Ever shoot the wrong deer?? It happend to me...

[AKElroy]

Opening weekend, I am sitting in the stand, seeing A LOT of deer, but none of the really decent deer that had been hitting my feeder. My lease contract specifies 1 cull, one trophy, one doe. A cull is defined as any buck (spike) or multi lacking brow tines.

I had been watching a poor, 70lb four point since first light, and did not want it. About an hour later, a really big bodied 4 point (maybe 130lbs? big for the hill country) enters the scene. Not seeing a tropy & it nearing 10 am, I decide he's the cull I want. He walks behind a tree, I see movement behind the tree, and I wait for him to come back out. I have not seen the poor 70 lb buck in several minutes, and assume he is gone.

You already know what's coming. He walks around the tree, I glance at the rack & what looks like a fat neck, and being convinced he is the right one, I break the silence with a 2lb trigger on my weather warrior .308. Down he goes.

All excited, I climb down, walk the 165 yrds, and find the 70lb loser I did not want lying in a red puddle. Beautiful.

I love this annonymous forum for this type of confession. Any others feel ready to confess similar stupidity?? I need to know I'm not alone!!

 

[hardluk1]

All have i bet or they don't tell the turth. New to a lease I crawled up in a box tower and was getting comfy and seen that the guy that use to hunt out of it marked yardage. ( before being told to not come back) . This guy had yardage on ever thing that he could mark. Power poles and 2x4 all to the yard. I just started to understand what he had done when a doe walked out. Looked real fat and the pole said 246 right next to the doe and only a couple seconds to shoot. I had not been there 2 minutes. I pull up my rifle and looked quick ,desided it was nice and fat and I fired. Deer was about 20 feet from anything to judge quickly and the yardage as I later fiqure was 146 not 246.

It was the way he made his 1's that got me. After looking at his 2's i could then see the difference. Blew the spine out of the deer and it baaa'ed when it fell and died. I new when i heard that baaaa that it was small. Pulled out my range finder to yep ,146 to the 2x4. I cut down a tree about 2 1/2 around,tied its legs together and like an old hobo carried it to camp . Wieght was 74lbs. Boy did i take some cr*p from my buddies. One guy wrote bamby killer on the under side of my cap. It did get better. While cleaning the doe another one walked out at 200yards and was indeed a nice doe and shoot it from the cleaning house. A buddy walks out and said what happened . I said another doe down, and 1 more walked out stopped to smell the one i shot and he got his doe then. That one wieghted 142 his 148. Man that was 28 years ago out side Seal AL. Never made a quick shot again. Let some walk because of that pour shot.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I haven't, but my brother shot a doe once and it dropped out of sight. It stands back up and he shoots it again. Walks up and finds 2 of them dead.
Fortunately, we can kill 4 doe here and he was still legal.

 

[jbkebert]

I arrowed a fat doe a couple years back and watched her run off and back to my left. I sat back and smoked a cigarette and waited to let her bleed out. After about 20 minutes this doe come sneaking in back on me. Light was fading and I figured I would finish the job. Let another arrow fly and she didn't make it 10 yards before piling up. Got down out of my stand and found only one wound. Confused I went to get the pickup and nearly tripped over the first doe I had shot. I could of sworn that it was the same deer circling back to where she was first hit. So long story short my buck tag was placed on a doe. Good thing I had a doe tag as well.

 

[skiking]

I haven't shot the wrong deer, but I was hunting with my cousin trying to get his first deer and we saw a spike and a doe. Well my cousin shot the doe thinking it was a spike, turned out one ear was split most the way down making it appear like it had an antler. Good thing that it was legal for him to take a doe.

 

[wgp]

A few years ago I crawled up on a low draw on our farm to see what might be hiding there out of the wind. I happened to be carrying a .25-06 with a very high magnification scope that I had turned up to the max. A very nice buck came running out with several other deer. I did not have time to dial the scope down so I got on the good buck and just as I fired a little buck that I had not seen ran in front of the one I wanted and I killed the little guy. Therefore I learned the hard way about using too much scope for what I was doing and I have not made that mistake again.

 

[wankerjake]

I've heard of it for sure. An animal is shot at and runs behind a tree/cover, and is shot again as it comes out. Get over there and there are two dead animals. I've had that happen to two different people I know. There were tags in the group that went on the animals both times but you gotta be careful. That's why I try and remember to watch the animal closely if it doesn't go down.

