Thought it might be fun to share some of our blunders in the woods just for humors sake.

My worst had to be on an archery hunt. I had bought one of those releases that works opposite of the normal trigger pull concept (you squeeze the trigger during the draw and release it to release the string), and while I was accurate with it, I had the occasional early release. After a few weeks practice I felt comfortable enough and off I went. I was hunting a ridge on a small farm in south-central PA. A very nice sized doe came trotting along the ridge. I stood and began to draw only to get about half way back before the release...well...released. My hand flew back and hit me square in the face. With blurred vision I watched the arrow sore about 10 feet over her back. I swear that doe looked at me with pity

Definitely glad no one was there to see that one!

I decided to lay down and take a nap one day in a nice warm sunny spot on the side of a ridge. I put my head down on my arm with my hand kind of up over the top of my head so my hand would provide a bit of shade on my face. Well I awakened quite startled because there was a giant tarantula about to attack my face... ok it was just my hand but I made sure not to get attacked by screaming at it.

Cold morning, 30' up a pine tree in a climber, wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing.....and a stomach virus hits. Need I go further???

I have one very similar to SBHunter81's incident.

Summertime and I was in my backyard practicing for archery season with my new back tension release....one of the ones with a "safety".

I had by 70# draw weight hunting bow and was about halfway drawn back when the safety "popped off" on it's own and let the release fire. Arrow went into never never land and my balled up fist came back with at least 70 lbs of force and socked me square in the nose, knocking me flat on my back like someone just sucker punched me.

.....I sold that release shortly after the incident

Hahaha! These are great, keep 'em coming!

gary - I got a good laugh out of that.

kingfisher - been there far too many times

98redline - I feel your pain and I couldn't sell mine, had to give it away!

I'm sure if I think hard there are several..

My most recent was Turkey season 2011. Unfortunately someone WAS there. I was in a blind hunting with my long time buddy. Called a gobbler into range from my right side. We sit in a pop up blind on small folding stools. I had to turn at an odd angle to shoot the bird as he came across in front of us. I took careful aim and fired. When my buddy turned to me to give me a "high five" all he saw were my boots. That 3 1/2" 12 gauge rolled me off of that stool and I was flat on my back with my feet straight in the air. Laying there looking up at him, all I could say was "I must have gotten him eh?"

I have had one with a release go off on my bow but was not hunting. Mine was a rope release and the rope broke. I am not sure how long I was laying in the dirt and never found my arrow. When I got up, my bow was a few feet away and I had dried blood on my nose and upper lip, so I must have been knocked out for a bit. Now THAT one I was glad no one saw!

Dan

I had at least one classic. During an archery hunt (sounding like a theme here) I needed to do my "business" one morning on the trail. Found a nice log, and set my bow down on the end. I scoothed up the log a ways to get the perfect spot and proceeded. A very nice cow elk, for which I had a tag walked by about 10 feet away. My bow was about 15 feet away. I was lucky she did not stop and take a shot at me.

I had always heard about this kind of story, and let me tell you it can be true.

Craig

My first year of archery hunting I had a small doe walk within 10 yards of my stand,I was in a sitting position so I rested the lower cam on my leg and left one fly....arrow flew into the dirt halfway to the deer....I told my BIL how I steadied my shot with the cam on my knee and he just shook his head and laughed......LESSON LEARNED!

JIM

Similar thing happened to me in Canada when I was caribou hunting. We had been glassing for probably an hour or more from this little rocky knoll. We hadn't even seen a single animal in all that time. Every so often we would get up and move to a slightly different spot on the knoll to glass a different area.

At one point we looked up and there on the edge of the knoll, about 20 yards away, were 4 "big" bulls standing there looking at us. The smallest would have easily made P&Y. Unfortunately the group was standing between us and our bows......<facepalm>

i got the scope cut from a 30/06 b/c i was too excited to make sure the rifle was even against my shoulder. was a pretty good cut and i bled all over the place. i was too embarassed to get sutures so i just superglued it shut.

I'm a walking comedy show in the woods but not by choice. This is probably one of the best stories and I think I've talked about it on here before but here it is.

