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Ever regret passing on a shot?

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When my son was about 8 years old he and I where headed back from sitting a water hole in the morning.  We saw a little forked horn Muley run across the road.  We stopped and I got out with bow in hand.  The buck just stood there so I drew back for some practice.  I already knew I wasn't going to shoot, but thought my son would think it was cool to see.  After about 30 seconds I let the bow down and walked back to the truck.  I instantly knew I made a huge mistake!  My son started crying and asking why I didn't shoot the buck.  I tried to teach him about letting animals grow to a mature age, but he didn't care! 

To this day he doesn't like hunting:(  I look back on that day and wonder if he would be interested in hunting if I would have shot that buck.  

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I passed a 4x4 on the Kaibab one archery season at 32 yards trying to hold out for a giant I had scouted earlier in the summer that was always with him.......of course he wasn't that morning.  My hunting partner was smarter than I and arrowed the buck I passed 3 days later.  Yeah, I was too darn greedy....netted 184 and some change.  Never again!

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Another one. Unit 1 late archery a couple of years ago. I could have skipped into bow range but I was holding out for a giant. 

Screenshot_20190731-170249.thumb.png.a1080824fad2709bbacb50e9f8b5ccc8.png

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2 minutes ago, idgaf said:

Another one. Unit 1 late archery a couple of years ago. I could have skipped into bow range but I was holding out for a giant. 

Screenshot_20190731-170249.thumb.png.a1080824fad2709bbacb50e9f8b5ccc8.png

 

Would have had to ear-hole him anyway. Big time shot blocking you....

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Big Browns said:

When my son was about 8 years old he and I where headed back from sitting a water hole in the morning.  We saw a little forked horn Muley run across the road.  We stopped and I got out with bow in hand.  The buck just stood there so I drew back for some practice.  I already knew I wasn't going to shoot, but thought my son would think it was cool to see.  After about 30 seconds I let the bow down and walked back to the truck.  I instantly knew I made a huge mistake!  My son started crying and asking why I didn't shoot the buck.  I tried to teach him about letting animals grow to a mature age, but he didn't care! 

To this day he doesn't like hunting:(  I look back on that day and wonder if he would be interested in hunting if I would have shot that buck.  

dang, that’s putting a lot of “what if” on your shoulders there! I’ve read your posts about your kids for the years you’ve posted. Your gonna have a frieking stroke if you keep taking the blame! It’s not all your fault bud.

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3 hours ago, idgaf said:

Another one. Unit 1 late archery a couple of years ago. I could have skipped into bow range but I was holding out for a giant. 

Screenshot_20190731-170249.thumb.png.a1080824fad2709bbacb50e9f8b5ccc8.png

You’ve killed enough stuff why pack out that bull

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I was sitting a water hole in a southern unit on a early rifle hunt a few years ago and it was hot, does were coming into the water like planes into Sky Harbour, they would take their time getting a drink, one even got into the water passed her knees. Two small 3 pointers came in and I just sat there wondering which one if any to shoot and bam they were gone. So I thought I would try it again the next day. A doe and her fawn came in and was acting really nervous, got a drink and left, nothing else. I walked down to the water hole after a couple of hours and there was cat tracks all around the water. I often wish that I had been a little quicker on one of those bucks.

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Awesome can see his breath from nostrils. Thanks for sharing

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I didn’t shoot my first deer until I was 18 because as a teenager I thought I needed to be on the cover of Trophy Hunter Magazine. I had unit 31 December whitetail tags back to back those years, back when that hunt was awesome and there were only 50 tags. The first year I hunted 7 days and passed up dozens of bucks trying to kill a giant for my first deer. Ended up eating that tag.

The next year i shot a forky.

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The old bird in the hand is worth two in the bush rule has got me many times.  😧

My new rule is "Dont talk, just shoot" Eli Wallach in the Good, Bad and Ugly.

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Last deer season my 3 year old gave me words of wisdom when we were having a tough time filling my buddies tag. 

"Daddy. See a deer, shoot a deer" - Lawrence Smith 2018.

Words to live by almost always I think...

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Passing on smaller animals to eventually take a much bigger one has paid off for me many more times than it has bitten me.  It's easy to pick out the rare time that it didn't work out and I ate the tag, but I know that's the cost going in.  Although I could pick one or two I would take with 20/20 hindsight, overall, I wouldn't change a thing.  I've never agreed with the "Don't pass anything on the first day you would take on the last day." If the most important thing to you is taking an animal, then you shouldn't pass anything. If you are trying to take a really nice animal, you will have to pass the small ones or you will have far less days in the field, and therefore far less opportunities to take a nice animal. It's all about what you will happy taking home. I don't think any animal's life deserves to be taken if you will have regrets that you shot it feeling you should have held out for a bigger one.

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Yeah, I usually don't let a missed opportunity bother me but last year was the best "glad I didn't shoot" happening.  My son-in-law and I had deer hunted opening day in 6A and were slowly making our way back to camp before dark .  When we were just a few hundred yards from camp on a scrub oak covered  mesa my son-in-law yelled "buck"!  Not 50 yards away  we had spooked a really nice 4X4 buck that was bedded down among 3-4 foot high scrub oak. As the buck took off, I shouldered my rifle and  looked over my scope to initially line up my shot and then dropped my view down into the scope as I started to squeeze the trigger.  There was an instant mental/physical block that kept me from shooting and it took a second to realize what was happening.  I stopped and realized that deer was exactly in line of our camp not a quarter mile away where my girlfriend was preparing dinner in our pop up trailer.  Maybe my shot, if I missed, would have ended up hundreds of feet away from camp.  Maybe the deer, if I hit it, would have stopped the bullet.  Maybe if I missed, a tree would have stopped the bullet. I'm just glad it didn't come down to that.  I ended up getting a not so big fork horn and that was okay with me

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