Anyone who tells me they never make a mistake has probably never went head-to-head with a good whitetail buck. Anyone who hunts often is bound to make an occasional mistake.

My big mistake last year was falling, messing up five discs, and I'm still paying for that mistake (falling off my deck steps. I hunted only five days last year, and it was tough. So consider some of these mistakes made over the past 20 years.

Making a mistake, and learning from it, are two different things. I try to sit down, dig deep into my memory bank, and start recalling past hunts. Do it occasionally, and be honest with yourself, and everyone will find one or more occasions where they messed up and it cost them a good buck.

I got caught with a phone call just as I was heading out the door one afternoon two years ago, and I had to talk with the person. What should have been a five-minute chat turned into 15 minutes.

I parked near my spot, started walking the 200 yards to my stand and bumped into a buck already on the move. Had my call lasted only five minutes I would have been in my stand and ready to shoot that deer.

All things considered, one must be ready for this buck just to turn slightly for a quartering-away shot.

Can that problem be fixed? Sure it can. Limit the call to five minutes, and hurry. The other obvious alternative is to not take the call, and return it after the hunt is over. That really makes the most sense. That way you aren't rushed, and can still hunt and take care of business.

A friend was hunting elsewhere, and was almost to where he would park when he had a flat tire. He didn't want to change the tire in the dark, so he jacked up the car, removed the flat, put on the spare tire, and headed for his stand.

A buck was standing directly in front of his tree stand, and each one spotted the other at the same time, and the buck ran off. An unseen doe blew and snorted for 30 minutes, and he never saw another deer that night. It's all about timing. One way to save the situation is to have road coverage, call them to me you 15 minutes after dark. They've have lights and all the gear needed to do the job easily and you won't miss any hunting time.

The solution is obvious.Do it as I suggested or change the tire in the dark. Deer hunting is all about priorities, and hunting ranks high above changing tires or anything else that may comes in in second place.

Another mistake I made one time was spotting a buck back in the alders, and its rack was lost in the dark twisted branches. It was easy to pass on that buck because it didn't have a big body. Small body, small deer and small rack. Right?

Some decisions are a no-brainer. Make the right choice.

Wrong. It's true that most big people have big bodies and big feet, but it's also true that some small people have small bodies and big feet. The same thing applies to deer. Small bodied deer can have small feet and a big lusty rack.

I've seen several heavy-antlered deer that simply look small because their body is small. Chances are it's a 2 1/2-year-old buck, but I've seen a few deer of that age with very impressive antlers that should have been on a deer twice its age.

The buck I had dismissed as being small turned out to be a small-bodied animal with a great big rack. Apparently this deer used enough protein to build as big a body as it needed, and the excess protein and trace minerals went into building a trophy rack.

It happens. Not often enough, but just often enough to fool a hunter when it stands back in the tag alders and the antlers are difficult to judge. I've replayed that missed chance dozens of times.

We all make mistakes. Try to learn from them.

The thing is that mistakes happen to everyone. We make an error in judgment, a lapse in our thinking process, or we simply are caught daydreaming about something else, and the opportunity for a shot at a big buck comes and goes. Deer will seldom wait for you to get your hunting act together.

It's easy for me to preach to the choir. You know the game: pay attention, don't get distracted, be ready for a shot at all times. We've all heard the choir sing before, and still we make occasional mistakes.

We're human. That's all there is to it. We all make bad guesses or drop the ball in some other irritating fashion.

The biggest thing to do, and it's also the hardest, is to maintain full and complete attention to what is happening around you. Don't daydream, don't be messing with your bow, don't put the release in your pocket, and don't lose your primary focus or train of thought. Keep your mind in the game.

Be alert, and if you can't do that every minute of every hunt, remember that I've told some stories about miscues I've made. Stand tall, and tell your buddies how you messed up.

The whole world needs a good laugh these days.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors