Share your "Big One that got away" stories

[44magpastor]

The "target buck" thread got me thinking about a buck, from a few years ago, that I was after. Was never able to get him, and haven't seen him since. I assume he was killed by neighboring hunters.

Here's my "big one got away" story:

About 4 years ago, we got a BEAST on camera. He showed up in late October. Had a split G-2, very cool rack. Wide. Heavy. Huge body. As soon as I saw the picture, I told my sons, "If any of us get him, he's going on the wall, no question". We called him "The Man".

About two weeks later, I'm in the stand, and I see a doe about 75 yards away, in a drainage ditch, that runs perpendicular to my spot. Since she was in the ditch, I could barely see her. After she crossed, here came The Man. All I could see was his head/rack, and the very top of his back. He slid across, behind the doe, and never stopped. There was no chance for a shot.

About a week later, I was back in the same stand, and shot at another nice buck. While I was looking for blood, I walked up, on The Man, who was bedded down, not 50 yards from my stand. I was right on top of him, when he exploded from the reed canes and palmettos.........It scared me to death! But it was clearly him. I remember thinking he looked as big as a horse up close.

Anyway, I never saw him again while hunting. Never got any more pictures of him. Nobody on our property ever saw him again.

He was one heck of a buck and the one that I really wish I'd gotten.

What about you?

 

[Hunter922]

First time hunting a new Cobb property. Large property 48 acres. I knew that the landowner had said that they had seen some deer and some bucks but that's all I had to go on. Went to look at the property in June and the browse was to the ground and trails like Kennesaw Mountain. I was thinking 100 does and a few decent bucks.
First hunt on this property was a PM hunt on Sunday afternoon of opening weekend. Hadn't seen anything until about 630 and I caught movement coming from my left but angling up the hill above me. It was a big 7 point still in velvet like 18 inches wide and 10 inch g2s. He was followed by a 115 inch 8 point. I could see one more deer moving but he was coming slow. When he finally appeared I was literally in shock. Huge frame, all his tines easily in the 10 -14 inch range. Likely in the upper 140's maybe low 50's. He was at the 45-50 yard mark and never came closer. I could have shot both the other deer but I couldn't take my eyes off the big deer. Never saw him again. My son has killed multiple P&Y deer on this property and some 140's. We've seen some real good ones but this one sticks in my mind like it was yesterday.

 

[Ruger#3]

Long ago we were discussing deer hunting in the shop. One friend offered to reload some empty brass for me. I knew nothing of reloading at the time. I watched him methodically go through the process as he reloaded a box of .270 ammo.

Two weeks later finds me in the stand at our deer club. About 9 AM three does come crashing through the woods at a good clip. I hear noise behind them so decide to wait to see if they’re being chased by a buck. A nice 8 point comes out of the timber and is 25 yds broadside from my stand. I raise my rifle, take aim and squeeze, CLICK! One of the biggest bucks of my life goes bounding off as I try to chamber another round.

I find the ejected round and shake it, no powder. I never fired another round reloaded by anyone else after that date.

 

[Deerhead]

First year bow hunting with a recurve. Land owner said there was a giant running around. Was hunting along a creek in a bent tree. I could stand on the trunk and hung a lockon on one of the branches going straight up. 8:00 am I could hold it. Took relief from the stand. 10 min later at 50 yards I see a doe, then another, then another. They were really big! I decided to wait. I know a buck was behind them. Yep here he comes trailing he does. They all step into the open woods at 45 yds. They were out of my range but decided to take a try anyway. I slung an arrow and half way to the buck the arrow hit a limb and the arrow went straight down. They stormed off. That was a long time ago but feels like yesterday.

 

[Shane Dockery]

3 years ago. Hunting my father's property in Texas during the rut. He had killed a very nice main frame 10, with split G2's a few weeks earlier. First day of my hunt with him, an almost identical buck appears. Same split G2's, just a bigger/wider buck. I switch seats with him in the blind because the angle he was approaching would have been a better shot from Dad's seat. Only problem was, he stopped and started eating something under some mesquite trees. 10 mins go by and all i could see of this giant was his head. He finally comes back to the right, giving me a full broadside shot at 180 yards. I was plum nervous at that point, but I pulled the trigger, thinking I was good. That buck never even flinched, acted aware of the shot, or spooked at all. I thought I had missed him so bad that it didn't even phase him. By the time I had another round racked, he had wandered off into another mesquite thicket. Never to be seen again. We got out, looked around like crazy for any kind of blood, what ever. Found a mesquite thicket about 50 yards from the blind that had one fresh broken branch, perfectly in line of my shot. I was mad as all get out, but at least I knew that my shot was deflected. Still haven't ever seen that buck again.

