Mistakes you have made bowhunting?

[rtspring]

Just trying to learn as much as I can. 

Tell us some simple mistakes you have made on any animal.

Mine was shooting downhill, Steep and getting my yardage messed up!!

[Miles]

Splitting the pins due to being unsure about the distance to the target.   Don't do it, you'll miss every time (I did anyway).   Now I just pick a distance, pick ONE pin and let the arrow fly.  It's a much more effective way to kill a deer.

[gilroym]

Not laying out yardage markers from a stand on our property. My 40 yrds is much shorter then 40 yrds in real life.

[tonymiller7]

Practice judging distances, you don't always have time to use a range finder. 

[coachcw]

Dont wait to long to draw !

[pianoman9701]

Moving through the woods too quickly and walking into game.

[h20hunter]

Not waiting enough time to let the animal expire....for example....last year I made a pretty solid shot on my deer...Went over to where she was standing and had good blood right away. Well, you know how it gets, you start looking around. My arrow was only about 20 feet away but in finding it I bumped her. She had bedded only about 25 yards away from where i hit her. Granted, she only ran another 50 yards and expired but if I had simply waited and not been anxious to find my arrow/blood she would have expired quicker and not have had me bump her. So I guess my mistake was not in the shot but in having enough patience to not even move in for a bit.

[tjthebest]

Not waiting for or stopping the deer before i shot. Buck was 30yrds away and walking slowly, i just let the arrow fly and liver shot him. should have grunted. took along time for him to expire on that one. very disappointing/traumatizing for myself for as much as he had to suffer.

[D-Rock425]

Splitting the pins due to being unsure about the distance to the target.   Don't do it, you'll miss every time (I did anyway).   Now I just pick a distance, pick ONE pin and let the arrow fly.  It's a much more effective way to kill a deer.

so what do you do it you have a deer at 45 yds?  Me being a somewhat competitive shooter at 3-D shoots split pins all the time.

[pianoman9701]

Not waiting enough time to let the animal expire....for example....last year I made a pretty solid shot on my deer...Went over to where she was standing and had good blood right away. Well, you know how it gets, you start looking around. My arrow was only about 20 feet away but in finding it I bumped her. She had bedded only about 25 yards away from where i hit her. Granted, she only ran another 50 yards and expired but if I had simply waited and not been anxious to find my arrow/blood she would have expired quicker and not have had me bump her. So I guess my mistake was not in the shot but in having enough patience to not even move in for a bit.

I lost an elk due to not waiting long enough when I first started elk hunting. It sucked.

[Sandberm]

Shooting high while aiming down a steep hill/cliff. I was so amazed that I was able to sneak up on the animal that I forgot to aim a bit lower. Im shooting a recurve btw.

[lamrith]

Not taking the shot when you have it, just because it is early season.

Learned that the hard way last year.  1st year hunting, 1hr45min into my 1st day I was full draw on a nice fat Muley doe, broadside @ 40yrds.  I hesitated, then let her go.  Never got within 65yrd of a deer the rest of the hunt...

[Jonathan_S]

Not taking the shot when you have it, just because it is early season.

Learned that the hard way last year.  1st year hunting, 1hr45min into my 1st day I was full draw on a nice fat Muley doe, broadside @ 40yrds.  I hesitated, then let her go.  Never got within 65yrd of a deer the rest of the hunt...

Relish it.  Time in the woods can be more valuable than a quick hunt.  Maybe that doe is raising a couple of bucks this year 

[Rainier10]

A mistake I have made twice now is ranging the animal at 46 yards and both times I thought 46 yards, drew back and counted down my pins, 20,30 40 and let the arrow go when I got to 40 and shot right under both of them.  I should have split my 40 and 50 but as soon as I heard 40 in my mind I let it go.  I have done it a couple of times at 3d shoots also.  Not sure how to fix it but it is frustrating every time I do it.

[vandeman17]

Knowing what tag you have RT, I will direct my bowhunting tip from an elk standpoint. I learned this lesson in Oregon a few years ago where I was trying to get ahead of a group of cows and a bull. I had worked my tail off for more than an hour and thought I lost them. I decided to sit down along the edge of the timber to take a break and of course, not a few minutes into the break, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and here comes a few cows and the bull out in the open. I had no cover around me so any motion I made, they were going to catch and it ended up burning me. Now I try my best to take any and all breaks somewhere that I would also choose as a shooting position because you just never know when something might happen and you don't have time to move.