Post-Season “Won’t make that mistake again” Thread 2023-24

[HuskerInIowa]

I made a couple of mistakes this year that I hope I won't repeat next year . . . can't say the same for subsequent years . . . after all I am getting old.

The first mistake I made was a new one for me. I hunt using an EZ-V sight and last spring I decided that imagining a circle on a deer's body wasn't as effective as actually practicing shooting at a deer's frame so I bought a standing deer target (my first in all my years of hunting). Well I bought an inexpensive one and its not really representative of a full size deer, at least for an adult buck in northern Michigan. I spent all summer practicing on that target with my EZ-V settling the V on the front shoulder and last rib. I was deadly on that target.

Fast forward to the morning of Nov. 9th. About an hour after light I had a nice 8 walk toward me out of a thick select cut. As he approached I drew and he turned and offered me a direct 30yd broadside shot right in my 3 o-clock position. I centered up the EZ-V and let it fly. The arrow passed just below him and he bounded 10 yds and stopped. He stood there for a minute or two and then turned 90 degrees and continued walking, unaware of what had just happened. Nocking another arrow I managed another undetected draw and he stopped again at 30yds directly in my 6 o'clock position. For a split second I considered aiming higher but I have learned over the years not to make an adjustment based on a single miss. I again centered it up and let it loose. Once again, just under his belly. Still not fully aware of what was going on he leisurely walked off into the brush.

in hindsight I realized that the body of a full sized deer is quite a bit larger than the body of the target I had been shooting at all year. By framing that same amount of deer in the sight I was actually to far up on the V and effectively aiming low. I made the exact same shot twice, neither one of them on target. It's a mistake I won't make again. Even if I don't upgrade my target I now know I need to frame a bit less of the deer than when target shooting.


My second mistake was a lesson I have learned more than once and even preach to my younger hunting buddies. Nevertheless I still repeated it this year.

On the afternoon of Nov. 9th this year (yes, same day as above and same tree) I was setup in the tree for the afternoon hunt at 3:30. At 3:45 a doe came running directly under me from the north with a buck grunting behind her. I drew as she went under me and it turns out she was closely followed by a much nicer 8 than the one from the morning. I "meh'd" twice loudly and managed to stop him right at 15 yds. He was quartering toward me but with the doe still in sight and running away I knew I had to take the shot as given. I centered the EZ-V where I felt his heart would be a let it fly. The shot hit him right where I was aiming and folded him up on the spot. He flopped once and laid there not moving. I was sure he was done. He laid there for at least 2 minutes as I had time to hang up my bow, get out my phone, send a text and, as I was framing a picture of him laying there he suddenly struggled to his feet and staggered off. The blood was visibly pouring out of him as he ran about 50 yards and laid down again within sight of me. Given the circumstances I was still unconcerned, I knew he was done. I watched him lay there for another 5 minutes before he again struggled to his feet and staggered over the hill out of sight. I was still not very concerned, the hit looked good and with blood pouring out of him he was obviously hit well. It was early, I still had almost 2hrs of daylight left, and I sat in the tree for 45 more minutes before rappelling down and packing up my gear which I left at the base of the tree. I walked over to the huge blood puddle where he originally fell and started the track. As expected the blood trail was outstanding and confirmed to me the lethality of the hit. Along that trail I found the arrow (less broadhead) which had definitely penetrated more than 10". There was another large puddle where he had laid the second time and a solid blood trail out of there. I followed it slowly up and over the ridge and down and up over the next ridge. Before I knew it I had covered almost 300yds with no deer. At that point, even though I still had daylight I came to my senses and backed out, in retrospect way too late.

The next morning I went back and picked up the trail again. While I found several puddles along the track where he had obviously stopped for periods of time I never found what I would definitely call a bed. To make a long story short, I tracked a really good blood trail for over 700 yds (GPS trail data) before finally losing it in a thick set of pines. Despite another morning's searching I never did recover that buck. I suspect I one lunged it then bumped it in the initial evening's track job pushing it to keep going.

FWIW, I did call a dog tracker and he declined to take up the job. He was convinced it was just a shoulder shot and not likely recoverable. I thanked him and continued my grid search.