I was going through my divorce from my first wife so I was in the woods every day after work and every weekend to maintain my sanity. The only thing open after bear and turkey closed was cougar. I never really thought there was much of a chance of seeing a cat as at that point after years in the woods I had never crossed paths with one. I was on top of Mt. Ashland in southern Oregon above tree line where I could glass for miles all the way to the CA border. I had noticed some clouds in the distance coming my way and sure enough it was an early thunder storm. As I said I was way above tree line and sitting on top of a bare mountain didn't seem to be a good idea. I packed it in and started down the mountain. I had let my estranged wife use my pick up to move her stuff so I had her subaru. I was most of the way down into the scrub oaks when I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A big tom walking across the road in front of me. I expected the cat to blow out so I jumped out of the car and started to take aim although the cat was just walking still and looking at me. He jumped up on a rock and just stared. It was then I noticed the car was on it's way down hill without me. The cat was still staring at me at what I guessed to be 50yds but I was torn on what to do as I watched the car keep going down the road and finally into the bar ditch. I finally shouldered the rifle and touched it off just as the cat finally jumped. I missed of course so I followed it in the oak stand. I could hear the big tom working his way back around behind me so I decided I was in a bad place and backed out of the woods. I went back up the next day and found the distance between me and the cat to have only been a little over 20yds.

Rod, that is a classic, I had to share it with my wife...too funny!

Here's another one for the "archery" category. I up in a stand one afternoon watching a spot where a set of trails came together when i had a DANDY buck come past. I was shooting a Martin compound and using a Winn Free Flight release (the swivel model) the buck came past i came to full draw and he stopped behind some brush i held for as long as i could and let down. As soon as i had relaxed my draw and he started walking again so i started to draw again when BLAM my release busted at the swivel area and i punched myself in the face and sent the shaft into the side of a large popple tree! needless to say the buck exploded and was gone..... End of story? NOPE! I borrowed another release from a friend and a week later same trail, SAME buck and he was quartering away when i got to full draw and sent an arrow right over his back!

Ok, having been up for 2 days straight literally flying night freight, my buddy calls me up and says he watched a monster 2 days in a row morning and evening coming under my climber. I get a hall pass from the wife get in my stand early in the morning. Now I have been up 60 hours straight at this point. Climb the tree 25 feet up figured i would catch a quick cat nap before the sun comes up. Sometime later I wake at the sound of a snapping branch only to see one of the biggest bucks I had ever seen. I reached for my bow and knocked it off my lap and never saw the deer again.

Last bow season I was up in one of my stands in the morning, it was not unusual at all to hear my neighbor shoveling out his horse stalls shortly after first light. the kicker this time was he had Kenny Chesney cranked mach 2, I knew after 20 minutes or so the morning was shot and I was not going to see anything. After packing up my gear and heading out I figured that I better ask him to keep the music down during deer season, which he did, WELL, then I pulled the cards on my trail cams. In the 20 minutes I was gone, not 1 but 2 bucks strolled by, so much for distractions.

LOL, I don't know about whitetails but I've found with mulies and blacktails that they get used to stuff like that. I've even seen them drawn into active logging areas from the sound of chainsaws and equipment because they know it means food.

I have had my share. One that really bugs me is back during my coyote hunting days.

When one becomes totally familiar with their weapon, it is second nature when it comes to the hunting field. Oh, the safety precautions, target aquisition, background, muzzle attention, loaded/unloaded, etc. etc. are still all in place, no problem.

I am talking when actually putting that sight on the quarry for the final trigger squeeze. Well, I was so used to my scope setting for killing coyotes that one time I sneaked up on a bedded coyote; he was in a snow bank and REALLY OBVIOUS. Also really obvious was that I had all the time in the world to get set up and squeeze the trigger, as he was fast asleep. (You know; it's called "the gimmee...")

Well, my tried and true duplex Leupold reticle told me he was 400 yards away, even though I swore he looked a whole bunch closer. So I held for 400 and saw the snow erupt several inches above his back. He jumped up and hit full power plus afterburner in less time than it takes you to read this. Bye bye to an easy $50 dollars for his pelt.

I then suddenly realized/remembered that I had dialed the variable power scope down to a lesser power while "screwing around" for some reason and forgot to change it back. And that mistake changed the whole relationship as far as judging range with the duplex reticle!!!

