# Dumb mistakes - confession time



## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

We've all made them. How bout some "true confessions" from the woods. I'll get it started. 
In my ladder stand watching a trail. Spot "the one I'm wanting". Heading straight for the perfect shot. His head goes behind some brush - I stand and get feet planted. Mathews ready to draw. He keeps coming my muscles tighten. 3 more steps... C'mon, get right........2 more steps. Heart running at full speed - knees begin to twitch. C'mon. Hold it together. Don't lose control. One more step. The moment had arrived. All the hours practicing, usually at night. Scouting, placing cameras, and all that gas!! All comes down to this moment. He makes the last step and I put the pin behind his shoulder and give him the most melodious outdoor channel WWAAAAAAH! He stops perfect. I ease pressure on the release and he looks up at me just as the release opens.........nothing. WHAT THE HECK!!! Confusion. Yep. I actually forgot to draw the bow back. I freeze - he stares. Then I'm pretty sure I saw him smile as he whirled around and hopped away. I couldn't even tell that story for a couple of days!!

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## Rickpcfl (Nov 12, 2013)

I had something similar many years ago when I first tried using an old style muzzleloader with iron sights. It was the last day of hunting season and I hadn't shot anything. 

I was walking and saw a big buck walking towards me - the first buck I saw all season. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I realized I had forgotten to cock it. I cocked it and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I forgot to pull the "set trigger". I finally pulled the trigger but missed. I was sick to my stomach. I got in the truck and went home.


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## Countryboyreese (Sep 11, 2012)

I knew this thread was coming. Haha. Well I've got a couple. I've once drove 3 hours up to my hunting camp in Greenville Alabama only to realize I've forgotten my gun. I've shot at a deer without a bullet in my gun, I've scared deer away because I forgot to put my phone on silent, I've walked 1/2 mile to my stand and climbed up and realized I left my gun in the car. I've dropped stuff, broken stuff, forgotten to bring things, did something stupid before I shot...the list goes on and on. Those are just a few of my dumb moments. Some of them sure make for some funny memories!


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

That's a good one Try'n! My first morning trip to blackwater was during bow season. I wanted to get there super early to make sure I didn't walk in past anyone and "get there first". So I'm there at 4 freakin 30. Got my GPS, stand on my back, bow in hand. The first bit of walking is easy, then everything thickens up and i see nothing but spider eyeballs and bushes. Staring at my GPS, not realizing I need to hold it flat for the course pointer to move when I move, I'm trying to follow my track and the arrow is pointing sideways, so I walk that way and of course I go even further off my track, turn around, crashing through bushes and vines, the GPS shows I've jumped my track and I'm off the other way, so back I go!! For 15 minutes I plowed through the same damn bushes, round and round, back and forth, stand and bow clanging and banging, I hear deer blowing and leaving town, now I'm cussing out loud cuz I'm lost with a GPS in my hand lol. Eventually I find the spot, more noise getting up and settled...saw one squirrel lol.


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## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

Do you guys know the guys on here ?????? NEVER I repeat NEVER admit you have made a mistake !!!!!!!!!! :hang:


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## naclh2oDave (Apr 8, 2008)

I don't think I ever forgot to draw, but once I forgot to flip my flip flop gloves back after I drew. The arrow just kind fell down on the ground, the doe sniffed it before I was able to reload and draw again, the second arrow got her.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Thought of another one that my Dad told me that happened to my Grandpa on a turkey hunting trip when he was a boy. He roosted a nice gobbler the afternoon before so he went in before daylight loaded his 20 gauge single shot and sat down. Just after daylight he made a few clucks and immediately saw the gobbler pitch down and head his way. He raised the gun - cocked and ready. He gets in range and.....CLICK. - NOTHING - The turkey hears it and runs off. My grandpa stood up and scratched his head, then he hears something sliding down the gun barrel. He looks just in time to see a pack of Rolaids fall out the end of the barrel. Yeah. That wasn't a shell that he thought he put in there before daylight!


