This Seasons Mistakes

[xatxay]

1) Not finding a lease until August
2) Not getting it Bushhogged until October
3) Not scouting enough; early & through out season
4) Not having enough Stands up & therefore overhunting them
5) Not having any food plots planted
6) Being late in morning
7) Getting down too early
8) Partially blocked breech plug caused a misfire on the only shooter buck seen this year
9) Passing too many does thinking that Mr. Big is gonna be right behind them.
10) Not taking enough days off work during the rut

 

[BSK]

I've had such a lucky/successful year, that I don't know what my mistakes are yet. I'm sure I'll come up with several by the end of the season.

 

[Bone Collector]

1) Being late in morning
2) Getting down too early
3) over hunting my private property
4) Not going with my gut at times

 

[Pic IN the Casa]

1) Thinking I had deer patterned
2) Overhunting one farm because it's 10 minutes away while neglecting another 45 minutes away. (i.e. LAZY)

 

[MUP]

1. Mis weighed my ML powder charge, resulting in a shot under a buck.

2. Took a shot too quickly, resulting in a bad shot on another buck(still not 100% sure if a hit even, no sign found)

3. Had a misfire on follow-up shot on the previously mentioned buck.

4. Last time out during the eve, I returned to the truck, and started to eject the round from the chamber of my Dads Mod 742 that I been using since the misfire in my other rifle, only to realize that I had failed to chamber a round at all while in the stand.

Several more I'm sure...

 

[deerhunter10]

1. I missed the deer ive been chasing for 3 years
besides that I cant complain ive passed some great deer trying to get them to the next level. and honestly its been a great year so far. for sure have some work to do starting in January but that is every season. so far that's all I got so far. but still a little time to go.

 

[Vermin93]

1) Not finding a lease until August
2) Not getting it Bushhogged until October
3) Not scouting enough; early & through out season
4) Not having enough Stands up & therefore overhunting them
5) Not having any food plots planted
6) Being late in morning
7) Getting down too early
8) Partially blocked breech plug caused a misfire on the only shooter buck seen this year
9) Passing too many does thinking that Mr. Big is gonna be right behind them.
10) Not taking enough days off work during the rut

Have you been secretly following me? This is my season exactly except for #8.

 

[walker]

having torn tendons in my left arm! not hunting as much as i wanted

 

[Columbia Scott]

I have a renewable lease. I was very fortunate this year and bagged a wallhanger despite a lack of work. Bulls ate my food plot down to stubble last year so I didn't bother this year. My biggest mistakes:

1) not running cameras during the summer.
2} not hunting with my crossbow in late September. This gave another lease member a 130" 8 pointer that I could have had.
3) not finding a kid to take hunting with me.

 

[gatodoc]

Didn't pull the trigger on a good buck because the direction he was heading, I thought I'd get a better shot....needless to say he changed directions again and I got no shot...

 

[rem270]

Killing a mature buck just because it was a mature buck in a state with a 1 buck limit (KY). I will never do it again. Had him on camera and said i would shoot him if i seen him. He was a 5.5 yr old 10pt but wasn't my biggest. Oh well.

 

[tickweed]

I've stayed true to my plan. Both my girls have taken bucks on my farm, and I've hunted the same deer all season, trying every move I know to see him, but still not yet. Still getting a few pics, but all at nite. Its not over yet.

 

[Lawrence]

over hunting a stand

 

[TNCharlie]

I've actually had a very good season (and it's not over). A couple of errors do stand out.

Number one, I missed an easy shot at a doe in archery season. I just simply didn't take my time and make sure I was on target. This was after shooting at another doe and hitting the zipper of my blind window. Again, a case of not being patient enough and paying close enough attention.

But the kicker is this one. I learned that you absolutely cannot kill a deer by shooting at it with a muzzleloader that is not loaded with both powder and ball. The primer makes a nice pop and scares the crap out of the deer, but does not cause it to have a heart attack and drop dead.

 

[Brogden]

I didn't do enough scouting before bow season and just hung a stand near my spot that I always went to. I saw deer but it was while walking, and I was never able to get a good location to move my stand.

 

[WRbowhunter]

Well my first mistake was hunting where the deer got a memo a week before advising them to get out of the county. Only explaination I have for not seeing deer. Just a very odd year for me. Think my mistake was being a little to set in my ways hunting areas based on past years and not adjusting to what was happening this year. Forgot to follow the Number one rule of deer hunting. Hunt where the deer are. Still have 3 more weekends plus a trip to Alabama the middle of January. Just one moment could change the memory of deer season 2013.