My mistake . . . I should have never continued the track that evening beyond more than 100yds. I knew better and yet did it anyway. Why did I do it? I think it was a combination of causes. First, The deer's reaction and blood trail really made me believe he'd be laying dead just over the next ridge. Secondarily, it was early and the tracking was extremely easy. There was no struggling to find the next blood spot. In fact almost all of the 700 yds the track job consisted of a simple upright walk following blood spatters. Being that easy to follow the distance was just covered too quickly. I never had time to be paused long enough too think "Crap, I should be backing out."

One of many examples of what makes this forum different. It’s not fun to share mistakes. Perhaps a bit cathartic to get it off your chest but not fun. But it helps good lord knows how many people. New to the sport it teaches, vets get reminded, everyone gets humbled from time to time.

Edit: voted after posting and too many of us are too proud.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

One of many examples of what makes this forum different. It’s not fun to share mistakes. Perhaps a bit cathartic to get it off your chest but not fun. But it helps good lord knows how many people. New to the sport it teaches, vets get reminded, everyone gets humbled from time to time.

Edit: voted after posting and too many of us are too proud.

It's been a couple of months plus now so I'm starting to get over the pain . . .

 

[woodsdog2]

In a nutshell:
1.Too picky! Cams can be a blessing and a curse! Who do I think I am? Don Higgins? Jake Bush? I need to get over myself and shoot a decent buck that comes by.

2. Push closer to cover on transition lines.

 

[tylerray378]

I’ve used a compound for several years. This year I tried a crossbow for a multitude of reasons. The main two was I wanted to see how “easy” it is. And I wanted to see what a crossbow could do since my kids are almost old enough to use it.

I hated using the crossbow. Just to bulky, and hated dealing with cocking the crossbow and uncocking after the hunt. The final straw came when I had a pair of does walk by literally 3 steps from the bottom of my tree. I had to wait for them to pass by due to the shot angle. (Now for the mistake) I stopped them perfectly, had a solid rest, and aimed perfectly. But when I pulled the trigger the bow didn’t go off. Apparently crossbows have safeties….LOL! By the time the safety got clicked off they seen me and ran.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I’ve used a compound for several years. This year I tried a crossbow for a multitude of reasons. The main two was I wanted to see how “easy” it is. And I wanted to see what a crossbow could do since my kids are almost old enough to use it.

I hated using the crossbow. Just to bulky, and hated dealing with cocking the crossbow and uncocking after the hunt. The final straw came when I had a pair of does walk by literally 3 steps from the bottom of my tree. I had to wait for them to pass by due to the shot angle. (Now for the mistake) I stopped them perfectly, had a solid rest, and aimed perfectly. But when I pulled the trigger the bow didn’t go off. Apparently crossbows have safeties….LOL! By the time the safety got clicked off they seen me and ran.

I made the “click” mistake twice too lol.
I finally did get one doe with the xbow, though.

 

[MattMan81]

I’ve used a compound for several years. This year I tried a crossbow for a multitude of reasons. The main two was I wanted to see how “easy” it is. And I wanted to see what a crossbow could do since my kids are almost old enough to use it.

I hated using the crossbow. Just to bulky, and hated dealing with cocking the crossbow and uncocking after the hunt. The final straw came when I had a pair of does walk by literally 3 steps from the bottom of my tree. I had to wait for them to pass by due to the shot angle. (Now for the mistake) I stopped them perfectly, had a solid rest, and aimed perfectly. But when I pulled the trigger the bow didn’t go off. Apparently crossbows have safeties….LOL! By the time the safety got clicked off they seen me and ran.

