Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

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checkerfred
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Re: Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

Unread postby checkerfred » Sat Feb 24, 2018 4:39 am

I’ve made plenty of them this season.

Not keeping my rangefinder handy cost me a big buck.
Overhunting and underscouting
Not hunting some areas that I should have hunted
Wrong timing on a few places
Pushing too close or not far enough. Still have trouble with this
Not hunting enough mornings
Shooting my Kayak, go ahead laugh it up lol


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headgear
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Re: Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

Unread postby headgear » Sat Feb 24, 2018 6:30 am

I laid off a hot stand because of an iffy wind, a friend moved in and shot a stud. Wind was curving a bit around a lake/swamp tree line so it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. I did go back the next day and had terrified spike run by, I suspect a larger buck might have been chasing him because he was running and then slammed in the breaks in front of me, looking behind him for a solid 30 minutes. Although it could have been wolves pushing the little buck too but I will never know. Thought about getting aggressive and backtracking the little buck but decided to sit it out in hopes some does might come and feed near my stand before dark, they never showed. So in a way two mistakes. :lol:
Tennhunter3
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Re: Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 9:54 am

ScottSpitzley wrote:
Tennhunter3 wrote:Crossing a deep creek at 3am with a temperature of 28 about 1200 yards from car.

Tripped over a log below water level and fell face first into the creek lone wolf smacked me on the back of the head. Muzzleloader had water all in scope and ruined it. I never made it too a tree that morning definitely a experience I hope to not repeat.

Now Everytime I drive by that area I laugh about it. Thats hunting good times.


That sounds rough!



Lol yeah used a lot of bad language that morning was frozen by time I got to my vehicle. Good thing it's not on video I was running through woods to car stripping off wet clothes as I went. Not everyday a guy with a gun runs through woods in boxer shorts!
Never give up Freedom for imagined safety.
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Bigb
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Re: Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

Unread postby Bigb » Sat Feb 24, 2018 11:13 am

It was a good year for me so I don't have any complaints, got a nice mature 12 pointer at 41 yards and a lone mature doe at 22 yards. Neither ran more than 60 yards and both dropped in site. Make for a good year for me.

I think before those two, I had a couple blunders that I learned from.

First, my "beast style" hunting is tougher now that I have two kids under the age of 3 plus I live 3 hours from where I hunt. I have about 40ish permanent stands hung which is enough to not hunt them more than once or twice a year.

There is one stand that I only hunt on a Northwest wind. There is a funnel by two ag fields that goes right into a thick cedar bedding area. The last two years I have seen mature bucks in there but just out of range or having too much brush in the way. We have killed a couple good bucks out of this stand every year but seem to have many more missed opportunities. Last year I told myself that I needed to push the envelope and move the stand about 30 yards in to the only tree that would support a stand. Never did and then October 29th and November 8th I had two different mature bucks pass within 15 yards of that tree. I could see them but no shot opportunities. If I would have moved the stand I would have been set. To add insult, I scouted it in January and a few trees had fallen on the neighbors property making it basically impassable for deer for 100ish yards on the neighbors property going the other direction. Now, any deer had to take a 5 foot opening to get through this jumbled area. It was just beaten down with tracks. I have a camera about 50 yards up from this spot and think the tree fell in December because around that time, you could see deer coming from that direction on camera and would have a deer set the camera off and could see deer 20 or 30 yards behind if coming from that direction (and some nice mature bucks too). I'm really kicking myself for not moving that stand but now I have a tree picked out (the only one that will work and I'll only be about 12 feet in the air) but will have decent cover. A little bonus is that the neighbor mentioned that there was actually a couple pear trees right where i was going to hang the stand. I didnt know that but not it sounds a bit better.

Two, is to hunt spots that just seem crazy. We have a stand that is about 8 feet off the ground and about 50 yards from the road and only has one shot to a drainage ditch at about 17 yard.s that has a culvert onit in one spot. Other than that culvert, there is no where for the deer to cross unless its in the thick bedding 70 or so yards down the drainage. Didnt hunt it because I didnt have a great entry and the farmer didnt spray that area so cockaburrs (that probably is spelled wrong) were everywhere. I took the easy way out and hunted two stands within 100 yards of this spot a couple times. This stand is literally just a small stand and used mainly branches to get into it so it doesnt look like a good spot. Sure enough, pulled the camera in January and it was loaded with mature bucks during daylight hours. Plus, both times I hunted within 100 yards of there I only saw a couple small bucks but the camera showed both those times two different mature bucks passed through while I was in stand. I need to hunt those overlooked stand spots more.

Good year so I'm not to upset about the mistakes but if I wouldn't have had those mistakes, I'd have two taxidermy bills instead of one......Plus a pheasant from Nebraska....
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Re: Lets hear about the your biggest mistake in 2017

Unread postby Brian1986 » Sun Feb 25, 2018 2:12 am

My biggest mistake of 2017-
I was set up on a hot scrape in a small saddle on the edge of a 4yr old clear cut bedding area on Nov 2nd. It was my 2nd sit, 1st morning sit on the stand I had a shooter buck come in from 10 o'clock. He surprised me as the line he walked in towards me had a large red oak in between he and I. When I first saw him as he cleared the oak he was only 40yds away facing me head on. But he was moving slowly and relaxed. If he did what I expected he would turn broadside to check the scrape and licking branch 15yds in front of me. As he continued to move closer towards the scrape, I decided when his head got behind the next oak I would reach for my bow hanging to my left from the tree (I shoot right handed). He did, and I did. Only his head cleared the tree faster than I expected and he caught my movement in my tree. He looks up, freezes, and stares. I froze. My left arm was extended at about the same 10 o'clock angle as he came in from and my release was clipped onto my string. He stayed frozen for over a minute. He finally started to relax some, and began to very slowly continue what he was doing all the while still keeping an eye on me. One minute turns to 2 minutes and 'Im still frozen unable to move. My left arm is beginning to quiver so I start using the release to help me hold up the weight of the bow. Another minute passes and the buck decides to walk back to the left from the position he came from. He was still calm. His head gets behind another tree, and I begin to draw my bow. Only when I pull the string back 1/3 of the way the arrow comes off the string making an audible popping noise. I'm in full on chinese fire drill mode figuring out what just happened, trying to re-nock the arrow. The buck is now alerted and is fast walking out of the area. By the time I re-nock and come to full draw he has already passed through my 20 yard shooting lane to my left. I have one more lane at 35yds, but at this point he is walking too fast and I didn't want to take a marginal shot. He walked quickly out of sight over the hill. I sat there shaking my head, laughing at how this could've happened! First time for everything!
What I later realized was the pressure from the release helping to hold the arrow had partially dislodged the arrow from the string. So if I am ever in that situation again where I have to hold the bow for a long period of time I will be sure to check that the arrow is completely nocked before I draw. Also when I sit in that spot next season I will be ready for a buck to come from that direction.


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