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Near Orlando Fl years ago. A WMA called Tiger Bay I think. My bud had scouted and told me to head down a trail, find a tree, and hit it with the climber. Found a nice 3-way trail right by a nice pine. Climbed it up the ol Cougar Claw climber, pulled up the bow. Way before daylight. Ready to let loose an arrow. Locked and loaded.

At daylight I hear the first sounds of birds, leaves rustling, then ... thump thump thump thump HEY MO FO you got nuttin bring it, yo mama! 

Yes, I had climbed a tree within 50 feet of the Tiger Bay Correctional Facility basketball court. At least I got to see inmates lifting weights, playing bball, and cursing all things sacred.

I saw 1 armadillo.


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

This deer's name is Tic. This picture he was in the mid 60's. The first encounter I had rattled and snort wheezed and after 30 -45 seconds he comes in from my right rear looking for a fight. When I turned to try and get a shot I knocked my can call out of the stand and.... He gone. The 2nd encounter I was about 500 yds fro the first stand and had pasted on a 130ish deer when a doe comes screaming past me. I figure a good one is coming but a small buck trots past me I hang my bow back up and as I do Tic comes trotting past me. My 3rd encounter was on my last day and I was back close to where I saw him first. At 8:30 I look up a hill and there was a 150+" 11 pt making a rub. I decided I was going to try and shoot him when I hear something to my left. I look down and have a doe walking under my stand. The 11 pt was rubbing a 6" cedar tree so hard I thought he was going to break it. Thinking the doe was going to bust me I started to turn and take bow when I hear from behind me and right another buck rubbing a tree.... Yup it was tic. He rubbed for about 10 seconds then ran up the hill and he and the 11pt went to war. Because of brush I never got a shot. Have pics of him from last year and he was in the mid 70's. Had 3 chances at him so ate a Iowa tag sandwich. That last morning is one I will never forget


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## Blake R. (Mar 17, 2009)

That's more bad luck than mistakes, but good lord that's a monster!


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

Blake R. said:


> That's more bad luck than mistakes, but good lord that's a monster!


Yup but I should have killed that deer


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

hjorgan said:


> Near Orlando Fl years ago. A WMA called Tiger Bay I think. My bud had scouted and told me to head down a trail, find a tree, and hit it with the climber. Found a nice 3-way trail right by a nice pine. Climbed it up the ol Cougar Claw climber, pulled up the bow. Way before daylight. Ready to let loose an arrow. Locked and loaded.
> 
> At daylight I hear the first sounds of birds, leaves rustling, then ... thump thump thump thump HEY MO FO you got nuttin bring it, yo mama!
> 
> ...


This is one of the funniest things I've read. Just hit me right.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Yeah. Bout wet my pants on the "prison stand"

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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Had a guy in my club, this year, go bowhunting just after the rut started. He got up in his lock-on, pulled up his bow and as he was kind of feathering out his nest, he saw the 'big boy' coming right to him. He rushed to put on his release, grabbed his bow, drew at the right moment, settled his pin and pulled the release nice and slow and as the bow went into action he said all he was waiting for was the buck to die. When that didn't happen he started wondering why he had heard such a load sound when he shot....then he started looking at his quiver and noticed it had four arrows in it. It only holds four. Now this guy is a good hunter and has killed lots of buck; all with a bow. He says he thinks the peep site hit the buck but without an arrow on the rest, it was just a sting. The PSE DNA was twisted and mangled but it didn't fly apart. Lucky him. Just got too absorbed in getting the release on. First thing I do after tying myself off is pull up the bow and putting an arrow on and then the release. Nothing else is as important. 

I've done my share of boneheaded things but that one is a new one.