12 years or so ago. I was sitting in a stand opening day of firearm. I spent the first hour reminding my self to slide the safety off if a deer comes in. Even practiced it a few times. About 8:30 a small buck comes in. I raise the gun, and click the safety off. Deer looks right at me. Starts walking away. Doh.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

This is hella embarrassing to admit, but I wasted three arrows on one cottontail a couple of months back.
Shot him with a broadhead first, it passed through his torso and he lost control of his back legs. He dragged himself 5 yds, then I shot him in the throat with an adder. He somehow survived that and writhed with that arrow pinning him to the spot, and I couldn’t take the sight so I nocked my final arrow, a judo, and whacked him in the head with it.
That rabbit’s meat was green and spoiled before he even died.
It honestly makes me sick to think about.
Especially when that first broadhead hit, would have brought a mature whitetail to the dirt if I had shot one of them instead with an identical shot placement, but I definitely didn’t expect the horror I brought on myself.
I love eating rabbits but that might have been the last one I try to shoot with a bow. Three different heads, all lethal placements, and all I got was a sad heart and half my quiver dumped.
I’m probably going to invest in a pellet gun for my cottontail whacking from here on out, and practice cracking their melons with the first shot.

 

[casts_by_fly]

On the afternoon of Nov. 9th this year (yes, same day as above and same tree) I was setup in the tree for the afternoon hunt at 3:30. At 3:45 a doe came running directly under me from the north with a buck grunting behind her. I drew as she went under me and it turns out she was closely followed by a much nicer 8 than the one from the morning. I "meh'd" twice loudly and managed to stop him right at 15 yds. He was quartering toward me but with the doe still in sight and running away I knew I had to take the shot as given. I centered the EZ-V where I felt his heart would be a let it fly. The shot hit him right where I was aiming and folded him up on the spot. He flopped once and laid there not moving. I was sure he was done. He laid there for at least 2 minutes as I had time to hang up my bow, get out my phone, send a text and, as I was framing a picture of him laying there he suddenly struggled to his feet and staggered off. The blood was visibly pouring out of him as he ran about 50 yards and laid down again within sight of me. Given the circumstances I was still unconcerned, I knew he was done. I watched him lay there for another 5 minutes before he again struggled to his feet and staggered over the hill out of sight. I was still not very concerned, the hit looked good and with blood pouring out of him he was obviously hit well. It was early, I still had almost 2hrs of daylight left, and I sat in the tree for 45 more minutes before rappelling down and packing up my gear which I left at the base of the tree. I walked over to the huge blood puddle where he originally fell and started the track. As expected the blood trail was outstanding and confirmed to me the lethality of the hit. Along that trail I found the arrow (less broadhead) which had definitely penetrated more than 10". There was another large puddle where he had laid the second time and a solid blood trail out of there. I followed it slowly up and over the ridge and down and up over the next ridge. Before I knew it I had covered almost 300yds with no deer. At that point, even though I still had daylight I came to my senses and backed out, in retrospect way too late.

I feel your pain. I have a rule that if the deer drops to the ground on the shot, no matter where I think I hit, put another one in the vitals. Shots are free (well unless you break your arrow like I did). I shot a 7 pt from the blind this year. Basically broadside, slight away, at about 12-14 yards. The shot was mid body and in line with the back of the leg. That's a double lung pass through every day. Except that day. Maybe he was a little more away than I noticed? The arrow penetrated halfway or so and stuck (I think on the far shoulder bone). The deer dropped like a sack of bricks. My first thought was great shot you got him. The second thought was "what did I hit that made him drop". You can do four things to make a deer drop in its tracks. The first is hydrostatic shock which you aren't going to do with a bow. The second is a spine/CNS hit which in itself isn't lethal. The third is hitting the nerves leading into the heart. The last is breaking the leg bones (also not lethal in itself) which is unlikely for most people/arrows/broadheads (certainly me). Now on a broadside shot option 3 is immediately fatal because you get the arteries too. Option 2 would mean I mis-saw the shot in my head and I spined it. Option 4 would mean I hit the bone going in and who knows what happened after that. Either way, the deer was doing the front leg shuffle I've seen rifle shot deer do and pulling himself downhill. I decided another shot into the vitals was the safest course and less than a minute later he was still. I never did find the broadhead from the first shot. It was hot that evening (I was wearing crocs and a t-shirt) so I wanted to get him out of the woods quickly and didn't do a full organ/hit analysis. There wasn't an exit wound so my hunch is that it burried in the far bone and the arrow cut off while he was on the ground. My best guess was that he was just a little away and I hit the nerves on the top of the heart while cutting arteries also.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I feel your pain. I have a rule that if the deer drops to the ground on the shot, no matter where I think I hit, put another one in the vitals. Shots are free (well unless you break your arrow like I did). I shot a 7 pt from the blind this year. Basically broadside, slight away, at about 12-14 yards. The shot was mid body and in line with the back of the leg. That's a double lung pass through every day. Except that day. Maybe he was a little more away than I noticed? The arrow penetrated halfway or so and stuck (I think on the far shoulder bone). The deer dropped like a sack of bricks. My first thought was great shot you got him. The second thought was "what did I hit that made him drop". You can do four things to make a deer drop in its tracks. The first is hydrostatic shock which you aren't going to do with a bow. The second is a spine/CNS hit which in itself isn't lethal. The third is hitting the nerves leading into the heart. The last is breaking the leg bones (also not lethal in itself) which is unlikely for most people/arrows/broadheads (certainly me). Now on a broadside shot option 3 is immediately fatal because you get the arteries too. Option 2 would mean I mis-saw the shot in my head and I spined it. Option 4 would mean I hit the bone going in and who knows what happened after that. Either way, the deer was doing the front leg shuffle I've seen rifle shot deer do and pulling himself downhill. I decided another shot into the vitals was the safest course and less than a minute later he was still. I never did find the broadhead from the first shot. It was hot that evening (I was wearing crocs and a t-shirt) so I wanted to get him out of the woods quickly and didn't do a full organ/hit analysis. There wasn't an exit wound so my hunch is that it burried in the far bone and the arrow cut off while he was on the ground. My best guess was that he was just a little away and I hit the nerves on the top of the heart while cutting arteries also.

