Stupidest Mistake Hunting

[3855WIN]

Finally got out of the doctors office yesterday and decided to run out to my after work hunting spot. I grabbed a burger at the drive thru and ate it on the way. I climbed twenty feet up a pine in a climbing stand and then my belly began to rumble. I realized I’d never make it back down the tree before it hit. I hung off the side of the stand. Luckily, I had TP in the pack. No deer seen after that.

 

[Borny1]

18 degrees out and ice flowing like crazy on the river. Birds were everywhere. We decided to back the 350 inboard jet in and get after them. A mile up the river after titanicking through the ice at 30mph I notice smoke coming out the back and water on the floor. I was gonna beach it but the old man insisted I take it back to the ramp. I spin the boat around and hammer down with water up to my ankles. The smoke is rolling out the back when I run the boat right onto the ramp. We had crushed the birds the day before and forgot to drain the glass sand trap. Overnight it had shattered due to freezing. Fire and ice waterfowling- never again.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Archery deer hunting in northern Az., and I had to take a bathroom
break... I looked all around me, dug a hole, and was about to drop
trough when someone yelled at me-What the H3LL are you doing!?
ALWAYS remember to look up in the tree you are leaning against
for hunters in tree stands!

 

[BrentD]

I had to think about this for a while. There have been so many!!!

But in the end, even correcting for the freshness of the emotional scars it left on my psyche, I have to say that paying for a Region X mule deer tag in Wyoming was, far and away, the stupidest.

I could have foregone the tag and just gone camping out there instead and had MUCH more fun, got a little more sleep, and avoided endless hours, days, and miles of empty frustration looking for a species that was completely extirpated from the region.

But enjoy those dollars Wyoming! And meanwhile, I'll be back. 10 days and counting down! (just not Region X - fool me once). So show me some love, 'cuz ya owe me!

Below, some vast herds of deer from Region X and my trophy...

 

[MO Betta]

Mine was this morning.

Was in the middle of hanging a stand an hour before daylight when a serious rumble in my gut let me know I needed to be somewhere else fast. I flew down the climbing sticks and quickly moved a good distance away. Where I messed up? I didn't replenish the TP in my kit, and when the hunt ended this morning I was hiking out minus one sock.

 

[Dewey]

I had to think about this for a while. There have been so many!!!

But in the end, even correcting for the freshness of the emotional scars it left on my psyche, I have to say that paying for a Region X mule deer tag in Wyoming was, far and away, the stupidest.

I could have foregone the tag and just gone camping out there instead and had MUCH more fun, got a little more sleep, and avoided endless hours, days, and miles of empty frustration looking for a species that was completely extirpated from the region.

But enjoy those dollars Wyoming! And meanwhile, I'll be back. 10 days and counting down! (just not Region X - fool me once). So show me some love, 'cuz ya owe me!

Below, some vast herds of deer from Region X and my trophy...

I just got bit on the region X mule deer tag. Never again.

 

[BrentD]

I just got bit on the region X mule deer tag. Never again.

Welcome to our sad, sad club.

 

[SkipperRipper]

3 years ago. I swapped the trapped door out for a drop-out magazine in my Rem 700. First morning I took it out after that, I closed the bolt when I got up in the stand. I had a huge doe about 200 yards into a field. Put the crosshairs on her neck. CLICK.

OOPS. Might want to put the loaded magazine in first! As they all ran off while I fumbled around to load it.

 

[geetar]

Stepped in a hole deeper than my waders on a Christmas morning duck hunt. I had got up and threw my waders on in a hurry without actually changing into hunting gear so I looked and felt pretty stupid walking a half mile back to the truck in my pajamas soaking wet. I killed 3 ducks though.

 

[Dabyrd75]

I'm sitting in my stand yesterday morning here in South Carolina bow hunting whitetail deer. At 7:00 exactly, an awesome 10 point(5×5 for western hunters) slips in to 20 yards. After about 3 minutes of feeding around, he finally turns broadsided and then slightly quartered away. The perfect shot opportunity! I settle my first sight pin, which is green, of my bow right behind his shoulder and on his heart. As I release the arrow, I see it going higher than my aim. It trims the bucks back and glances off behind him. In my rush, for no reason whatsoever because he had no clue I was there, I quickly settled a green pin but not my first green pin on his vitals. But I've only been bow hunting for 29 years so...

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Stepped in a hole deeper than my waders on a Christmas morning duck hunt. I had got up and threw my waders on in a hurry without actually changing into hunting gear so I looked and felt pretty stupid walking a half mile back to the truck in my pajamas soaking wet. I killed 3 ducks though.

Did that once too, except the truck was over 3 miles away. Felt like I was sitting in a bathtub the whole hunt.

 

[Nick87]

I once spotted a HUGE buck approximately 2 miles away across a valley. I hiked all the way over there, out of view of the deer the entire time. Then, instead of being cautious for the last few hundred yards because I didn't know exactly where he'd be, I rushed in too close and spooked him right out of the bed he'd moved down to and he took off, never to be seen again. It was by far the biggest buck I've ever seen with a tag in my pocket, in an area not known for big bucks, and I think it would've been really difficult to ever shoot a bigger one...stupid, stupid, stupid

Did the exact same thing in wyoming 3 years ago. Still haunts me to this day.

 

[NEWHunter]

Last year I had the biggest buck of my life run by me at 85 yards in the open. I made the mistake of leading him - I got excited and tried to get too cute. It’s a shot I should have made. I will lament that miss until I am able to put what I had reinforced that day to good use or I am able to hang a few on the wall like him. Below is the exit wound from my 7mm - clean miss but a full pass through.

