just want to vent......

[furbearer365]

    So I head up to an oldie but goody spot that I havent hunted in years, but have killed 1 big 6x6 and there are ALWAYS elk there. So I hike in and get all the way back to where I want to be, send out a bugle and get an immediate answer behind me. After a couple of hours of playing cat and mouse, I feel like he gave me the slip. Feeling defeated I figure ill start my way through the timber and start the trek back to my truck. I get about 100 yards from entering the clearcut and who decides to lay out the biggest growl of bugle, THE BULL.  I know I'm within his bubble so sit down and lay out my own bugle right in his face, along with a couple of cow calls. After about 5 minutes of gut wrenching silence, I start to make out the sound of something closing the distance. Finally I lay eyes on horns and he's committed and coming. I immediately knock an arrow and start to range tress to give me distances. He gets to were I'm confident he's within the window i ranged, which 27 to 35.  In my mind i was a little skeptical with what the rangefinder was telling me because it looked further.  But I want going to not trust the rangefinder and just use my gut, so I held for 30 and let it fly. To my disbelief, my arrow fell short and misdeed the bull clean by almost a foot. Of course the bull wheeled around and that was that. In utter disbelief I frantically looked at my bow and arrows to see how I could of done such a shot. In my haste and ranging every I could looking for answers, I just happened to look in upper right corner through my rangefinder and I see a bold M for meters. My 4 year old son the week before had been playing with it, hit the mode button, and changed it from YARDS to METERS... Needless to say I still feel like throwing up. He was HUGE. Would been my biggest bull to date. When he was coming in I got a 6 count on his right side and the other seemed to match.  What an absolute heart breaker

[gunnarnewt]

Kids..... Gotta love 'em!  Sorry to hear that.

[lamrith]

Ohh man, what a bummer!!  That should only have given you a 2yr difference in distance though?  30m = 32yrds 

I am wondering if your range finder actually locked in on branches, leaves etc between you and what you thought you were ranging?  Misjudging your distance by 2yrds should not have had you landing quite so short of target.  But maybe the bull was @40 and you ranged a branch between you and him @ 35?  I know I have had my rangefinder lock on all sorts of wierd crap when in any sort of clutter..

Total heart breaker man, git back out there and track him down!

[CoryTDF]

I feel ya brother. I undershot a nice 7 point yesterday morning. It's all I've been thinking about. I ranged the spot I thought he was going to come out at 40 yards. He came out and came close and then spooked so when he turned I thought he was right at about 40. I was about 4 or 5 yards off and the arrow fell short.

[2labs]

A meter is 3" longer than a yard oh the humanity what would our fore fathers have done. Hey do these kuius make my butt look big?

[Reidus]

A good rough guess is a meter is 10% longer than a yard. Shouldn't matter in the 30yd range. Ranging is tough in clutter.

I like the shots where there is no guessing, <20yds

[furbearer365]

Well I dont think it would of made a huge difference but I never actually ranged the bull. I hunt by myself so when I thought the bull was coming, I just ranged a couple of trees out in front of me to just get some landmark ranges. The bull came in about 20 yards to the right of where I figured so in the heat of the moment, I had to use the ranges I had and simple judging on the rest according to what those ranges read. Had it been set on yards and got the correct reading, my judging would have been on. Oh well, at least it was a clean miss. Just can get the lump out of my throat. Lol

[lamrith]

Keep that chin up!  Go out there and get him.  You fooled him once, you can do it again.

[rosscrazyelk]

Oh man... You still have time...