Making the mistake of passing on a Buck

[Smoky buck]

I have never regretted shooting or passing on any animal. Just enjoy the moment and know the plan you put in place was effective in creating an opportunity where you had the opportunity to make a choice. This is still a form of success in my opinion

Plus it’s early and do you really want to miss out on hunting whitetail in the rut

[buckbrush]

I've never had regrets about passing on a deer. I have had regrets about ending my season too soon. Like stated earlier, if you want to shoot big deer, don't shoot little ones.

Hunting is all about choices, that's part of the fun. Do what you want to do. No one likes having left over tags but, i'm not going to starve with one less deer in the freezer.
I aslo think a big part of the 'trophy' has to do with the challenges of the hunt. One of my favorite deer is a small 4x4 mule, my first spot and stalk with the bow. I have gotten some ribbing due to having the antlers on my wall but I don't care, he's a trophy in my eyes even if he is much smaller than the other deer up there.

[501s]

Just an update. I thought passing on that buck was the biggest hunting mistake I've ever made.... boy was I wrong! I topped it last night by a long shot.

So I went out hunting with my 11 year old son. We get to a new spot in the same area, just one we've never tried hunting. We get to a point along a barb wire fence where we can glass an entire quarter. Immediately we spot my target buck and the other large buck at about 800 yards. We have never seen them in daylight, ever. Wow, what a sight. In fact, they haven't been on camera for 3 weeks. We watched them for 20 minutes till they disappeared into the trees. At this point we split up, he stays glassing the field and I move 100 yards away into a little clearing hoping they might walk right to us.

He doesn't have a phone and is only 11 so every 20 minutes or so, I walk out of the trees 15 feet (without my bow), wave to him for a thumbs up and then go back to my spot. Well the third time I do this I can't seem to get his attention. I make a few grunts and he still doesn't give me the thumbs up so I start waving to him with both arms. Just at that moment I look over and 20 yards in front of my seat is the Giant buck I've been chasing for years looking at me like I'm a kook. I have a clear line of site to him through the trees and my bow is 15' away on the ground. And the other buck had walked right up to my son to 20 yards. Let me also preface this by saying moments before this my son had "said a prayer" that we could just get an opportunity. I froze and didn't move but this buck was too incredible to fall for it. He knew something was up as did his friend. They both backed up to 60 yards in the trees, snort wheezed a few times and then bolted. My one and only chance was blown.

If I had just stayed in my seat for 1 more minute, he would have appeared. If I had just taken my bow for that 15' walk, I could have got a shot. If I had stayed on the fence line with my son I would have got a shot. We had done everything right, including playing the wind and figuring out one of their travel routes. We staked it out and our plan worked perfectly. Hundreds if not thousands of hours and gone into that moment (scouting, trail cams, setting up stands, looking at maps, practicing) and at the most critical time of it all, I blew it.

I thought it was hard to live with passing up a buck, but this is so much worse. I'm trying to learn a lesson from this but its hard to know whether I should keep chasing this big buck, or if maybe its a sign I've become too obsessed with antlers and scores and bragging rights and I've lost touch with the reason I even started to hunt in the first place.

Uggggg. I have many sleepless nights ahead of me.

[Smoky buck]

Laugh move forward and enjoy the experience it’s hunting you have many more experiences where you screw up. If it makes you feel better I have screwed up way worse on a way bigger buck and know others who have as well

Go enjoy yourself and relax you are more likely to make mistakes if you dwell on things you cannot change

[Ronaround]

THAT'S A OH SH*T MOMENT...

just maybe one more chance.....

[Jays toyz]

I got impatient in the fading light on the last day of archery moose and walked in to put the stalk on a bull my buddy was calling for me instead of staying where he said to. 10 minutes later the bull comes and stands 10' from my assigned spot. Stupid, stupid stupid.

[nast70]

Not a story about a buck, but a cow elk.
Our usual spot has become a chore to get into, so we camped a couple km away. I would walk into camp every morning to rest and have a coffee and use our facilities if you know what I mean
While I was taking my gear off, a small heard busted what sounded like 10 yards away, so loud, it made me jump. I never saw them, but had an idea where they were going.
Camp is on top of a ridge overlooking a ravine with a creek at the bottom. The beavers have been moving upstream towards camp steadily over the last few years and made a nice clearing at the top of the bank. That's where I ran, to get a look at them. Sure enough at the bottom of the ravine, chest deep in the beaver pond was a cow, staring at me, daring me to take shot, as if she knew the next 8hrs of tracking and retrieving her would be absolute hell.
While I contemplated this situation for what seemed like minutes, sure enough, she jumped into the pond, swam the other side and climbed the opposite bank.
I watched, a bit dumbfounded, it's the first time I've seen an elk do this. In the area, they always use the dams to cross, or a couple narrow spots in the bush upstream a km away.
It was neat to see though.
But it makes a great story

[Ram94]

Yeah, that's always a tough call as in my experiences that is the last buck you will lay eyes on this season haha

[elkhunter11]

I have passed hundreds of bucks over the years, and I don't regret passing on any of them. The one that I remember most, was a nice160 class 5×5 , that I saw 10 minutes into the season. I had my father with me for a week, and I wanted to spend more time hunting with my father. I actually didn't fill my tag that year, but I got to spend a full week in the field with my father.