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

Here's one more of Tic. Took me awhile to get over that one


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

my3nme said:


> This deer's name is Tic. This picture he was in the mid 60's. The first encounter I had rattled and snort wheezed and after 30 -45 seconds he comes in from my right rear looking for a fight. When I turned to try and get a shot I knocked my can call out of the stand and.... He gone. The 2nd encounter I was about 500 yds fro the first stand and had pasted on a 130ish deer when a doe comes screaming past me. I figure a good one is coming but a small buck trots past me I hang my bow back up and as I do Tic comes trotting past me. My 3rd encounter was on my last day and I was back close to where I saw him first. At 8:30 I look up a hill and there was a 150+" 11 pt making a rub. I decided I was going to try and shoot him when I hear something to my left. I look down and have a doe walking under my stand. The 11 pt was rubbing a 6" cedar tree so hard I thought he was going to break it. Thinking the doe was going to bust me I started to turn and take bow when I hear from behind me and right another buck rubbing a tree.... Yup it was tic. He rubbed for about 10 seconds then ran up the hill and he and the 11pt went to war. Because of brush I never got a shot. Have pics of him from last year and he was in the mid 70's. Had 3 chances at him so ate a Iowa tag sandwich. That last morning is one I will never forget


That is one great story and those kinds of encounters is what keeps us going back...and back....and back.


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## Fielro (Jun 4, 2012)

Love the story about the Prison stand! We've all made bone head mistakes, that's what makes great hunting stories. Several years back one of our members in Greene Co Al shot a true stud, to show how wide the rack was, he stuck his rifle on it for a picture. Sure enough the buck wasn't dead and jumped up and ran off. We were so dumbfounded no one shot him.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Fielro said:


> Love the story about the Prison stand! We've all made bone head mistakes, that's what makes great hunting stories. Several years back one of our members in Greene Co Al shot a true stud, to show how wide the rack was, he stuck his rifle on it for a picture. Sure enough the buck wasn't dead and jumped up and ran off. We were so dumbfounded no one shot him.


CLASSIC!!

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## bcbz71 (Dec 22, 2008)

CCC said:


> Do you guys know the guys on here ?????? NEVER I repeat NEVER admit you have made a mistake !!!!!!!!!! :hang:


Yeah, I got nothin' either.


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## Baker8425 (Jul 2, 2012)

Wirelessly posted

Drove to the farm I was hunting (about 30 minutes away) got out of the truck got the stand out, went back to the door of the truck to get my rifle...no rifle it was sitting at the house! 
Next one was during now season, I got tired of jumping deer on the walk in by spooling them with the light...got the bright idea to go stealth mode (hey I new the woods, and happened to leave the flashlight in the truck. Well somehow that trail that is been on 100 times mysteriously changed into an overgrown thicket. Luckily I made it thru found my tree and climbed up after hooking my pull line to the upper cam. Hung the bow up in the stand and reached to go ahead and nock an arrow. Problem was every arrow was gone! When I was going thru the thicket the comes had pulled every arrow off the quiver! Went back and found 3 out of 5 once the sun was up. Luckily I killed a little basket 8pt that day. 
Not gonna tell the story about the bottom half of my climber dropping down from 30' up a pine... Gotta rope between the top and bottom now...


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Baker8425 said:


> Not gonna tell the story about the bottom half of my climber dropping down from 30' up a pine... Gotta rope between the top and bottom now...


Yeah I'm not gonna tell about climbing a creosote telephone pole once. We don't have to get carried away with this confession crap!!

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## jasoncooperpcola (Jan 2, 2008)

Hunting in Blackwater with a crossbow because I thought my crossbow stamp allowed that.

Then rifle hunting without a quota permit. Too many rules!!!!

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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

I was hunting Escambia river several years ago and walked right up on a nice little buck. Raised my shotgun and fired at 20 yards. No blood, no hair, nothing. I was so mad. Got back in my boat and went to the launch to go home. While putting the boat up I got into a conversation with a squirrel hunter. I was complaining to him how I couldn't believe I missed at such a close range. He replied..."You know deer is closed on the river right now, don't you?" I said a prayer of thanks as I drove home that day. I thanked God for protecting me in the midst of my ignorance. I really didn't know. I would have showed that deer off to everyone I knew.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Divine intervention?

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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Try'n Hard said:


> Divine intervention?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner


I truly believe so. No way in the world I could have missed that buck at 20 yards with 3" mag 00 buckshot. I stood there dumbfounded.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

jspooney said:


> I truly believe so. No way in the world I could have missed that buck at 20 yards with 3" mag 00 buckshot. I stood there dumbfounded.


always heard "the good lord looks after drunks and fools". Were you drinkin'?

