Sometimes it's the little things that get us. One of my sayings is "it's the details that get us". I apply this to my work ethic for my job and everything else I do out of habit. In the business world I believe they call this detail oriented. My observation is that most hunters are this way even if they don't realize it. Think about it. You look for the smallest hint of sign, broken twigs, tuned over leaves, parts of tracks, acorns as they are developing, rocks out of place, trails that are not noticed unless you look hard, and I could go on. This also translates to the equipment we use. We know all the stats on everything we use. We know the weight of the broad heads, type of fletching, length of arrow, weight of bow, weight of the bullets, type of bullets, we sight in as close as we can to dead center, I think you get the point. Hunters are just naturally detail oriented.
As you live you learn from experiences. I'm going to tell you about an experience I had that I learned from where I left out one minor detail. I was on a late season gun deer hunt and I barely had time for one last chance hunt before I had to head home and the gun season would end. I really didn't think my chances were that good, but anytime you are in the woods there is a chance. I went to one of the only places I could with the time I had. It was a field area where deer had been know be, but not normally this time of year. When I got there I was in such a hurry I just grabbed the basic required items, orange, gun, and a single bullet. I was there just a couple of minutes before I saw a deer enter the field. It was a doe and I was in the market for a buck so I just watched from a safe distance. I watched one deer after another enter the field until there was a herd of about 15 does. From my vantage point there was a low spot in the field that I couldn't see because of the lay of the land. All the deer I watched came from my left side, then a deer came from the right side from the hidden part of the field. That made me wonder what else is hidden from me in the field. So I decided to try to sneak to where I could see. As I crawled around in the field trying to use the rolling hills in the open field to hide behind, to my surprise there was buck. It was a good buck. I thought to myself how lucky can one be. The sun was fading fast and I had to take a shot quickly if this was going to happen. I tried to get in position to take the shot and it seemed like everything was working against me. It was what I consider a long shot at +200 yards, I couldn't seem to get comfortable, and I was looking directly into the setting sun. That's enough excuses. I made myself ready, took aim with the sun glaring in my scope, squeezed the trigger, and the gun went off. I saw the ground blow up next to the buck, but it didn't know what was going on and it was still standing there. I had missed. Out of instinct, I worked the bolt on my trusty 270 to take another shot just to realize there were no more bullets in the gun or with me. Remember I was in such a hurry I only grabbed one bullet. Remember how many bullets Barney Fife would carry in his pocket? That's right just one. I had Barney Fifed this hunt.
I knew better but I let the hurry get in the way. I neglected one minor detail, extra ammo. My hunting buddies will never let me live this one down and they shouldn't. However, since I have such good hunting buddies they made it so I will never have to worry about this issue again. They gave me a gun sock that holds extra ammo. Now when I grab my gun during hunting season, it automatically has extra ammo on it.
In conclusion pay attention to the details, take extra ammo, and don't let your friends make the same mistake.
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