2022 Deer hunt

[Scott804]

Me and my brother were walking along a river casually today to the spot we were planning to hunt. We hear a doe spook across the river and my brother crouches down and is struggling to formulate words. He has never killed a deer before so I assume it is just normal first deer jitters and he already has his gun up, I am slightly further back and can't see over the bluff wall down to what he is clearly seeing. He has already had 7-8 different mishaps and mistakes causing him to miss deer this season. Bow exploded, used the wrong pin, forgot to put in primer, forgot to put in powder, powder got wet, etc. He pulls the trigger. Click. Forgot to rack in a shell. I immediately take two steps forward and look down on the bottom of the river bank and the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life (outside of the internet) is sitting there trying to figure out what is going on. I am going to try not to exaggerate too crazily, but I am a fisherman. It was a six point, but his rack was super wide and curved outward on and on softly, but even with the size of it, I was more impressed by the size of his neck and shoulders (more on this later). I have shot a good amount of deer, but I have never really shot a good one, I grew up hunting the good ol "we are gonna go out and sit in the stand and maybe we will see a spike" with grandpa and deer infront of dogs in counties with seemingly endless hunt clubs and pressure. Some decent 2.5 year olds, my best being a deer that had two good points and then the other side was just one giant beam that kept going. Cool character, but no trophy. Anyways, this buck was leagues and leagues above anything I had ever seen in real life. I raise my Winchester 94 and put the bead on him and give myself a good 3 seconds to make sure of my shot, I felt good about it, but my adrenaline was going harder than I have ever felt before. I let loose a round, he stands still. Not good, so I rack another round. Put it on him again. He had taken two steps, and I felt better about this shot than the first. Pull the trigger, click. I guess I didn't rack the action all the way, rats. It looked like he had been injured when I watched him walk away. Me and my brother are both going "did that just actually happen?" and immediately start the hike back to the truck to go home and get a kayak to cross the river. We get back and kayak across and hike the two miles down across from where I shot, find the exact spot. No hair, no blood. We did a 3.5 hour grid search till dark just to be sure. Took a shot at a target before dark at 100yrds on irons, bullseye. Wasn't the gun. Massive bummer, still agonizing over it now. Not the best way to start the new year, and certainly not a fun way to end the season. Luckily he is still out there though! I actually think when we spooked the doe he was about to lock it down, his neck was massive and rutted up and I suspect that is why he stood there confused when she bolted, he was focused on other things. It was cool to see such a massive deer, even the biggest deer I have seen compared to this one look skinny and frail. Hopefully I will return to this thread next year with a new encounter with this deer. This also all happened on public land, which is 80% of what I hunt.