As much as I hate to admit it, I missed a very big black bear last Friday.... at 11 yards... He came in to my bait and laid facing me for the better part of an hour while I was perched a mere 8 feet in a tree and like I said...11 yards away. I stood holding my bow in front of my face the whole time trying to break up my outline as much as possible . To make a long, sad story short, when he stood and turned he didn't stop at broadside and gave a quick quartering away shot which I pushed in front of him giving his shoulder a very slight hair cut. I'm still beating myself up over this and thought maybe there is someone out there that could sympathize. So feel free to share those embarrassing misses that will haunt us for eternity.

just had one tonight.Missed my whole bag target shooting into my garage and stuck the arrow in a 2x6 Uuuugh.I have had worse.But that is the most recent.Sorry you missed your bear!Next time!

Personally, my feeling is that shooting a baited bear is like feeding and shooting your neighbor's dog, I'm not a fan of it, so I don't sympathize. If he got a slight haircut, then good for him. I only hunt ungulates, I give fellow predators a pass, I consider it a professional courtesy.

I very much want to take a gobbler with one of my Black Widow recurves and have been trying for years. This spring I received permission to hunt a friends farm. I set up a hen decoy & a jake and I sat on an old brushy log beside a field edge, At daybreak I yelped & gobbled and after an hour I finally called 3 gobblers to the dekes. A very large long beard was 1st into the scene and was challenging the jake deke. At 10 yards I drew & shot right over his back. Clipped off a few feathers as he cleared out of there with the other 2 birds. I was sick in my guts for days with my stupidity. Went back several times but never saw another bird. :( : ( :( Be safe...Des

It happens my friend and it surely won’t be the last

For many hunting with traditional bows is about giving the game more of a chance by requiring more from us personally. The cost is exactly that and sometimes the game does escape the encounter unharmed.

But you did have a great experience! Maybe it didn’t end the way you wanted it to. However, would you really have been happy doing it any other way?

BTW, I have missed deer at 7 yards a couple times in my life. I just didn’t pick a spot. I learned from those experiences.

Around 50 years ago we all hunted deer off the ground, we walked about or sat on a log, as rank beginners we knew almost nothing about deer hunting.

I hunted a place in TN that had been closed to hunting for 40 years, the deer were as thick as fleas, all were half-starved and had ribs showing.

I shot a recurve, I had never killed a deer and got buck fever to the extreme when I saw a deer.

On morning I set up at the base of a rocky bluff on a deer trail and the deer just kept coming by, I would have one close, panic, make a quick snap shot and miss every one. I had 4 or 5 arrows in my bow quiver and shot out of arrows before the morning was over, never hit a thing because I shot at the whole deer and never picked a spot.

I was a really good shot in the yard but it was different when a deer walked by. I had retrieved most of my arrows when a squirrel jumped up on a tree 35 yards away, out of frustration I shot at him and almost cut his tail off because I had picked a spot to hit.

On my way out of the woods I sat on a log for a little while and a spike walked by at about 20 yards. I fell apart and took another snap shot. I knew I missed but couldn't find my arrow. After looking for about ten minutes I happened to look up and there was my arrow stuck in a tree at least 10' above where the deer had been standing.

Missing by 10ft I might have set some kind of record. I didn't get much better until I started shooting 3D tournaments and learned to pick a spot.

The deer didn't stand a chance once I learned to calm down and pick a spot.

Here is one of many over the last 58 years.

A few years ago I killed a turkey at a little over 20 yards from my stand while deer hunting with my Ironwood B.W. Perfect shot, and it died within sight. The next morning, the same stand, a big doe came by at 8 to 10 yards, and I shot at least 6 inches over her.

I think a couple turkeys were the recipients of my worst misses. For some reason a turkey within 10 yards seems to be much taller as my arrows sail right over their back? Also, thank you for an early morning "moral lesson"Mr. McLendon. I believe the poster's question was what your worst miss was and had nothing to do with what or how you were hunting? Bears and baiting go hand in hand in many places of our continent!