 

[Engine2c]

1. Over hunting a couple of spots
2. Over slept several mornings
3. Got down too early a few times
4. Not always hunting the wind. I had a few days where it was questionable and thought as careful as I am about scent control, I could chance it...wrong. I got busted by does a couple times by neglecting the wind.

 

[Snake]

No mistakes here fired two times have two 3 1/2 year old eight pointers . Let a 2 1/2 year old eight point walk, several 1 1/2 year old bucks walk and lots of does . So I'm 2 for 2 !
Oh wait I did drive all the way to my lease in Rhea Co.on Grandview Mountain from the motel in Dayton without my rifle :grin: About a 45 minute round trip for nothing .
Oh yeah another mistake was that I only hunted one day while on vacation for a whole week .Well I don't think I'll ever hunt a season without making a mistake but we all like to think we are perfect :grin:

 

[Brisco Darlin]

not looking around before i leaned my rifle up against a tree. was taking a leak and looked up in time to see two white flags. :blush:

 

[southernhunter]

Glad I am not the only person that makes mistakes . Reading y'all's makes me feel some what better about walking up on a 20" wide mature deer with in 40 yards only to miss and jam my gun on the follow up shot, guy hunting the property next to ours killed him 3 weeks later . He was a 19 3/4 spread 8 point 4 years old 130 ish buck , other than that I was way to lazy to hunt days I could have and so out of shape I over hunted the stands that are easy to climb and get to way to much. But all in all I have been very blessed , took my largest bow buck this year and my best m/l buck as well.

 

[catman529]

1) shot some of the first does in a couple of spots intended for rut hunting. During the rut too

2) walking too much in thicket where the buck I'm chasing likes to hide during rut

can't think of any more at the moment, but I have enjoyed every kill even though I probably screwed my best chances at a decent buck.

At this point I am debating whether or not it's worth letting every deer walk in hopes the big boy shows up. I go by "shoot what makes you happy" so I guess I will see how things go.

It's funny how I can be taught and learn something and know it well... like don't shoot does during the rut because bucks may follow. then I go and shoot the first does I see when the rut is going good. I can be trigger happy. Some things take actual experience to learn even though you can already learn the concept beforehand. When you realize you pretty much missed out on the rut and then realize you were shooting the first deer that came in then you really learn. Next year will do things differently but this year will still enjoy the woods and might kill a couple more does if I can.

 

[DirtyBear0311]

I should've moved to a different area earlier on since I was seeing zero deer. I also should've gotten to the woods sooner a couple times.

 

[CamoGator]

Got into the woods a little later than planned one morning and skipped the step of scenting down and we payed for it as a big buck was nudging does thru a thicket at our "community scrape stand" and just as I caught a glimpse of him a doe winded us and the whole woods knew we were there

 

[BSK]

It's funny how I can be taught and learn something and know it well... like don't shoot does during the rut because bucks may follow. then I go and shoot the first does I see when the rut is going good. I can be trigger happy. Some things take actual experience to learn even though you can already learn the concept beforehand.

I promise you catman529, some things are just hard to learn WELL. I think it's just individual personality. Like you, I'm a tad trigger-happy. I have a VERY difficult time passing up the first shooter buck of the season. I've worked so hard all year, and looked at thousands of trail cam pics so many times, that I get ultra-jazzed at the beginning of the season. The first older buck I see for the season kicks my kill instincts into high gear. I can't tell you how many times I've instinctively shot the first older buck I see for the season only to immediately think, "Oops, I shouldn't have done that!" And I NEVER seem to learn that lesson WELL.

 

[Swampster]

Drink too much coffee and then fidget, fidget, fidget.

 

[Backstrapcrazy]

Need to Hunt, even when dad can't go

 

[Pinwheeled]

-Put my stands up too early in the summer and had one stolen.
-Overhunted my private spot
-Didn't scout public ground nearly enough this year
-Passed on a buck several times thinking he was young only to find out later he was a mature deer.
-Didn't hit some of the different WMA's that I told myself I would.
-Never put my bow down. Probably need to kill one with my muzzleloader.

Other than that, it's been a great year so far. Pulled the trigger with the bow 3 times and all three were clean kills. 2 were from public ground; my first since moving to TN. Killed a mature buck from my private spot and let a ton of young bucks walk. I can't complain.

 

[xatxay]

11) not marking my stand with the GPS; couldn't find it until WELL after shooting light.
12) left the tailgate of the truck down. Now have a new dent from the trailer's lift crank.
Watch me and you'll learn what not to do.

 

[passthrough76]

20 yards. That is the distance between one tree I climbed and the other I thought about climbing. Of course, the 150 class I saw went by the other tree.