 

[Deernut3]

Sunday before last big tall 8 pt came up the drain behind a doe. I rolled the bleat can over and he came up the hill toward me stopping with a tree covering his shoulder and vitals. One step was all I needed but of course he whirled and went back to the doe. After I got down I walked over to where he stood and the pine tree he was behind was so rotten I poked my finger through it. I could have shot right through that tree if I'd of known. Oh well hope I see him again during rifle season.

 

[marshallknight]

I was hunting a huge property with a friend, sitting on a powerline with a 1/2 acre food plot in some planted pines. There was also a mowed pine tree row perpendicular to the tripod I was in. A lone doe had been in the food plot for about 30 mins, I kept hearing something coming up behind me so I had swiveled to my left away from the doe in anticipation of something crossing the powerline. I glance back over my shoulder to check on the doe and the largest buck I had ever seen out of the stand runs out into the food plot and herds the doe back into the planted pines. He actually hooked her with his horns when he was pushing her back towards the woods. They were heading straight towards the mowed strip so I set up and waited. He steps out, I shoot, he drops then stands back up, so I shoot again, he drops for good. As I'm sitting there congratulating myself for killing a B&C, I decide to look at him thru my scope and that's when I noticed something wasn't right...when I get down I discover he's a 6pt. Now he was a heck of a 6pt (18" inside with 8" brow tines and 10" g2s) but he wasn't the deer I had seen. Any other time I would have been tickled with the big 6.

I know I didn't imagine the whole thing, because the owners saw him a few times and they had 1 hard picture of him, this was before digital trail cameras were a thing. Based off that picture and the limited sightings they thought he would gross in the 160s. As far as I know he died of old age.

 

[GSUQUAD]

Literally the moment he turned and ran after I gave him a hair cut 2 years ago.

 

[gma1320]

I have a few, but I'll share my first for now. It was the mature deer I hunted specifically for on public land in 2013. I had been turkey hunting in the spring in a youmg pine thicket on a WMA. I found the largest deer tracks I reckon inhad ever seen. I told myself my only shot at that my best shot at that deer would be opening weekend of bow season. There were not any trees to climb so I took a dove stool and set up about 10 yards off the deer trail in a briar patch. Sure enough on Sunday evening of opening weekend, a 8 pointer thay would have scored in the 130's came down the trail. As I was getting ready to shoot, the buck fever came over me and my arm was bouncing up and down about 8 inches in both directions. Needless to say from about 15 yards away he spotted my shakin and shiverin and cut out of there like lighting with a white flag showing. I hunted the rest of the season without seeing him again. I've have been hooked on trying to kill mature deer from the ground ever since. I'm not very successful at it, but it sure is fun and in fact have actually only ever killed one deer from a tree.

 

[WOODIE13]

Which one? WV, TX, GA or VA? Albinos count?

 

[Ohoopee Tusker]

I've got a few. About 20 years ago i built a natural groundblind on the backside of a pond dam. Showed up to hunt it one afternoon and found the farmer had accidentally knocked it down while mowing. So i sat on an old fence row next to it. I look up to see the largest buck I've ever seen in the woods walking directly to me. He stops and feeds on live oaks 10 feet from where I'm sitting. I can see his front legs and the tips of his antlers as he fed. The rest was hidden behind the tree. I held my rifle up for what seemed like forever. Two more steps and I'd pull the trigger. The buck fed and then turned back and walked down the fence behind me. I tried to turn and shoot before he got my wind but he picked up on my movement and was gone.

These two happened in the same season. While on a public land primitive weapons hunt a large 10 point walked up and stood 10 yards from me. I had a misfire, the only one I've ever had. DNR actually posted a game camera picture of the deer on their site later that year or the beginning of the next. Before daylight one morning I climbed up and had a small limb hanging just in front of me. That little voice told me to climb down 6 inches but I decided it would help with concealment. At 9:30 a.m. the largest public land buck I've ever seen walked out at 35 yards and stood still before crossing a creek. The leaves on that limb blocked any chance of a shot.

 

[buckpasser]

 

[bfriendly]

View attachment 1265472

IKR!

