The Time I Cemented My Okayest Hunter Status

By Tyler Mieden  | PUBLISHED September October 6th, 2021

I haven’t been bowhunting my whole life. I took it up in my 20s after experiencing a hot doe and 3 mature bucks run past my stand one gun season. No, I didn’t get a shot off at any of the 3. That shouldn’t surprise anyone given my Okayest Hunter Status. After this encounter, I decided that I wanted more hunting time during the rut so I bought a bow and planned to start hunting that next fall.

Over the summer, I had a bachelor group of bucks consistently walk past one of my trail cams positioned near one of the stands I planned to hunt. One buck was a forkie, the next was a small 8 pointer, and the last one was HUGE! They consistently walked past that trail cam multiple times per week not long after sunrise. It was ideal.

Opening morning came and I climbed up in my tree stand nice and early. About an hour after the sun peaked above the horizon, I saw a flash of brown and a forkie. He strolled right past at 18 yards followed by the small 8 pointer. I clenched my bow good and tight in anticipation of the 3^rd buck in the bachelor group. A flash of brown and antler confirmed he wasn’t far behind. I drew back as he walked the same path. I gave a quick grunt and stopped him right in my shooting lane, aimed, and let my arrow fly… right over the top of his back.

To this day, I replay that miss over and over. I’m still sick to my stomach about it. After the miss, I sat in my stand for 10 minutes, climbed down from the tree, and promptly walked back to my truck. I took off my camo and drove home. There was no way I was going to continue hunting that day after blowing it on a tank of a buck. Shortly thereafter, that bachelor group split, and I never saw that big buck again. I proceeded to eat tag soup that season. That is an Okayest Hunter moment followed by an Okayest Hunter season.