"never the animal I'm looking for" has happened a few times. Like deer hunting and not seeing much but a close encounter with a mature big horn sheep that was totally legal a kilometer away in the next management sub unit. I even had a tag but had to pass on that one.
It's benefitted me though, like getting a doe draw in a near for sure area , hunting for 3 days and not seeing much and the first deer I see is a legal big racked 4x4. I took the buck and went home .... he scored 165.5 typical and is on my wall shoulder mounted.
Same area a couple years later hunting the rut for mulies or whitetail after an unsuccessful moose draw in the north, was only seeing non legal bucks and was getting frustrated and doing some complaining with my friends back at camp. Finished my coffee and got on my atv and as I got about a kilometer from camp an immature bull moose stepped onto the trail. Having a tag to fill and the area open for a short spike fork bull season, I dropped him where he stood. Was the last thing I was expecting to see as it is not a very common thing to see in that particular area. One of my friends did get a nice buck and one of the guys also filled a doe draw but the highlight was the animal I was not looking for and had gotten skunked in the previous hunt up north. I felt vindicated hehe