Anyone get mixed up in the heat of the moment and squeeze off on the wrong animal?


My first deer, I was shooting a big doe. Doe wouldn't give me the right angle so I moved over to the fawn next to her to "practice". Well, the gun wasn't on safety.....


Years later I was trying to kill this old 6 point ( coincidentally with the same rifle ) and adjusted the magnification on the scope and got back on him. Went to squeeze the trigger and it didn't go off....safety was on. Deer lifted his head at the same time and I discovered it was a teenage 10 point I had the crosshairs on. Freaked me out, but I recovered and got the 6 point. God looks out for us sometimes, as that would have gotten me kicked off the ranch more than likely.

Like having a bunch of doe in front of you and shooting the biggest one only to walk up and see his balls and sub 1" spikes?? Nope. Never...

~1985 or so. I had a group of four does and a spike come by my blind one day. Dad really wanted one more deer, so after they milled around about 10 minutes, I shot the biggest of the does. Turns out it was four fawns and I was the proud owner of a nubbin buck.

It happens.

Had an ugly three year old 6 pointer that was definitely on my managment target list and within our harvest rules. Shot a big ol' ugly cull nine that shouldn't have lived that long and was appropriately excited when I hit him hard. Went after him in what knew was going to be a successfull pursuit and ran across that 6. Thinking I could get a double, I nailed him right then and there. On foot, standing up, open handed and leaving me proud. I felt like Natty Bumpo. Yes, I was the Hawkeye of NE Lasalle County.

Called in for help from the Granzinator to use his vehicle as a meat wagon. He eagerly got over there and we enjoiced with the specatacle of the big cull and got him in the blue P/U. Went over to where the 6 was and, pretty much picked him up effortlessly as it was the wrong deer. Maybe a two year old. It took that P/U a little while to rendevous back at camp where everyone was waiting. He told us the 6 had blown out of the P/U and when they figured it out, they had to back track and retrieve him.

It was still a good shot - one that cost me $500.

Yes I have.

Wrong WT buck and wrong bull elk. Buck walked behind a bush, walked out the other side and it was a little smaller buck. I never saw the second buck.

Guide and I were on a monster bull, 380+. Bumped him and guide said he's going through an opening up the mountain. I set up on shooting sticks, sun dead in my eyes. I told the guide that I can tell if it's a bull or cow but hard to tell the size of antlers. There were a bunch of elk in the herd. They started funneling through the opening at 365 yards away. Several walked through before he said "there he his". I shot and dropped him. Got to him and we realized it was a different bull that was in the group. Still a 352" bull, but I sure was disappointed after seeing the 380+ monster.

We were having a family hunting weekend and my uncle shot a buck at 180 yards. The buck fell out of sight but got up and my uncle anchored him for good. We walked over to where the deer went down and discovered he had shot two different bucks. Apparently the second buck was bedded down and had gotten to his feet when his buddy bit the dirt. My uncle took home quite a bit of deer meat on that trip.

I was invited to a ranch to deer hunt with some other customers a fe years ago. I got my buck on the second day but we had a contest going for the largest doe taken. I shot one the next day that I was positive would be the winner! Went over to drag her out of the brush by the legs and when I turned her over there was a set of testicles staring at me! The antlers were about 1/2" long. Needless to say, I didn't win the contest.

Yep, made a great shot on a very small doe...She was tender and delicious...

I guess I should share my shame. I was in a ground blind on the edge of a cut over soybean field. I knew there was a big buck that frequented that area. The daylight got dimmer and dimmer, and here he came, with 5 or more doe. I could pick him out with my Leica binocs, but when I raised the rifle I couldn’t see which one was the buck. The scope wasn’t as good in low light as the binocs. I had to get this done fast, so i went to a shaky backup plan. With the binocs, I could see that the buck was the third deer left of a big oak. I raised the rifle and shot him. Couldn’t find him quickly, so my cousin and his son came to help. The son found him, and the deer hadn’t gone far into the woods. The nasty kid yelled out that he found the buck, but I must have shot the horns off him. It appears that from the time I decided on the third deer being the buck, the deer shuffled the lineup.

That’s bad enough, but that da** kid, now a grown lawyer, thinks that was the funniest thing ever, and every time he gets a little whiskey in him, he has to tell that story. Miserable kid…

And I went right out and got a better scope for use in fading light.

Yes. Once with a friend, way across an open field. Helluva shot at a lone "doe." And that's all this good friend would say - "Helluva shot." I picked her up with one hand. (There might have been beer involved.)

6 or 7 years ago on a lease, mule deer buck, uphill, fading light, last night I had to hunt. 'Only time I've yelled the f-bomb out loud hunting. My record ground shrinkage event. I drove straight to the LO's house and explained that I'd messed up. He was cool, and he could be a real sphincter at times.

I'm certain there's one or two more times in 53 years of hunting, but they're not worth mentioning.

In the excitement, the one deer a guy shot "getting up" and him winding up with two deer is a common mistake. There's a pastor I named "Two Bucks" after a hunt I invited him on. He hated that name.

Ya know, the real "experts" on here will never comment on this thread. It is them internets. "Sux to be you" is the modus operandi of the insecure.

I had a big, wide 8 point showing up at my feeder, very early about 5 mornings in a row. But he would leave before legal shooting hours. Then one morning, it was still pretty dark, I looked through my binoculars and there he was, checked my watch and it was still 7 minutes till legal shooting time. At legal time, I raised my gun, 300 win mag, looked through my scope and he was still in the pen, head down, but broadside. I squeezed the trigger and when I recovered I seen him jump out the far side of the pen. I knew I couldn’t have missed so waited about 20 minutes and climbed down to go check. As I walked up to the feeder, there laid a little basket 8 point. I shot the wrong deer. Luckily it was before antler restrictions.

