Sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves....LOL

[bmc]

I was out bowhunting this morning with my dad and a buddy. I'm in the stand at 6am and anticipating a big buck to hopefully walk by. Well, by 9am I haven't seen a thing and am starting to get cold, so I'm thinking maybe I should get down. I look out in front of my stand to the east and there's 2 does and 2 fawns about 40 yds out skirting the edge of a willow thicket, heading right to me. I'm already standing so I grab my bow and turn to the left as that's the route they're going. I'm a lefty so it might be a tough shot. The lead doe goes under my stand on the north side, within 3 feet of my tree. I can hear her turn and start walking south west over my right shoulder. Just as I try to turn to the right, the 2nd doe is under the tree and looks up at me, I could see the white's of her eyes. She gets nervous and jumps around. I figure it's now or never, so I click my release on, or so I thought, turn to my right, and start to draw on the first doe, that's stepping into my shooting lane at 13 yds. I get to about quarter draw and BOINK, my release goes off and sends my arrow out about 10 feet before it does a nose dive into the ground. The deer were running every direction. At first I was a little PO'd, but when I met up with my hunting partner's we had a big laugh. Sorry about the long story, but just wanted to share. This is a new stand, that I've seen deer out of 3 of 4 times, so it's in a good spot.

Brian

[Tom Linderholm]

Great Story Brian! Thanks for sharing.

[BryanL]

Had the same thing happen to me on a basket rack 8 point earlier in the year. Hopefully the stand keeps producing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it slowed down.

[Deitz Dittrich]

The things that can go wrong.. a friend of mine was hunting and took a shot at a doe. His bottom limb contacted the railing of his perm stand and the arrow fell short... bummed he sat back down... about 45 mins latter a nice 10 point came walking in. He tried to draw back... not going to happen.. when his lower limb hit the railing, the cables came off the bow and got jammed in the wheel.

Dont feel bad!

[chucker34]

Yes we do. I felt your pain on Saturday and then shrugged it off with a smile.

I had my first miss on Saturday morning in the three times I've ever drawn back on a deer. Due to a variety of factors my opportunities to take a shot at anything this year have been non-existent til this Saturday morning. So the miss was especially painful.

First off, I realized I set up my ground blind a little too close to a deer trail, or rather I misjudeged where the deer would head, which would be right toward my blind. Yikes!

The two does spotted me from about 40 yards and very alertly and slowly started to walk off to the left. They were now about 30 yards away and just coming out from behind a tree when I drew back and they stopped immediately.

Unfortunately, this was just after legal shooting light arrived on Saturday morning and the mesh window I was drawing in front of was open so I could see better. I had planned to close it at just about the time they showed up as it was getting light enough to see clearly now through the mesh.

But back to the story. There they are looking at me at full draw. I kept thinking to myself, stay still, and they'll start moving again, right into range. They did after a few minutes. The lead doe relaxed a little and put her head down to feed at about 25 yards when I launched the arrow ... right under her belly. I thought I had hit her at first the way she jumped and ran off into the cattails. But all I found an hour later when I left the blind was my arrow stuck into the dirt with a little tuft of white hair and no signs of blood anywhere! I also realized I had centered my 20 yard pin directly on her vitals which could have led to the miss. Made such a mistake after holding at full draw for several minutes and feeling I had her right where I wanted her in a split second.

Oh, well. Out comes the trail cam and inside I sit for the next week or two. Sounded like World War 3 while the neighbors did drive after drive on Saturday afternoon. So I plan to check deer movement and head back out again when they ease up a bit. Hopefully that's sometime soon!

[fishtrapgirl]

Brian,

Has your father gotten a deer yet? Do you guys hunt anywhere on his 3d course? If so I think there are quite a few spots there that look REALLY promising.

Better luck to ya.

Ryan

(fishtrapgirls husband)

[bmc]

Hey Ryan,

We've got 3 with archery tackle and 3 with rifle, so it's been our best year ever as far as # of deer harvested. My dad arrowed what he thought was a doe until he found it and saw that it had "magically" grew a 4" fork and 2" spike. Needless to say we've ribbed him about it all fall.LOL He's been known to shoot a "doe" only to have it magically grow legal spikes before he finds it! LOL The other 2 archery deer were with crossbows. For the one guy, who's near 70 it was his first crossbow deer and the other guy is handicapped and I believe this was his 3rd deer at our place in the last few years. If there's lots of acorns, we sometimes throw a stand east of the house, but not this year. We're still bowhunting as you can see, so as long as the weather stays nice, we'll be at it. Good Luck.

Brian

[fishinNhuntin]

Years ago a friend of mine's dad had almost the same thing happen. He was in the nature of using his finger to help guide the arrow back throughout his draw (old style flipper rest). Worked great for practice, but when he hunted he used the jersey style gloves with the rubber "gripper" dots all over the palm and fingers. Gripped the arrow great when he drew back! Plucked the arrow off the string and it fell to the ground bouncing off his metal stand. Ahh the memories!