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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Haha. Don't answer that Jeff!


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

:shuriken:


CCC said:


> Do you guys know the guys on here ?????? NEVER I repeat NEVER admit you have made a mistake !!!!!!!!!! :hang:


Oh this is gonna get good !:shifty:


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

*Dumb Mistake ! L O S T*

I got lost !
We were hunting Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri back in November, and we put our gear on a game cart and rolled it in about a mile and a half to where would separate and go to our spots. 
My hunting partner is ALWAYS forgetting things or running late but this time it was my boo boo.
After dragging the cart and gear up and down hills for almost 2 miles, Randy looks at me when we are strapping on climbers / gear and asks where my quiver is ? (his arrows are much shorter than mine) [email protected]#$%^&* I tell him to go on and leave my stuff there and I'll walk back to the truck. 
Well, Cardinal Sin #1 broken - I didn't take my backpack GPS or compass with me and I got turned around. To make matters worse, I had NEVER been to this place before, it was overcast , remote and nothing to use for directional bearings.
Long story short I walked through MT Forest for close to 2 hours before making it to a rural blacktop. I went to the nearest house and a nice gentleman gave me a ride back to my truck. 
After describing to him where I had parked my truck, he just looked at me in awe. 
After getting on his computer and pulling up Google, he found a route so that he could drive me back to my truck.
Randy will never let me live this one down.............

Ya'll keep 'em coming. Reese, Trying Hard and the Rolaids story were a great read.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

I hunted BW dog area....thought dog hunting was over! To my amazement as soon as I found my tree, I noticed trucks circling the area I was in like buzzards. 1 little 2 little 3 little doggies 4 little 5 little 6 little doggies...and so on and so forth!!!! hahaha, then discovered I was actually in VIOLATION due to having no quota fer dog!!!!


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## Rickpcfl (Nov 12, 2013)

I really shouldn't tell this one.

My brother shot and wounded a nice buck one evening and called and asked if I would bring his trailing dog. I picked up his son and two friends and we went to the woods.

My brother grabbed his pistol to use to finish the buck. We let the dog start and he sound found him. My brother pointed the pistol at the buck from a few feet away and fired. The buck jumped up and ran off. This happened several more times, with my brother firing at the deer as he ran off.

We trailed the deer again and found him lying down, severely wounded. By this time, my brother was out of bullets. I had the genius idea that I would hit the deer in the back of his head with my heavy flashlight. I tried, but it didn't work so good. My brother threw his flashlight at the deer - I'm not sure what he was thinking.

The dog decided that he didn't want any more of the fun, so he took off to the truck. We stood around looking at each other trying to figure out how to find the deer since the dog was gone. For the first time that night, I did use my brain. I told them that if we were quiet, we could probably hear the deer thrashing.

Sure enough it worked. My brother went back to the truck to get more bullets, and he finally put the buck down.

When he took the deer to the butcher to be processed - the butcher solved the problem of why he wasn't killing the deer at close range when he looked at him and asked - Why is this deer hide filled with rat shot? My brother had been shooting at him with rat shot.


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## ironman (Oct 18, 2007)

My brother shot a buck with his bow behingd the house one evening. I had a leashed trained beagle at the time. He calls me up and I head over with ole Pete. We tracked the deer through a cypress pond into thick gall berries. Pete is dragging me through all this mess. He suddenly stops. I pull back the bushes and Pete has his fron legs on the deer and both of them are looking at us. No gun, no knife, nothing to finish him off. We get the bright idea to take Pets leash and put it around the deers neck and drag him out. We figured since he was just laying there he was almost dead. Big mistake. I think he dragged us 20 yards before we let go.


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## Steve Defazio (Jan 24, 2014)

I have made some similar mistakes while bow hunting.
Twice I have drawn back on a deer while sitting sometimes feel's more comfortable. The mistakes I have made twice now is I rest the bottom cam
on my thigh for balance and when I release the cam rotates and the bow jumps.


