Closest Miss?
General Topic
It was fun reliving this closest kills on the other thread.
How about the heartbreak side of the ledger?
The closest miss you have managed to pull off, or, if you prefer, the one shot you passed on that in retrospect you wish you had let fly.
Seven yards on a very nice 8 point Whitetail from a tree stand. Recurve bow, lumber tip brushed my pants leg and kicked the bow enough to shoot under
I tried shooting through a blowdown at a 10 point less than 10 yards away from the ground.
2014 I had a maybe 275 inch elk (a giant for my OTC part of Sk) at 20 yds broadside pass through an opening. I thought he was going to come out right infront of me so I never drew back. A cow spooked and he was gone. Just a really inexperienced mistake that still kills me
Just a few feet from base of my tree. It was the only shot I've taken on a whitetail with a recurve and it ducked the arrow. Went back to compound bow the next day.
Ah, now we are getting down to the nitty gritty. The last pronghorn I ever tried to draw on. Not technically a miss, just a missed opportunity ! I was hunting in Wyoming in a permanent blind over a water trough on a ranch where Rock used to help run hunts. There was a good goat in the pasture but we were plagued with rain and they weren’t coming to the trough. We had a large pond not too far from where I was set up, and I could see it from my blind. I had seen goats watering there despite my truck being parked near it in a vain effort to keep them off it. The last afternoon just before dark I set my popup in the coulee that fed the pond. It was about the only level spot I could find and still be within range of where the trail was that they had bern using. After I got in the blind I cursed myself for a poor choice of locations because I could see, due to terrain, that any shot I had would be almost in my lap. Sure enough, the buck came down the hill to the pond and was live, in color, in 3D, and in my lap. I had the netting off my window and as soon as I put pressure on my string he saw or heard me. He made two jumps and all I could see were his legs. To say I was crushed would be an understatement. That was about 9:00 A M and we needed to leave by 10:00. It was a long drive back to Texas !
Didn’t measure, but if I had to guess it was somewhere between 3 and 5 yards. I’ll turn a short miss into a long story.
On Kodiak, last day of the hunt, and Treeman and I were sitting on a little knob after another stalk that didn’t work out quite as we planned. As we were sitting there, we look up and see a buck coming right towards on a little deer trail probably about 75-100 yards away.
I was up, and it looked like the deer trail was going to take him directly below us as we sat on this little rise. The country was really open with not a lot of cover, but as the deer disappeared in front of us below the rise, I got up and started to work my way towards him hoping to crest the little rise and have what I knew would be a close shot.
Like I said, he disappeared below the rise and there were a number of waist high willows on this ridge, enough to kind of conceal the deer below us. At this point in time he had disappeared for a good 20-30 seconds, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but between that and the cover, I just kind of didn’t know exactly where to look and I knew he was going to be close!
Finally I picked out his shape in front of me, and like I said, he was somewhere between 3 and 5 yards. When I put the pin on him, all I saw was brown. Because it was so close I thought I could get away without having pinpoint accuracy and knowing he was so close I just kind of rushed everything more than I needed to.
I smacked him squarely in the shoulder blade and the arrow I shot him with (I believe tipped with a Grim Reaper) had essentially zero penetration. So, technically not a “miss” maybe, but certainly not the outcome I was looking for. Learned a lot from that incident - I do a lot of learning when I’m bowhunting!
I was pretty bummed out, but Treeman told me not to be such a whiny beatch about it and managed to put me on a deer and punch my tag a few hours later.
I can miss at any range! It’s a gift..,
—Jim
And for the record that was the last day of that hunt and I didn't fill a tag! Honestly I don’t think I even loosed an arrow at a deer on that trip…but I could be mistaken.
—Jim
It was the last afternoon at that point, I think! And yeah, you had an anchor holding you back all week haha but don’t worry, I think I made up for the arrows you didn’t shoot on that trip! I still owe you one bud ;-)
7 yards at my first six point bull, sitting on my butt. I dropped my bow arm and shot under him. He stopped at 25 and I killed him with that shot.
couple of years ago, 180 class whitetail buck at 16 yards with my recurve. Watched him come in, broadside, head behind a tree and he ducked the arrow. Shot a nice buck last year same distance out of the same stand, right through the heart. Other one was about 15 years ago, hunted out of the same stand for 6 days in a row in windy, blizzard conditions, hunting a particular and large buck in November. Got one glimpse of him on day one and saw his tracks every day when I wasn't in the stand, which was only an hour or two a day. Day 6, I ended up with a baggie of deer hair at 12 yards...go figure
Was on a South Dakota deer drive in a 5 row shelter belt. Was standing behind a 18” tree. Deer were flying past me. Finally a nice buck stopped on the edge of the field edge. Just as I was about to release a fawn came sliding in between my leg & outstretched bow arm. It actually hit my bow causing my bow to fire & completely miss the buck at about 15’. Amazingly he hopped out in the field & stopped wanting to come back in the grove. I let him come back in & shot him at about 10’. Snow camo works better than any other camo I’ve ever used.