Gregg you will appriciate this. It was early spring 1982. A buddy of mine from the dorm at CSU and I drove up to North PArk and decided we were going to coyote hunt. So we set up camp on Independence mountain and start driving around the BLM land. We drove on the north side of the mountain and came across a rancher who invited us to hunt on his property. So we follow him there he shows us around and we set up on a bluff over looking a nice sage filled flat. My buddy nudges me and says look at that. I throw the binos up and sitting by its den is a yote. We watch it leave and go over a hill. So we think we know what were doing and run down to its den and hide by it waiting to ambush it when it returns. ABout an our later we are watching in the direction it went and next thing I know all hell is breaking loose. This thing came up from behind snuck past Rob and realized we were there and started jumping trying to get away and it ran into Rob when it saw me. It was like the keystone cops. The last we saw of that coyote was a dust trail at mach1 going over the hill. Rob and I looked at each other and asked what just happened. Oh we never did get a coyote on that trip but the rancher invited us back for comic relief. I did take some nice yotes off that ranch over the next 6 years.

Last day of deer season and i decide to drive 1/2 mile down the road where we made a deer drive the day before. I'm carrying my .410 shotgun cause in the area it is thick with rabbits and i'm determined to kill something. I hear something and look up and see a giant buck looking back at me through the brush, the Smith is hanging on a nail in the shack. I back out nice and quite and jump in the old Dodge and head for the shack at full speed to get my pistol. I round the corner about 40 and there's the water hole, to late gun it, get to the shack and grab pistol, come running back out to truck and see both front fenders are gone. Go thru water hole slow this time, there's my left front fender 20 feet up in a Jackpine, darn rusty old Dodge. Of course the buck didn't wait there for me either. My dad said i should have claimed someone stole the fenders, it would have been more beleiveable!

Ha ha ha... Ooooh man, Craig, that REALLY does hurt; my heart is out to you.

Similar to my screw-up I posted about.

Sadly this is a true story. Disclaimer......I was not under the influence of anything; except buck fever. Ever heard of that....lol?
My 2nd year of hunting 20 years ago. It was bow season and I was up 16 ft in a treestand my dad built when low and behold out steps "Bones." He is and enormous 10pt(very rare in Florida) my friend and I named him. I slowly draw the bow and am shaking like a leaf. The whole tree was probably quivering. "I am going to get Bones!!! " I shoot him for 35 yards. He jumped straight up in the air and bolted. I was so enfrossed in the moment that I simply stepped in the direction he ran......without climbing down first!!!
I was out cold. Next thing I know is my friend, who was at full draw 200yds on a doe, HEARD my hit the ground. His deer then took off as Bones bolted by.. He ran over to where I was and my bow and arrows were scattered everywhere. I am just coming too and I stand up and just start walking toeards Bones' vapor trail. He asked me what I thought I was doing and I slurred that I wanted my deer. He gathered my gear and took me to see a doctor and promised he would look for the deer later. Luckily a myrtle bush cushioned my fall somewhat and had nothing but a sore shoulder and back.....and wounded pride.
The buck was really 50yds away and I missed him clean. I didn't hunt for several years after that. Hope I have more common sense now. I was glad someone was there!!!

Some people are going to call me a lair over this, but I just don’t care. It is my life and my story…

As the best as I can remember I was about 19 years old and it was a Friday night. I had went to my old High School football game because it was Homecoming and that night I drove to my Grandparents in Bell county Texas. Their place was 720 acres and surrounded by three sections of land with farmers that didn’t hunt at all. The fourth side was the East side of the Belton Lake. (The West side of the lake was Fort Hood. If that helps any) I remember getting in to the bunk house late for it was a 3 hour drive down from Grand Prairie to Buck Horn Cemetery Rd. I got about 4 hours of sleep and was in the deer stand by 5:00 in the morning on the last weekend in December. I got in the stand way before light and went to sleep in the stand. I woke to the sound of grunting and it still wasn’t light yet.

When first light appeared I saw two little four point yearlings fighting. About 10min latter I saw a couple of six points. About 10 min later I saw two eight points walking around. (all the deer to this point were twins looking at their horns.) Then I saw a really nice nine point. All the sudden off to my left I saw “a” doe. I set up very slow knowing that I was watching 7 bucks and 1 doe. I was hoping something spectacular was going to happen, and it did. I saw “him” I had seen him once the previous season for about 3-4 seconds. Well, it was more like a partial glace as he walked through the woods because I knew he was huge, but I didn’t know how gig. He stepped out about 25 yards away from the doe and looked right at the stand I was in. Lets face it, he didn’t get that big by being dumb. I lost count after counting 16 points on ONE side. He had a pot belly like I had never seen before and his nose looked like it was 2in long he was so old. His back actually had a downward ark. His horns were about 4-5 past his ears on both sides and his rack was almost as tall as it was wide. (This is that part where people are going to call me a lair and I just don’t care, I remember what I saw and I am probably down playing this deer believe it or not… )

