How many deer have you missed?

I'm taking the walk of shame on this one...

I know for a fact, I flat out missed 3 deer in 25 years of hunting

Not a single one was a particular hard shot either.

I missed sleep on them all

Let's here them!

I missed one last year not sure what happened but he only went about 10 yards and my second shot connected right where I wanted it to. Only thing I can figure is the bullet deflected off a small branch between me and him that I couldn’t see in the scope zoomed in 14 power. That’s the only deer I’ve ever pulled the trigger on and missed but I redeemed myself.

Missed 3 that I can remember. If you haven’t missed you probably haven’t been hunting long. It happens.

I missed my only chance ever at a droptine buck at 80yds.

Kind of missed....nailed this T post

3 that I can think of in 23 years of hunting. All 3 ended up being scopes that lost their zero when I checked after a miss.

I didn't give any examples but on the last Miss I know why

It was a little chilly and I was wearing thin gloves.

My gun has a Timney set around 2.5 lbs

It went bang as I was coming down on his shoulder

It was no excuse but why

With a gun I can remember 2, shot a small branch with a rifle and the other was with a Thompson Contender in 35 Remington. It was really hard on scopes and my bad for not checking zero.
With a bow I have missed more than I will admit due to way too many reasons. String jumping and misjudging distance before range finders came to be are but a few of them.

Man that's tough, I've never saw a DT in the field

I've missed 4 deer in my hunting career. That's from when I was 12 until now. I started hunting alone at 11. All were chip shots too and just rushed the shots. My fault totally. I did miss a hog a few weeks back and honestly don't know how. I was using hornady ammo and the gun kicked and jumped like it never had. I about never got my bolt open and bullet ejected. Noticed it when I ahot a bobcat the week before. Not near as bad though. A little tough to get bolt pulled back. The brass on both seemed swelled and almost stressed cracked. Went back to Nosler and haven't had it happen again. Sorry for off topic. It thought I would share.

Oh, for cryin' out loud. I've missed plenty. Lose sleepover a miss? I've lost sleep over the few animals I've wounded and not found.

Anyone who says they've never missed is a dam liar.

Maybe I take it too hard, but yeah 100 percent I lost sleep over it.

I've had 2 wounded and never found. Those hurt too.

I’ve missed a couple hogs and a couple coyotes and 1 deer. I’ve only shot about 6 bucks, 3 spikes, and maybe 5 doe in my life so far. Pretty sad you assume people who haven’t missed a deer are automatically liars. Not everyone who hunts deer has been hunting them for 40 yrs some people are just starting and will prob miss at some point for one of many reasons.

Hunted for 52yrs. Killed many deer and some really good ones. Sure I've missed ️️deer but the ones I remember the most are the ones I lost and didn't recover.....2 big bucks an a doe

Just one that I can remember. It happened two or three seasons ago after I had let my rifle slide off a tree it was leaning against. I watched it slide off and fall squarely on the top of the scope. Never being one to place blame on a "bumped" scope, I considered the rifle and scope to be uneffected until I missed a very nice buck about two weeks later. A test shot found it hitting almost a foot high.l

The main reason I've missed so few is because the number that I've let walk because I didn't trust the shot is much higher.

Never been lucky enough to clean miss a deer yet. But I've wounded a couple.

Point, most assuredly, taken. But you might not want to be so quick to disparage the opinions of people who have. With all due respect for where you've been, and what you've done... you can learn from everyone, even those you don't necessarily agree with.

I wish I could say I missed four but after much reflection I'm 95% sure two of them were poor shots that I initially thought were misses and didn't do my due diligence. I believe in both cases I misjudged where they were when I shot them and because I saw no blood at the time I assumed that I missed. I was young and I just didn't know better. The last miss was the best miss. I have a CZ that has a SST and I had pushed it forward the weekend before at a family reunion showing a couple of cousins how it worked without then dry firing it to reset it. So when it came time to shoot a good ten it was really cold and I had thick gloves on and before I was ready I fired a round high over the top of the bucks back. Fortunately I saw him the next year and didn't make any mistakes and he's the best buck I've ever shot and he hangs on my wall today.

I don't agree with you here simply because someone that responds to this post might have only hunted for a short time and not really had the chance to miss. But I will say that if guys hunt long enough they will most likely miss one.

I’ve missed several. The one I remember most though was when I was about 14 or 15. I walking the edge of a cotton field behind our house, looking for a climbing stand someone had stolen from me. My brothers dog was with me and flushed the biggest buck I’d ever seen out of a thicket. He stopped and looked at me at about 75 yards dead broadside. I shot several times with my .30-30 and never connected. He trotted off.

Figured out my scope had come loose and was basically worthless. I’ll never forget that one.