And once I saw a bullet travel thru one deer and into another. What looked like a lone spike actually had a fawn directly behind it. I didn't see the shot but was there a couple minutes after the shot and saw the damage. The buck completely covered the fawn, the hunter was still-hunting and had no way of knowing. Just bad luck, he's an attentive hunter (not some yahoo who shoots at anything). Drilled the spike thru the lungs and the fawn dropped from a neck shot. The blood buck's trail started at about the nose of the dead fawn and he went about 20 yards. It was a good shot...

I'm not advocating target misidentification but the fact is that the nature of hunting lends itself to making mistakes and they will happen from time to time. All you can do be as careful as possible and that will keep you safe the vast majority of the time. In my opinion, the situation you described was far less errant than the ones I described (and more legal).

 

[wankerjake]

In fact it would have happened to me once. My first year in Tucson I had a javalina tag down in the desert. I looked for deer mostly on that hunt and one evening I spotted 2 coues does with a spike. For practice I decided to pull a sneak and see if I could scope the buck in kill range. I made the sneak a got really close, like 60 yards. They were feeding towards me in semi-thick country. The spike was lagging behind the does and I was watching him. He headed for the small draw between us and I could see the bottom. He went behind a tree, I raised my rifle so he couldn't see me and as he popped out I scoped him and went "bang" in my mind. All proud of myself for making the mock stalk I lowered my rifle and just watched. A second later another deer popped out and he had spikes...I put the binos on the first one and sure enough it was one of the does! Somehow they swapped places behind the brush and I would have plugged her if I had been hunting. Since then I ALWAYS make it a point to make sure in my scope before I pull the trigger. Always, I still do it. That situation scared me bad. I was shook up for a few days even though I didn't pull the trigger because I would have. Glad I had a pig tag and not a deer tag that day.

 

[AKElroy]

All you can do be as careful as possible and that will keep you safe the vast majority of the time.

I have been hunting all my life, and I try to be careful. I can honestly say I rarely get nervous or "buck fever" like I did as a young hunter; Now I take my time, it is a long season, I use good optics and try to make good, deliberate choices. I still blew it.

Of the lessons learned, I need to clear better shooting lanes. I have a very narrow presentation to this particular feeder. Second, when I evaluated the "sorry" buck, I had 2 does in the feeder to compare him to. When he walked into my shot, he was alone. Third, when I had not seen him in several minutes, I "assumed" he left with the does when the larger buck showed. The thick brush allowed him to be concealed for a good amount of time.

 

[brettrow]

First 8 point buck I ever shot was by accident, thought it was a doe. I had been watching a big doe playing with a fawn for 5 minutes, darting back and forth into the treeline, out of the treeline like it was skiing. It was 20 yards away. I saw what I thought was this big doe coming back out of the trees not 15 seconds after it darted in, I could see it was a deer as I saw its face and body. So I raised my rifle and shot. What I didnt see was the rack above its head obscured by a tree branch. So the doe left, and the buck switched places with it, and the fawn just stood there and watched. I was happy with this mistake but I pay more attention now.

 

[buck460XVR]

Few years back, I was making a push thru a large swamp to my dad and little brother. Water was knee deep and had a a thin layer of ice on it. The swamp is dotted with small "islands where the deer tend to lay tight. About half way, I spot a large doe trying to sneak back thru behind me. Having used my buck tag and only having an antlerless tag left I scoped the deer and when it paused for a moment and looked back, I verified it was bald....... the next time it paused, I put her down.

When I walked up to "her" I couldn't believe the size of her. I had never seen a doe that large. I finished the push to the others and then my brother and I went back to dress her and drag her to the truck. It wasn't till we rolled her over to gut her we saw "she" had testicles! Closer examination of "her" head showed two large dry sockets where antlers should have been. Now in Wisconsin, an antlerless buck is still a legal antleress deer, but I had concerns that the registration station might assume I had removed the antlers myself. Still, I tagged it with a my antlerless tag and since group hunting is legal and my bother still had a buck tag we took it in to register. The registration station did question the deer and called in the local warden. The warden after looking close said he had seen this before and that since the sockets were dry, he had no reason to think the antler were missing before the deer was shot. He had no explanation as to why the otherwise healthy buck had no horn. Funny thing was, they have no provisions for registering this kind of deer, so they registered it as a buck fawn, even tho it dressed out @ 180lbs.

 

[Daniel Boone]

There was a TV show host - doing his program a couple of years ago who took his 87 year old father out on a rifle hunt for Whitetail deer.
They found him a nice big buck and when he told his dad to shoot - his dad told him that he didn't want to shoot some big racked buck.
That his teeth were in poor condition and that the one he shot the year before - they had to grind the whole deer up to eat it because it was so tough.