First one to mind was on a rd/firebreak, I set up a ground blind night before. I’m in the blind just as safe light starts. I start out Sitting behind the rifle looking down 60 yards to the curve in the rd and my doe pee wick. There was deer scrapes all up and down this rd everywhere. I wanted to be able to see behind me too, So I turned myself and sat with my back against the side, rifle pointing to my right. After things settle I hit the grunt call. Within 30 seconds i look to my right and there is a GIANT, standing there, broadside! As soon as I try to get back in my original position I watch him walk out of my life down to the right. My only shooting lane was this rd and he was standing broadside in the middle of it at 60……..epic

 

[johnpoulan83]

I was hunting a huge property with a friend, sitting on a powerline with a 1/2 acre food plot in some planted pines. There was also a mowed pine tree row perpendicular to the tripod I was in. A lone doe had been in the food plot for about 30 mins, I kept hearing something coming up behind me so I had swiveled to my left away from the doe in anticipation of something crossing the powerline. I glance back over my shoulder to check on the doe and the largest buck I had ever seen out of the stand runs out into the food plot and herds the doe back into the planted pines. He actually hooked her with his horns when he was pushing her back towards the woods. They were heading straight towards the mowed strip so I set up and waited. He steps out, I shoot, he drops then stands back up, so I shoot again, he drops for good. As I'm sitting there congratulating myself for killing a B&C, I decide to look at him thru my scope and that's when I noticed something wasn't right...when I get down I discover he's a 6pt. Now he was a heck of a 6pt (18" inside with 8" brow tines and 10" g2s) but he wasn't the deer I had seen. Any other time I would have been tickled with the big 6.

I know I didn't imagine the whole thing, because the owners saw him a few times and they had 1 hard picture of him, this was before digital trail cameras were a thing. Based off that picture and the limited sightings they thought he would gross in the 160s. As far as I know he died of old age.

Can we see a pic of the buck you killed, I love a big 6

 

[marshallknight]

Can we see a pic of the buck you killed, I love a big 6

I'd love to share, but man this was 25 years ago. I'm sure I have a hard copy somewhere but not sure if I can find it. If I can I'll post, thanks.

 

[rugerfan]

There have been a few, but the most heart breaking one was bow hunting on my family's property in Pennsylvania. I was out scouting late in August and spotted a huge buck still in velvet. I didn't tell anybody about what I had seen, and started to attempt to pattern this buck for Archery season, so all of September I was in the woods as much as possible glassing areas around the property. Mid to Late September I pretty much has him down, almost to the minutes that he was showing up in a couple of areas. By this time the velvet was off, and he was a wide and high heavy 11 point. I mean big, and body size was just huge as well. The last time I saw him was 4 days before the Archery Opener, I set a stand 2 weeks prior to that and I was sitting on the ground about 150 yards away across an open field edge, and watched him walk within 20 yards of the tree that my stand was in. I stayed out of the woods for the next 4 days, to let things settle and it was to rain the day before the opener so my thought was the leaves would still be wet and I could slip in to my stand relatively un noticed. Opening morning of Archery season I slipped in there quietly got up in my stand, the wind was perfect , it was just absoluety still. It gets daylight and I see a deer coming my way, I watch, I keeping asking myself is that him? Is it? Yes it was him, he is 60 yards out coming my way, I try to get my nerves in check, I clip my release on my bow string, he is at 45 yards now, I get set to draw and he stops, but starts walking again but slower, taking a few steps and stopping, I told myself 5 more yards and I am going to draw, he gets there and I draw, I was holding he was at about 35 yards but the shot angle wasn't just right, He takes 2 more steps and turns broadside at just under 30 yards, I am at full draw, I am trying to get my 30 yard pin on him and the buck fever kicks in, can't get steady, my body is shaking, just then I hear a cracking noise coming from the limb on my bow, I couldn't decide if I should shoot or not, and so I let the bow down, then the buck looked right up at me, started blowing and took off.
I get down, upset at myself, head straight to the Archery Shop, upper limb had cracked, had to order a limb was out of action for a week and a half, got back in there but I never saw that buck again, until rifle season, when it got hit by a tri-axle coal truck in front of my Uncles house, 30 minutes after legal shooting light ended the opening day of rifle season . 11 point, 22 inch inside spread. Massive set of antlers. Coal truck driver took what was left of the deer.

 

[ssramage]

I have two of them unfortunately.

First one was in ~2011. I was hunting a piece of property that I had access to in Monroe County. I had just killed the biggest buck of my life a few days prior and was still on cloud 9. It was early November and the deer were rutting. I was hunting the side of a steep hill that led to a bend in the river. Thick brush behind me and several trails in front of me where the deer side-hilled the bottom. It was so steep that I was 20' up in my climber and basically even elevation with where I thought deer would come through. Long story short, I heard crashing and grunting coming from my left. The biggest buck I had ever seen, solid 150"+ deer was pushing a doe hard. He stopped directly in front if me at 20 yards but his vitals were covered by a tree that split in 3. I was at full draw and needed ONE STEP... he went from full sprint to dead stop and straight back into full sprint...no shot. It took me an hour to stop being nauseas.