2014, I was in my ground stool, mid-nov, on the ultimate mountain big buck spot, where a natural oak bench, converged with a ridge, old strip mine road just above and below,two logging roads crossing and meeting right on the point. A hot scrape under an autumn olive, and rubs everywhere within 50 yds. A big 8pt's domain! I was in my self made ghillie, up against a tree, dead still for hours, cause if he came around the figured logging road, I'd be looking right at him all of a sudden, fast! I'd been still for hours, but in cold weather hours make a 60 year old man hurt. Around 1pm, clear and dead calm, perfect day, I had to stand and stretch bad. I slowly spun around to look down the hill, stood still few minutes, and as I slowly spun back around, there he was, just as I figured even pictured, just breaking over the crest, so he could begin to see me! DDAAA---!!!!!!, what timing! I had the bow in my right hand, tip on ground, but an arrow knocked. He obviously knew he'd seen movement, but not sure what it was? We stared eye to eye, at near 30 yds, and it became obvious a shot was still possible after about 5 minutes, he began to relax at times, put his head down, then jump back to staring me down. It went on near 10 minutes, and I had it in my mind he was near 30yds! Then he really calmed started walking at an angle to my left, getting off the road, into edge of thick small trees, oh no, angling away across the bench. But ever little bit he'd stop stare me down again. Then, as he went behind a tree, I knew now or never! I lifted my bow set my feet, ready draw position, and he saw some the movement as head came around the tree, but as usual, a deer is often uncertain of what he's seen in slow movement when he's moving! But he stared just a minute, then, low and behold stepped out in a sudden perfect clearing, perfectly broadside! At what turned out to be 18yds, my dead zero range! I was a total mess, and I had it in my head already, hold a little high for near 30yds! When he stopped, 2 seconds later, him looking right at me, I slowly in a fluid motion, raised and anchored, and NATURALLY, he dropped way down to jump into flight, my broadhead just open his hide, I saw the fur part, the white flesh under, and I know he didn't even bleed, I could see the big wide opened white of his back plain as day for neat 75yds as he ran across the oak flat! Two things turned out to relieve me, I'm sure he hardly even bled, and especially? He was a 3pt, instead of the big 8pt!! I'm sure he healed well! And in 2017, I killed the big 8pt, him standing within 10yds same spot, with a Lever action 30-30! All that I can see in slow motion still plainly!

First deer I ever shot at, 12 yards and about a foot or so over his back. I didn't know anything about downhill shooting from a tree branch and it showed. :)

That was 2016, and I still had it in my mind, near 30yds, hold a little high!

5 pt. bull elk broadside at 20 yds.....over bowed with a 69# longbow.....never reached full draw....hit him very low right in the brisket. Two drops of dark blood....nine hours of looking. Heartsick for the rest of the season. RKK ,

My worst miss was on a whitetail doe about 30 years ago. I was hunting from a tree along the edge of a field. I had climbed up the tree and was standing on a limb about 10' high (and strapped in). Two does came out feeding and when they got to about 20 yards broadside I drew on one and released. My limb tip hit a tree limb on release causing the arrow to veer to the left, striking the doe about a foot before the tail and several inches below the back line of her body. The arrow was hanging out the offside but did not drop out as I watched her run about 50 yards back the way she came.

I only saw hair where she was standing at the shot. I marked where I saw her go into the woods and gave her overnight before looking for her. I spent the next day and a half searching for her or any sign but found nothing. I was heartsick but came up empty.

It happens, and it always hurts, but count your blessings it was a clean miss rather than a crappy hit that resulted in a lost animal...that would haunt you even longer than missing!

Sorry you missed a nice bear. I have a few heart-breakers, but my most recent was my first spring hunt (this season) for turkeys. Had a big, beautiful, long-bearded hen walk next to my blind at less than 5 yards. Waited for her to look away and let 'er rip through the window mesh. She did a front flip, flopped a couple times and jumped up streaking away. All I found was breast feathers cleanly cut at the bases, not a drop of blood. I swear my shot looked perfect. I enlisted my brother-in-law to help look and we spent quite a while searching for more sign, but never found jack. Like everyone else I'm sure I'll have more misses I just hope it's not this deer season lol.

