For the past hour, I had been meticulously still hunting from one side of the narrow mesa to the other, peering over the edge of the rimrock, hoping to spot a desert mule deer buck bedded below. The evening prior, just before dark, I had spotted five mature bucks in the immediate area, two of which were obvious “shooters.” As the minutes ticked away and my anticipation grew, I couldn’t help but recall the excitement and the inevitable moments of disappointment that come with hunting. Missing a shot can be a hunter’s greatest frustration and yet, an invaluable teacher. This is the story of my quest for a massive, tall-antlered mule deer, the lessons learned from a near-perfect encounter, and the agony of missing the target.
Looking for the Big Mule Deer
Prior to heading to New Mexico, a guest of Bill Montoya who back then was New Mexico Department of Game and Fish’s Southeastern Regional Director and Ron Porter the Game Warden friend then stationed in Carlsbad, I had spent considerable time shooting my .270 Win out to 400-yards. Bill, Ron and I had become friends a few years earlier when we met on a remote mountainside in the Southern Lincoln National Forest. At the time I worked as a wildlife biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Bill and Ron, as my guest had previously come to Texas to hunt whitetails with me southwest of Abilene. They reciprocated by inviting me on what became annual desert mule deer hunt in New Mexico. We shared more than a few great adventures together.
Back on the mule deer hunt. There was about an hour of legal shooting time remaining when I “worked” my way toward the head of the brushy canyon where I had seen the massive and tall antlered buck. I moved slowly and stopped occasionally to glass the narrowing canyon.
Suddenly, I heard rocks rolling below. I immediately spotted the tall antlered buck. But as soon as I saw him, he disappeared in to a thicket. Well…almost disappeared. His antlers were so tall I could see their tips above the brush as he ran into the canyon. I sat down, set up my pack frame to use as rest, then tracked the buck’s antler tips through my scope. I waited for him to be fully exposed when he got to the rimrock on the opposite side. He stepped out of the dense brush, stopped, then turned broadside! I pushed safety to fire, raised the crosshairs just above his back and pulled the trigger.
A Great MISS!
To my surprise he did not move. Assuming I had shot under him, quickly bolted in a second Hornady round and held the horizontal crosshair a little higher. Again, no reaction to my shot. I bolted in a third round and held even higher. This time when I shot the buck took a few steps, slightly quartering away. By now I was frantic. I shot at him once more, holding even higher, convinced I was still shooting under him. This time I saw a rock explode about three-feet above his back, exactly where I had held my crosshairs when the trigger “broke”.
I had screwed up royally. I ejected the spent round and closed the bolt on an empty chamber! The buck turned to his left and bounced into the brushy canyon. I reached into my pocket grabbed another Hornady round, keeping one eye on the now fast departing buck. By the time I had loaded my rifle, he was gone!
I was sick, mentally and feeling so physically! I had “blown” four shots at the mule deer buck of my dreams! It was not until then I realized the deer was never more than 200-yards away. I had my.270 sighted-in to be dead-on at 200-yards. There was no reason to hold-over! For whatever reason I had convinced myself the deer was at least 400-yards away each time I shot. With the Hornady load I was shooting at the time, sighted in the way I was, the bullet dropped 24-inches at 400-yards.
I can even today still “see” that buck. Serious miss…lesson learned! Or, at least I hoped that was the case!
While in an Alberta whitetail camp I told my story about missing the massive and tall mule deer. This after one of those in camp had missed what the guide had described as a Boone & Crockett qualifier. That night I extended my condolences and told him he was not the the first hunter to miss a big deer.
I followed with another mule deer story about when I hunted a ranch in the northwestern corner of Colorado which bordered the Dinosaur National Monument (this before the current “drawing systems”). At the time I managed several properties for the ranch’s owner. He had asked me to find a good mule deer buck for a foreman from another ranch I managed for him in Texas. I was glad to do so! We had walked into a big bowl on the north side of the ranch. Deer were just starting to migrate through our area coming out of Wyoming heading into the deep canyons of the Monument just to the south of us for the winter.
I soon spotted a really nice four by four, sans brow tines. He had good splits back tines and his front tines were at least as long, if not longer than his ear. He was heavy of body and neck. As I glassed, I spotted four more bucks to his left. Three were equally good four by fours. The fourth was an extremely massive, long-tined and wide, as in at least 34-inches outside, three by three, with at least 4-inch long brow tines.
I had told the ranch owner I would not shoot a buck until the foreman from South Texas had done so. I pointed out the wide 3 x 3, which would have likely scored over 190 B&C, a truly magnificent buck. I also pointed out the biggest of the four by fours which would have scored in the lower 180s. “Shoot either of those two buck squarely in the shoulder or immediately behind it.” I spoke out loud as I watched the foreman ready for a shot.
That’s when the foreman started shaking, I tried to calm him, telling him to take deep breaths. I said, “Shoot the big 3×3 if you like him. He’s huge! Or, shoot the big 4×4 to his immediate left. Which ever you decide, shoot through both shoulders. Drop him on the spot, then quickly shoot him again through his vitals as soon as he falls!” I watched as the shooter calmed, pushed Safety to Fire. When the shot sounded I saw the bullet hit a pine tree behind and just above the 3×3’s neck.
