How to get over missing the big one?

[Oregon]

I wish I only missed. I crippled and lost a giant MD 4 years ago. 2 buddies with me claim it was the biggest MD they'd ever seen on the hoof. 320 yards, great rest, I squeeze and blow it's right hoof off. Deer runs uphill with hoof swinging like a whirli-gig. I up, put my very good "wing shooting" skills to work and squeeze again. About 6' behind and low. WTF!!
Shot gun the next day at 100 yds. Didn't even hit cardboard behind target.
Gave gun to gun nut buddy after hunt and said "tell me what's wrong".
Longer story short. Brand new scope(that was dead on 3 days prior) killed a yote at 420yds, was no longer even close and could not be adjusted. A well known Oregon based scope company had no issues when I sent it in and got a brand new one. The only question was how it got damaged. I slipped and fell a few times but never remotely remember scope taking a hit????

To answer your question, you never get over it. It actually screwed me up mentally on other hunts. I haven't missed much in my life, but now it's a thing.

 

[Yarak]

If you had a memory with the ability to forget it would be called alzheimers
Memories are for recollection and learning

 

[PONYBOY]

First time elk hunting (10 yers ago) I had a 330-340 bull come screaming down a ridge to hit water I was sitting on. Amazing experience I'll always remember. He pushed about 10 cows down first and then was running everywhere bugling and pissing all over himself lol... He was anywhere between 35 and 45 yards away. Anyway, my experience got the best of me between him running around like crazy and being surrounded by all the cows. There were trees in between us as well. I let a shot go when he was passing a tree and saw my arrow nick his front brisket..... He took off and hung back up at 100 yards. Tried to get back on him the next day or two and closest I could get was 3-400 yards. He was still rutting it up. Have killed a few bulls since that point, nothing close to as big. Overall, it's all working out, I would have been spoiled if I got the big one on my first time every sitting water. Happens to us all!

 

[Dust Rider]

I missed my only opportunity on a herd bull this September. He might have been my biggest to date. 6x7 with mass. Maybe a 370 class bull but I’ll never know. Never saw him again. Was I mad at myself, yes. But was also super excited to have the chance to engage and stalk a big old bull like that.

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Just a point of contention. For you folks in the east - it’s a hobby. For many of us in the west - hobby my butt. Hunting is our lives. Everything else is just support. You will see that lost big one right up to the point of burial. Learn from it and don't make that mistake again.

Jesus f&cking christ, the arrogance and ignorance on display here would make the ladies on “the view” blush.

I pay 50x what you do for an elk tag, drive over halfway across the country at least once a year for it, plan my hunts years if not decades in advance, and burn most of my vacation and disposable income on it, but it’s “just a hobby” to me compared to you because of where I call home.

You can’t make this shit up.

OP it happens to everyone who hunts long enough. I had a recent streak of a few years where I had a streak of kills that didn’t go as smoothly as one would like, despite normally being a pretty good shot and hardly ever losing an animal before that. I took a lot of time concentrating on my “process” and repeating that mantra “remember your process” every time I shot. I’d put bets on myself to add the pressure during practice sessions. Then I would go back to “remember your process” despite the pressure.

I made it into a habit. This year went much smoother despite a longer and more challenging shot.

I’ll never forget when things didn’t go as planned. You never do, but coming back from that overshadows it.

 

[Stalker69]

Just keep trying, and if someone else gets him, help them track it, then you shoot it to kill it, and claim it as yours. That’s the way the “ pros” are doing it. Aram Von Benedikt

 

[Billy Goat]

I wish I only missed. I crippled and lost a giant MD 4 years ago. 2 buddies with me claim it was the biggest MD they'd ever seen on the hoof. 320 yards, great rest, I squeeze and blow it's right hoof off. Deer runs uphill with hoof swinging like a whirli-gig. I up, put my very good "wing shooting" skills to work and squeeze again. About 6' behind and low. WTF!!
Shot gun the next day at 100 yds. Didn't even hit cardboard behind target.
Gave gun to gun nut buddy after hunt and said "tell me what's wrong".
Longer story short. Brand new scope(that was dead on 3 days prior) killed a yote at 420yds, was no longer even close and could not be adjusted. A well known Oregon based scope company had no issues when I sent it in and got a brand new one. The only question was how it got damaged. I slipped and fell a few times but never remotely remember scope taking a hit????

To answer your question, you never get over it. It actually screwed me up mentally on other hunts. I haven't missed much in my life, but now it's a thing.

It happens all the time with that company.

And they keep replacing the scopes, for some reason people keep on using them.



It keeps these stories going.

 

[MallardSX2]

Just a point of contention. For you folks in the east - its a hobby. For many of us in the west - hobby my butt. Hunting is our lives. Everything else is just support.

 

[Fogalo]

Just a point of contention. For you folks in the east - its a hobby. For many of us in the west - hobby my butt. Hunting is our lives. Everything else is just support. You will see that lost big one right up to the point of burial. Learn from it and don't make that mistake again.

