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958650 11/13/17 08:41 PM
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Here's mine. We got on a great new property and the first hunt I did out there I didn't have a bind yet. I sat on the ground in a varmint hunting chair at the end of a corned sendero. It was early December...super cold and the rut was on. We heard rumors of huge deer on the place so we agreed to hold off till we could check the cams and see what our options were.

I sat in the chair and watched doe after doe come through. Some small bucks. The corn starts about 100 yards out and went for a few hundred yards. 30 yards away I see a huge bodied deer coming in through mesquite. Rifle is on a bipod so I pan to the right to get the gun in position....just in case it's a monster...
The rest happened soooooo fast.
The buck caught my movement. I'm on the ground in brushcountry camo. To a tee...no skin showing. I'm in the scope dialing down the magnification. All I see is fur. I look up and he's running right at me. At 9 yards I pick the gun up and stab as I shoot....I have idea why it was a reaction...alll while screaming like a girl. I hit him in the neck and he stops running and staggers a few times and starts running backwards. I shoot the last two rounds and drop him..
I never scored him but he might make 120...... brother killed a 172 and the other guys on the lease killed a 165..

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958657 11/13/17 08:49 PM
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Now Wacm, that there is a story. Wow. Reminds me of "He's coming straight for us!!"

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958659 11/13/17 08:50 PM
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Like someone else said. The big bucks will just get bigger

Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958666 11/13/17 08:56 PM
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Ive shot a few I regret.

One was a crab claw 8 pt that had beams that hooked in real hard and almost touched. I stalked him from about 1/2 a mile to 35 yards and shot him. There was a lot of ground shrinkage on that one, but in the end now I will never forget that stalk.

One of the most recent ones was a buck my wife shot last year. I had about 2 weeks of pictures of him, thought he was a mature buck on camera, thought he was mature buck when we saw him. I told her to take the shot and she shot him. After I tracked and found him I was a little let down, I was thinking he would score around 140 and boy did I miss the mark. His beams and tines were a bit less than I was thinking and he taped out in the upper 120's. In the end after pulling his teeth he was a mature buck 5 at a minimum and probably 6, I'm glad she got him, he just didn't score as well as I would have thought.


It's hell eatin em live
Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958699 11/13/17 09:21 PM
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We keep a ruler in camp. The wooden twelve inch kind you used in school. If we shoot a buck that can be measured with the ruler then you get the ruler award and a lotta ribbing around the fire... We have ALL had the award in 22 years of hunting together. And it does help us remember to look a little longer. I didn't think I was ever gonna get ride of that thing...


Longhunter >>>-------> Make It Count!!!<><





Re: I screwed up [Re: budward] #6958751 11/13/17 09:57 PM
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So kind of a dumb question, but I’ve only been deer hunting a couple of years, what is the appropriate thing to do if this happens to you? Will a deer processor report it to a game warden if it’s under the 13” spread? Are you supposed to report it yourself? Or just tag it and take it in for processing? I know step 1 is not shoot it, but obviously it happens... just curious what you’re supposed to do next.

Re: I screwed up [Re: cameron00] #6958757 11/13/17 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted By: cameron00
YOU IDIOT.


roflmao

Last edited by bossbowman; 11/13/17 10:00 PM.
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