I missed this buck the following year after this picture. He grossed 217 with 6 broken points. I wheezed him in. It took a while and over 6 wheezes and a few grunts to get him in. The cover was thick, but my shot was clear. Just shot under his heart in heavy wind at 17 yards. He never knew I was there. Just great to be in the woods with a buck like him. He was 7 1/2 yrs old. Mike

My trad arhery career started in the spring of 97 and by fall I was on my very first hunt. Spent the weekend hunting Mason Texas. I learned a hard lesson about hunting from a tripod. I missed two does in two days(One twice in the span of 10 minutes) and then the last day I missed a 110 class 8 pt. Every shot was 2" right over the shoulders.

man i cant wait till i miss one  

I have never shot at a whitetail....but the biggest one I ever miss will probably be the first one I ever shoot at...      

About an 85 lb doe. The only deer I ever shot at with a bow. Maybe I missed because she was so small?

Years ago when I first started hunting with traditional gear...I honestly had no business shooting at animals.  I can say that now.  I was pretty bad, as I had nobody around to teach me.  I got it together shortly thereafter but then would fall apart every time I had a shot at a big buck.  I mean some of these misses were almost to much to believe!  Back then I was in early college.  I had LOTS of time to scout, which I did relentlessly.  I was getting pretty good at getting close to 1 or 2 mature bucks a year on public ground, but I was blowing it every time.  I missed the same big 10 pointer twice on different days.  I wrote an article about that buck for TBM.  
   One year I had watched a monster buck all summer.  He was hanging out with 3 lesser bucks.  I was hunting a woodlot within the city limits of Carbondale Illinois, where there was no gun hunting.  This woodlot contained 3 and only 3 white oak trees.  This year they were all dropping acorns like crazy.  I setup between this tree and where I thought the bucks were bedding.  Second time in the stand...here they come.  The big guy was in the rear.  Let the other 3 bucks pass.  The big guy just starts to put his nose in the acorns when he offered me a 12 yard shot with his head down, and behind a tree.  I missed him by a foot!  Just had a complete meltdown!
  I was so shook up by this, I even had to have Uncle Gene give me a pep talk!  He did, and things went better after that. Later I took shooting lessons with Rick Welch, and I now shoot much better, and am able to keep my cool under pressure a little better.

I missed this 9 pointer last November 3rd at 11 yards. Nick named him the Unicorn Buck as he only had one brow tine. Small twig thankfully deflected my arrow low.
   
 
I did manage to catch up with him though on December 6th while he was chasing two does          
   

More than size it's quite impressive the sheer number of mature bucks I've missed! The best miss was on a 160" 5x5 with stickers. Sure scared him though!

I have never missed a whitetail yet. Never seen one iether. Blew it on the only two balcktails.

The largest one I missed with a bow was at about 15 yards a nice 8 point huge thick mass in the rack. He was probably pushing 230lbs and that is big in my neck of the woods back in S.C. Our avg big buck is 175-200lbs. I know there was a nice one taken in Cahoun county in 2003 that scored over 180 I would have cried if I missed that one.