The second deer was a few years ago. Giant coastal GA deer that I estimated to be close to 10 years old. Gave me a 20 yd broadside shot and I forgot to hold low with my bow. He ducked the arrow and gave himself a nice scar across the top of his back. His rack size went down significantly over the last few years. I've had several chances to kill him since then and have passed. He beat me. Pic attached of him at his prime when I missed him. You can see the scar across his back.

 

[BowSniper]

My big one that got away is a deer I called Milkshake (cause his bases seemed thick to me). Watched him from a 2 yr old to a 5 yr old. I would have killed him as a 2 yr old if given the opportunity. I love 6 points and loved his thick bases. Each pic below represents another year for him. The bow opener of his 5th year was forecasted to rain. It was also hot and my rain suit is heavy and warm so i just wore shorts and no shirt with the rain suit on and hoped i wouldn't sweat too much and stink the joint up. Well when the time came that i feel like i needed to be ready came, I stood up and looked over my shoulder and there he was under and oak tree at 30 yards. As quick as i saw him, i also saw his head snap up to attention (facing away from me) and he took a step towards the fence and jumped and was gone from my life forever. I never saw him again or got another pic of him.


BowSniper

 

[tad1]

There have been a few, but the most heart breaking one was bow hunting on my family's property in Pennsylvania. I was out scouting late in August and spotted a huge buck still in velvet. I didn't tell anybody about what I had seen, and started to attempt to pattern this buck for Archery season, so all of September I was in the woods as much as possible glassing areas around the property. Mid to Late September I pretty much has him down, almost to the minutes that he was showing up in a couple of areas. By this time the velvet was off, and he was a wide and high heavy 11 point. I mean big, and body size was just huge as well. The last time I saw him was 4 days before the Archery Opener, I set a stand 2 weeks prior to that and I was sitting on the ground about 150 yards away across an open field edge, and watched him walk within 20 yards of the tree that my stand was in. I stayed out of the woods for the next 4 days, to let things settle and it was to rain the day before the opener so my thought was the leaves would still be wet and I could slip in to my stand relatively un noticed. Opening morning of Archery season I slipped in there quietly got up in my stand, the wind was perfect , it was just absoluety still. It gets daylight and I see a deer coming my way, I watch, I keeping asking myself is that him? Is it? Yes it was him, he is 60 yards out coming my way, I try to get my nerves in check, I clip my release on my bow string, he is at 45 yards now, I get set to draw and he stops, but starts walking again but slower, taking a few steps and stopping, I told myself 5 more yards and I am going to draw, he gets there and I draw, I was holding he was at about 35 yards but the shot angle wasn't just right, He takes 2 more steps and turns broadside at just under 30 yards, I am at full draw, I am trying to get my 30 yard pin on him and the buck fever kicks in, can't get steady, my body is shaking, just then I hear a cracking noise coming from the limb on my bow, I couldn't decide if I should shoot or not, and so I let the bow down, then the buck looked right up at me, started blowing and took off.
I get down, upset at myself, head straight to the Archery Shop, upper limb had cracked, had to order a limb was out of action for a week and a half, got back in there but I never saw that buck again, until rifle season, when it got hit by a tri-axle coal truck in front of my Uncles house, 30 minutes after legal shooting light ended the opening day of rifle season . 11 point, 22 inch inside spread. Massive set of antlers. Coal truck driver took what was left of the deer.

Man, that is a terrible story!

 

[jackson a. bowen]

my brother-in-law, his son and my family had a lease over in Sw Georgia and it was covered in mostly pines with two creeks running through one part of the lease. Paper company cut over one part of lease that had a lot of ridges that ran down to the larger creek. The next year the weeds and briars covered everything else. i had cleared a small spot on the end of one ridge and was watching another ridge about 3 to 4 hindered yards down from me. i had the Bushnell trophy scope on my 3006 bolt action rifle turned up to 20 power while i was looking at the 6 deer feeding on the end of that ridge i had a big doe to run under the edge of the ridge where i was setting in the briars she ran around bottom less than 20 ft to off my left side with a humongous buck with a set of horns that would have put me in the record books right behind her i stood it as long as i could and jumped up to shoot as i could not see over the briars shot 5 times with scope full of brown hair and didn't touch a hair no one saw him the rest of the season and nothing the next nor did we hear of anyone close around killing one with a rack that big . only thing i figured was that scope was on 20 power and my bro in law said it sounded like someone shooting a pump rifle not a bolt as i sure shucked that bolt, oh well there went my chance.