In my mind - that person was a honest hunter.
I do not want to shoot the biggest buck in the woods - just a nice plump legal doe. I wouldn't care if it was 75 lbs. They are easier to drag anyways.

One year I had my daddy's old deer hunting rifle, which I had broke the extractor clip in the bolt - model 721 Remington.
I went to the lumber mill and bought a old wooden dowel rod and put some rubber bands on the barrel to hold it on.
I worked at a job that did not allow me to hunt during the week or on weekends and I told my boss that I was going deer hunting - it didn't matter if he fired me, I was not going to be at work on Monday.

Well I took dad's rifle out on opening morn and I put one shell in the chamber - like Barney Fife. I sat at the top of a bowl - where it was very cold and the wind was howling up the valley.
About 9AM a buck appeared from behind the brush.
It was a dinky little 4 point.
I didn't want to shoot it and decided to let it pass.
While I was sitting there watching the little fellow, his daddy stepped out from behind a tree.
I pulled up old Ticklicker and touched one off.
All it had was a 4X weaver scope and when I squeezed the trigger - nothing happened. The firing pin had froze - probably too much oil in the bolt.
All this was happening in real time.
I had to take the ram rod off the barrel - not make too much noise - because these deer were only 75 yards away.
I had to poke out the shell that was in the gun, reach into my pocket for a fresh round, reload the gun, while trying to watch the deer at the same time.
Well the buck went behind the tree again and I thought that I had blown my chance at getting a buck that year and I was kind of depressed and I was sitting there and the buck reappeared.
As soon as he stepped out from behind the tree, I shot and the gun went bang and the deer went down.
I was standing there grinning from ear to ear when all of a sudden another big buck stepped out from behind the tree.
Now I ain't the smartest man in the world, but I only counted two deer - the lil one and the bigun and the lil one was still a standing there looking at me.
If the big one was on the ground, then where did this deer come from?

OOOOOH OOOOH
A gee whiz - holy chit - I shot the wrong deer.
Now I am in trouble.
Now what do I do?

Well - I know I am in trouble, and I know that I am going to have to turn myself into the Game Warden and I might have to pay a fine for my misgivings. I will be honest about it and turn myself in, but in the meantime - the big buck is just a standing right there 75 yards away and I ain't gonna turn down no 10 point buck - just because I shot a doe.

So I pick up my ram rod and I poke out the shell and I reach into my pocket and I pull out a fresh one and I put it into the chamber and the deer starts ah running and I pull my gun up to my shoulder and I pull the trigger and I shoot a big old maple tree on the pipe line to my right - where the deer is ah running up the pipe line.

So I grab my ram rod and I poke out the shell and I grab another shell and I close the bolt and I shoot - just as the deer is going over the crest at the top of the hill and the deer keeps on ah goin..

As it nears the bottom of the hill on the other side I hear a big old loud bang and then ton's of silence.

I know that the neighbor boys were a huntin down there and I know if I only heard one shot that they got it. So now I know what I got to do.

I pick up my empty shells and I gather my possessions and I unload my gun and I walk down to where I shot the doe and I get out my tag to tag my illegal shot deer and when I reach down to pick up the head to put the tag in it's ear - it has a rack with 3 points on each side.

18 inch wide spread and each tine is about 6 inches long.

its head was buried in the 6 inches of new fallen snow, which was on top of 10 inches of snow from the week before and when it died it laid on it's back and pounded its rack into the snow and that was the reason why I could not see that it had a rack in the first place.

I quietly said a prayer to the good lord for blessing me with this deer.
I put my tag on it and I dragged it the half mile up over the one side and down over the other side of the mountain.
Then I walked back up over the mountain and back down the valley on the other side another 3/4 of a mile to get the truck.

In those days, you were only allowed to shoot one deer per a year IN Pennsylvania and so my season was done!

Since then, I always question what I shot until I confirm my kill.
I never take it for granted that the deer that I shot is the same one that I saw until I can see the rack and count the points.
I often times will pass on a big buck, even if I can see 3 points, yet cannot make out the 4th - since I live in a zone where it HAS to have 4 points to be legal.

It's pretty scary to shoot a deer these days with all the rules they have.

 

[One-Time]

I lost a deer once, poor shot from me and never found him, I feel pretty bad about it, though a while later some ole' boy showed up at Wakulla Station w/ my deer and claimed it was his kill, at least someone got him so it didnt waste

 

[Yarddog]

Ever shoot the wrong deer??
NO But I missed a FEW ; )
Y/D

 

[bang_bang]

I always end up with a downed doe instead of a that buck. Sheesh

I can't say that I've shot the wrong deer...although I might have an not noticed. I know that sometimes, depending on the area, deer can be very very hard to spot unless they move. You take your eyes off of the area for one second, either to double check your rifle or pop off a scope cover, another deer might walk out that you didn't see before.