When I first took up stickbows;

I was hunting whitetails in Ks and had a 140 class buck at 25 y- layup broadside shot.

i missed him clean- Twice!!!

After that debacle, I developed a better aiming system….and have been a much more accurate shot.

In the 70s, I was watching a big 10 pt and several other smaller bucks bed down 100 yards from me. They got up and changed course so they'd be passing right by me. I let all of the smaller bucks pass very close and the big one was last at 30 yards. I made a perfect shot but CRACK, the arrow bounced out with zero penetration. I must have hit the leg bone.

2 worst misses

one on a doe uder tree stand and the string on release caught the metal button on my bib overalls

that was a take up in this world and almost came ut of my tree stand

second was on a mega buck on a windy evening that came up next to me on the ground and stood with a laural bush between us for ever; looking around and right through me then rubbed some on a little cedar then look through me again

we were no more that 30 feet apart the whole time when he finnaly stepped out so I could shoot- I came down with the shake -a -rooneys and you would of thought I was shooting at the space shuttle in orbit

he moved off 10 yards and second shot no better than the first tried to draw a third arrow and it bounced down my arm and I just started laughing - think the strong wind allowed me to get away with so much

every thing moving

With a bow you can miss any shot, that's what keeps us practicing, what really is surprising to me is how we sometimes make the impossible shots!!! Yah I missed at 6 ft already!Darn branch!

I missed a nice 10 point once a about 10 yards standing still broadside. Just a mental error I think. My my brain said “easy gimme shot” and my body said “hurry up an shoot” LOL!

I often practice very close shots to avoid that mental mistake.

So.. I have three that will haunt me until the day I die!

My first was a compound/moose in Saskatchewan. Huge P&Y moose I shot for 45 yards but was only 30. 1.5"s of penetration High in the hump. He certainly healed, but was much wiser for the experience.. me.. maybe.

My Second, a huge P&Y moose in Alberta with a Thunderchild. Bull was maybe 25 yards, but his leg came back as the arrow was on the way and I'm assuming I hit a combination of bones as I shot him with an 85lb bow.. Hit was in the correct location, but penetration was dismal at about 6"s. My friend and I watched the bull run through the cut ag fields through binoculars until he completely disappeared.

The third and most recent. Last week after a 45 second face to face stare down with a 360"+ 7 x 7 world class elk in New Mexico at 15 yards. The bull looked me up and down and didn't like what he saw.. he shouldn't have because the entire time I just new his minutes were numbered! As he slowly turned to leave, I focused intently on the crease and let loose. Unfortunately, his crease became obstructed by the outer edge of a cedar tree, but it was too late. Even though i didn't see the deflection, somehow it launched up in to the upper shoulder/back area, a foot or more above my aim spot. The bull was videoed 5 days later bugling in a flat deep in to the property. Had I only thought to aim back a little.. Plenty of kill room there. BigJim

Second deer I ever shot at. Missed her at 8, then 12, then 10 , then 13. Ran out of arrows lol, all of them a foot over her back.

I missed a close shot at a mature buck. He started to bolt. I made a turkey tree call. He stopped. I missed again. He started to bolt. I made a doe bleat. He stopped. I missed again. He started to bolt. I made a buck grunt. He stopped. I missed a fourth time. All shots were close. I have only harvested 3 deer with traditional equipment. They were extremely unfortunate.

About three years ago I missed a big doe four times from a tree stand. Found out my

bow was too long. Lesson learned. This year my new bow is much shorter. I hope I

won't need another excuse.

Don’t get me started I have a few but the one comes to mind on a cold November morning a doe comes in kinda fast and pauses @ 10 yards I pull back I can’t find my anchor because the neck warmer i had on was too high I just got ugly from there clean miss way way low

Don’t get me started I have a few but the one comes to mind on a cold November morning a doe comes in kinda fast and pauses @ 10 yards I pull back I can’t find my anchor because the neck warmer i had on was too high I just got ugly from there clean miss way way low

It was back in the 1980's. I was still hunting the edge of a cornfield. I spotted a very nice 8 or 10 point buck lying down asleep only 15 yards away in a bit of a gully. I took my time and made what should have been a perfect shot.

