What Spoiled Your Shot Opportunity

[Swede]

Most or all of us have experience with things that ruin a great shot opportunity. Being scented or seen very commonly messes things up.
On another thread I wrote about a squirrel that started chattering. Several times I have had other people come in when I was working a bull. One time I was close to getting a shot, but the bull had moved near an open dirt road. I hid and waited as a pickup came driving along but the stupid bull bugled again. There were two guys in the pickup with the windows rolled down. When they heard the bull, they stopped and jumped out of the truck. End of game. The bull was just not that stupid.
What have you experienced that messed you up when you were close to getting a shot?

[ElkNut1]

My son & I were working three bulls one morning during a light rain! One herd bull & a pair of juveniles harassing the group. The bulls were calling on their own which allowed us to slip in on them silently at first. We got to about a 100 yards or so but couldn't get closer because of semi open terrain. My son setup as shooter & I went to level 1 of The Threat, we received quick response & could tell we had the herd bull coming, I quickly escalated my cow chatter to real whiny, pitchy & nervous sounding along with lip bawling trying to control my/his cows. The bull was on his way!!! All of a sudden like a light switch was turned on we were all surrounded by howling wolves, I believe from the low guttural growling sounds we could hear there were 5 of them. A couple were inside 30 yards but neither of us could see them. The elk went 100% quiet & were gone. Those wolves harassed us for at least 10 minutes putting a bit of fear in us. We carry .357 mag pistols for just such occasions & we both had them drawn as our bows hit the ground, my son & I were back to back awaiting the slightest movement for them to rush us! It slowly got quiet & then nothing, not a sound, they had moved off like ghosts! Needless to say we left that area! (grin)

ElkNut1

[cohunter]

Thie one thing that consistently ruins my shot opportunity is the uncanny ability of an elk to totally change directions when stepping behind the one very small tree in my shot window. Case in point - last fall I had the perfect set-up: nice bull walking a heavily travelled corridor in some very thick and steep stuff. Leaves the big trail which would have led him by me broadside at 10 yards or so and instead goes up the very steep hill behind me that I was sure would funnel him right past me. As a result, I was scrambling up a very steep hill about 10 -15 yard from this bull, but as fast as I could scramble, I could only ever get a view of the top 4 inches of his back. My other nemesis is the branch of the genus jumpuperous, a fairly nondescript genera of large shrubs and small trees whose only defining characteristic is the unnatural ability to suddenly jump into the middle of a sight picture at the moment the release is triggered. That or they have specialized cloaking cells which are disabled upon contact by bullets or arrow fletchings.

[Heartwood]

One of our guys was hunting solo last season and called a bull in only to have this bull lock up when he drew. The bull stood there behind some light cover while the shooter held his draw for minutes. As soon as the shooter let down, exhausted, said bull stepped out for a perfect broadside. The exhausted hunter was unable to draw again and the bull walked. Seems like a common occurrence to have bulls lock up at just the wrong time. Being able to hold draw for a long time has paid off for us in the past with some bulls taken this way. It just wasn't meant to be on that day.

[WapitiTalk1]

Many moons ago, I was hunting Roosevelt Elk on the WA peninsula. I got an answer to a nocturnal locator bugle way down in a draw from well, way up high on a walk in skid road. At camp that night, I did some map work and figured out a way to hunt into that area from the bottom of the draw. After 1/3 mile of negotiating WA's finest brush at daylight the next morning, I got close to where I though the elk may be, set up, and did a very short sequence of brush smashing and calling. BAM! I received a really nasty response to my calling and immediately moved up 20 yards in case Mr. Nasty came in to stomp me. Well, I was close enough to the bull and his few cows to dislodge the protective bull. Up the little finger ridge I saw a flash of tan come from up the draw and to my left. I thought I saw antlers but wasn't positive with all the brush. Another slight movement above me, a bit less than 25 yards away, resulted in a very large elk standing broadside with its head completely covered from my view behind a very brushy fir tree. I knew it was the bull from everything that just occurred, drew my Darton Viper back, floated the pin in the ">", held it for a handful of seconds and then let off. I wasn't 100% positive it was the bull w/o a positive visual of his head. After another handful of seconds, the elk did a 180, showed me his very, very nice 5X5 head gear, and moved back down the little ridge to his gals. Damn pine tree spoiled my shot opportunity on that day.

[Waygoner]

Last season I cut some fresh scat at 1st light. I knew the herd was heading into the timber on a trail I was familiar with. I was creeping along slowly, looking for movement. I came up on a dead pine tree that had fallen across the trail. I thought I heard a branch break on the hill to my right. I looked but saw nothing. Turning back to the trail ahead there were 2 cows standing 50 yards away, looking at me. I dropped to one knee and drew a bead with my muzzle loader. Just has I pulled the hammer back a bull stepped onto the trail between me and the cows. They ran down the trail and stopped briefly out of range before heading out of sight.

[CurlyTail]

So many close calls, where do I start?

The wind swirling

Darkness

Rear sight fell off my muzzleloader

Brother forgot his release at the car

But the best - We were sitting a trail in the evening. We had observed fresh tracks coming down to the stream. Right next to a 2 lane highway (but out in the middle of nowhere). Here comes a nice 5 point Bull through the trees - just as planned. Then the evening quiet is broken by a guy with a ponytail and no shirt jogging up the highway - singing nonstop at the top of his voice. Bye Bye Bull. Was crazy for sure.

[Osprey]

This past seasons it was

Wind swirling

lack of Elk hunting expereince and being able to read situations that would have produced an opportunity

dumb mistakes (aka leaving cow call at camp and not realizing it until your on Elk doh!)

animal luck (bulls seem to be like cats with 9 lives)

[Coloclover]

I had a shot at a yearling and I let my dad psych me out when he said," well you won't get very much meat off that one". While I was debating it disappeared into the treeS. I didn't get close to anything else for the rest of the trip.