Anymore though, I'm happy with taking 4-5 big does a season. Not as exciting as a big 12-point buck, but the same really. Kill them, dress them, drag them, eat them....rinse and repeat as needed.

 

[Zombiphobia]

I haven't shot the wrong deer, but I have shot deer with phantom antlers.
I could've sworn that deer was at least a nice 6-point, so I fired the .243, see him jump and stagger off into the bushes... I get there, and it's a doe with really big ears.
I, unfortuantely, was not hunting on a doe-autorized season, but being as it was private land, I just felt like crap, let a few people make some jokes and pick on me, and after dressing er out and getting the meat put away we had a really nice BBQ.
She looked to have a much larger body through the scope, too, and I kept looking and trying to be sure and I just KNEW that was a buck.

 

[Ike R]

Never shot the wrong deer, but I killed two hogs with one shot once and didn't realize till the next day that I had over penetrated and dropped the other one on the other side of the ditch.

Did I feel bad? no, after all they are just hogs

 

[Justin Holder]

My first mule deer was the wrong one.
Two bucks walk out at about 350 yards, one a little bigger than the other. I decide to try for the larger buck. He stops and I shoot, nothing, he just stands there. I shoot a second time with the same hold, this time I see rocks fly just above his back. Now he moves behind some brush and then reapers facing the other direction. Now I have my bullets trajectory figured out and drill him right behind the shoulder, he jumps and goes down.
When I get to him I realize he is the smaller of the two, they had switched places behind the brush. But I wasn't too upset, after all I did manage to still take a respectable first deer.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Know your target, backstop, and beyond.

I know a guy that has a deer preserve. They have game cameras, do population counts, and cull. Hunters are given pics of particular bucks that they are supposed to shoot and sometimes for particular does. Every year, folks manage to shoot the wrong animals. Sometimes they get lucky and while they thought they shot buck #231 that was to be culled, it turns out they shot buck #262 which, fortunately, was to be culled as well. Sometimes somebody screws up and shoots a non-cull. That isn't good.

 

[Art Eatman]

I was on a hillside watching down into the brush on the other side of a dry creek. Hmmm: Nice, ten-point buck trailing along toward me. Okay, fine, he'll come out of the brush and I'll nail him. So, out he trots and bang I shoot.

Uh-oh. He'd goosed a six-pointer in the butt to exit ahead of him from the brush.

 

[Armored farmer]

My parents had given me a new 1100 Rem for my 8th grade graduation in the spring of '78. When fall rolled around I began shooting some slugs in preparation for the upcoming deer season. At 50 yards my new gun shot left. I mean way left. Like four feet left. When I complained to my dad about it he explained that it "was not a rifle"...and I would have to use some "Ky windage".
When opening day rolled around, My dad dropped me off on the dirt road that led to the bottom. I began my deer hunting career by walking about 50 yards down that road in the pre-dawn darkness when a doe and a fawn stepped out on the road. I took careful aim at the doe.....and killed the fawn.
After getting my "trophy" back to the farm, I explained to my father what had happened . He said, "gimme a slug and let me shoot it". He took careful aim at the burn barrel out behind the barn, and missed it about four feet. When I saw him stick my new 1100 in the fork of a Birch tree a few feet away...I knew what he was about to do.
"Ugh ...that's ok... don't do that"
"It sure ain't worth a **** like this."
One good hard shove made it better, the second made it perfect.
I have probably killed 25 deer with it since the barrel bending session, and it has been dead-on ever since.
True story...I swear.

 

[bang_bang]

"Ugh ...that's ok... don't do that"
"It sure ain't worth a **** like this."

That's too funny!!

 

[HOOfan_1]

I've killed 3 deer in 20 years of trying. Every single one of them was completely and utterly all alone. So I haven't even had the chance to shoot the wrong deer. Luckily I have bagged every deer I have shot at too.

 

[FLAvalanche]

I've never shot the wrong deer. I have shot the wrong hog before though.

 

[CoRoMo]

No, not really. A year ago, I took a heifer calf elk. She was the one I was aiming at, the one I shot, and the one I tagged. But dang, I'd sure rather have killed her momma. Thing is, her momma knew good and well when, and how fast to run, at the sight of a human. Daughter didn't know all this stuff yet, so she learned the hard way.