The arrow stuck in the ground right below his rib cage, and he was up and gone. I had never even seen the small tree limb that deflected my arrow before the shot. Too focused on the deer.

My worst miss is a wound, I have had a few of them.

When i was 12 i launched an arrow over mytarget bag and the large trailer that was behind it into the neighboring lumberyard owned by the bowhunter ed instructor

My most frustrating was just a couple years ago . I had nice mature buck at about ten yards broadside working a scrape . I drew back and hit my anchor and the only thing left on my string was my nock ? No arrow . Iam still not sure what happen

The heartbreaks are many on this thread!!

I aimed at the "entire bear" when I shot a BEAUTIFUL and very large brown phase black bear in alberta. Hit high from 12 yards... lost him.

Shot a 135" buck RIGHT in the elbow from about 10 yards... that shot broke my heart.

Shot high on a big 8 last year... lost him. NOT A SINGLE drop of blood.

Missed a turkey at 15 yards... a dove landed RIGHT in the exact same spot and I killed the dove.

Sigh... not feeling too good about me right now. May need some wine.

Jar

A nice buck and his buddy that “popped” up in front of me while I was walking to a blind in afternoon. Got so frustrated I fumbled the arrow putting it on bow, both deer decided I wasn’t friendly and started to move as I shot at least two foot over the bigger one.

I shot at a spike elk at a distance of about 35 yards - my arrow went nowhere near that elk! I had a face mask on, and I never practiced my anchor point with the mask on (basically, I took a shot I never practiced for )

It was a P&Y caliber mulie buck in the deep woods mts south of Bozeman that I snuck up on for 20 min, then shot over his back at 20 yds broadside. That buck was a huge bodied, wide, and beautifully symmetrical 5x5. Still makes me sick and that was almost 40 yrs ago.

plenty of misses....

called a big gobbler in he walked past me at 7 yds, couldnt draw...missed him at 20.... but i got one later in the season.

walked up on a bedded doe, could only see her head, crouched for 2 hrs waiting, when she stood and gave me a shot, my hand had gone to sleep, missed her at 12 steps......but got a buck later in the season.

years ago, i overslept one morning, and was late getting to my stand, was already daylight, was half way up a wooden ladder stand, and saw a big buck coming down the other side of the small hollow i was in. i eased back down, untied my bow, all the while he was coming toward me. it was pretty thick there and i lost track of him as i crouched there waiting. then he jumped over something and i spotted him again. he came up my side, came right past me at easy bow range. He was walking pretty fast and i drew and released...all happened quick and he smashed out the ridge...i figured i had just shot a big buck...but after crawling around on my hands and knees looking for blood, i found my cedar....not a spot on it !, i had missed. I was so sure ..i COULDNT HAVE MISSED!....but i had.....i killed one up north later in the season.

moral of the story?.....yessir, we've all missed...keep at it, just think of it this way, you get to hunt a little more.....and the one you connect with later, will be that much sweeter.

my worst miss was a number of years ago. i missed a 4x4 bull elk on the last day of the season at about 18 yards. it was an uphill shot, and the arrow went right under him. it would have been a perfect double lung.

i've had others but that one for some reason really stays with me. :(

I was still new to bowhunting decades ago when I went to North Jersey to a farm that let me hunt. My mentor at the time reminded me to aim kow if I had a shot. I set up in a big oak on the edge of a gravel pit, put out some Davey Brackens about twenty paces away. After screwing in the steps and mounting the stand I only had ten minutes wait. A HUGE wiiiide buck circled me and went straight to the open bottle I set on a flat rock. I drew, aimed with my sight pin about eight inches below his heart, and squeezed off my release. He never ducked or dropped. He literally watched the arrow pass under him, looked up at me and WALKED directly straight away from me so I never had a followup. At the time I was driving a VW beetle. The deer was well unto the 200 lb class and I think back to how the heck I'da stuffed him into the back seat because he certainly would have dented the roof. I know we are all trad and all, but I sometimes wonder where my Jennings Model T ended up.

