Closest miss

[petew]

We see lots of posts about the long shots, but what is the closest shot with a bow that went south and you missed, or made a poor shot and lost the animal ?
I had the pleasure of hitting a branch and shooting under a velvet buck at 10 feet. The arrow was straight up sticking in the dirt where he stood.:(

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

:D OK lets get embarrassed..but truth..less than one yard...yup that's 1...one ..yard...on an animal the size of a moose...it was a moose...ha ha

back in the day with a launcher rest,,,it came over a bank and almost stepped on me ...I drew ..arrow fell off..I released with moose above me...more in self defense than intent ..lol

But I missed clean and have no clue where that arrow went....not a sales pitch but if I had a Whisker Biscuit then...one for the books....lol

true story

Neil

[north american hunter]

2 yards gopher yesterday

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

:D he he

[Lefty-Canuck]

2 yards gopher yesterday

If you don't know what pin to use on those close ones they will eat you up....:)

Luckily the guy shooting this frog knows what to do and shot a 10X....if you used your top pin, that's likely why you missed :)

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd460/lefty-canuck/12A9A0FC-D32A-4A49-82C9-417DC1EBAAC2-4233-0000020D638C430A_zps3426ca85.jpg

LC

[schian]

missed a doe at 25 yards...then again it was and is the only big game animal i have ever shot at with my bow. haha
did take a coyote at about 10 yards tho.

Schian

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

:D yup learned that up close and personal use 40 yard pin...


Neil

[randymarriott]

Well as awsum as all these stories have been I have a heart breaking stories of my own
my first year bow hunting, I spotted a really huge 5x5 whitey bedded down in a hay field that had already been combined. So I began my stalk which took about 2hrs to go a cpl hundred yds. Finally got 15yds from this guy and waited for him to get up. Well he did finally and I came to full draw and just stared at him with my pin in his boiler room as he looked back at me. I was so amazed that he was jist looking at me and not busting. Well about 10seconds later he kinda flintched like he was gonna take off and it clicked in my head that I needed to shoot. Well I totally thought he was about to jump away so i fubbed the shot and my arrow wizzed aboit 4-5ft infront of him thinkin i better lead him if hes gonna run lol.
I just dropped my head tucked tail n went home.
Sad day for me.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Well as awsum as all these stories have been I have a heart breaking stories of my own
my first year bow hunting, I spotted a really huge 5x5 whitey bedded down in a hay field that had already been combined. So I began my stalk which took about 2hrs to go a cpl hundred yds. Finally got 15yds from this guy and waited for him to get up. Well he did finally and I came to full draw and just stared at him with my pin in his boiler room as he looked back at me. I was so amazed that he was jist looking at me and not busting. Well about 10seconds later he kinda flintched like he was gonna take off and it clicked in my head that I needed to shoot. Well I totally thought he was about to jump away so i fubbed the shot and my arrow wizzed aboit 4-5ft infront of him thinkin i better lead him if hes gonna run lol.
I just dropped my head tucked tail n went home.
Sad day for me.

:D lol...kewl story....we all have had that day...admit it or not...

Neil

[randymarriott]

:D lol...kewl story....we all have had that day...admit it or not...

Neil

Those good ol rookie mistakes. Glad I've made a few of them. Made me learn a cpl good lessons

[Richard B.]

10 yards over a big mulie doe standing broadside

[north american hunter]

Probably, he was running to his hole too

[Stewie]

Wasn't a bow miss... But this last fall we pushed out a 6x6 bull elk that came crashing through the bush right at my buddy... He missed it at 7 yards with a rifle... He still doesn't like talking about it hahaha

[Fowl91]

Bull Moose broadside at 10 yards, I stood up to get a clear shot over the bush in front of me. Well, he flinched... I flinched... He ran full bore head in the air... I walked head hanging low lol. Blew it. Arrow sailed about 4 inches over him.

[walking buffalo]

How about the two closest misses in a row.... :scared:

First time archery hunting, with a recurve and cedar arrows chasing Pronghorns.

Walking into a waterhole at mid-day, I was surprised by a buck walking out towards me just 20 yards away. Pop up the decoy and draw back, the buck is now standing broadside at two yards. I am shooting instinctively but had never practiced at less than 10 yards. I let myself see the arrow head pointing at the ground well below the buck's feet. Despite telling myself to just trust the shot, I couldn't resist raising up the bow to aim higher, the arrow now pointing at the buck's knees. Sure enough, the arrow went clean over the Pronghorn. :sign0161: #1.