Hunting in Arkansas the first morning of gun season many years ago, a nice eight pointer was rubbing a sapling about eighty yards in front of me. I was thirty feet up a pine tree in a climber and there was some high grass but I could see the upper half of the buck. I got him broadside and shot and he disappeared in the brush behind the opening. I was sure I hit him but waited to climb down.

A couple of minutes later I see the deer pop back out at the same spot so I shot again and dropped him DRT. I waited a little later and then climbed down and went over there.

I got there and looked at the head a little more carefully and realized it was a different deer than the first one. I started to walk around the brush and found blood and found the first deer dead on the property line of our lease.

Fortunately I had two buck tags and had filled them by 8:05 of the opening morning. Then the real work began.

You could say that! My very first deer hunt when I was 12 in 1972. I was told to shoot the biggest deer. I never heard biggest buck, just biggest deer. It was my first deer hunt by myself. I had a dozen or so does come in. I picked out the biggest one and shot her. She ran fifty yards or so and piled up. Let's just say my uncle and pop were not very happy with me. Four hours later she was in butcher paper. On the way home pop gave me a hug and said good shot.

yes, long story, I won't bore you

years ago in Llano county up by baby head mountain (hill), all of the hunters had seen a big 10 point but never could get a shot on him, he always ran with a decent 8 point & a young 4 point. My dad and I were driving up in the pasture for an afternoon hunt when i spotted the big 10 staring at us about 100 yards away, I stepped out of the truck as the threesome broke hard right thru the cedars with the big 10 in the lead. I shouldered my rifle following the group thru the small openings between trees and I knew there was a small lane coming up that they had to go thru. Off safety and waiting, they broke into that last clearing, almost straight away and I see antlers thru my scope, bang ... they I see 2 more white flags of the other 2 deer. We walk over to gaze on my prize to find I shot the nice 8 point ... evidently he got in front of the 10 somewhere back in the brush. It was still a very nice deer for the area but not the big 10 I wanted.

No

For sure.....Sonora MX 2010

I definitely have , I was invited to a friends ranch to only shoot does. This is where they live so they know the herd well. His last words to me were “ be careful and don’t accidentally shoot a little nub buck, it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes “ I thought about that all weekend . 4 does came out , I thought , of course the one I shot was a small nub buck.

I’ve never forgiven myself for that

We used to have a couple people on our lease who shot deer not on the hit list and maybe a few others we did not know about.
1st few years of AR's we only took a couple of bucks. Lease boss called me one morning as I was on my way to the lease and said one of these fellows had shot a nice buck that morning, but couldn't find a blood trail and if I would help him Track once I arrived. Well after determining that he was looking 40 yards away from where he actually shot the deer. We found blood and hair and tracked for about 75yards to only find a small 8 that I am not sure was even legal (never put a tape on it). No way he didn't know this buck was borderline barely legal. He actually admitted that since he had not seen anything the past 2 years that was legal that he was due a deer so that's why he shot it.
We also had a nice wide 6 point on camera one year before AR's and opening weekend we showed everyone the pics and said he needed to be taken out.
A younger hunter who should never have had been on the lease in the first place (in 2 years he only came when he hunted, never helped on lease weekends and only baited his stand when he came to hunt) Well opening morning he text and says he has shot the big 6 and to meet him at the draw. This confused me since his stand was over 600 yards from this draw. We show up to help load it up and there on the ground is a young 6 point maybe 11" that may have been 75 lb's on the hoof. We said why did you shoot this deer? He replied that we told him to shoot the big 6. (We blew our gaskets and I tore him a new A$$. Told him if he had put in any fing effort around the lease leading up to opening day that he would have known this was in no way shape or form the deer we showed him on camera and wanted to shoot. Come to find out since he had not been running a feeder any part of the year that he had not seen anything and got out of his stand and started walking thru the woods and jumped the small buck. He left that morning after cleaning that deer and never came back that season. Fortunately, we lost a 1/3 the lease that summer and him and the first guy in this post were low men on the totem pole and were told they would not be coming back.

Can't say I have either. However, I did shoot a doe once that had a young fawn that didn't show until after the doe was down. I was hunting an old logging road at the time and didn't see the fawn until I walked down to check the doe. And to make matters worse, the little thing hung in the area while we loaded the mother. I still regret that shot and it has since made me sensitive about not shooting does with young ones. Some like to make the claim "they'll make it" but I know how coyotes can even chase an adult deer to the point of exhaustion. Anyone who has watched deer for any length of time knows how young deer pay attention to older deer when it comes to threats and danger.

I shot a button buck once thinking I was shooting it's mom. I still for the life of me have no idea how they switched positions and me not see it...they went behind a bush I didn't think they both could get behind but evidently that is exactly what happened. I felt like crap doing it...still do to be honest. This was 30 years ago...man he dropped like a sack of taters too, can still see it

So let’s hear it!

Saw Roger Raglin shoot the wrong deer on a hunting show one time.

Shared this story before here where my newer HS friend and new deer hunter shot a nubbin buck thinking it was a small doe down in South Texas about 40 years ago. Dad kept it Lite while helping assist him in the cleaning, "XX is this your first", "XX, no I've shot 1-2 other doe", my Dad" Doe, XX this is a big buck right here, no doe, all balls, juevos, see here they haven't yet dropped", lol. Dad always had a way of making folks feel good even when they should probably be made to feel a little bad. XX tells me about that story still to this day and how my Dad taught him immensely. Like said, it can and may happen to anyone.