Great stories, guys!! Thanks for sharing. I've since laid my eyes on the bear and he is just slightly wiser. Passed on a smaller one that will be a good one next year as well. Happy hunting to you all!!

doe came in at dusk. 20 17 yds. Shot over her back. She ran in a circle and came back to the same spot. I shot again. Right over her back again.

4 yards Muley spike buck, eye to eye on the ground. Snow camo. Broadside. He didn't flinch either. I think I win the biggest/worst/blown shot miss contest with that one.

My first shot at a deer with a recurve about 30 years ago. Was sitting on a milk crate, back against a tree when out of nowhere a doe came walking from my rear and passed by at three feet. I couldn't move and was shaking so bad I was sure she would see me and run off. But she kept walking away from me and then stopped and turned at about 15 yards. I shot that arrow about 2 feet over her back and she just looked around and walked off. Didn't even think about shooting another one. my second one was a red fox that I watched from my tree stand curl up on top of a snow covered stump. I managed to climb down my tree, stalk to about 20 yards and ready for the shot. There was a small sapling in line with the stump and I told myself to not hit the sapling. Centered it perfectly.

I would say that my worst “misses” we’re so bad precisely because the arrow went exactly where I was looking, but I was looking in the wrong place.

A doe was trotting past me at right about 15 yards, so I swung on her. Checked the back line just as I was ready to release to make sure I didn’t shoot over. Clipped the back line with one blade. The lead on that shot was PERFECT.

Another time, a doe had pegged my brother, who was about 15 yards behind me on the trail. She was literally stalking him, trying to figure out what he was. She would take a couple of steps and lock up like a gun-dog on point. Take a couple more steps, lock up again. She was totally focused on him, so it was easy to get to draw as she took a couple of steps, and my plan was to release when she locked up again. Just as I was releasing, she picked up a hind foot, stepping very high. I had the lead perfect again, but fortunately, she locked up. Missed that hoof by a whisker.

The worst thing about it was that at the time I didn’t realize what had just happened. I just thought I had missed. Wildly. Nearly gut-shot her. Shook me up so bad that a few days later, I passed a complete Gimme on a nice cow Elk. Just didn’t have the confidence in that moment.

And then one time I had a young bull at maybe 7 yards. Walking, but Elk walk FAST. So I swung on him, eyes locked in on my Spot. Didn’t register the 2” lodgepole. 1 blade clipped it just enough to send the aluminum sailing over his back.

I missed the same bear three times after overdrawing my arrow on the first shot and having the broadhead hit my finger on the grip from a bit too much adrenaline.

I had stalked on all fours about a hundred yards over a period of time to get behind a big boulder where an average sized bear was feeding in a clover patch on an old logging road.

The “bump” caused me to miss a foot or more high at 20 yards, plus two more shots were over it’s back as he kept coming back in to feed after running off. He never did figure out what was going on. I backed off after the last shot, let him have his clover in peace, and retrieved arrows the next day.

It was the only time before or after that I have maxed out an arrow shaft.

I was in my middle 20s it was the 1st morning of bow season I was still hunting and came up on a small buck munching on acorns under a big white oak. I was shooting a compound with fingers & sights. Don't remember the exact yards but I estimated to far and my first arrow went over his back. He ran off a bit but came right back. My 2nd shot went under him. I had a recurve that I had shot quite a bit but had never hunted with it. I didn't hunt with the compound the rest of that season and killed 2 deer with the Hoyt ram reflex recurve.so a bad miss that led to a good outcome. I still have that old recurve.

Well I missed the same doe twice this opening morning here in Michigan.Had a great time.She was only 10 yards. Didn't pick a spot right over back. Then five minutes later 15 yards.I hit the stump that was in front of her.Thought I could shoot right next to it.It amazes me how quiet the trad bows can be and allow you a second shot. Good luck to every one. David

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