Do overs 2021 while hunting..

1) deciding to not try to archery hunt the ram I was pumped about to not risk pushing it - it held tight 1st 3 days of archery. Haven’t seen him since.
2) rushing my daughter to shoot now shoot now shoot now on a magnificent bull elk. She’s never missed a shot at a big game animal until that point.
3) Today - deciding to take my light rifle instead of the heavy long range. Had the biggest typical mule deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof at 438 yards & I opted to get closer. He vanished.
 
A handful on my elk season. Came home without elk so screwed up a fair amount. Nothing glaring but a lot of little stuff. Camping the first two nights way to high in way to much snow. Trusting a fence line as the property boundary rather than doing the deep dive on aerial imagery before bailing off into a private/public boundary he’ll hole. Staying back with a slow hiker when we should have left him down low to fend for self. Committing to many days to the same spot because we were seeing elk on private.
 
That’s actually refreshing. That’s hunting. Thanks and I suspect that deer is probably still in trouble.
 
Yea, dont shoot your blind when archery antelope hunting.
My son did that. Missed one of the biggest antelope bucks I’ve ever seen. First shot was 50 yards and he missed. Buck came back 30 minutes later, he got 24 yards broadside. Was patient until he was drinking, and arrow hit blind frame. Was absolutely high 80s. He killed an 81 net a few hours later that I had to talk him into shooting.
 
1) deciding to not try to archery hunt the ram I was pumped about to not risk pushing it - it held tight 1st 3 days of archery. Haven’t seen him since.
2) rushing my daughter to shoot now shoot now shoot now on a magnificent bull elk. She’s never missed a shot at a big game animal until that point.
3) Today - deciding to take my light rifle instead of the heavy long range. Had the biggest typical mule deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof at 438 yards & I opted to get closer. He vanished.
I’ve been in those situations besides the big typical deer.
 
That’s actually refreshing. That’s hunting. Thanks and I suspect that deer is probably still in trouble.
I’m in a hotel drinking a Colorado beer & getting ready for the 4am wake up. I ran out of the good stuff. I love got 2 more days. Weather’s made it tough here but it’s been great.

I’m worried that a couple coworkers who are covering my slack this year while hunting sheep, etc have a voodoo doll. Or there’s some curse I’ve been subjected to. Day 1 of my Colorado deer hunt the zipper on my pants broke so I’ve been hunting with the barn door open all week. Par for the course..
 
Dont fling arrows at antelope from INSIDE your camper…(an oldy but memorably dumb)

2021 Not arrowing the first decent pronghorn buck that came in to waterhole when I had a whopping 2 days to hunt a 6 pref point tag. Tag soup when it did not have to be…

2021. Not leaving blind to still hunt a bit before end of shooting light when hunting free range bison. 300 yds from blind I was walking in a 2 track in the dark woth a headlamp and bumped a herd of bison at 20 freaking yards from me. the only legal bison “seen” (too dark to actually see) in 14 grueling days. This one is a twofer as @Non-Lead Hunter was right the with me to suffer this indignity.

Passing on this bull at 17 yards at full draw then calling him in to 24 yards 5 min later and passing at full draw again..My idiot reasoning was the small 5th one one side. Stoopid. This was in Colorado…land of the giants (not). another non 2021 old one
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wish i wouldnt have let as many bucks get a free pass on my 2021 book cliffs utah deer hunt,,that tag soup doesnt taste good,,problably will never draw that one again in my lifetime,,came close but it didnt happen.
 
1) deciding to not try to archery hunt the ram I was pumped about to not risk pushing it - it held tight 1st 3 days of archery. Haven’t seen him since.
2) rushing my daughter to shoot now shoot now shoot now on a magnificent bull elk. She’s never missed a shot at a big game animal until that point.
3) Today - deciding to take my light rifle instead of the heavy long range. Had the biggest typical mule deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof at 438 yards & I opted to get closer. He vanished.
ouch
 
Archery whitetail hunting Thursday night. Had a 1.5 point tiny buck that kept hanging around my stand. He left and I heard him coming back out an hour later from behind. I took my time to get in position and when he got close I peaked around the tree. It was not that tiny buck, it was a giant PA public land buck. I was looking the wrong way off of the tree and I had my back to where he was walking. My only hope was to stand still and hope he walks by so I can turn and shoot. Well he gets to basically the base of the tree and I hear him stop. You know the rest, spots me starts blowing and takes off. If only I looked the right way.
 
I wish I would’ve waited for the doe I made a bad shot on at 12yds last year to come into 10yds.
Mildly regret not letting off on the bear I had in the crosshairs this year.
 
Nothing too bad yet this year, but last year I had what would’ve been my best ever muley buck in the middle of a chunk of state land walking away with a herd of does at about 425 yards with no wind. I was dead steady and set up for the shot and could’ve stopped him and comfortably made that shot. Instead, I decided to let him bed down with the does and then make a move to get closer. Five minutes later, a truck came from out of nowhere off-road straight a the herd and scared them way away into an area I can’t hunt.
 
1) deciding to not try to archery hunt the ram I was pumped about to not risk pushing it - it held tight 1st 3 days of archery. Haven’t seen him since.
2) rushing my daughter to shoot now shoot now shoot now on a magnificent bull elk. She’s never missed a shot at a big game animal until that point.
3) Today - deciding to take my light rifle instead of the heavy long range. Had the biggest typical mule deer I’ve ever seen on the hoof at 438 yards & I opted to get closer. He vanished.
Good luck tracking him down today. Seeing many good bucks?
 
Don't hunt the Kodiak road system for deer after a heavy winter kill.
I had planned on hunting the roadless south end where the effects of harsh winter is minimal but my wife decided to join me, which is great. However, I figured she'd enjoy camping from the road system with the option of hotels when it gets real nasty weather.
Only regret is buying the deer permit, should have just concentrated on ducks only.
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Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

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