Your worst mistake

[buck3]

Three for me in the 23 years of bow hunting. Third year of bow hunting I started using calls & hung around my neck. First buck I shot at the string caught the call & about slung me out of the tree. Second was not using a harness back then wouldn't crawl a stand without it now. Third waiting a minimum of 30 minutes to track or backing out if poor shot placement.

Good luck to all still hunting!!

 

[arm]

My son would like to add a little something to this old thread after he made a horrible mistake today. He is 15 yrs old and had his first bow kill last year, a nice 2 1/2 8 pt.
Today he was in full draw at 20 yds on a massive and wide 8 pt when he noticed his goof. I will just quote him....

"If you're going to put field tips on for a little practice shooting, you have to remember to put broad heads back on your arrows."

Oh no! I bet he was sick! I shot an arrow without any tip on it once at a target, went surprisingly straight.

 

[Rjack]

Mine was not picking up my bow off the hanger. A buddy and I had been hunting this area for a few weeks and we were seeing a ton of little forky bucks. We dubbed it the "land of forkies". I was on stand and glanced around to see a buck slip behind a huge oak tree. As his head when behind the tree, I saw forks. He stood there for at least 2 minutes with his head behind he tree and his vitals exposed. I never picked up the bow or stood up as I was certain it was one of the neighborhood 1.5 year olds we had been seeing. When he stepped out from behind the tree, I about died. He has a big non-typical and the forks I saw were just the beginning of all the junk he had going on. Stood up, grabbed the bow, but he was out of my shooting lane before I could draw. A grunt got his attention, but then he just turned and walked out of my life. Never saw him again. That was 20 years ago and still haunts me to this day.