Well, I owe the hunting gods a shirttail..........................

Finally got a chance to bowhunt today. Just minutes after daylight a little fork-horn buck sauntered past. I thought he was a doe at first, so I was getting ready to take a shot. He finally turned where I could see his little rack, so I let him walk. About 45 minutes later a doe followed by two yearlings trotted by. They were 35 yards out and moving pretty good. Tried grunting and bleating to no avail. Sat back down and watched the birds and squirrels for a while. I was on Fort Chaffee (National Guard base), and they were shooting the BIG guns over in the impact area. It was a constant BOOOOOM, BOOOOOM all morning, broken up occasionally by machine-gun fire. The deer out here are exposed to the noise constantly, and it doesn't bother them in the least. A few minutes after 10:00 am, a doe came running almost up under me and stopped. I drew back, placed the pin on the boiler room, and released. She jumped off a couple of steps and stopped. I thought she was going to pile up right there. She shook her tail and walked off......and I'm thinking what the heck!?!?!?! I just KNEW it was a good shot. Waited until she was out of sight and climbed down to retrieve my arrow. No blood, no hair, just dirt................. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/doh.gif

Then I noticed the tiny little dead bush. Just enough twigs left on it to disrupt the arrow flight and bury the broadhead 12" into the ground................ http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/ohwell.gif

Oh, well............I'll be back in the morning...................... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

You'll get another chance there bud! http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
It can happen to the best of us.
As you know, I'm leaving for Columbus In. ( http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/ohwell.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/mad.gif ) for work, so I let a buddy of mine use my tried and true .270 so he could see how bright the Ziess scope is. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif
"It ain't missed a deer in 15 years. It's dead on at a hunnerd" I bragged. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/eyes.gif That was the kiss of death for ol' Betsy, and the deer gods were listening in for sure. Dave and his son went to a bean field and within a 1/2 hour, several does showed up. Dave said he picked out a big one at 40-50 yrds and fired.
The deer just stood there like nothing happened!!! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/embarassed.gif
"The whole damn scope was full of deer when I shot!" Dave said, and with the trigger pull set at 2 1/4 lbs, it's almost impossible to jerk the shot!
Well, when we got to looking, he had shot right thru a tangle of muscadine vines, and had cut one in half!

At least we didn't end up with a wounded deer...
Now I gotta "re-train" the .270 when I get back!

" I could see his little rack so I let him walk." http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif

I`ve missed a few in my day but I look at it as ."just part of the hunt."