Spine shot my last doe. She dropped instantly and started ruining nature’s carpet with blood, was literally watching the life leave her…took me 3.5 seconds to decide to cock another bolt and let it rip. She was laying down and as soon as her white belly exposed itself I sent one from the chest back up through the spine a couple of inches behind the first shot. Another 10 seconds and she was an obituary.
I could have let her bleed out, trying to run away but going nowhere due to the severed spine, but why? I get no pleasure from watching that kind of trauma and there’s no bruise to my ego that it wasn’t a true “one shot one kill” despite the fact that she was well on her way to the grave. However, if she was going to die in 10min or less, why not just make it 1min or less when you have the chance?

 

[1simplemann]

I made several mistakes this year. I'm basically "all in" on one property. I used to have several properties. one of my main areas went public w/ 6 guys a day and you can't hardly get a reservation. A couple have been sold and I lost permission on the other. Which left me basically w/ one property. I know it well and have many trees pre set for different winds, different bedding areas etc. Anyway, I knew something was wrong last year when I saw less deer. This year it happened again and I saw a LOT less than last year. EHD! I knew I had to move but where? So I just hopped in the jet boat and started hunting any state land or island that I could get to. I was learning on the fly. Kinda fun but I wasn't IMO ready. Next year I'll be ready. Also I stuck my boat on a sand bar coming back in the dark. Interesting learning experience. Got lucky that I was able to walk to shore and walk out. I'll be ready next year w/ bow lights and prepared to self rescue myself.. Another mistake I made was that set up in wrong tree. There was a spot that I've been want to hunt for years. The only trees available are HUGE. Standard tree stand or saddle won't work cause you can't get the strap around the tree. Also it's a 2 mile walk. I had it in my head that I was gonna take the boat in a do a pre set so I could finally hunt that "spot". Well, we get there and the dang tree is hollow! It's common w/ really big cottonwoods. Anyway, so now I'm scrambling and rushing to find a different tree. I found one that set up so I was facing the "action" and the scrapes. However what I failed to pay attention to was one of the main trails that led to the scrape. It was at my back. 1st time I hunted it, A good buck came in following a doe on that trail. I never heard or saw her coming. She picked me off 60 yds away and took him w/ her. I messed up cause I was completely exposed from that direction and failed to keep the "Field of Play" in front of me. Generally I try to pick a tree where my back faces the least likely direction a deer will from and I try to keep all the action in front of me. In this case they could come from all directions so you had better have your head on a swivel. Problem w/ that is your moving constantly. If your gonna have to move then you had better have a bunch of cover. I didn't and I got picked off. After seeing the problem, I looked around for a better tree later. There was a better tree w/ a lot better cover 30 yds over that was downwind of the whole spot. I didn't choose it originally because it was 40 yds from the scrapes. I wanted SO bad to be able to shoot to them that I chose the wrong tree. I should've backed off and picked them off as they were coming to it. Lesson learned. Too close is worse than too far.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

