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Missed the same deer 4 times....

10K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  BoneCollector780 
#1 ·
I know my scope is dead on. I can put 5 rounds in an area the size of a quarter at 100 yards. But tonight the strangest thing happened. I have 4 doe tags to fill so thats all I am shooting since only 4 days left in the season. Tonight I had 2 nice does walk out around 5:15 and head to my corn pile. I waited till they got there and stopped. Both were broadside to me. I slowed my breathing, pulled the rifle butt tight into my shoulder and put my cross-hairs on the bigger doe. I had the cross-hairs right on her heart/lung area at only 45 yards and I slowly squeezed off a round.

I didnt see the round hit dirt like when I have missed before but the deer didnt go down either. Also the strangest thing is she didnt take off running only took 3 steps and stopped. I readied another round had my scope dead on her again and squeezed off and still no hit. She went about 12 feet and stopped again. So I chambered another one lined her up and fired. Nothing, so I fired again.

I shot 4 times at a deer no more than 40-50 yards away and missed every time. I admit I have missed from this exact stand before as its the one I mentioned in my post about searching for deer. But I have never seen a deer sit there and let me empty my clip at her. The week before I folded a 115 pound doe like a chair at twice the range in the same stand so I dont know what to make of what happened. I kinda chuckled to myself and nicknamed that doe Tebow.
 
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#2 ·
"IF" the scope is truly on the mark, then you are in all the excitment pulling off target. Sometimes you can actually want to see the deer's post shot travel/hit reaction that you simply blow the shot and forgot to do the most important thing, concentrate on the full shot mechanic's including follow through. I've seen teeangers have their eyes closed at the time of the shot :surprised: In your case additional range time and possibly getting a single shot rifle which will put all your concentration into a one shot mindset, I think it would help you. You could load just 1 bullet in your current rifle, however, I think the temtation would be to just continue to load it up. Just some thoughts. Good luck in determining/correcting the issue at hand.
 
#3 ·
Being dark wouldn't had been part of the issue would it, you said it was 5:15 that is flat out too dark here to see through any scope I own or even my bow. Here about 4:50 pm is it, on enough light to see, if your shot is that close (40,50 yards) and that late in the day I would personally trash the scope and shoot the iron sights.
 
#4 ·
Yea the scope is a 17 year old leupold. its what my dad gave me when he got a nice new $800 scope for his .270. Also I cant believe it was excitement. I dropped 6,7,8 pointers this season and none of them went further than 10 feet. I dont buy me getting "buck fever" on a doe that probably didnt break 95 pounds. I was gonna go shoot the target again but if its a terrible scope once the sun starts setting going out there mid day and putting 5 thru the center isnt going to prove anything.

Also this isnt the first time I have had problems with this scope. I have missed other deer right as the sun was coming up as well. But when I sit from 4-5 or before daylight savings 5-6 if I saw it I dropped it. I dont think going through 2 more boxes of .243 ammo isnt going to prove anything because I know I can light up the target. But now with the season almost over and I can look back on all my missed deer. Every single miss was either right before sun up or right before dark.
 
#6 ·
Thomas,
If you have a Leupold scope it doesn"t matter how old it is, Leupold wiil still warranty it. What I would do is after season call Leupold to see if they will look at it and give you an estimate of what it cost to do that. If it then comes back that the scope is ok at least it eliminates the scope as a problem
daddus
 
#7 ·
Thomas you seem to want advice but when its not what you want to hear you come up with an answer.Listen this is the only ethical answer a good hunter would do.After you empty your rifle and completly miss deer at 40 yards and you say your a good shot,you go to the range to see where your hitting.A scope can come off zero many ways.You do not i repeat keep hunting while shooting a rifle where you have no clue where you are hitting.Furthermore i thought this was the spot where you cant recover the deer?Im not trying to start an argument but some of your posts border on being unethical.What if rifle is shooting way off and your wounding deer?
 
#8 ·
If you are missing that many deer, I don't care what time of day it is, you have a problem. It is either your equipment or you can't shoot. To me it is obvious that the first step is to go to the range and make dang certain the scope is dead on and not moving between shots. If all the equipment checks out, you have a far bigger problem.

If you are not willing to go shoot three or four at 50-yards, then no advice youget on here is going to help and you are going to continue to miss deer. It is your call. All I can say is, you have missed more times in one year than I have missed in a decade and i can't shoot very well.
 
#9 ·
what is your rifle zeroed at? did you shoot over them?. probably so.

which state you hunting? Southeast US sunset times are at about 5:30 pm , right around there. The further north you go sunset times will change. will be earlier. Today at NYC sunset was 4:58 but in Savannah, Ga sunset was at 5:28 . and they are in the same time zone.

ANyways with good quality glass in a 50 mm optic, you can safely and ethically hunt right up to legal shooting times. ( where i hunt , it is 30 minutes after sunset)

I would suspect that you will need to hold under at closer ranges.
 
#10 ·
irresponsibility on the part of the hunter towards the hunted is one area that will draw my flack fire. Until the equipment is checked and re-zeroed not another shot at game can be taken. If it's the scope and you can't afford another, don't hunt until you can purchase a new one. Check out the rifle then check out your self because something here is amiss.
 
#13 ·
I don't really like responding to posts like this but misses do happen sometimes, it just gets a little under my skin when I hear things like 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc shots and still missing.

If a shooter misses once that should end the shooting, there shouldn't ever be repeated shots unless it's at the range in a safe shooting environment or until the shooter knows why the first shot was a miss and corrects it.

and now, on this specific post, I have to ask, How can you miss a deer at 40 yards with a rifle and think it's safe to continue shooting more?
In the future I hope you handle a missed shot in a safer manner.

Like Spiker said, you want advice but when its not what you want to hear you come up with your own answer.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I have a ghetto range set up on my farm. I have a huge pile of sand I use as a backdrop to soak up the rounds. I have an old real estate for sale sign that I put targets on. After I miss I will put up a target and shoot 10 times at it.

Its one of those targets with 4 little targets in each corner and 1 big one in the center. I shoot once at each little one then 6 at the big one in the middle. Im hitting almost dead center at 75-80 yards usually 8/10 shots. I chalk up the 2 misses to rushing my shot or jerking. But there isnt pattern in my misses, like they are all up and left, to lead me to believe my scope is off.

So I dont see what I can gain by continuing putting bullets through a target. My aim isnt off. Even had someone else shoot it and they hit the center as well. So I dont think theres a problem with the gun either. I just had this scope put on less than a month ago and the guy zeroed it in and I havent banged it so if I took it back to him im sure its still fine but after the season I will do just that just to be sure.

Also whats not safe about continuing to shoot after I miss? If the deer is still standing there and not running full speed why not take anther shot? Im not shooting on a level because Im in a stand so the only place my rounds can end up are in the ground and there arent any houses close by.
 
#16 ·
Also whats not safe about continuing to shoot after I miss? If the deer is still standing there and not running full speed why not take anther shot?
If you can't hit the deer at 40 yards, do you really think it's wise to shoot continually at a deer that's moving further away from you?

In your original post you stated; "I know my scope is dead on. I can put 5 rounds in an area the size of a quarter at 100 yards"

Bottom line is simple if you miss your target at 40 yards "knowing" you can cover 5 rounds with a Quarter @ 100 yards
then obviously you know something isnt right so taking additional shots is the wrong action in my book. Don't you agree?
 
#18 ·
my red dot was like that i knew it was dead on and i missed a deer 5 times and they had the same reactions as your doe lookked 30 minutes for blood nothing so i took my scope of went to iron sights took my rimfire barrel output bird barrel in and got some rimfire slugs pounded a doe the next weekend. i will never trust red dots again
 
#20 ·
Not to be whippin' a dead horse but when you are absolutely sure that the gun is dialed in on targets then you can't hit a deer with it, that's simply one thing--"Operator Error". My guess is you're inadvertantly pulling your face out of the scope when you pull the trigger to see what happens with the deer. Your face needs to stay glued to the stock throughout the whole shot.
 
#21 ·
Like Button

Sometimes i wish this site was like Facebook because there are so many posts in this feed that i would like to "like" ... good, honest comments everyone...

and just because you're shooting at a downward angle and you're rounds are ending up in the dirt that doesn't mean you didn't nick the flesh and unethically wound the deer.

secondly i think its bold of you to say your rounds were ending up in the dirt and not at little Johnny's tree fort because you said yourself you didn't see dirt fly and by the sounds of how "good" of a shot you are i wouldn't scrap an alright rifle just because you're frustrated (i will start the rifle fostering foundation if thats the case and you can send it my way)

i would head out to the range and and blow through a **** ton of ammo till you and you're rifle are a better shot.

Blunt but honest.
 
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