missed a huge buck

[WildBear]

Not sure I can beat it... But here's my story of the "HUGE BUCK" that I missed.


Hunting mullies as well in the 245 unit.  Been up an old logging road for hours when I decided I better meet dad back at the truck for plan B.... Hauling fast down the road thinking nothing about deer. I came close to a tree bent over 90. It was just getting thrashed! First thought was a bear till I saw just the deers head and rack. Nice 4 point with obvious eye guards. Was about 30yds away, so figured I better take my shot... Placed it through a pile of brush about where I thought the body was...  Thing disappeared. I took off down the road where we about ran each other over.  I could've touched it... Fired another shot from the hip  and one more at his rear end as it disappeared into the woods... Dad could hear the last shot tumbling through the trees over him so he headed up to help. Hours and hours and no blood...

We call the road Big buck road now.. and that's the "HUGE BUCK" that I missed...

[MuleySniper]

You just had to bring it up. It has been almost a year and I just got to the point where I could sleep at night with out waking up in cold sweats because of the buck I missed last year. It was the toughest on me of my few misses. Probably because of the countless days of watching this buck right up until the opener. He was in a place that I knew I would have one shot and he would hole up until January. And that he did. In fact we did not see him until Mid January after i missed him.

I had pattered this buck and i knew exactly where he crossed and and what time. Problem was, I could not hunt him where he bedded all day long. I had to wait till he crossed on to legal ground. In the 15-20 times I saw him in July and August, he waited right until dark or even after to cross. Well, I had my shot the first week of September. Sucker crossed 15 yards in front of me, saw me draw, I dont know how, and that was it. He was at full speed in a blink and I released when he was about 30 yards. I know I will probaly catch crap for shooting at a buck on the run with a bow, big no no I know. First time I have ever done it and I know why now it is not a shot that is reasonable to make. To top it off he stopped at 100 yards and looked back at me like, "nice try, you wont be seing me before dark again". And I never did. One smart buck.

I felt like     for weeks. I can actually say that is the closest to crying while hunting i have ever come.

Oh well, the great buck lives on. Like I said we saw him twice in December while yote hunting. 

Didn't you mention something about giving me a crack at that buck this year?? Maybe one of us will draw the tag and grease him out of his bed.
MS

[ICEMAN]

Gobble, look at it this way, if you connected on the first buck, you would never have had the opportunity to miss a total of five in one day!  Think how lucky you really were!!!

[Gobble]

Iceman, your not making me fell any better 

The sad thing is  I was hunting with 2 guys from work that I had never hunted with before, they probably thought I was a total dweeb missing that many times. I was sooooo emabarrased that I never told anybody about the miss on the 5 X 5 until the  next year.

Like I said it was a dream weekend that I will probably never see again

[alecvg]

NO stories to go along, but i know someone who missed a 38-40 inch buck this year, and missed a 5x7 a few years back, and many more bucks, as well as some other VERY big animals.... (BIG goat)

[Armadillo]

NO stories to go along, but i know someone who missed a 38-40 inch buck this year, and missed a 5x7 a few years back, and many more bucks, as well as some other VERY big animals.... (BIG goat)
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Sounds like my uncle hahaha. He claims to have missed more big deer then most people have ever seen (not true though). He has an ugly tendency to lots of fling rounds off without hitting meat.

[huntnphool]

Its funny unless you are the one holding the weapon.
That is a very respectible buck there phool!!!!

Its all good Wastick, I new I could find him several more good bucks to take a crack at and I was right. He ended up nailing this nice buck, me holding it in the pic though. Here is another pic of the one he missed too. This was right before the first arrow.

[BC CHASER]

I have two deer and two bear stories but I will only tell the deer ones.  Actually I have more than two deer but these are the worst ones.  I was bow hunting when I was 15.  My brother and I had a honey hole for GIANT Blacktails and everytime we were in there we got into them but most of the time could never get shots.  I walked back in there one day being really quiet and slow.  As I got close to an alder patch I noticed one of the trees was whipping back and forth and knew it was a buck rubbing.  So I snuck to with 20 yrds of a "pacific 2 point" and was about to draw when out of the corner of my eye walked out another big buck who we had seen many times before and named him the "saw buck".  I turned slowly too get a shot on him when another buck walked out who I had never seen before.  He was about 18'' tall was as heavy as coke cans and was nothing but two clubs and a few stickers.  I knew he was the one!  I hated sights when I was young and just shot instinctively.  So this buck came to around 15yrds and I drew back and let one go.  My arrow flew less than a inch over his back and all the deer took off toward the canyon.  I pursued them as best as i could and when I got to the edge of the canyon here was a massive 4x4 that layed out flat like a desert muley at 20 yrds.  I drew back and shot right over the top of him too.  I was heart broke and was sick to my stomach.  The next weekend my bro and i went back.  We got into the same bunch again and my brother missed a 5x5 that was in the mid to upper 170s that day.  I ended up tagging the "saw buck" and was pretty happy.  
My other horror story came two years later an with sights this time.  My buddy and I had seen a couple of GIANTS in an area and he was going to push them to me.  So I set up and about 30 minutes later I heard them coming.  The first to come through was the 5x5 and he would have gone about 145.  I held off knowing the next one was going to be the 6x6 who would go in the mid 150s.  He stepped out at 20 yrds and I whistled and he stopped broadside.  I watched my arrow go all the way through him and he was gone.  I was pumped!  so we waited an hour and the track was on.  We recovered the arrow and got on some blood.  The blood was not good and I was kind of worried.  Finally an hour later we were on our hands and knees looking for blood but could find nothing.  I was sick!  we looked for 5 days and never found him.  We even would sit in the area at night and listen for coyotes but they never talked.  Two weeks later we were driving up the road when my buddy spotted a couple deer bedded in an opening. Still sick from two weeks before I did not want to check them out.  He stopped and we started looking and I just about soiled my shorts.  There was the buck and he was alive!  My arrow had missed his vitals and his spine.  We saw him the next year too and he was very healthy.  We never could get another shot on him but I guess it was meant to be?  So sorry to bore you guys but this stuff  I dont talk about much.  