JTreeman, I have that same “gift”!
Closest I can recall was a doe that came from behind me where a kudzu patch met a field. She came out under several vines and was within 15 feet of me before I could see her. She was so close that I forgot to pick a spot and shot high. I heard the fletching brush her as the arrow went over. There were 3 or 4 hairs stuck under the leading edge of one of the feathers.
Years ago I had a young forky come out of the creek he was walking up and start licking the base of the tree I was in, ( I had relieved myself minutes before) . I drew back and gave him a meeehh,, he looked right up at me and I put the 20 yard pin on the white patch on his throat. Arrow went right between his legs!
Just this past season I was watching a real tall forky for about half an hour, I was debating on whether or not I wanted to shoot him. Well when he stood broadside at 20 I couldn't take it and let one go . I was relaxed , but maybe I rushed it a bit, I don't know what happened honestly but shot right under him. As he bounded off I laughed at myself for screwing up a sure thing. I guess I can't hit forkys..lol.. it wound up being a blessing as I killed a much better buck the next day.
Almost straight down from my tree. I also had no idea where my arrow went…. The buck ran to about 20 yards and stopped. I shot him right there. Perfect shot. He ran 25 yards and fell over. Still perplexed at how I missed him on that first shot…..
When I was packing up to get down I reached for my pack, which was at about knee height on a branch. There was a perfect four blade broadhead hole through the open top flap. Lol
With the deer being almost straight down I didn’t clear my pack with the arrow. But my sight picture was clear. Still crazy when I think about how I hit that open flap.
Closest miss was probably a doe at about ten or twelve yards. She heard me draw and when the arrow got there her brisket was on the ground. Arrow hung up in the brush behind her so at least it wasn’t a total loss. ;-))
I missed a coyote at 5 feet once. …maybe closer to 4 feet actually- grin.
I saw him trotting towards me. I was behind the bush he would go by and I was already at full draw.
I swear he jumped the string…when he got a step past that bush and saw me he stopped and turned so fast it was crazy.
Around 2000, I was sitting my treestand 2nd afternoon. I had only been elk hunting about 7-8 years with 2-3 tags filled. About 4pm, I see legs slowly moving through the trees. And I mean slowwww. After 15 minutes to cover 30yds out pops this monster 7X7 and he's coming right to the trail I'm set up on. I am literally shaking and he stops at 15 yards broadside. Shot right over his back. I was absolutely sick over that one for 6 months. Remember it like it happened 5 minutes ago.
My closest miss was also my closest archery shot. It was a little under 3 feet at a bull elk (maybe a 5x6 but can't be sure as he was too close to tell). He was in a thick stand of aspen with little twigs poking out of the ground. We were looking eye to eye when I released and I think my arrow or fletching somehow hit a twig and then ended up glancing into a nearby aspen.
To make everyone feel better,
I was elk hunting back in the 90’s with the IBO champ the previous year- this is a guy that can literally hit a 50 Cent piece every time inside 50 yards un-ranged. He was an amazing shot.
He missed a bull coming in at 27 yards.
Had my broadhead cut hair off of deer and never drew blood,,, actually a couple times... That is pretty close...8^)
Both times was with snow on the ground or probably wouldn't have noticed the shaved hair...
Ive had a couple 15 yard misses years ago when I was younger and first starting off. One I dropped by bow arm at the shot. The other one ducked my arrow big time. The buck and I were both jacked up. He came straight into my tree sniffing my tree steps and as he was sniffing the higher one our eyes met. I was at full draw and he spooked and ran 15 yards where the arrow proceeded to fly over his back when he ducked I was shooting a pretty slow bow too at the time.
Shaved the hide off a 170 on a straight down shot. He went back out to the field and chased does for an hr with a perfect shave mark behind his should. Still haunts me
Missed a lot with my Wing but only miss half the time with my Parker . LOL
I missed a gator at like two feet .
Missed a buck once- it was a foot in front of my arrow after he just tried to spike me with his horns and backed off.The problem was we were on a STEEP slope and he was below I could not get the arrow down and anchor or anchor but arrow was too high—Adrenaline took over and decided to try lining everything up from side view—-right over it’s back with nothing but a piece of fur floating down as it ran off.
