It's great to hear from all the guys who are sharing their momentous misses and screw-ups. This Thread is a wonderful way to relive some hunting memories during the winter doldrums.
Another one I won't forget happened on the first day of small game season when I was in college. Five high school buddies and I got together to begin the season on some local farms. Legal game was pheasants, rabbits, grouse, woodcock, and squirrel, but there were no grouse in this area. About mid-morning, we had just made a push through a small field of corn stubble without putting up any pheasants. We decided to move on to a small block of woods with lots of shagbark hickory, and then to another larger corn field. We were crossing a fenced pasture to get there. The dairy cows had it grazed down very short, so there was little cover. As the six of us marched across in a line, a rabbit bolted out of nowhere, crossing right to left in front of us.
Everyone started shooting at it, and the bunny seemed to pick up speed with each shot. We all had pumps or semi-autos plugged to three shot capacity. I was using my Dad's 16 gauge Model 870 pump. Sorry, but no doubles were involved in this story. So we all quickly emptied our guns. 18 shots went into the pasture, and to our astonishment, we all watched it run off through the barbed wire fence into another field of brush and weeds. We never touched a hair on that bunny rabbit. It was a spectacular group miss.
Afterwards, I calculated that with 18 shots fired, we put nearly a pound and a half of lead shot into that pasture in a matter of seconds. Some of the anti-lead shot advocates here would think the ground needed a Super Fund clean-up. Sadly, that farm where we spent many great days is a housing development now. But whenever I drive by it, I think of our amazing group miss.
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