Passing on a shot

Just two weeks ago.

Nice 6 point buck popped up.

5 nice HORSES standing about 35 yards behind him.

There he stood BROADSIDE about 50 yards from me. We just stared at each other for about 45 seconds or so before I started to move again..

ARGH!!
 
I was sitting on an old fenceline ridge between a friends property and his neighbors, in the shotgun zone, southeast of Moose Jaw.

I had been introduced to the neighbor, but had not asked permission to shoot on his property.

A couple big does,and a really nice buck were grazing within 15-25 yards of where I was sitting, for the last 25 minutes of shooting time. I watched them for a while, then whacked the nearest one with a snowball. She jumped, looked around, and went back to grazing. They bailed when I got up to leave.

I ran into the owner of the propety that evening, and he said that I should have shot as many as I wanted. :)

Thus I got permission!

It was not a hard choice to pass the shot there, though. There were a LOT of deer in the area, and it was not late in the season.

Cheers
Trev
 
Sure, lots of times. Outside my permission area, out of range, skylined, unsafe backstop, etc........


I'm not one who will pass on an animal just because I dont get the perfect broadside standing shot though either. If I think I can get one into the boiler room with a safe shot I take it.
 
Many times before.

Probably the most trying event was 3 years ago. I was packing a BLR in 308 at the time which I had dialed in for 200 yards thinking I'd never see a shot that long around here. :) I came over a rise and across a gulley on the edge of a clear cut stood a doe and a buck. I glassed him. :eek: At least a 5 points on one side! I didn't have a rangefinder then :jerkit: but guestimated him at 300 yards, maybe more.

I put the cross hairs on him, finger along side the trigger guard and my mind started racing. Christ, what's that wind at my back - gotta be 70 or 80 kms/ hr. Rain and sleet flew by in my sight picture. He was perfectly broadside. Although the wind was hitting me hard on the back I could see the rain and sleet swirling around where he stood. I put the rifle down.

I put on a stalk and found his girlfriend no problem but the buck had vanished into 20 ft saplings and super thick huckleberry/blackberry understory. Never saw him again. :(

I went back to the spot months later and ranged the shot a 310 yards. Doable, but not ideal to say the least that day with that rifle. I'm glad I passed. :)
 
John Y Cannuck said:
if you take up archery, it will happen a lot.
Deer standing in thick stuff, deer that are too far, deer that are at the wrong angle.
It's a learning experience. I have to admit that if I'd been using a gun, most of those deer would have died. As it was, I got to watch, and learn a lot more about them, and myself. What I could, and could not do, without spooking them.
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X2, while bow hunting, you need to be patient, you see more that you can't shoot. But rifle season, it needs to be in a very bad angle or too far not to shoot it.
 
I was hunting last weekend of November with my Dad this year. I had two tags and had just put down a nice buck. Got up to it and a doe appeared 50 yds away. Did I say it was the end of November? -30 with wind chill and it was about 15 mins from last shooting light. The doe got to live another day as I didn't want to drag two out in that weather, haha!
 
Running game a nono for me and 3 years ago I held off on a Pronghorn because about 1000yds behind the herd and up-hill was an oilfield truck, probably safe but way uncool. ####ty because it takes 5 years to get drawn in that zone. Just wish I could find a drink to wash down un-filled tags.
 
savagefan said:
Running game a nono for me and 3 years ago I held off on a Pronghorn because about 1000yds behind the herd and up-hill was an oilfield truck, probably safe but way uncool. s**tty because it takes 5 years to get drawn in that zone. Just wish I could find a drink to wash down un-filled tags.
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It might hurt coming out:p
 
Mumptia said:
Ever pass on the shot of the buck you were after?

My son had to pass on a big 150+ whitetail this year beacuse the buck was 20 yds to far into another field we didn't have permission on and wasn't budging. It ended up staying in that field and then disapearing into the treeline.

He was a heart pounder. I hope to meet him next fall.

So have you ever passed on a shot? Why?
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Duhhhh..yeah. I've passed up more shots than I've taken.....WTF is your point? Browny points???? :jerkit:
 
I had a couple of doe tags this year... I had a fair to middling shot on one early on during a hunting trip, but it was on a ridgeline & I couldn't see what was behind it. I figured if I missed, I'd have NO idea where my bullet would go. So I didn't even put the finger near the trigger & simply watched her through the scope as she ran from guys who weren't as... Careful... As I was being (their bullets were flying over MY head & that of my hunting partner!).

L
 
Passing up shots is pretty much my normal routine for the last 20 years. I used to like to kill stuff up until I was about 25 years old or so, now I like to hunt, can't be bothered gutting, dragging, cleaning, processing and butchering things when that valuable time could be spent hunting. Its the hunting I like, couldn't really give a #### if I actually shoot anything.
 
many times for many reasons:

1) game spotted from vehicle.
2) too early in season or too warm
3) cannot be 100% sure of point count or full curl status
4) too small
5) in a place too hard to get it out of
6) freezers already full
7) game spotted from kitchen table and my grandma asked me not to shoot it
8) running game

and maybe other's i can't think of, i've turned down some very nice animals because of #1 and #6. #3 is the one that haunts me. #2 and #4 often go together.

this year alone i turned down a bunch of shots at elk (2 slam dunks), whitetail (too many to count), and mule deer (1 opportunity)
 
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Oscar Makonka said:
Passing up shots is pretty much my normal routine for the last 20 years. I used to like to kill stuff up until I was about 25 years old or so, now I like to hunt, can't be bothered gutting, dragging, cleaning, processing and butchering things when that valuable time could be spent hunting. Its the hunting I like, couldn't really give a s**t if I actually shoot anything.
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i call that going for a walk.
 
Yeah. Twice this season on 170 class bucks. Didn't want to sound like the tools on this site that brag about 350 yard gut shots :D
 
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