How many have done it...

koszman

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Been hunting for a couple target bucks I’ve had on camera. Been letting bucks and does walk waiting on the big boys you had on camera. Then today a bigger buck that you have never seen come out. He is the biggest 12 pointer you have ever seen up close and personal. You start shaking so bad you forget which end of the gun to grab. Then you get him in your cross hairs and some how you miss. No hair, no blood and you see a small branch freshly cut and a skinned area on the tree in front of him. This is the sickest feeling I have ever felt.

I just hope he will come back probably never get a deer like that in front of me again.

I know this has happened to some of you before. Will he come back to the same area again or is he gone.
 

pinehunter

Eight Pointer
I have missed and had them come back. It will make you sick though. Its cool, buck fever can get us all. I would keep hunting him and you never know.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
I'd say go for it and just hope for the best. Sometimes these situations end well....and when they do, the redemption is indeed sweet! Best of luck to you.
 

NCHNTR

Old Mossy Horns
Why I don’t use cameras....they are all like that then [emoji41]
Sorry for your luck


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MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
Man that would suck, sorry it happened to you but at least you had a chance at a 12ptr. Some people will never see one in the wild.
I have never not one year seen the target buck I was after...lol

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Packfan

Eight Pointer
Did the same thing a couple of years ago on an 8 point. Never saw him again that year. Came back and killed him the following year as a 12 pt. Don’t give up
 

Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Sounded like thunder to him. My girlfriend missed a big buck a week ago, buck was back in 3 hours. He was there for a reason and chances are a loud bang didn't change things. Good Luck. Hope you get him
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
All depends... missed a big 8 this year that I had on camera. Haven’t seen him since.

2weeks later...killed a big 10 that hadn’t been on camera
 

ditchbank

Banned
Sounded like thunder to him. My girlfriend missed a big buck a week ago, buck was back in 3 hours. He was there for a reason and chances are a loud bang didn't change things. Good Luck. Hope you get him

Once again I agree, if bullet didn’t touch him, he has already forgotten about it. Deer don’t think like humans. They don’t go to sleep at night wondering the the hell was that loud noise???? Heck, he isn’t even asleep he is looking another doe and if she is around I would be In The same stand ASAP


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Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Once again I agree, if bullet didn’t touch him, he has already forgotten about it. Deer don’t think like humans. They don’t go to sleep at night wondering the the hell was that loud noise???? Heck, he isn’t even asleep he is looking another doe and if she is around I would be In The same stand ASAP


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Your right DB, difference in animals and humans is the ability to reason. Heard this a long time ago from a great deer hunter.
 

Ambush

Twelve Pointer
Been hunting for a couple target bucks I’ve had on camera. Been letting bucks and does walk waiting on the big boys you had on camera. Then today a bigger buck that you have never seen come out. He is the biggest 12 pointer you have ever seen up close and personal. You start shaking so bad you forget which end of the gun to grab. Then you get him in your cross hairs and some how you miss. No hair, no blood and you see a small branch freshly cut and a skinned area on the tree in front of him. This is the sickest feeling I have ever felt.

I just hope he will come back probably never get a deer like that in front of me again.

I know this has happened to some of you before. Will he come back to the same area again or is he gone.

All of us to some degree. I quit deer hunting for 10 years, over blowing a chance on a target buck I had hunted for two years. When I started back, deer hunting wasn’t life or death any more. It’s still a sick feeling though, when it happens. You’ll think about it for weeks/months. If you cleanly missed him, he should stick around the area.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Hah, missed. Stuck em, can’t find em, shoot at one till the mags empty running. You name it I’ve been there. If I had every monster I saw on the wall or had a crack at you would think I had it going on. But since I don’t I share the thought with you. Cheers. That’s what makes us sit another day. The monsters do exist. And us as hunters get to see em.
Sorry man. I know how hollow of a feeling it is.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
I've missed so many big deer that all I can do is laugh about it. Hell, I missed an 8pt earlier this year with a bow and about 1 hour later missed a 10pt! Biggest buck I ever killed, I missed a really nice 8pt about 20 minutes prior to killing him. Misses are part of the game. Just get back out there and hunt. He may come back, he may not. Another one may show up. Won't know unless you hunt.
 

hitman6397

Old Mossy Horns
Misssed my target 10pt about 4 years ago on thanksgiving morning hunt. Was not a very happy person all thru thanksgiving day. Got pics of him the rest of the season but never got another opportunity. He mustve died or relocated after the season because he did not show up the next season. It still haunts me.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I don't think it makes any sense to "not hunt" him. I mean people devote seasons to nocturnal pics of their biggun.
you have daytime visual to work with.
what more do you need? Stay in the area and dare his butt to show himself again. :)
Good luck.
 

