Rookie Mistake

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Fremmer

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I made a rookie mistake today. The kind of mistake you make when you're rusty and cold.

I spent a couple of hours at a spot this morning and didn't see any deer. I moved to a different area, a long plot that I'd never been in before. I screwed up by walking way too fast and by not periodically scanning the area for deer. I was easily busted by 2 deer about 40 yards away, one of which was a big fat doe. :(
She bolted so fast that I didn't even have time to raise the rifle.

I'm rusty because I haven't hunted in 6 or 7 years. I'd forgotten about walking slow and quiet, and about actively scanning for deer while walking. I was just walking fast and not actively watching. Talk about learning the hard way.

I'm going back to that area tomorrow morning to try again!
 
I walked up a nice 8-pointer last weekend, so I was in the same boat of forgetting the basics.,good news is all I have left are doe tags, so no loss. It is weird being a Texas Hill Country hunter having to actually hunt, usually we snipe over feeders. This year a banner acorn crop has kept them off the corn, so we have had to fumble our way through learning how to actually hunt.
 
AKElroy said:
I walked up a nice 8-pointer last weekend, so I was in the same boat of forgetting the basics.,good news is all I have left are doe tags, so no loss. It is weird being a Texas Hill Country hunter having to actually hunt, usually we snipe over feeders. This year a banner acorn crop has kept them off the corn, so we have had to fumble our way through learning how to actually hunt.
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We are in the same boat. Acorns everywhere. i actually had to hunt them this year. Forgot how much fun it could be.
 
The only good things about getting old are 1) I get a free hunting & fishing license and 2) it slows me down.

You don't have to be old to slow down .. just have more patience.
 
It's not just a rookie mistake. I have been still hunting deer for 50 years. I still bust deer by getting lazy or tired and letting down my guard. I still find myself loosing focus and moving too fast and not looking hard enough. It's not till a good one busts outta cover close enough I should have been aware of, and I don't get a shot, that I realize what I am doing wrong. Happens when bird hunting too. Put your hands in your pocket for a second to warm them up and you get caught when a bird flushes unexpectedly. Happens when Musky fishing. Take your hand off your bait caster to swat a mosquito on your nose and that will be the same exact second the big girl hits your bucktail and lets go before you get your hand back on the reel to stick her.

If it was always easy, it wouldn't be called hunting.
 
Naah...

Happens to cougars and Ninjas too.

You just chalk it up to learning error/experience reinforcement.

It's only when you catch yourself looking around to see if you've been busted by another hunter (please never let it be a father or uncle:evil:) that it becomes a legacy problem that won't go away: decades later - "Remember that time..."

Todd.
 
Two elk seasons in a row I missed shots at some big bulls by not having a round in the chamber when I saw them.

The first time I was using a Remington that jammed on me (I should've known better, that pos was prone to jam)

The next year I walked into a nice bull at 100 yards and scared him over the ridge when I cycled a round.
 
This year I forgot my harness and when the biggest deer I've ever seen walked up I couldn't turn to shoot him without falling to most certain death. I'm alive, so that means he is too.
 
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