[rougheye]

great sstories guys , keep em coming.

[wastickslinger]

That is a solid buck your buddy nailed there huntnphool!!!

[huntnphool]

He was happy, his largest to date. Of course he drew with me again this year so he now has a bench mark.

[Buschingc]

Last year while bow hunting for the first time I missed the biggest buck I have ever seen. One of my good friends has alot of land. I've never hunted it before, always been really busy plus they dont allow rifle hunters. It's for family only. So I decide to go bow, and they allow me to hunt it. I scouted it all summer long. I knew there were some toads on the property.... My buddie has 3 of them hanging on the wall. All over 28 inches wide. So during the summer I see alot of great bucks, many ranging 25-28 inches wide. Till one summer night I am driving through to one of my look out spot when I see 3 monsters run right infront of my truck. One was about 30 inches, and had 6 points on both sides. I about crap my pants! I tried to take a pic with my cell phone but it was getting too dark. Right then I said thats the buck I want..... So here comes bow season... I pass up many nice bucks looking for the big boy. One night while at my buddy's house we decide to take a drive just for sh!t's and giggles... We go around the corner and BAM, those 3 bucks were about 200 yards above the road. He stops and backs up the truck. I get out and start to try and figure out where they are going to go. They start to make their way down to this little trail that crosses the road. Its about 600 yards to the right of where I'm standing. There is hardly any cover at all, and I'm 6'5 250lbs.... I decide that its now or never, I have been passing bucks up all season to get a chance at this buck. I belly crawl all 600 yards and get set up behind a small piece of sage. At this point the bucks are about 80 yards in front of me. and then all of a sudden I look up and they are gone.... I start to panic!! I try to position myself to get a better view when I look up and hes (the 6 point) standing there broadside. I try desperitly to pull out my range finder... After what feels forever I finally get him at 45 yards.. I'm thinking this will be easy, I can make this shot with my eyes closed. I then grab my bow, pull my string back and everything slows down. Its like I was in the zone..... I put my 50 yard pin where I think it should go. I release................................. I watch the arrow fly right under his chest. Maybe an inch below. I dont believe what just happened. The buck jumps and take off running north about out to 80 yards and stops. He doesnt really know what just happened. He starts to walk back to my direction. I range him at about 60 yards. Im so pissed at this point im shaking, but I think what the heck this is my last chance at this boy. I pull back and release... The same thing, right under his chest. What I dont realize that hes up hill from my location. Plus the wind is in my face comming down the hill. Which pushes my arrow down.. I needed to aim alot higher to make up for this... Well I never saw him agian, and I ate my tag.. I just saw him agian 2 days ago.. I'll get him this year..

[DeKuma]

That sucks man.  Hope you can tag him this year.  Would love to see pics ofhim when you do!  I will volunteer to be "family" if you need help!

[Alchase]

Man you guys sure miss allot of stud bucks

LOL, just kidding, some great stories and pics here.

Mine is nowhere near the bucks you guys are talking about, but a few years ago above Winthrop, I had hiked up before first light. I was glassing across a draw and up a bare hill with nothing but buckbrush when I caught a flash about 3/4 the way up the hill. I looked closer, and there was a beautiful thick bodied 4x4 that was bedded down out in plain site. I guesstimated him to be about 900-1000 yards away as a bird flys with a huge draw then nothing but uphill and buckbrush between us. I realized that to get above him I would have to hike around the head of the huge draw and through the jack fir, then cross hill towards him. It took me 45 minutes to get around and on the same hill he was on, I figured he would be long gone. Then I saw he was still bedded down and looking down away from me. I was still about 800 yards away but now I was working to a shot. I got down and crawled on my hands and knees,. Every few yards I would look up and gage the distance. I worked my way to within about 300 yards but I could only see his head and rack above the buckbrush. I was second guessing myself if I should get closer. I got as flat as I could and continued forward afraid to look up and see him gone. When I put my head up I had crawled into a little depression and could not see where he was. As I crawled out the far side of the depression, There he was, about 150 yards out. I could see him from the shoulders up. I brought my rifle up to the prone position, and put the crosshairs on him. I did not have a good shot, but I was in a good position for when he stood up. After a few minutes his head swiveled around looking uphill away from my direction and his ears went forward. He shot out of his bed straight away from where I was laying. He moved so fast all I saw was a flash of his butt and I did not have a any kind of shot. By the time I got up, he was down the draw and long gone. I was thinking maybe he caught wind of me but the wind was perfect? Then I hear two voices, over on the opposite ridge (exactly where the buck had been looking) two Blaze orange vests were walking down a road, talking not realizing everything within 1/2 a mile could hear them. The sun was reflecting off the their blaze orange like a beacon. They no clue they just spooked a nice buck better part of 1000 yards away from them. I was so frustrated, and physically worn out after that.
I did learn one thing though, I realized that deer might not see blaze orange like we do, but they definitely see the big patch of bright (whatever color it appears to them) unbroken call it grey. So now I use nothing but the blaze orange the is broken up with black or camo pattern, not the solid orange.