Full disclosure, I had my chance. I blew it. :(

[TheRealSpurhunter]

I am NOT a trophy hunter, I hunt for fun and meat. Three years ago I started passing a few small bucks after my hunting buddy had seen a couple real giants on our place. Lat year paid off and I killed my biggest buck ever, but not a giant to trophy guys on here. I was still happy. I have passed a bunch of 4 & 6 points this year, and one wide 8 pt that was very, very young. I killed the does he was following instead.

Fast forward to Saturday:

I too suffered in the blowing damp wind Saturday morning. I opted for a shooting house, it not wind proof at all, but offered a tad of wind block which was something right?

Wind direction was perfect for this stand though. About 9 I finally see a flicker of white, binos revealed a doe feeding down in the hardwoods to my left. I watched her for about 15 minutes, then saw her take off. Binos up in time to see a big fork-horn start chasing her. At least I saw something to call the trip a success I thought. 10 minutes later, 200 yards straight up wind, in the atv trail I see movement, pull up the binos and it was the buck of a lifetime. I get my gun up to realize I still had the objective adjusted for close 50 yard shots. I get focused, crank to 16 power and I am STUNNED at what I am looking at. The deer has crossed into my thicket out of the hardwoods and I can see head and antlers, lots of antlers. Hes a WIDE 10pt with 12-14" g2's and 3's. He is turning his head in circles trying to wind a doe. I hit the bleat call and he steps back out into the trail, but doesn't stop. Hes about to go over the ridge so I take the shot I had. I stayed into the scope and see him run straight away a few steps then dive over the ridge. From his reaction, I knew I had nailed him. 200 yards with a 300 WSM is a pot shot, no worry about distance being an issue.

My buddy texted, and I replied I had just shot a monster, he wants to come help track but I said I was going to give him time, no rush.

While waiting, I hear a deer behind me and its that same fork-horn trotting along in search of a doe again, I could have flattened him at 50 yards, but obviously wasn't after a small buck today.

20 minutes was all I could stand and went to impact spot. Nothing, I'm not worried. I retraced his path, I could see fresh disturbed leaves easily giving away a running deer. I went about 50 yards and after not finding sign, call Richard to come help.
The neighbor just north of me heard the shot and asked if I needed any help tracking, showing up with his buddy. The four of us poured over the hardwoods for an hour, never finding the first sign of a hit. No hair, no blood, nothing.

I have decided that I missed. I have seen deer hit that don't leave sign for a few yards, but we checked 300 yards of obvious area, its all pretty wide open, so its not an issue of "hes laying 10' from your search area".

I'm beyond sick over it, I replay the scenario over and over. hindsight being 20/20, I would have waited and kept the bleats up, but once he went over the edge, I may have never seen him again. One thing is for sure, I cant take back what happened, maybe he will show his face again, maybe the neighbor will kill him, maybe he will live out his days and be eaten by a coyote as he goes down hill. At least I got to see the kind of deer Ive been after for 20 years. I blew it.

 

[PalsPal]

Tough luck man!

My dad missed one opening day a few years ago, and then killed it a couple hundred yards away over the Thanksgiving weekend trailing a doe.

All hope isn't lost!

 

[deerhunter10]

I know how you feel. But at least you got a chance! Hang in there man

 

[BUCKYJR]

I know how ya feel. Yesterday morning I had a nice one walking through a thicket and knew by the way he was walking away, I better shoot or forever hold my peace. I shot, saw him "tumble" down the hill a bit, but never found the first sign of anything....I stood there for an hour in shock and low and behold, another great buck came walking right to me...shot him and still no sign!! I walked the way I saw him and thankfully found him laying with one drop of blood about 5ft from him...bullet mustve hit bone and didn't go through and through...I still searched for the other buck out of respect, but honestly never saw him anywhere...it happens...I too hope I missed the first one...