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

I'll tell this one on my Pop. He's gone now, so maybe he won't mind...

This was 40 years ago, and we were on a dog hunt in Greene Co. Alabama. We were on stands adjacent to each other in a clearcut that was so thick, we could see only a few yards. I heard Pop shoot, and I woke up just in time to see an 8 point come charging from his direction. BOOM! Flop! I killed my first 8 point at 5 yards distance!

Pop swore up and down that my buck was not the one he shot at, and insisted we track his buck. He said his buck raised it's head above the brush not 15 yards away, and he shot it in the neck. Well, we never found any sign of a hit, but when we skinned out the neck of my buck, there were hundreds of tiny holes leaking blood.

We finally figured he shot it with birdshot instead of buckshot because he had some high brass #9's in his coat pocket that he mistook for buckshot.

Thanks for the buck, Pop!


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## huntnflorida (May 24, 2008)

I shit myself... That's a mistake and confession you'll never forget.


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## billyb (Aug 22, 2012)

This happened just a few weeks ago. I hunt in the river swamp and I had walked in off a road about 150 yards until I reached the flooded water line. About 10:30 my wife texted me and asked if I wanted to go to lunch. I was answering her when I heard something over my right shoulder. A big buck was walking up the water line with his head down about 40 yards behind me. I sit in a Millenium Tree Seat on the ground most of the time. There was a big cypress tree right next to me that was about 3 feet around. I quickly stood up behind the tree and waited for the deer to come up. After a minute or two I realized he was not coming so I peeked round the left side of the tree and saw his rear about 25 yards back. I peeked around the right side of the tree until I saw the tips of his horns and his head was up. He knew something was not right. I waited another minute and decided to try and shoot him as far from his rear as I could so I eased around the left side of the tree again. He broke and ran the way he came with his head down breaking everything in his path. It all happened so fast I didn't even shoot.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

huntnflorida said:


> I shit myself... That's a mistake and confession you'll never forget.


Bwahahahahaha!!!!


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Funny story happened to me about 25 years ago. I went hunting in La Floresta Perdida Mgt Area during black powder season with a couple of brothers. One was a hunter and one was not. This was his first time deer hunting. 
Somehow I got stuck with the non-hunter. We walked into the area I liked to hunt. I used a 12' Ocala ladder at the time. I pointed to a big oak about 300 yards away and told him to go sit at the base of it. Then I got busy putting my ladder up.
About 5 minutes later I had it set up, climbed up and got settled. I started looking around and about 75 yards thru the brush saw some orange.
What the heck? I dug out my binoculars to get a better look. What I was seeing was my buddies orange vest which was attached to his jacket which was laid across a bush while he was 10' away taking a crap. Jeeeeez.
I gave him a few minutes then went over and told him to let's go find another spot.


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

About 15 years ago one of the members in our camp caught a 15-20 pig in a trap. After a day or so he had it used to a choke collar and he had it tied to a tree at the bottom of a hill by our fire pit. A member who was a charter capt. Got to the camp about 3 o'clock on Friday and pulled up to the camp looks down the hill see the pig, jumps out all excited and shoots the pig. He runs down the hill sees the pig tied up and realized what happened. The guy that tied the pig up was the son of the president of the club and crazy and would fight a stop sign. The capt didn't say anything and went hunting. When the son got back from his stand that night he pitched a fit . It took 2 years and after the president kicked his own son out for something else for the capt to confess.


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## yukondog (Feb 12, 2013)

Does peeing on a electric fence barefooted in wet grass count.


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## espo16 (Apr 21, 2008)

:hang:I got married...:hang:
:help::help::help::help:


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## Blake R. (Mar 17, 2009)

espo16 said:


> :hang:I got married...:hang: :help::help::help::help:


Damn sure puts a dent in the hunting time and toy fund.


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## bamaman08 (Dec 22, 2008)

huntnflorida said:


> I shit myself... That's a mistake and confession you'll never forget.


Ya'll have to quit making me laugh out loud at work :notworthy:


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

huntnflorida said:


> I shit myself... That's a mistake and confession you'll never forget.


Twice for me

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