I feel your pain. I have a rule that if the deer drops to the ground on the shot, no matter where I think I hit, put another one in the vitals. Shots are free (well unless you break your arrow like I did). I shot a 7 pt from the blind this year. Basically broadside, slight away, at about 12-14 yards. The shot was mid body and in line with the back of the leg. That's a double lung pass through every day. Except that day. Maybe he was a little more away than I noticed? The arrow penetrated halfway or so and stuck (I think on the far shoulder bone). The deer dropped like a sack of bricks. My first thought was great shot you got him. The second thought was "what did I hit that made him drop". You can do four things to make a deer drop in its tracks. The first is hydrostatic shock which you aren't going to do with a bow. The second is a spine/CNS hit which in itself isn't lethal. The third is hitting the nerves leading into the heart. The last is breaking the leg bones (also not lethal in itself) which is unlikely for most people/arrows/broadheads (certainly me). Now on a broadside shot option 3 is immediately fatal because you get the arteries too. Option 2 would mean I mis-saw the shot in my head and I spined it. Option 4 would mean I hit the bone going in and who knows what happened after that. Either way, the deer was doing the front leg shuffle I've seen rifle shot deer do and pulling himself downhill. I decided another shot into the vitals was the safest course and less than a minute later he was still. I never did find the broadhead from the first shot. It was hot that evening (I was wearing crocs and a t-shirt) so I wanted to get him out of the woods quickly and didn't do a full organ/hit analysis. There wasn't an exit wound so my hunch is that it burried in the far bone and the arrow cut off while he was on the ground. My best guess was that he was just a little away and I hit the nerves on the top of the heart while cutting arteries also.

To be honest, based on the deer's reaction and my perception of the hit location, I was pretty sure I had scored your option 3 at the time. In hindsight, I'm now more inclined to believe I hit him with an option 4. I think I broke the near shoulder and punched the near side lung. From the recovered arrow the penetration was a solid 10 inches. The broadhead wasn't on the arrow so the insert must have pulled out when the arrow came back out through the shoulder.

 

[tylerray378]

I made the “click” mistake twice too lol.
I finally did get one doe with the xbow, though.

Unfortunately this is not the first “click” I’ve had deer or small game hunting. First with a crossbow though lol

 

[bigmike23]

No more leaving early for a Caramel Brulee latte

 

[1simplemann]

I've gotten down too early many times. Once had a 130" 8 point blow off at me while I was unhooking my bow from my rope at 11:15 AM. I hunted till 11am. Should've stayed till noon!

 

[Horn]

Over confident vote here. Biggest mistake I made was not practicing enough for gun season. Easy enough fix

 

[Coachschaller]

I'm not trying to do like an internet callout, and maybe I'm missing something someone can explain, but that just doesn't seem right.

Based on the upward trajectory of your arrow, each "pin" or yardage is actually good for two yardages. For my 20 yard setting it is good from about 12 yards to 22 yards. My 30 yard is also good at 10 to 8 yards. I need my 40 yard pin for 5 yards. This is from level ground... It has to to with the arc of the arrow, the vertical distance of the pin to the arrow, and the time of flight.

 

[woodsdog2]

If we’re talking about shooting mistakes too, I had a double all set up on two nice does during gun season. They came in and I was holding off a bit hoping a shooter was in tow. They were hanging out for a few minutes before going down over the ridge to bed for the day. One was closer than the other by about 15 -20 feet. The further one stopped just past a blowdown, only her brisket and front half were exposed. Head totally hidden. The closer one was about 15 yards from my stand. The wind started to get swirling a bit as the spot warmed up with the rising sun. The closer one started sticking its nose up and getting nervous and jerky. I positioned the gun up to my shoulder, the closer saw me and and started getting jittery. I shot at the closer one…. Swung over to the further one, dropped her and swung back to the closer one who started to take off. I was so certain I had a double that I ended up with a single.