Recovering from missing

[Jsmitty3]

I really struggled for a while I was a stone cold clutch athlete but when it came to big bucks I would just meltdown in the moment I recently have had more success. And honestly it came from some advice about just changing my thoughts from what could go wrong to having a chip on my shoulder and just thinking I’m gonna kill you and letting it fly

[Babscanes]

We all miss and they eat at you but just keep at it. I’ve done just about every stupid thing there is hunting but you learn from them. Messed up on a beauty couple years back. The next year a big one did the same exact thing from the same tree and I drilled it. I learned from the miss before.

As long as it’s a clean miss I’m ok with it

[Brokenarrow1980]

Class 3 here, I usually miss because I rush and misjudge yardage, my eyes are not close to what they use to be. Ground hunting is not very forgiving on movement so i rarely get to use my rangefinder. I take some measurements of landmarks but the deer don't always read the script. When I miss i usually wiff low.

[szwampdonkey]

Only a handful of misses over my 30 year hunting career but im patient and only take shots im 99.999% confident will result in a dead deer. Ive let many walk I doubt many others would have without taking a poke. For example, in real world hunting scenarios ill RARELY shoot at a deer over 15 yards even though I can push tacks at 30 in the backyard. I know, nowadays anyways, guys regularly shoot 30 and 40 yards out OR MORE and 20 is considered a slam dunk but for me to take a 20 yard shot it has to be near perfect and when they are at 30 im just watching and waiting still.

Of those handful of misses I barely remember the circumstance as all you can do is move on and keep on hunting.

[G-Patt]

Great post! During the 2018 and 2019 seasons, I had a total of 7 straight misses before connecting. I swear I was jinxed. Ended up injuring one pretty bad and wasn't able to recover it, and barely grazed another one. The others were straight misses. Most of them were due to sticks and twigs in the way; a couple of them were straight buck (and doe) fever/pounding nerves and a couple were due to misjudgments of distance. Every miss was a great learning opportunity. I hunt on the ground almost exclusively, so many times you don't see them coming in until they are right on you, and you have to make quick decisions and hope they step perfectly in your shooting lane.

[oldrank]

I think I have done each class more than a few times. I mainly just lose focus and do something stupid. That can result in a class 2,3 or 4. It's usually on the first deer of the year and after I mess up I am able to think through my next situation. Last year I missed 3 times in a row. Pretty pathetic.

[Boogieman1]

Happy other hunters shared their debacles. I certainly hope I didn’t come across as praying and spraying. Im not gonna try to sugar coat it I know it’s a lot of misses I’ve had. But it’s been over more than a 20 year stretch. I missed more with a compound than I have with a recurve. But I started with a compound and I did a lot of stupid stuff through ignorance. I didn’t know any other bow hunters or have access to information like today. Looking back at those old magazines and they were stories not how to’s. I pretty much winged it like most other hunters during that time.

I completely emptied my quiver on a young forky once and never did hit him. I’ve got a lot better at bow hunting as well as archery. But I missed twice this year and will bet my bottom dollar somewhere down the line I will miss again. I have good stretches and bad stretches. My point of this was most hunters starting out I believe think at some point life is roses. I’m just here to tell em crap happens! No matter how hard U try, practice, prepare, etc.... Some days are just not your day. For those who never miss... I believe there’s an Olympics coming up. I suggest you get in on that.

[G-Patt]

Happy other hunters shared their debacles. I certainly hope I didn’t come across as praying and spraying. Im not gonna try to sugar coat it I know it’s a lot of misses I’ve had. But it’s been over more than a 20 year stretch. I missed more with a compound than I have with a recurve. But I started with a compound and I did a lot of stupid stuff through ignorance. I didn’t know any other bow hunters or have access to information like today. Looking back at those old magazines and they were stories not how to’s. I pretty much winged it like most other hunters during that time.

I completely emptied my quiver on a young forky once and never did hit him. I’ve got a lot better at bow hunting as well as archery. But I missed twice this year and will bet my bottom dollar somewhere down the line I will miss again. I have good stretches and bad stretches. My point of this was most hunters starting out I believe think at some point life is roses. I’m just here to tell em crap happens! No matter how hard U try, practice, prepare, etc.... Some days are just not your day. For those who never miss... I believe there’s an Olympics coming up. I suggest you get in on that.

I 100% agree with you. I don't think missing is a measure of whether you're a good bow hunter or not. It's like anything you do. You're going to have bad days and good days. You'll also experience slumps like missing several times in a row, and then you'll experience a streak where you can't miss. Even the GOAT (Dan) went through a slump either last year or the year before - he missed several deer. The important thing is to keep after it and never quit.