 

[Jbotto]

I don’t think I’ve added mine here yet but I’ve pulled a few boneheaded moves and probably many more to come.

First one that speaks to me was in high school. After sitting in a stand once for bow hunting I was convinced it was in a terrible spot. So after school one day I figured I’d run out and move it quick. Half-mile walk in along a field goes well until I’m about to enter the woods. I’m 50 yards from my stand and a doe blows. Busted. Freeze for five minutes until she knows something isn’t right and runs off. Slowly make my way to my stand and climb up the ladder. Facing the tree trunk while beginning to unscrew the bow hanger, and I hear some steps behind me. Slowly turn my head and see a fork buck is 40 yards away and following the trail that my stand was set up on. He’s going to pass my stand through one of the shooting lanes. This could be my first deer with a bow. But one important detail: I don’t have my bow. I was only moving stands so I didn’t even bring it along. That little buck ended up perfectly broadside and stopped at 25 and 21 yards before turning directly towards my stand and coming to lick the bottom rung of my ladder. As it left it would have given me a handful of shots within 20 yards. Slam dunk shots. Ended up leaving that stand there but never had any good luck there later in the season. Never did get a deer with my bow and I sold my archery gear a few years later as I got into reloading and my time was spent with other things.

Last year I had chased a few mule deer around for the first time after moving myself west. Lots of small but steep draws/coulees (still not sure what they were actually called as everyone I knew called them something different. ). Had finally picked up on some patterns of deer the second weekend hunting this area. But only had a doe tag. Around midday I headed to a shady draw and glassed it for a bit before dropping down to walk through it to the next spot. Took two steps into the shady area and a small buck got up and busted out over the top. Didn’t pause long enough to think why a buck would be bedded in the second half of November. Another ten yards and a doe busts out and pauses at about 40 yards. Scope is turned low, trigger feels right and just as it lets off I hear the loudest !!!CLICK!!!! I’ve ever heard in my life. Cuss myself and quickly run the bolt and just as I’m getting settled back on her, she decides to take off around the back of a hill. Turns out I had never loaded a round after getting out of the pickup as I moved to this area for my midday hike.

I realized where this doe was going and hustled up and around the hill to follow her as I knew I’d have the higher ground. She had do go down through a nasty clay draw and up the other side before she was going to be going anywhere she wanted to go. I got up to the top of the hill and saw her coming up the other side. Quickly sat down and threw my pack off to settle the rifle in it. A quick “Hey!” had her stopped but nervous. Trigger broke clean again and heard the bullet hit. Saw her make a mad dash to some cedars and then lost her in some moving branches. I had to drive around to the other side of the draw to find her. She never went past where I last saw those branches move. Maybe about 30 yards with a .338” bullet sized hole low through her heart. At least I salvaged that mess up. I swear the sound of that trigger breaking on an empty chamber was louder than the shot a couple minutes later.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

First day of western deer hunting, rangefinder died and a doe stepped out down slope at what I thought was 30yds. I’d never practiced shooting at angles; long story short. Lost all 5 of my broad heads missing that deer and had to go home

 

[BirdManMike]

Recent one.

I didnt put much effort into antelope this season. The hunting district for which I had a tag was a 2+ hour drive. Did 3 day trips, no overnighters. Bunchve road hunting looking for stalks, with 8-10+ miles walking each outing away from roads in various spots over the course of the day to glass. Very few antelope seen this season, even on non-huntable property. Kinda strange.

I know the area pretty well, so going from spot to spot I would be picturing best case scenarios of where a group might be, which way heading, etc. We all probably do this.

Last day out, had walked probably 8 or so miles over 2 spots, seeing nothing, and driven a big loop, also seeing nothing.

Then, I see a group moving across a piece I like, pretty close to the road. Nice buck. This is scenario I had played in my head more than once - go to far end of section they are moving across, easy stalk with a good hill as cover, set up on saddle, shoot them as they pass. Perfect.

What do I do? I stop the vehicle right where I see them, get out and start my stalk. Ugh! Idiot!

Dawned on me not long into stalking them that I just made a mistake. Stalk was good, but I was still close to 1/4 mile away when they made it to safety.

That was my antelope season.

 

[glass eye]

Pulling the trigger

and

Not pulling the trigger

 

[MTGreenhorn]

Decided to do an early morning hunt before work (swing) and took out the truck. Turns out the front end was worse off than I realized. About 45 minutes of fun, was able to back down to next turnout and limp it home. Parts on the way, but wont be here for a week. Guess I'll give the ol' 2000 subaru a shot at being a hunting rig

 

[Harrier]

Last day of a three-day public land drawn hunt in Texas. I was staying in town, so I woke up early, checked out of the hotel and made it to my compartment before first light. I put on my jacket, shouldered my backpack, and reached in to get my rifle ... but it wasn’t there. I had taken it into the room for safekeeping, and had left it there that morning! So I got back in the truck, sped back into town, pleaded with the desk clerk to let me back into my old room, grabbed my rifle, and sped back to the compartment. By now it was light but not quite sunup yet.

I was sure I had botched the hunt, but I still managed to shoot a coyote that morning.

 

[JFish]

I was archery hunting whitetail last week and decided to start a little later due to rainy cold conditions. I scouted my way slowly and quietly into a new place and picked a tree. I slowly started to take my climber apart like I was defusing a bomb to avoid any metal clanking. After carefully getting it attached to the tree I decided to ditch my rain jacket before climbing. Instead of taking it off like a normal person would I decided to frantically rip it off like I was Houdini getting out of a straight jacket. I heard something behind me and saw it was nice 8 pt sneaking up the trail I was setting up on. It was the first legal buck I’ve had within bow range this year. Still don’t know why I did that...