The buck was about 75 yards away. At this time in my life I was doing a LOOOT of offhand shooting with my blackpowder rifles and felt very comfortable with making an offhand shot with my TC Encore in 7mm Mag. I brought the rifle to my shoulder, found the deer in the scope, took a large breath, and squeezed the trigger. At the sound of the shot I became totally deaf. My ears were completely ringing. As I looked through the brand new stands window I saw brand new 7mm hole threw the 2X4 window as the buck bounced like a bunny to the woods. (I never saw the 2X4 threw my 6-20X50mm Leupold scope.) With the barrel inside the stand the report of the rifle complete echoed in tight quarters…

What I can say is that I had the opportunity and blew it. But I can say I at least saw a brute that would have put me in the record books… should have, could have, what if I, or whatever…

Duane

TCT.....I bet you aren't the first person to do that. That would have been a nice deer on the wall.

Oh man Duane, I hate it when that happens!

I did that on a six by six bull elk once with my .300 Win mag rifle in my early 20's! Including the ears ringing!

To make matters worse, I was NOT in a blind; just standing in the woods after running up a hill to get a better shot; I just plain missed him without the help of a 2X4 in the way.

hunted with traditional muzzle loaders for years. when using a caplock i always inspected the cap. one morning i looked at the cap and thought that it looked a bit odd, but dont want to wast that half a penny. little latter a nice fat doe steps out so close i could have taken 3 steps a clubbed her. ya when the hammer fell the cap was a dud. worst was a my good friend and hunting partner polecat saw the hole thing. mikes no longer with us so i can tell that he fired and missed. ( i had suggested that he use his set trigger ). we both had 50 cal pistols on our belts and we never used them. the doe; well she just WALKED off like she didnt have a care in the world.

Well, as a new guy here i should share to become one of the forum, right? I was bowhunting a special draw area in Illinois and was using a "portable" ladder stand that broke into sections and you packed in. Well, i had put safety tape, you know the sanpapery kind, on the steps for traction. While walking across the field one of the steps was rubbing against my britches and i didn't really think about it. When i got to my tree and took the stand off of my back, the sandpaper had given my rear end a little ventilation. Oh well, Cabelas has plenty of pants for sale.

Well I will share my blunders, Recently I got to go hunt hogs for the first time, And had my shooting partner and my brother-in-law part of the trip.
I consider myself a decent shot, but we all have off days and I have have had quite a few in the last few months due to a car wreck back in january..Well forget the excuses, We were hunting hogs at night so our days were spent shooting or relaxing. I can handel recoil but I tend to go beyond my threshhold,( trying to keep this short). So my shooting partener went for a drive on the property with the guide and saw a group of hogs in a field. He already shot his limit so it left me and my brother-in-law, The three of us stalked 600 yards in an open field, wind in our face, 130 yards from the group calmly feeding, My shooting partner coaching my brother-in-law, I hear ready, ok shoot, I squeeze off my 7mag, trigger break suprises me,fatigue I blame, then my brother-in law never shot, he shoots a running sow 150 pounds plus dropping it in its tracks with a 44 mag levergun. Well i choked, no blood no pig and a chip shot, oh to make it better this was my brothers first ever hunt with a borrowed rifle, Super proud of him but to drop the ball with an audience, I have some ground to regain...lol

My most recent blunder

Glad no one was around when i first got my SRH 454, as i was cocking the hammer my thumb slipped off and because i wasn't ready for it and didn't have a good grip on it the front sight proceeded to slap me rather hard in the mouth. FYI a SRH will fire while the hammer is only half cocked.

Ok my turn. My first big game handgun kill. I watched three does walk about 300 yards toward my stand. As the biggest one walked 10-15 yards by the tree I braced my SBH against the tree for support. When I pulled the trigger the gun almost jumped out of my hand and I hit just in front of her. As she circled back into the open field I took two more shots hitting her on the last shot at a dead run. She hit the ground and slid to a stop. I then realized what I had done. When I braced against the tree I rested the gun at the cylinder gap. I have not made that mistake again!