I just read a thread about a hunter forgetting to pick a spot. That got me thinking about the time last year I didn't pick a spot.
Last year was my first year all out trad. It was the second week in November(opening weekend for pheasant in KS) and I was hunting some public ground. My plan was to set up along an edge of a picked corn field that deer have been hanging out in. I was just to the edge of the field and looked down a drainage and saw a buck running at me. So I hopped the ditch and hid behind some "tall" grass, about two foot high. The trail he was coming down was going to give me about a 3 yard shot! I got ready and when he was 50 yards he did a 90 degree turn away from me then turn another 90 to be broad side to me. So he's walking at 20-25 yards. I get a good look at his rack, he's a 150-160 class 9 point whitetail. I look behind his shoulder and draw... The next thought that entered my mind was, Wow I can't believe he didn't see me draw. Then the arrow was gone. I DIDN'T pick a spot and the arrow went right below him. If it was 5 inches higher would have been right to his heart. Still keeps me up at night :knothead:
So that's my story of a time I didn't pick a spot. Tell me yours so we let "newbies" (like myself) know how important it is to pick a spot! :campfire:
I don't have the time or space for all the times I haven't picked a spot :banghead: :rolleyes: . 10 yards from a 5 point bull elk, hit the tree in front of him. 20 yards from a 26 in 170 class muley, shot under him. Those are just a couple examples of the many.
Not picking a spot is my nemisis on game. Gotta keep working at it. I think it helps to be able to shoot or shoot at several animals a year.
Opening day this year had a doe at 24 steps and shot right over her. I looked at the whole deer instead of picking a spot lol
What do you mean "The time"?
4 years ago, had 14 tradgangers hunting with me. i took the stand on top of the mountain. had a doe at 5 yards and shot over her back, yup dodn't pick a spot! was amazed she walked so close!
QuoteOriginally posted by Ted Fry:
What do you mean "The time"?
Yes sir this is the category that I belong in...lol
For Killie... This is the category in which I belong...lol
God bless,Mudd
The great admins here don't want us to talk about wounded animals which I agree with. So sorry I can't tell you.
I never pick a spot. A lot of times it is just too dusky to even pick a spot. If you rely on the ability to pick a spot the best 20 min. of the hunt are lost. But I train those shots and automatically hit the zone by just seeing the silhouette. Because a lot of time, this is the only thing you can really see within the last 15-20 minutes of legal shooting time.
I train that in the same light conditions as I later hunt, just the last 30min before dark.
Mrs pick for me when I don't pick a spot.
I have been lucky that the last few years i have always picked a spot. Once I do see an animal I say to myself "pick a spot" and start to look just at that spot as they come in. So far it has worked for me but I'm sure I'll make a mistake sooner or later.
Last week Thursday,I scared a Coyote when the spot didn't get picked and the arrow ruffled the hair on his back. I needed that lesson for hopefully later this season.Maxx
Good one Ted :)
...there was the one time I had 6 bucks(small to large) following a hot doe in singlr file. As they streamed past my stand I shot over the first bucks back...then over the second bucks back...then over the third bucks back. At that point I was out of arrows. I climbed down out of my stand, recovered all 3 arrows, climbed back up and proceeded to replay my first 3 attempts. Six misses in less than 5 minutes, none of which I picked a spot.
On my first ever trad bow hunt I had a nice buck come out broadside at about 10 yards. I shot right over his back and sunk the arrow in a large pine. I nocked another arrow and missed him again after he walked about 10 yards and again after after he walked another 10 yards.
Both of these hunts happened many years ago in coastal SC where I lived. I wish the deer would have stayed that dumb over the years and would give me another chance. d;^)
I was hiding in a thicket with a compounder friend when a bunch of Hogs came by.............they slowed right in front of us about 10 feet away. We both shot and we both missed!
Hmmm Blonde black bear three times one night. I guess i was a little excited.
I will just say it's happened more times than I would like to admit, 18 years with a stick maybe once +, a season ? Todd
Had a group of 12 piglets come in and vacuum up corn at a feeder while hunting in Texas. They were swirling around over the top of each other like a school of carp. Well, in stead of picking one out I shot amongst the flock and of course missed them all. As my buddy said when I explained to him what happened, "Yep, you shot just what you were looking at The State of Texas". LOL
QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
The great admins here don't want us to talk about wounded animals which I agree with. So sorry I can't tell you.
This explains my deleted post yesterday. While I understand (I think) why they discourage posting about wounded animals, the truth is, it does happen. I'd venture to guess it happens to "the best of us."