Tell me you don’t know anything about hunting in the Midwest without telling me you don’t know anything about hunting in the Midwest.

OP - that sucks. Just wait till you have a collection of misses and screw ups on bigger bucks.

 

[doc holiday13]

It happens all the time with that company.

And they keep replacing the scopes, for some reason people keep on using them.

It keeps these stories going.

The almost get me all the time.. As wee lad, they were the gold standard and everyone spoke about them as if they were a gift from God.

I haven't used their product in field but it does seem to have great glass. I almost bought a lightly used flagship model, but too many negative long term reviews kept coming up..

I digress... I already said it once, but the best way to get over missing a shot on a booner is to mess up a shot on another booner

 

[doc holiday13]

Tell me you don’t know anything about hunting in the Midwest without telling me you don’t know anything about hunting in the Midwest.

Whitetail guys can be worse than the 1981 starter qb from a small town HS . Always talking about the past.

 

[Billy Goat]

The almost get me all the time.. As wee lad, they were the gold standard and everyone spoke about them as if they were a gift from God.

I haven't used their product in field but it does seem to have great glass. I almost bought a lightly used flagship model, but too many negative long term reviews kept coming up..

I digress... I already said it once, but the best way to get over missing a shot on a booner is to mess up a shot on another booner

I have had 5 of their products, 4 have failed, don't use the 5th. Have one that could be sent back to be replaced, but why. I guess sell it to someone who has faith in them. It failed on me in the last few hours, last day of season.
Still haunts me.


It's one thing when I fork up, that's on me. When equipment fails and it costs you, that was likely preventable.
Took me a while to learn that.

 

[Dos Perros]

I missed a solid 300ish bull the first year I moved to Wyoming over 20 years ago and I still think about it with that pit in my stomach a few times a year.
30 yards bugling and sent that arrow right over his back.
You’ll crush him when you get the next chance on him.

If you bring me and a buddy with you into the Wilderness we'll get you a 300+ easy.

 

[wyogoat]

If you bring me and a buddy with you into the Wilderness we'll get you a 300+ easy.

Who said I need your help…?
JK. it’s always easier with someone else. I’ll keep it in mind.

 

[Oregon]

I have had 5 of their products, 4 have failed, don't use the 5th. Have one that could be sent back to be replaced, but why. I guess sell it to someone who has faith in them. It failed on me in the last few hours, last day of season.
Still haunts me.


It's one thing when I fork up, that's on me. When equipment fails and it costs you, that was likely preventable.
Took me a while to learn that.

It's like Banded brand waders. Took my 4th warranty send back to realize I am the definition of insanity.

 

[Fogalo]

Whitetail guys can be worse than the 1981 starter qb from a small town HS . Always talking about the past.

Ain’t that the truth.

 

[KenLee]

Take the $700 you saved on taxidermy and buy something you enjoy. F that buck!!!

 

[JEck]

I’d probably just stop hunting all together.

Kidding, I’ve stuck two dandy bucks, chip shots, still not sure how I didn’t hit vitals, didn’t recover either one, still think about them more than once a week

 

[Pony Soldier]

Now that the growling is about over- how about stories of what haunts you.

When I started we didn't have 4 wheel drives. We had a 1948 dodge half ton. This was about 64-65. We prepped with half a box of rocks and tire chains. As we spun out I was delegated to the bumper as extra weight.

We made the corner to our logging unit and as we turned to go up we spun out. Dad backed up and I got on the rear bumper. We slid around the corner and started the grind to the top. About 3/4 of the way we lost traction and returned to go. I hung on for dear life and Dad hit the corner at about 30. We were making great progress making lots of noise and as we broke over the top. We noticed two 370 bulls standing on the next bump admiring the entertainment.

We both jumped out and started shooting. The pickup didn't have enough compression to just stay so as we shot the truck chugged down the hill slowly. A retreating fire line and the bulls just stood and starred in disbelief as we did our best to save the truck and reload.

We parked the truck and picked up the chase. They stayed just ahead of us and offered a shot every once in a while.

We followed the tracks as best we could for 2-3 hours and then lost them in a fir jungle with no snow. We got back to the truck only to discover the biggest of the two bulls had bedded down in front of the truck for the time we were gone.

We never drew a drop of blood. I spent the afternoon hunting out the basin bellow and re- sighted my gun in. We had been hunting for 3 weeks in the rain and mine was shooting about 6" low. The next day I killed a 9x11 whitetail running at about 250 yds. Dad missed the doe. We went to town for lunch and he sighted in his gun. We did an evening hunt in an old mining district and did a sweep and ran a cow over him which he killed in self-defence.

The last vision in my dying eyes will be those two bulls we couldn't hit, standing on the horizen - laughing.

 

[DanimalW]

Somethings you don’t get over, but you have to keep going. It’s crazy how vividly you can remember the botched “big ones” years later. That moment gets replayed so many times in your head that it’s as if it were etched in stone forever.