[/quote] Pretty sad you assume people who haven’t missed a deer are automatically liars. Not everyone who hunts deer has been hunting them for 40 yrs some people are just starting and will prob miss at some point for one of many reasons.[/quote]

Alot of your quotes are very antagonistic.

On another note

I have missed. I will take a clean miss over a wounded animal any day. I can’t recall a clean miss on a deer, but I have wounded and lost two does with sting, a buck and an elk with a rifle. I think about those game animals often, it makes me a better hunter. It makes want to practice more and take ethical shots.

Yep. Hunt long enough and it will happen. Missed a 20" wide buck opening weekend. Talk about being disgusted with myself. I rushed the shot. He was ready to bolt so tried a neck shot at 80 yards. I actually had buck fever for the first time in years. It was a clean miss. Just recently caught him on camera, no worse for wear. He is still my target buck for this season.I

It's amazing how I can replay every miss in my head. Two of them still bug me. Lol. As mentioned above the misses have made me a better hunter. Still sucks to miss one. Worse to wound one though and never find it. That would stick with me for a while I'm sure. Regardless it happens and all you can s is learn from it and move on.

I had a girlfriend that worked on a big hf down south and talked a big game. When I took her hunting she was 1 for 3 missed one twice just standing there and wounded one I dont know where that was just standing there. Deer kept getting up with no blood at all and running 50 yrds. I told her it looked like a miss by no reaction. Guess not. Never ran it down. Told her she was done. She did get one. Always hated to let her try. Missed hogs right in front of her too. Sukkked.

I’ve missed a couple, hit one that I never recovered with a rifle, and hit one that I never recovered with a bow. I have not missed/wounded one with a rifle in a long time. Missed a big 10 with bow about a decade ago. I don’t shoot at many though - especially in recent years.

If getting shook up, having to take a deep breath, and watching the biggest buck I ever had a chance at turn and walk back in the woods counts, I did that 3 years ago.

That’s the one that still haunts me.

Missed several hunting in thick woods. Sure I was shooting thru brush and it is gonna happen to us all....

I’ve missed twice, what would have been my first deer, later found a loose scope ring on dads rifle. And the other was 5 years ago when I got back into hunting, first deer I had shot at in 8 years. A doe at 200+ yards and I shot under her. It happens, everyone misses, if you “never miss” your either a liar or haven’t done much hunting.

Probably close to a hundred I never kept records.
Adios,
Gary

Missed 2 deer with a gun and 1 with a bow best I can recall.

I have yet to miss on a deer, but I have clean missed a hog at probably 30 yards. It was getting dark, open sight rifle and a steep angle. I went for a behind the ear shot and flat out missed.

I have missed 4 deer with riffel in 43 years hunting. 2 with bow but I have only bow hunted 25 years.i have had 3 knocked down and then got up and ran did not find. That's the downside but man have I made some amazing shots this got me thinking back I can hit one running at 150 yds. It does seem like the missed ones were not too hard of shots and do cause lots of scope changes and even stitches . Missed big one had to ck sight in 7 stitches got deer next morning.

Three with a gun and one with a bow. Most of them from just not knowing any better when I was younger. Rushed a couple and had one where I completely misjudged the distance and shot right under a buck at 300 yds.

Although in all honesty the bow miss was earlier this season... second year bow hunting and first ever attempt at a deer with my bow, really bad buck fever, didn't hold low enough, and a nice 10 jumped the string at 30 yds, clean miss. I had been practicing diligently but no amount of practice had me prepared for that

That will happen to every bow hunter several times over their lives. About all you can do is play the odds and aim low. Missed a nice one once by over correcting and shooting too low too when he didn’t move.

Bowhunting ain’t for sissies.

I've missed 2 that I never found blood or sign of a hit that I believe we're from brush deflections. I've missed three on the first shot that luckily I was able to down with a follow up shot. Two of those three were caused by me not remembering to extend my collapsed stock on my AR10 after arriving for my sit. The other was misjudging the distance before we used range finders. The hardest shots that were without a rest without time to think, just react I haven't missed yet. If you hunt long enough, it will happen to you. I've hunted about 41 years now.

Not very many over my many years of rifle hunting, mainly because I don't take questionable shots, and I'm a pretty fair marksman, so I pride myself in that respect.
That said, back when I was a teen I took about a 300 yard shot at a huge buck that was across a canyon. All I saw was a cloud of dust over the back of the big buck that was standing on the side of the hill across the canyon. He took off and I was sick, and I still remember that to this day, and that was about 55 years ago.
Bowhunting is a different story. If you hunt long enough as mentioned above you are going to miss, but practice and patience is how you lower your chances of a miss.

Never missed a deer i was shooting at. But have been known to lie from time to time.

all I was saying is assuming people are liars before they give you a reason to believe so or without ever meeting them makes no sense. Lots of people have never missed YET. Add in bow hunting and their chances go way up

Just curious, what rings and bases were you running?

