Ever miss the shot of the lifetime.

[todbartell]

shot of a lifetime no, but we all can miss. If it hasn't, keep hunting

There are things we can do to reduce the chances of missing. Practice shooting from field positions is #1, and #2 is self control, shooting within your capabilities. With good practice we can all improve

[MB_Boy]

I didn't get to take the shot but missed the opportunity on the biggest whitetail I had ever rattled in or had in my sights for that matter. Was hunting with my traditional muzzleloader and had this beauty of a deer at about 20ish yards, when I went to take the shot....the cap fired and nothing else. I quickly put another cap on as he so willingly stood there for me to go through the process. On the second firing of the cap with no ignition of the powder he finally said "enough is enough with this dolt wearing orange and firing off percussion caps at me" and he bounded away.

I guess in my last the cleaning a bit of oil had got in the bottom of the barrel underneath where you screw in the nipple for the percussion cap (me being careless), it was just enough that when pouring the powder in it soaked up the oil and wouldn't ignite. Lesson learned.

[brian]

Oh I missed the shot of a lifetime. Shot over due to steep angle, even though I knew better.

I don't want to talk about it............................

I did the exact same thing this last season on the largest Blacktail buck I have ever seen! The way I see it is it was blessing in disguise, it would have been a monstrously hellish haul out from the place I took a shot on him, later as dusk was settling I got a much more reasonably sized deer from a much more reasonably hellish haul out.

[BCHunterFSJ]

I did;TWICE!
Once on a Spanish Ibex and once on a Mouflon. Both times off shooting sticks.
I hate shooting sticks...especially on steep mountainous terrain!

[wideopenthrottle]

I was shooting at a 4x3 muley (I only saw wood at the time but that was enough) on the last day of 2point season...I came around a bit of a corner to the right and on the left side there was the buck broadside...I crouched to one knee and slowly readied for the shot....

there was a snow covered log blocking mid body and a patch of willows behind that....I picked a line through everything and let off a shot....

unfortunately the snowy log was close enough to be in the line of fire even though the line if sight was clear through the scope....I saw the snow fly up from the log and branches move in the willows......

I did actually hit the deer, low below the lungs and he was off.....tried tracking him and the blood trail for the rest of the day and into the evening but lost both blood and tracks among other tracks......

I went back to the same spot the next morning and after about an hour of searching/hunting, i heard a shot from where my buddy was down another road....luckily he was able to finish the job for me on the wounded buck but it was a great reminder about line of sight versus bullet path....he saved me having lots of nightmares over that

[71_camaro]

Missed a big whitey and huge moose.but have big mules and a stud stone sheep so I guess I'm 5050

[guest]

Just hate to admit it but ......

first time ever hunting stones, way before range finders haha, out there I'll say ..... Quite always , completely misjudged a beauty white faced FC Ram ....sure not as big as I thought.Said C Ya yo that one

Nice Billy Goat at an extreme angle almost straight up and down. After that, well, where he went we just took pictures lol. C Ya

[dragonslayer]

I also had an experience about 6 yrs ago where I was just driving quad down a side road and looked to my left, down hill was a big buck laying behind a tree that feel down, at first I though this big buck was a mulie as he had a rack on him that was unbelievable at least a 30 spread ,but mulies were closed , got off the quad and check him out with binos, low and behold its a white tail still lying behind the log , as big whitetails do , they are not likely to move once detected, put scope on him and could only see the top of the head and a little bit of shoulder. I was In my zone at 100yds no problem ya right took shoot and I was certain I had the one that I have been looking for all my life in BC. Guess what I missed, could not find any bark missing on tree stump, Absolutely was heart broken , went looking ,no blood trail , spent two days looking in the canyon that he went down and could not find blood or animal. Still bothers me today
and have not seen one since, we will keep going

[Islandeer]

So 25 years ago I killed a 150 class EK whitetail,absolute Cranker.
I had found this rutting ridge that until it was logged produced big whities each November. So 5 years after taking my big whitetail I'm up on that ridge sitting 5 yds from where I'd sat 5 yrs previous. A love struck doe wanders by,real close, like 5yds close, jeez I'm remembering past magic when he appears. 60 yds down ridge,head down like a hound on hot scent, he'd stop every few steps as if catologueing this does estrous. I'm just sitting,enjoying,not breathing,heart stopped, in awe as he gets closer. Finally he is 10 or 12 yds, time to take him I remind myself, up with my tack driving.270 A-bolt, no fancy neck shots, no sir, find shoulder back a bit and a little lower,boom!!!
I'm frozen, he stands tall raises his head, jeez, we stare for an eternal 5 or 10 seconds, his rack is colossal, dwarfing my previous buck. It was almost mystical staring into his eyes, then he was gone.
Thats my greatest miss, the kicker to this tale?
I was hunting mulies the day before and took a tumble.
Sighted in after the miss, off the paper at 30 yds!!
In away that moment turned out pretty special, it happened the way it was supposed to.