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Had a hang fire using garbage Pyrodex in a ML back in the 90's...left a skinned furrow across the top of a 6 pointer's shoulders.
Shot him the very next morning from the same stand...
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Actually no..I've never had the opportunity to shoot a deer, miss him, and have another opportunity to kill him. I'm amazed that so many forum members have had, actually, I figured that a mature deer would avoid the area that he had that experience in.
 

lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
I'll start a real crap storm here................................. no I won't. I remember my new year's resolution. Nevermind.
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
I think everyone carries a few scars from situations like that. I can honestly say that I've never had a second chance at a big deer from the same stand.... but most of my deer hunting is a short range game.
 

Greg

Old Mossy Horns
Dang ... I'm definitely hunting in the wrong place. Sounds like some of you have missed more big bucks in a season than I've seen in my life.
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Well I feel your pain with the miss. I’ve missed three solid bucks this season and am pretty bent about it. I also missed the biggest buck I’ve ever seen while hunting a few seasons ago and it still haunts me. I didn’t have any pics of that deer and only had one picture of em the day I shot at him. Never saw him again.

I’ve never had more than one shot at a mature buck. I think though that’s just a product of the property we hunt, they tend to roam a lot and you typically only get one crack at em. I would definitely keep after em though. He’s there somewhere. Didn’t run him out of the county but if you don’t have pics of em he may have been cruising thru looking for that last doe or two. Good luck!
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
Dang ... I'm definitely hunting in the wrong place. Sounds like some of you have missed more big bucks in a season than I've seen in my life.
I'm right there with ya. Heck sounds like some have missed more in one day than I have seen...lol.

Luckily I have missed 1 deer in my life and have no clue how I missed.

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DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
In this photo, the two deer on either side of the wood stove were killed in 2006 and 2007. There’s a gamecam photo on the wall of the two of them, standing together.

I launched an arrow at the one on your left - the day after thanksgiving, 2006. I clipped a limb and center-punched a poplar tree. I killed him on the morning of 12/9 (about 250 yds from that spot).

The next weekend, the other one walked by my stand at 20 yds. I didn’t have a tag for him, so I just watched. I ended up having that buck at 0 yds on 3 occasions. Only the last time did I get a shot at him.
D71FFAF2-9A7E-46AE-8D36-D9BCFEF6215C.jpeg
 

Bollweevil

Eight Pointer
Last year, I missed a 10 pointer at 400 yards one morning. He was trailing a doe, and it never phased him. The very next morning, he stepped out on the same streak at 250 yards, and I flinched when I shot. I missed him again, but he showed up at my corn pile the same afternoon before dark. About 4 days later, I went back up the same stand, and the 10 pointer walked out at 130 yards. I finally made a good shot on him. Your buck may very well be back today.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Dang ... I'm definitely hunting in the wrong place. Sounds like some of you have missed more big bucks in a season than I've seen in my life.

You have more discipline than any of us. the time you are willing to go between kills is remarkable. I have never heard of any other deer hunter so patient.
that leads me to conclude you are in the wrong place. You sure don't have an itchy trigger finger. :)
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Several years ago I was hunting in one of my climbers just off the edge of a treeline overlooking a semi overgrown pasture. I watched 3 or 4 does ease from a thicket and cross to another section of woods. Just so after, a decent 8 point came through trailing them. Couldn't help but shoot, and he politely fell right where he was. I watched for a bit for any movement just in case, and decided to get down and get him out while I still had plenty of light. Let my rifle down and ratcheted myself down about 6 or so feet, then caught movement. Oh my gosh, there walked a very nice buck. Pulled my rifle back up, settled the cross hairs and shot. He left unscathed and me wondering just what the heck happened. Chatted with a hunting buddy with the same concerns as you and we decided that since he was after the does, he may just hang around. Climbed same tree the next day, stopping in the spot I missed from to find an unseen, shot limb, miss figured out... At last hunting light as I was about to call it a day, I looked down the treeline one last time and there he stood....with a doe. At the shot, he too politely dropped in his tracks. He is still my largest to date. So, get back out there, you won't know until you try..
 
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