Glenn told me he picked arrows up and shot again.I said didn't they break on the rocks? Nope he was shooting new exp. fiberglass arrows from Bear archery.I think it was 1956 or 57.

I had only two shots last year. One in the begining of fall bow and one the last day of winter bow. Missed both.  

I have missed. ..but I don't shrug it off at all. I hate it. And a miss is just a smidgen away from being a wounded animal.  I am honestly angry at myself after a miss...even on a target. I strive for perfection on every shot...and always fail at some point.

I think we should all take our misses seriously,  and analyze each one.

Also. ..a miss on a target in April is one thing. A miss now...3 weeks before season?      :mad:

Missing is a good thing. What is worse is hitting but not in the right place.  I appreciate a miss!

2 sayings about hitting I like are:

"No one ever hit anything trying not to miss" Lance Coleman

"Aim for the head of a rabbit you miss rabbit. Aim for eye of rabbit you hit head." Indian saying

I think there would be a distinctive odor around any bowhunter, or rifleman for that matter, who claims to have never missed an animal.

QuoteOriginally posted by Roger Norris:
I have missed. ..but I don't shrug it off at all. I hate it. And a miss is just a smidgen away from being a wounded animal.  I am honestly angry at myself after a miss...even on a target. I strive for perfection on every shot...and always fail at some point.

I think we should all take our misses seriously,  and analyze each one.

Also. ..and miss on a target in April is one thing. A miss now...3 weeks before season?      :mad:  

Great post Roger! Misses, especially multiples, get taken far too lightly (often laughed at) in my opinion.
Do we take wounds as lightly also?
Why aren't wounds discussed as openly?
Fact is it is pure luck that a miss is not a wounded unrecovered animal.
It is my opinion that those who frequently miss also wound far more then is ever discussed. There is a lot of animal between a clean miss and and a kill.

I agree Steve. That's my criticism of Fred Bear scoring at 3d shoots. Its as though we had control over the degree we miss by.

If you have never missed, you have not hunted very much!      

I missed the same deer 3 times, this happened twice! I was so shook up, had a blast.

I still remember my first miss, it was my very first shot at a big game animal. It was a blacktail doe at less than 15 yards, I was 15 years old hunting my uncle Kenny's farm. When I showed up at the farm my uncle thought I was nuts to be hunting with a bow and arrow ... he laughed and said "what are you going to do with that thing" ... well there was an inch of fresh snow on the ground and I knew that farm like the back of my hand. It did not take long for me to find some fresh tracks and I knew right where they were headed. I headed off at a trot across the big pasture and down to the slaughter house pasture, straight for the creek. Here she came, a fine young blacktail doe. Nose in the air she stopped right in front of me, I drew my Wing bow and shot my bear razor head tipped cedar shaft right over her back. I could have died right there I wanted that deer so bad. My uncle only smiled at my story and said I'd get her next time.

So yes I miss, started that way 50 years ago and I am still doing it on occasion.

All part of it. Tough to take at times, but sometimes that miss is better than a wounded animal.

I've missed a few but I've always taken it as evidence that my shooting wasn't what it should be.

Lets face it...even though it "could" happen to anybody, it takes some pretty lousy shooting to miss an entire deer if the shooting opportunity is sound.