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

Not an issue Carlos. The neighbors have a stand 110 yards from impact spot and a HUGE shooting house 200 yards past that. They are well aware of the bucks in there and have a much better chance at killing him than I do. in fact, without those guys and the guys hunting the other side of my place, I never would have believed deer like that were really in there.

As far as my buddies go, It my lease so my buddies only hunt when I take them, and I will let them have first pick of stands whenever we go. Having a good time is more important than killing this deer for me. I'm still sick over it, just because I blew it.

 

[bowriter]

"200 yards with a 300 WSM is a pot shot, no worry about distance being an issue."

Tough luck but I reckon you learn it isn't when you have a strong wind especially. The gun may be plenty capable, but you still have to make the shot. It has happened to all of us who have shot at very many. Look at it this way, you have the rest of the season to kill him. He is still there.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

That's cool. Can you remember exactly where the + were when you shot? I know buck fever can cloud things but that's what I always ask myself, works for me.

Yup, two clear landmarks tell me where he was. The trail bends to the right just past the last visible point, cant be past that point, and a clump of 6 trees out of one stump, he was behind that when I called him back across the trail. This gives me a 15-20' window of where he could have been standing.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

"200 yards with a 300 WSM is a pot shot, no worry about distance being an issue."

Tough luck but I reckon you learn it isn't when you have a strong wind especially. The gun may be plenty capable, but you still have to make the shot. It has happened to all of us who have shot at very many. Look at it this way, you have the rest of the season to kill him. He is still there.

That's what I'm counting on, the best I can hope right now is that I missed clean.

 

[JohnnyBond]

 

[bowriter]

At 200-yards, the gun actually has little to do with killing one. As always, it comes down to shot placement. No matter what gun you shoot, at 200-yards in a string wind, you can very easily miss.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

At 200-yards, the gun actually has little to do with killing one. As always, it comes down to shot placement. No matter what gun you shoot, at 200-yards in a string wind, you can very easily miss.

You will noticed I said, "I missed", I never said the gun missed. I thought I pretty much took all the blame, didnt I?

 

[BlountArrow]

Were you shooting off hand or did you have a decent rest? I ask because one of the things I sort of practiced one year was shooting off hand at just 100 yds and trying to hold dead steady; it can be an eye opening experience for some...it was for me.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

Sadly, I was on a rest.

 

[fairchaser]

Generally, a cleanly missed deer at that range does not know he's been shot at. The reaction you describe would indicate a hit or you could have grazed him or gotten very close to his head. I shot a deer once and swore that he went a certain way after the hit. I looked and looked and spent hours in the woods. I had no help so after fruitless effort I gave up and was distraut. A week later the neighbor was walking around the woods and discovered my buck not too many yards from where I had shot him. Apparently, what I saw departing was another deer so my time was spent looking in the wrong places. Always spend the most time at the point of impact. Look for hair if there is no blood. If you can find hair, go from there. Don't assume anything, go with the evidence. Saying all that, it is easy to miss a 200 yard shot. Its not a given even with a rest. It takes practice. A close shot can be made with a quick deer,buck, big buck, boom. A longer shot requires a BRASS, breath, relax, aim, slow, squeeze. Fear of loss as the buck starts to disappear often causes us to rush the shot. I hope you get some resolution on this buck, I personally know how this can ruin your season. But, its part of hunting and happens to all of us. Good Luck.

 

[MUP]

It has happened to most who have ever professed to be a deer hunter. You at least had the chance, and got to see such an animal as this while hunting. But, this moment in time will never leave you, it'll remain with you most likely forever, coming to mind each season, as you prepare to enter the woods for deer season again. Stories such as this one go hand in hand with the other stories told around the "campfire" each season, and this will be the newest addition for you to recall, and to tell in vivid recollection, to all those attentive ears around the fire.

 

[Snake]

Sick feeling that I've can relate to .Hate it for you man !

 

[Labboy]

Hang in there man..

 

[wsm]

I feel your pain, 8 years ago I missed a great buck around 250 yards ,like you said I blew.I guess that's why its called hunting.