I missed!

[Carnivorous]

> I MISSED!
>
>
> By:
> Ted Nugent
>
>
>
>
> I missed. I mean, I missed really, really
> bad!
>
> I know, we all miss and it is always a painful thing. Some
> misses are manageable, some not so much.
>
> I am having a very hard time getting over this one.
>
> When you have been addicted to the mystical flight of the
> arrow as long as I have, missing the mark on occasion, even
> often, is just part of the projectile management lifestyle.
>
> Ya win some ya lose some.
>
> No biggie in the great scheme of things.
>
>
>
>
> When we miss a shot that was executed reasonably well, we
> can live with it. In archery some things are simply not
> within our control no matter how dedicated we are and how
> proficient we become.
>
> Even on those occasions when we blow the shot and we know
> where we failed, the pain is not all that difficult to work
> out and get over with.
>
> But on those mind torturing misses that we are clueless as
> to the cause, the constant reliving of the shot can be what
> I call the archery waterboarding effect.
>
> And it aint pretty.
>
> So as always, I practice diligently with total concentration
> to each finite element of my shot sequence, whether with
> archery gear or my favorite firearms.
>
> At 70 years of age and a lifetime of shooting, I have a
> reasonable grasp of how things work and what my focus on the
> minutia demands.
>
> Heading to what can only be described as whitetail deer
> hunting nirvana where the Texas Hill Country blends into
> famous South Texas outside Uvalde, my deerhunting dreams
> were at defcom1!
>
>
>
>
> On this particular backstrap safari I decided to exercise my
> good old reliable sniper Excalibur crossbow just for a
> little diversionary shaft management.
>
> I mean this thing is crazy accurate and I have no problem
> shooting killer groups out to 50 yards and beyond.
>
> As the saying goes, I was oh so cocked, locked and ready to
> rock doc!
>
> My buddy Greg’s vast ranchlands are some of the best
> deergrounds anywhere and I was going to hold off for a
> bruiser.
>
> First day was a skunker, but the next afternoon, after a
> typical patience testing vigil, substantial bone was weaving
> its way to my ambush zone and I could already taste the
> strappage!
>
> I’m telling you, this beast was a huge, mature, 160 class
> trophy stud of a buck and I could not have been more cock
> sure that I was going to kill him.
>
>
>
> He cautiously stepped into a shooting lane at 25 yards, my
> crosshairs owned the crease to his pumper, my triggerfinger
> performed its ultimate muscle memory engineered redundancy
> and the lighted bolt in all its graphic visibility horror
> zipped under his armpit and slammed into the ground beyond.
>
> The earth didn’t just stand still, the damn axis reversed
> and my mind, body, spirit and soul went numb. As in numbnut!
>
> Are you kidding me! What in God’s good name just happened!
> How can this be! What in the wide world of sports is going
> on here!
>
> I went limp. My head hung like I had no vertebrae. Life was
> a fog. A very, very painful, ugly, toxic fog that left me
> breathless.
>
> This was the best buck of my season after 100s of encounters
> and many kills. I wanted this deer so bad it was kind of
> stupid.
>
>
>
> Maybe that’s what went wrong. Maybe I had a psychotic
> hiccup.
>
> Maybe this, maybe that, but there is no maybe I missed.
>
> It took all my inner self control to get that imagery out of
> my mind. It haunted me for days. Days hell! Its been two
> weeks and I still wake up in the middle of the night asking
> why, how, what!
>
> I just thought I would share this heartbreak with everyone
> here in the hunting world to let you know that we all miss.
> Everybody misses and everybody will miss again.
>
> I am slowly but surely getting over it, but on the other
> hand I won’t let myself get completely over it so as to
> make certain I never forget how painful it is and summon all
> my powers to never miss again.
>
>
>
> Since I am brave enough to share this lowest of low horror

> with you, next week here at the deeranddeerhunting.com
> internet campfire I will share with you the highest of highs
> that came my way lastnight with my new Mathews Vertix bow!
>
> I think lastnight’s happiness was at least partially due
> to the painful lessons of that miss, inspiring me to dig
> deeper and find the killer beast within me that must always
> be in control when we are hunting.
>
>

[xcaliber]

Uncle Ted sure has a way with words! Been there, done that!

[Excalibur Marketing Dude]

I think we need to send a copy of this to every customer that calls us and blames the crossbow for missing the biggest buck of their life (btw its always a buck, never a doe ). Sometimes we all just screw up and its hard for some of us to admit. We always get a kick out of the people who call us and say they never miss or they were a sniper in the Army. I don't know how many snipers the army had but apparently there are a lot of them out there.

Ted is quite the personality and does have a good way with words, kudos to his honesty and having the guts to share it.

[Timbrhuntr]

I think we need to send a copy of this to every customer that calls us and blames the crossbow for missing the biggest buck of their life (btw its always a buck, never a doe ). Sometimes we all just screw up and its hard for some of us to admit. We always get a kick out of the people who call us and say they never miss or they were a sniper in the Army. I don't know how many snipers the army had but apparently there are a lot of them out there.

Ted is quite the personality and does have a good way with words, kudos to his honesty and having the guts to share it.

This year I missed probably one of the biggest whitetail bucks I have ever had in front of me. Worst is he even gave me a second shot. I tested the bow later and found it to be inconsistent. I was looking at the scope which seemed ok but I decided to take off the side adjustment cap and when I did the whole thing pulled right out into my hand. So bad scope. Excalibur did make it right. But I will admit I was a bit shaky when that big Michigan 8 point walked out at 20 yards broadside to my rattling in November. Then in Montana I stalked to 50 yards of a big muley in velvet and stood in horror as my arrow bounced off the top of his shoulder and he bounded off to the next county after probably a dozen unsuccessful stalks. Then missed 3 shots on a nice antelope buck under 20 yards at a water whole and on the 4th shot the string blew of my bow. I later found out that the cam was bent and had to be replaced. So ya I missed !!

[Excalibur Marketing Dude]

I was looking at the scope which seemed ok but I decided to take off the side adjustment cap and when I did the whole thing pulled right out into my hand. So bad scope.

In my last post I didn't want to leave the impression the crossbow or accessories can't fail as it certainly can happen, but its not always the fault of the equipment. I had one guy who used the same broad head for years and said he harvested 20 bucks with them. But, made a bad shot on a deer and it left no blood trail so he decided it was the fault of the broad head and wanted to try another brand. Sometimes we need to swallow our pride and blame the guy in the mirror.

[Carnivorous]

I missed a giant buck this year with my muzzleloader. I rushed the shot and it was a clean miss. The buck ran straight to my friend but he didn't miss.. Lol

It was his first wall hanger so it actually saved me $700.00 because I would have had it mounted..

[Timbrhuntr]

Ha Ha sorry if I jumped on but I guess you could say I'm a little po'd when it comes to equipment this last year or so. I hung up my old bowtech compound and my old excal exomag for a new micro and a new apa mamba so far almost wishing I could go back. Got a bunch of hunts in the works this year and hoping to get some confidence back in my gear lol

As far a missing yup part of the game for sure and I have no trouble wearing them if its my fault ! I also know all about the guys that like to blame their gear and for me this is my first year hunting where it really was the gear and not me which really sucks!!