Pandemonium! Bucks were running every direction, including six more I had not previously seen. All were really nice bucks. I knew the Foreman had missed. Yet, he was convinced he had dropped the wide 3×3 when he lost him in his scope due to recoil. The buck was quickly making an escape. “Shot him in the neck! Kills ‘em every time!” said he.
I urged the Foreman to take a second shot, but he was too busy dancing with delight. That was a huge mistake. Not only had he missed, his antics prevented me from getting a shot because he kept stepping in front of me. No way I could safely take a shot at the departing bucks. Then they were gone. Said he. “I shot him in the neck! When you shoot them there they go down immediately, don’t you know that?
When I told him he had missed and all the bucks had gotten away unscathed, he did not believe me until we walked to where the monstrous buck had stood and I showed him where his bullet had hit the pine, just above the deer’s neck. Had he held to shoot the buck in the shoulder as I had suggested, we would then have been admiring a buck of several lifetimes! Even with having shot a little high into the buck’s shoulder he would have hit him and at worst had time for a second killing shot.
Earlier while shooting at the bench, I had noticed each time the foreman shot, he pulled the trigger then immediately jerked his head upward above his scope to see where he had hit on the target, rather than keeping his eye “in the scope” and following through with his trigger pull. In doing so he pushed down on the rifle’s butt stock, which pointed the barrel a bit higher than what the shooter saw in scope when pulling the trigger. I had mentioned this to him. He simply laughed, even though his shots had all been at least a couple of inches high at 100-yards. His shot at the monster 3×3 using a limb as a rest, had been about 100-yards. Mistake made, but in this instance, I doubt there were lessons learned.
Having hunted deer and other big game species throughout North North America and a good part of the rest of the world, I have missed shots. Generally, my misses have occurred because I got overly excited and shot too quickly. Several years ago while hunting in Alberta we found a truly impressive whitetail. How big he was, I will never know because I did not take him. Suffice it to say, the buck would have certainly have ranked high in the Boone & Crockett Record book typical category.
Call it “buck fever” if you wish. The buck stepped out. I saw how big his antlers were. A tremendously massive, tall, wide ten-point, no doubt one that would have net-scored 200 B&C points or more. Huge! I rushed my shot and missed badly. Before I could bolt in a fresh round, he was gone! I still have nightmares about that buck! Had I taken several deep breaths, which I would have had time to do, things would have been different. This buck caused me to forget the many things I had learned in a lifetime of hunting. Such things can and do happen!
Long a professional wildlife biologist whose job among many others was “collecting” deer for research purposes, and, as a hunter who has hunted throughout much of North America as well as throughout the world, I have been lucky to have taken many animals. I still get excited and have to talk myself into returning to “calm” when preparing to take a shot. Doing so is not always easy! Interestingly, size of an animal has seemingly nothing to do with that “excitement” I experience and have to get back to “calm”.
Years ago I hunted a friend’s ranch in the Brush Country of South Texas. On his property there lived an ancient 6-point with a “Leaning Tower of Pisa” style rack. Numerous of the owner’s friends as well as he and I hunted that particular buck which was normally seen only after legal shooting hours. I decided to target that old six-point. After considerable scouting we set up a ground blind near the thicket where I thought he lived. At the time I was doing a television show, “One Good Shot”. The “we” included Ray Boone, my then cameraman. Ray and settled in for an afternoon’s hunt. At the time I was hunting with Thompson/Center Encore .30-06 handgun which I dearly loved and shot extremely accurately. That afternoon I relearned a statement I had often made. “Regardless of barrel length, the bullet goes where the barrel is pointed when the trigger is pulled.”
The sun seemed quickly to be dropping into cactus and mesquites when I spotted the leaning racked 6-point. My heart skipped numerous beats then sped up rapidly. “It’s him!” I whispered to Ray seated just behind and to the right of me. “Got’em! Give me another fifteen or so seconds before you shoot!” came his whispered reply.
I watched the buck stand broadside at a hundred yards distant, looking at a doe. I was doing just fine until I cocked the hammer on the single-shot handgun. Then it seemed something flipped an internal switch and I started shaking to the point I was not sure I could hold on to my gun. I took several quick rapid though deep breaths, and, shook all the much more! I tried to calm myself, but it was not working. The crosshairs were all over the buck. Finally, I closed my eyes and jerked the trigger. I opened my eyes just as I saw the bullet hit the ground half way to the buck…which immediately tucked his tail and ran for thick cover three bounds away.
MISSED Again
I turned to look at Ray, shrugged my shoulders. He stopped laughing just long enough to say “Well, there’s a GREAT miss for the show!” What could I say? It happens!
Looking back at over seventy years of hunting deer and other big game, I have missed a few shots. Some of them should have been “gimmees”. I missed those because I simply got excited, too excited, and shot before I should have. Had I taken a couple moments to calm down, chances are really good I would have connected, putting a bullet through the animal’s vitals. From my misses I have learned a lot about hunting and particularly shooting when the “pressure” is on. Hopefully when the next shot opportunity comes I will remember what I learned from those misses and use that “information” to make the perfect shot!
Read more about Larry’s adventures hunting around the world:
