Had to question my abilities or my bow......

[Sandman]

I missed~!

I took a watch yesterday morning at the Ayr property where I was seeing the rubs. I was in my climber and settled in at 4:30 (probably a little too early). It was a great morning and the wind was perfect. At about 7:30 I did some light grunting which I think paid off....

At about 8:10 I looked to my right and here comes this fella (the one from my trail cam)....Let me tell you he is a very nice animal.



He came in from the last place I would think a deer would come and held up at about 35 yards. I waited and after what seemed a lifetime he started directly for my tree. Because of his line of sight I couldn’t move. At about 25 yards he stopped and looked back giving me enough time to get "Maxine" up and hold on a 20 yard lane. He continued on and at the 20 yard lane I let out a soft grunt and stopped him perfectly giving me a great b/side shot. Off with the safety and slowly squeezed off the trigger....TWACK...And...there he stands for about 2 seconds...as I look through the scope I can see my fletching underneath him in the ground *&%$****. He then turns and bounds off towards the hard wood stand and stops about 150 yards away and looks back trying to figure out what just happened (he's not the only one). I pulled out my grunt tube and gave a couple grunts and with that he starts back towards me. I have a tree in front of me to give me some cover to try and get my bow loaded again....Let me tell you folks the ExoMax is a bugger to load in a climber~! I got her loaded and waited...he came right back and stood almost over top of my first bolt. It was at that point I conceded defeat...I was really questioning my bow and thought that if it was out by as much as I missed then there was no way I could ethically and in good conscience try again and risk wounding him~! I tried to get my camera out to at least get some pictures but with my movement he busted out of there like an armed robbery suspect leaving the scene.....

This morning my son and I headed out to the property and I recreated everything and took several shots from the exact same position. I wrecked a fletching with my grouping and other than hitting about 2 inches high my bow was bang on...I still don’t know what happened....SO IT WAS THE HUNTER AND NOT THE EQUIPMENT (maybe a little buck fever too)~!

My son had a great time and I can’t wait until he can join me in the field...I must say he handles my (his) Vixen like a pro...







Still lots of season left to make up for my mistake~!

Cheers,
Robin

[Limbs and Sticks]

A buck like him will make the best of us mess up???The lad looks like he's got it together good luck



WES

[fletch]

Sorry to hear of your misplaced shot SM but hopefully after a while he will return and you will show him that was the first and only mistake. Your son looks like he has the stance down pat. Good luck next time with the big guy.

[wabi]

Is it possible your arrow deflected off something?
I've had a small twig so close it didn't show up in my scope mess up a shot for me.

[DanO]

Sorry to hear about the miss, Sandman. I can relate to your experience. All you can do, is what you've done. I'd chock it up to poop happens and try to push it out of your mind when the next opportunity presents itself. It does make one wonder though!

Dan O.

[mikej]

that too bad better luck next time hopefully. those are some good pics you have there your son looks ready to go

[flbuckmaster]

sounds like a case of "wrongpinditus"
jay

[Grizzly Adam]

Oh, well ... we've all missed.

Sorry you did.

You won't next time!

[saxman]

I pulled a shot this year also as did my daughter.
$H!T happens,misery is optional!!!

[dutchhunter]

great to see the kidds out shooting .One piece off advice what i did go to walmart and buy one off the 20$ shooting sticks thy are fully adjustable for any hieght and with make shooting for him much more fun my girls are 12 and 10 and love to shot with the shooting stick very acuaret sorry about the miss thy dont all come easy DUTCH

[mikew]

Sorry to hear about the miss!

At least you have seen a buck & gotten to shoot.

I was *this* close to getting a shot at a large doe....one more step & she would have been in my lane at 20yds.

Anyway, great pics too!

Better luck next time.

-Mike

[ecoaster]

Sounds like buck fever. Just be thankful you didn't get a bad hit. I don't know if I could have passed on the second shot, but good on you for doing so. I'm sure you will be rewarded. Maybe the big brother of "the King" will show up this fall.

[Sandman]

great to see the kidds out shooting .One piece off advice what i did go to walmart and buy one off the 20$ shooting sticks thy are fully adjustable for any hieght and with make shooting for him much more fun my girls are 12 and 10 and love to shot with the shooting stick very acuaret sorry about the miss thy dont all come easy DUTCH

Thanks I have a makeshift shooting stick....When we shoot we shoot with a rest but mostly without. I dont want him to become too dependent on the rest. There are many times in hunting situations where a nice steady rest is not possible. He is really good shooting free hand. If you look in the last pic you can just see the fletching (yellow) just off of the top right bull by about an inch~!

Cheers,
Robin