I've missed one. A simple doe at a little over 100 yards. It was right after I started hunting and shooting some. Buck fever got the best of me, and yanked the trigger. Killed the crap out of the tree limb behind the deer. I hated missing.

After that, I started shooting more and loading my own ammo. I dialed in my 270 Win with several different loads (a 135 grain Sierra Matchking for targets and 130 SST for hunting). I shot a lot of the 135 SMK for plinking and target shooting. I took a long range shooting class with a 270 Win, and the bug of long range and precision shooting was born.

I still hate missing. I hate missing much more than I like getting a round on target. I expect the round to be on target. So I practice enough to make sure the round goes where I want it to, exactly where I want it. Not close or kind of close. Exactly.

With a gun: zero
With a bow: 3 or 4, can't recall. I generally forget about them real quick.

1 with a rifle when I was probably 12-13yo.. missed a 160 class down in freer at 75 yards broad side with my grandpa’s 30-30.. the guy hunting one blind over drove up with that same deer about 45 min later..

I’ve missed a few pigs as well...

lol, love this answer.

I've been truly blessed. Never missed or lost a deer in 60 years of hunting. Hogs yes, coyotes yes. But then sometimes I just sling lead at them. I don't do that with a deer. And maybe it was because I did not start out hunting for sport. It was food for my family.

This is my 39th deer season. I haven't missed a deer yet, and had one failure to recover. That one bothers me. It was a chip-shot at 75 yards. I know I hit him solid. Found good blood, hair, found a spot he laid down and bled a LOT. We did everything right, just never found that deer.

Now this guy...I might believe. 'True gentleman. No reason to believe he'd lie.

I have clean missed three, lost one, and wounded/lost one deer in 25 years of deer hunting. I did redeem myself on two of the misses by harvesting them later (one the last day of season two months later, the other two days after the miss). Didn't so much redeem myself on the wounded one as make the hurt a little less by killing a bigger buck the next day.

I remember them all vividly and learned a tremendous amount from all of the experiences. Hardest thing to swallow is that 3 of these 5 experiences have happened in the last three consecutive seasons and the other two when I was just a kid.

You guys must be true marksmen. I’ve missed more deer than I can count in the last 35 years. When I was a kid we didn’t hunt out of stands. Many of our shots were on running deer while we were walking rimrock. I had plenty of practice from shooting running jackrabbits with a 22, but I still missed with the trusty 30-30 every now and then.

Ive missed some long shots the first time with a scoped rifle, but the second one usually connected after seeing where the first one hit, if they couldn’t figure out where to run. I’ve never missed one out of a blind that I can remember. I still don’t know how that’s possible with a rest and all of the time you want, but some of the kids we hunt with miss quite often.

I have a bench rest on the back porch with a 150 yard feeder and have seen kids and adults miss hogs and deer standing still with unhurried shots.

When I was guiding I remember a lot of missed shots for no reason, even when they were shooting my rifle and my handloads.

We need a thread for all of the guys that can count all of the dove and Quail they’ve missed for no unexplained reason. My only claim to fame is, I’ve never missed a Quail a new pointer pup pointed for the first time. I’m damn careful with that first point. My grandfather was convinced if you missed a Quail on a pups first point you had screwed up bad. I don’t think it’d be the end of a good dog but I don’t want to find out.

I agree there’s no rational reason to miss from a good blind/rest from a clinical standpoint.

But, that doesn’t take into account emotions and adrenaline. I still get those. So I’m capable of missing.
The day I stop getting them, I’ll quit.

I've missed a few does I tried shooting in the head and a few neck shots. Two were the cause of severely off zero scopes

Missed an axis doe I shot at with an open sighted SKS. Don't know how I missed.

Shot at a aoudad once 3 times and found out I was shooting over him. Killed him 3 days later

Missed a a few deer with a bow....twice on a very large sika deer. Ended up getting him on the third try


You shoot at enough deer you will miss.

I believe they guys who have killed a dozen or so deer that they have not missed. You shoot at a hundred or so law of averages comes into play.


Throw bowhunting in the mix and yeah, your miss percentage is gonna go up dramatically

Have'nt missed in a while. Must be gettin better at holding my composure and I'm patience. I feel that most missed shots are from quick shots, bad stability, junk sights or weapon, wind, miss judged distance, animal suddenly moves, poor trigger ingagement or even horrible triggrr pull weight,hidden tree limbs ect, junk ammo or arrows, steep elevation, shoot and sometimes it is a hit, but you may not of realized it. I have witnessed it all and done it all. You have to hunt and live and learn. A real hunter may be a believer.

Patient

Ive missed 2. A big 10pt buck back in 07. Was hunting with my remi 742 with cheap see thru rings and a old cheap bushnell banner.
the one form years a go with the BDC turrets. Scope was on the weekend before when I sighted it in. hit the deer real low in the front leg. After 4 hours of looking I gave up. Rechecked my gun. it was a foot low at 100yrds. From that day forward I have never bought cheap rings bases or scopes.

Missed a doe back in Feb. this year. She was 350 yards out down hill. in a rush I had a brain fart and held the wrong elevation in my reticle.

If you like old Remingtons get a 721 and trick it out with trigger work and a floated barrel. One fine piece with good rings and optics. The most solid chrome bolt I"ve seen. Nice blind mag too. not a 742. Ewww sorry, never seen a woodmaster that held a group. Even the old Rem. Pumps would shoot good groups. Guess trial and error. Been there. Just floating a barrel gives good rifle range groups for consistant hunting accuracy. Trying to figure out a hot trapped barrel at the range will leave you with no ammo or confidence.

Clean miss?

In 40 years of hunting.

With a gun one. With a bow six, and four of those were in one day, then I got serious about practicing.

Hit but not recovered?

With a gun zero. With a bow or crossbow, two.

Just one and it is because I shot at a spot through high grass where I thought the base of his neck was and it was 'nt
I have also only shot one deer that I was not able to retrieve.

4, and one would have been the biggest buck I ever shot. he was only at about 75 yards. He caught me off guard. I had leaned my rifle against a tree and had bent down to tie my boot. I heard something running and looked up to see a doe being chased a BIG 10. Had pics of him that year on camera so I immediately knew who it was. I grabbed my gun and hit a knee. I just rushed it and shot right under him.. he continued chasing his doe.. What should have been a chip shot and a big buck down was a heartache for weeks!!

But yes it happens and that is just part of it!!

Only missed one whitetail, in 2011. Funny, because it was a chip shot on a spike at about 60 yds. Went for a brainstem shot, missed big time, just wasn't concentrating. Luckily he didn't run off, so I put the next one in the vitals and down he went.

Nearly missed a big Mule Deer in NM in 2010. He was about 100 yd further out than I thought. Misjudged his range because his body was so big, it was open country, and the range finder was froze. Got lucky and still hit him, but had it been 1" lower I'd have missed.

Missed a cow elk bigger than Dallas in 2012. Again she was further out than I judged and range finder was frozen over.

Finally, I missed lots of running Nilgai in the years I was hunting them on the King. Still not a pro at the running shots.

1984, riding in a pickup bed on a lease, we rounded a corner and a buck and doe took off running. I dropped the doe cold, and the buck just stood there. After about 10 seconds of staring, I asked my dad if I should shoot him and he says yes. 80-90 yards broad side, I smooth missed him. Watched him run off quite a ways and jump a fence, plenty healthy. Too much time to think about the shot.

I don't remember all the misses, but in ~38 years of hunting, it's probably one every three years or so on average. Maybe 10-12 total?

Two. First time I was about 13. I was really focused on NOT jerking... slowly squeezing the trigger. Yep, he jumped the feeder pen fence right as it went BOOM. I caught chit about the jumpin deer for 20 years.

Other one was about 10 years ago. I bumped my scope getting into a tree blind but wasn't sure if was that or the barrel. An old 10 pt showed up and I shot right over his back but right on line. He spun around to see WTH just happened but didn't leave. I was able to adjust and dropped him on the next shot.

Missed a bunch when I was a teenager. Missed 3 times couple years back with my 10in 30-30 TC pistol. Just bought it and was PROMISED it was sighted in. It wasn't. I didn't check. My bad.

With my main rifle? I hadn't missed in 20+ years. Until this year. Still not sure what happened. Clean miss.


May have been my worst year EVER hunting in 30+. One miss with main rifle, and even worse a wound with my bow. Still so upset about the bow, I am about to sell her on eBay. She did nothing wrong, I just don't do enough of what is needed to be proficient.

Haven't slept well down at the lease. Been questioning everything. Misses hurt. Wounds hurt worse

About 5 years ago, the night before opening morning, we were hanging around the fire having a good time. Things got out of hand and before I knew it it was 3am. I knew that there was zero chance I’d wake up in a couple of hours, so I got my stuff and walked half a mile to my blind and slept there. Woke up at about 7:30 with a few does under the feeder. Then I realized how horrible I felt. Then about 10 minutes later the biggest buck we’ve ever seen on our place walks out. He was in no rush at all...I had all the time in the world. But my hung over butt couldn’t get steady. 130 yd gimme shot and I missed. Missed a 2nd shot as he ran too. That is the only deer I have ever missed. If it happens again it won’t be for the same reason...not making that mistake again.

Haven't missed a deer with a rifle or a handgun in over 40 years but I have lost 3 during that time (My mistakes every time.), a bow is a different story. I still miss a yote from time to time but I'll shoot far more of them than I do deer.