Missing your target is a painful reality every hunter has experienced at least once. It doesn't matter how good you are at shooting your favorite rifle or bow; at some point, it happens to every one of us. You'll often hear people say—typically in an effort to console a hunter kicking themselves after a blown opportunity—"that's why they call it hunting and not killing." While there's some truth in that statement, it doesn't make it any less painful to experience for yourself, especially when it's a trophy-class animal like a big buck. In today's video, we see a video that puts most of these scenarios to shame, as this hunter didn't miss just once, but five times. In fact, he missed so many times that he actually burned through all of his ammunition. As you'll see, the opportunity was there for him, too. He didn't rush his shots, the deer didn't take off, and he had a chance to reset. He just couldn't hit his target, plain and simple. When he finally runs out of chances, he chucks his binoculars on the ground as his buck strolls away unharmed. Talk about a nightmare scenario.
We see a lot of missed deer videos at Wide Open Spaces, but this one was more painful than most. Partially because that was a really big buck, but also because while we could clearly see how low the shots were hitting, these guys did not figure it out until shot four. This effectively made his fifth and final shot nothing more than a Hail Mary. Clearly, the scope got bumped at some point. Perhaps during transport from home to field. It could have even happened if he brushed up against a tree wrong at some point. It happens and unfortunately, we often don't realize our scope is off until it is much too late.
About the only thing one can do is to sight in their rifle every season and ensure that the sights and scope are still accurate. If you drop or bump your rifle, it's a good idea to fire a couple shots just to make sure it's still hitting where you want. It may be inconvenient to sight your rifle in again, but it's worth it if it helps to avoid a heartbreaking moment like this. We feel for this guy and we hope he was able to make up these misses later in the season.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