As for not picking a spot, last year I shot just over a doe at 12 yards. She and the yearling jumped and turned around to look at my arrow when it thumped into the dirt. The yearling actually crept up and sniffed the nock. By the time I could ease another arrow out of the quiver, mama decided not to stick around and the young one followed.
Had a coon eating dog food in the back yard this summer. I sat up late and had my brother turn on the porch light for me. First time I waited I shot right over him, didn't pick a spot. The next time he came around I picked a spot and skewered him.
Nice 10 pointer still roamig the woods because I didn't.
Their's to many for me to remember.
LOL
Doug77
I missed a broadside moose at 15 yards does that count? I've always struggled with picking a spot, shooting small game is great training for "spot picking."
This happended at Tejon Ranch California in May 2011. I had just had a encounter with some hogs and then the rest of the story....
So after i get the smile wiped off my face i start back up the canyon wall to get back to my glassing point. One thing about Tejon Ranch, your legs better be in shape and have a good pair of boots on the end of them because you will climb your but off but this place is classic California hog ground and beautiful to boot. I make it back to my sitting spot and catch my breath, i start to look around and i hear a sound like a piglet grunting but it's so faint I'm not sure. You know how when your sitting there and your senses are 110% turned on, Birds in the brush sound like deer, squirrels sound like big bucks running through the leaves and every thing sounds like a big boar hog. Then about that time i can make out the sound of acorns crunching and then a loud grunt, no guessing now its hogs and they are close. They're above me and to my right. I make about 15 yards and there they are about 30 yards out and feeding under a big oak. There are about 15 and some footballs also. There's a big tree about 15 yards from them and its forked starting at the ground, if i can get to that i can shoot between the two main trunks. I cover the distance in about ten mins, I'm on my hands an knees, i get an arrow nocked and stand up slow, just as i get upright a nice boar about 150# sees the movement and does something no other hog has done to me before, he comes on a dead run right to me, he covered that 15 yards in a flash and stops about 4 to 5 feet from me and there we are staring at each other. For about 4 or 5 seconds I'm watching the hair in his nostrils going back and forth as he breaths. This wasn't a charge, i could just tell, his body language had no malice to it. But after about 5 seconds he pealed off in a circle trying to get down wind to find out what i was, he stopped before he hit my sent and stood broad side at about 18 to 20 yards, i drew back and released in one not so fluid motion and this damb hog had me so flustered and shaken by the way he came running into me that i did not concentrate on the shot or pick a spot, i just shot at the hole hog and the arrow passed right over his back, 3" high. At the sound of the shot all the rest of the hogs start to move, i take a deep breath, get an arrow nocked as they are all coming by me but the only shots i had were at wet sows. Once they were gone i sat down and laugh out load at my self.
mine always sail right over the back......great alighnment right behind the leg but right over the back...........also at least once a year................
I tend to tell myself "pick a spot...pick a spot...pick a spot" when I believe that I'm about to get a shot at an amimal. Then when the animal gets in range and into position- it seems the longer the shot, the more I take my time and actually DO pick a spot.
On the other hand, on shots inside 15 yards I can pretty much guarantee that I will forget my "pickaspot mantra" and shoot at the "area" behind the front leg. It's like a disease. I make way more poor shots in close than I ever do on longer ones. Every year I tell myself I'll break this habit....I will this year "for sure".
I always pick a spot. Just not nearly small enough one a lot of times (whole deer). I can't see half good enough to pick one hair like some say, so I try to make myself double check my aim before releasing. I always have to lower down to get my aim behind the elbow..if deer is in that position.
So a miss means someone did not "pick a spot"?
Went to Texas last December to my friends ranch. He's dropping me off at a water hole with orders to shoot any hog that comes by, he also says don't get your hopes up on seeing a coyote let alone getting one with a bow. He goes on and says, he's been on the ranch for 64 years and he's only seen two and only got a shot with his 30-30 and missed. I say O.K. I'll lookout for hogs then.
Just after the sun set and light started playing tricks on my old eyes, in comes running what I thought was a fox, but then realized it's a coyote, well in comes so close I could have hit it over the head with the bow, and it never see's me even though it looks passed me twice, It then runs off in a arch and gives me a perfect broadside at about 16-18 yds., and I didn't pick a spot, came so close that I saw the fur on it's back get ruffled by the arrow going over it.
Sure hope I don't do that again.
damn...i just started sleeping again :banghead: stupid post...
I didn't pick a spot, Sunday afternoon twice!
Theres no room on this thread.Last weak was the last time .Looking at its eyes the whole time ,dang coyote.
Oh You mean the time I missed the 8 point twice that I snuck up on at 15 yards as he was making a rub.
Once over his back and once under his belly. LOL
First Deer I ever shot at or even had in range of me with my Longbow a really nice 8 point comes walking by at 10 maybe 12 yards as im held up under a low hanging cedar tree with me thinking how lucky can I be How could I miss?? I draw,release arrow goes just over his back.
I looked at the hole deer never picked a spot :banghead: I was so mad at myself you would'nt belive, But after seeing as that I wasent the only one made me feel a weee bit better ;) Hahahaa
The first time bowhunting had a doe at 15 yards uphill from a kneeling position,shot over her back,didn't pic a spot just shot,she just looked my way and trotted off.
Hunting Mulies during the rut, just missed one, then another stops 25 yds. uphill, behind and between two large Pine trees, :banghead: drilled the tree. :archer2:
QuoteOriginally posted by tecum-tha:
I never pick a spot. A lot of times it is just too dusky to even pick a spot. If you rely on the ability to pick a spot the best 20 min. of the hunt are lost. But I train those shots and automatically hit the zone by just seeing the silhouette. Because a lot of time, this is the only thing you can really see within the last 15-20 minutes of legal shooting time.
I train that in the same light conditions as I later hunt, just the last 30min before dark.
Seriously? If I can't pick a spot due to darkness, I quit hunting.
My most spectacular miss was because I picked the WRONG spot. Hunting off the ground, a lunker 10 pointer came down the trail between me and a corn field....maybe 15 yards. I was so enamored with his antlers, thats where my arrow landed. He spun as the arrow hit his rack and flung the shaft into the corn. There is a possibility that I used foul language as he departed..... :knothead:
Bear hunting this year, shot over him and it the barrel and the outfitter wouldn't let me take the barrel to the taxidermist. DIDN'T PICK A SPOT
First buck I ever shot at with my longbow. I think the arrow went 3 feet behind him. Talk about losing concentration!
I am not telling on my worst it hurts too much.It was about 4 years ago.Kip
I think you read my post!! so ya, a doe at about 10 yards :banghead:
Not enough space here for that........besides....I gotta get back to work....I'd be here the rest of the day typing if I truly bared my soul!!! :laughing: :laughing:
If you're shooting instinctively and not consciously aiming the arrow point you have to be extremely specific in picking a spot to hit.
I consciously pick a spot, tell myself that's the spot and shoot. When I make a good shot I can still mentally remember exactly what I was looking at. It's easier said then done and comes with time.
@Roger Norris:
Seriously. The last 10 min before legal shooting times ends the deer move the most. And most of the times you can really only see the silhouette of the deer. This is pretty much the same as black bear hunting on brown/almost black forest floor in low light conditions. If you trained on a silhouette in low light conditions, the shot is not a problem.
This year i was sitting in my good friends stand with specific instructions to shoot the first doe that came in. I arrogantly grinned and when to the stand. 3 arrows later i was sitting in the tree, arrowless with 8 does in the baitpile, my friend is a soon to be trad. convert, but right now shoots wheels, he said "i thought you could shoot that stick?" i laughed threw him a milk jug (we were in his yard) and said throw it. I DRILLED it. He stopped laughing.
BUT i didnt pick a spot on those does i just shot.
im sure glad im not the only one that misses the close shots...been a demon of mine for a long long long time now...this year was a broad side bull at nine yards...owell maybe next year ill learn...probly NOT!!!
Last year, opening day of firearms season I was sitting in a whiteoak on an escape route. Had a BIG nanny come slipping by... moving away from all of the excitement behind her. She stopped broadside at 8 yds, head behind a tree with vitals fully exposed, completely relaxed. Shot right over her back...that's what I get for thinking about an EASY chip shot!!
One time back in the mid 70's when I was 12' up in a tree (before I fell out). Never bowhunted from a tree stand before and found myself looking at the whole animal instead of concentrating on the vitals.
Missed this small buck 3 times at 20 yds. Shooting high every time. I was rattled...after the fall I decided, it's the ground for me. Arrowed this buck four nights later chasing a doe from the ground.
When I look into a turkeys eyes.
The time I didn't pick a spot was October 2nd this year. I started hunting this year with a longbow for the first time and was hunting my land right behind the house when the best 8 point I have seen in a few years came right down the logging road 6 yards in front of my tree. I was so confident that I couldn't miss I didn't focus on a spot and shot right under him shaving white hair right below his front shoulder. I call it catch and release bowhunting when I do stuff like that.
Which time do you want to hear about? The time when I put a great stalk on a huge mulie buck, only to blow the 10 yard shot, the time when I shot a big 6 point elk right in the antlers (still have the shaved piece of antler), or the several whitetails that I have shot over, under and around?