Not half an hour later a second buck is coming into the waterhole as I am sitting in a small washout by the water's edge with the decoy already setup The buck comes running in at full tilt, screeching to a halt in a cloud of dust. As the smoke clears, he is standing perfectly broadside just a couple of feet away. I am already telling myself to just trust my instincts and shoot naturally. But hell no! I once again raised the bow higher despite my mind telling my arms not to do that and again the arrow flies over the buck's back! :sign0161: #2

Now the cool part of the story.

When the arrow flew over the buck, he raced off in a semicircle around the water and away. With the trajectory of my slow wood arrow starting high, it is still in the air as the buck is actually catching up to it. In disbelief I am now wondering if I might actually get this buck as he is about to cross paths with the arrow for the second time in one shot. Sure enough, the buck and the stick crossed paths with the arrow slicing along the top of his neck. Upon retrieving the arrow there was blood on one side of the Muzzy. :scared0015:


I now practice at 2 yards.

[shorthair ptr.]

An eastern Turkey. I was a diehard bow hunter for these birds even though at that time I hadn't even killed one. He came in and to my left side at about 12ft. I didn't even pick a spot, I just shot "at" it and sent the arrow over it's back at its head height. This was well before the pop blinds were readily available.

[-CLM-]

8 yards, Black Bear on the ground. Shot under him....fail.

[Knotter]

8 yds on whitetail doe. no jumping the string at that distance.

[Mulecrazy7mm]

380 inch bull elk at 20 yards twice when i was 15 still remember it like yesterday

[sullijr]

spotted a really huge 5x5 whitey bedded down in a hay field that had already been combined. So I began my stalk


What the heck was combined off this hay field

[Mulestalker]

19 yards shot over the back of a GIANT Mule Deer buck, caught him at first light working his way back to a deep coulee, wind was right so got into the coulee and ran to where I though he was heading , popped my head up and sure enough he was coming straight towards me..lots of time to calm down, look him over,etc....maybe too much because I was giggling to myself saying this is too easy ,also was picking out what mount position I should get him done in......well the time came, as he neared I slowly kept backing down the bank as he got closer and closer ..finally, when I could hear him eating it was time...up on my knees and...twang...over his back!! could not believe it!! buck of a lifetime!!

Nearest I can tell is when I came down with the pins I realeased as soon as they hit fur.....never forget that one.

BTW, he was never seen again.

[randymarriott]

19 yards shot over the back of a GIANT Mule Deer buck, caught him at first light working his way back to a deep coulee, wind was right so got into the coulee and ran to where I though he was heading , popped my head up and sure enough he was coming straight towards me..lots of time to calm down, look him over,etc....maybe too much because I was giggling to myself saying this is too easy ,also was picking out what mount position I should get him done in......well the time came, as he neared I slowly kept backing down the bank as he got closer and closer ..finally, when I could hear him eating it was time...up on my knees and...twang...over his back!! could not believe it!! buck of a lifetime!!

Nearest I can tell is when I came down with the pins I realeased as soon as they hit fur.....never forget that one.

BTW, he was never seen again.

Ohh buddy. I feel your pain. I have watched my brother do that same thing twice. Even called his wife once to say"I'm abouf to slay this monster, ill send you a pick in a minute"! I pretty much thought they were the funniest times someome has done that because both deer were Big animals.
I also had two full bodied mule does about 5-6yds from me in an open ditch. I couldn't move a muscle. When I finally got my breathing and heart rate under control I tried to make a move, and within the first inch of movement they were Gone!

[stickflicker]

I was sitting in a tree stand chewing a big wad of Redman leaf, spitting down at the base of my tree. A couple of hours passed and two small muley bucks filtered out through the trees. One walked up to the tree I was in and started licking the tobacco residue from the ground. I leaned out and shot straight down with my recurve. A cloud of hair flew and the bucks ran out to fifty yards and stopped to look back. I glassed the buck and saw a patch of hair a few inches long missing, no blood. there was a mess of hair beneath the tree too. The bucks marched off relatively unharmed. The shot was maybe 5 yards straight down and a yard from the tree I was in. :)

[Hunterofbeasts]

When the arrow flew over the buck, he raced off in a semicircle around the water and away. With the trajectory of my slow wood arrow starting high, it is still in the air as the buck is actually catching up to it. In disbelief I am now wondering if I might actually get this buck as he is about to cross paths with the arrow for the second time in one shot. Sure enough, the buck and the stick crossed paths with the arrow slicing along the top of his neck. Upon retrieving the arrow there was blood on one side of the Muzzy. :scared0015:


... I had the same thing happen the most recent time I was hunting sasquatch.... Do your arrows have rubber suction cups on them to travel that slow?

:bad_boys_20:

:sHa_shakeshout:

[jcrayford]

Didn't shoot because it was earlier than legal shooting time, but had a little forkhorn Muley 12" (that's right - inches) from my bow hand in 2010 - I guess I should've reached over and wiped his nose!

J.

[caljouw2003]

When the arrow flew over the buck, he raced off in a semicircle around the water and away. With the trajectory of my slow wood arrow starting high, it is still in the air as the buck is actually catching up to it. In disbelief I am now wondering if I might actually get this buck as he is about to cross paths with the arrow for the second time in one shot. Sure enough, the buck and the stick crossed paths with the arrow slicing along the top of his neck. Upon retrieving the arrow there was blood on one side of the Muzzy. :scared0015:


... I had the same thing happen the most recent time I was hunting sasquatch.... Do your arrows have rubber suction cups on them to travel that slow?

:bad_boys_20:

:sHa_shakeshout:

Whats your major malfunction little boy, just because you have never seen a deer run at 300 FPS before does not mean they can't.
Sasquatch Pffff :sHa_sarcasticlol:

[SBE2]

When the arrow flew over the buck, he raced off in a semicircle around the water and away. With the trajectory of my slow wood arrow starting high, it is still in the air as the buck is actually catching up to it. In disbelief I am now wondering if I might actually get this buck as he is about to cross paths with the arrow for the second time in one shot. Sure enough, the buck and the stick crossed paths with the arrow slicing along the top of his neck. Upon retrieving the arrow there was blood on one side of the Muzzy. :scared0015:


... I had the same thing happen the most recent time I was hunting sasquatch.... Do your arrows have rubber suction cups on them to travel that slow?

:bad_boys_20:

:sHa_shakeshout:

Considering it was a recurve and cedar arrows, and likely many years ago, we don't really know what the arrow speed would be at all. As well as the angle of trajectory with the shot having been an admitted initial miss, as well as you don't know how wide the body of water was that the antelope ran around. Could be 5 feet, could be 50. If you look back on all of WB's posts, I doubt he is making it up as they are all very knowledgable and informative, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to start BS posts now....this isn't Mt. Giant we're talking about:) Cheers

[walking buffalo]

When the arrow flew over the buck, he raced off in a semicircle around the water and away. With the trajectory of my slow wood arrow starting high, it is still in the air as the buck is actually catching up to it. In disbelief I am now wondering if I might actually get this buck as he is about to cross paths with the arrow for the second time in one shot. Sure enough, the buck and the stick crossed paths with the arrow slicing along the top of his neck. Upon retrieving the arrow there was blood on one side of the Muzzy. :scared0015:


... I had the same thing happen the most recent time I was hunting sasquatch.... Do your arrows have rubber suction cups on them to travel that slow?

:bad_boys_20:

:sHa_shakeshout:


Ya, I don't blame the :bad_boys_20: thought on this one at all.

If it didn't happen to me I likely wouldn't believe it either. I wish there video of this shot and one from earlier in the day when practicing at 30 yards a wind gust at 20 yards literally deflected the arrow like it hit a wall. Those heavy slow arrow take their time getting to the target and can be pushed around by the wind. Some more detail is in order.

As mentioned, recurve, 68 lb Bear Kodiak and cedar shafts, the arrows weighed close to 660 grains. I never measured the fps, but it was likely around 160.

I was sitting in a 3' deep washout with the decoy on the ground above me, so when I took the shot, my arrow was at the Pronghorn's foot level and about 6 feet away. I'm just estimating here, but for the arrow to clear the buck's back, the initial angle of flight must have been around 30-35 degrees (maybe more) above the horizon and going into a mild 15kmh wind. Again just estimating, I picked up the arrow about 100 yards away. Considering that Pronghorns can easily run at 90kph, it would take the little beast about 4seconds to cover the distance. Those that have shot slow heavy wood arrows know that it can take a long time for them to come back to earth only a short distance away. Let's call it a perfect storm, well almost perfect. If that arrow was just a fraction slower.... :)



Thanks for the props SBE2. :happy0180:

[Pincherguy]

I guess my closest miss would be about 10 feet. A big doe walked into the clearing I was in and stopped about 10 feet away. Between her and I was one small sapling, maybe 2 feet from her other than that she was wide open. Anyway I drew back and released my arrow, damn if I didn't hit that sapling. The arrow flew up and stuck in a tree. She just stood there looking at me, I nocked another arrow, drew back and released. Double damn I hit the same sapling. The arrow deflected into the ground right in front of her. She stepped forward, stepped right on the arrow and broke it. I swear she flipped me the bird as she was leaving.