This is a pretty Georgia buck; if I'd been after "any buck" I'd be delighted. Unfortunately, I saw him -- incorrectly -- as a larger, mature buck rather than the promising youngster he is. I didn't have time to judge him correctly, so I should have passed the shot. Instead I took the quick shot I has and wound up with a whole lot of "ground shrinkage."

I had committed at least two mistakes. I hadn't looked nearly long enough to be sure of what I was seeing, and I believed what my mind was telling me. I was ready when he came out, and I had been right about one thing: He wasn't going to stand around. Other than to be sure it was present, I didn't take another look at the rack, nor did I study his body shape. Instead I tracked him across the opening, getting the shot off when he hesitated for a moment on the left-hand edge. Even at that he almost walked out of my shot; I hit him a bit far back, but I was certain I'd heard the bullet thump. We recovered him with little difficulty. He was an 11-pointer--a pretty buck--but he was exactly what I didn't want to shoot, a promising young buck who should have been allowed to reach his potential.

I felt terrible, and it didn't make me feel any better when one of my hunting partners, a far more experienced southeastern whitetail hunter than I, made a similar mistake. He was watching a huge second-growth clearing where a big buck was known to cross. He picked up the flash of an antler and saw a buck feeding, head down. The buck picked up its head, and from the angle he had, the antlers looked good. He saw what he wanted to see, and he shot as soon as he had some shoulder visible. The deer was a buck, sure enough, but he wasn't the big one, or even any big one. Actually, it was a very medium-size, spindly antlered eight-pointer.

As I said, this guy is a very experienced whitetail hunter. I'm not a great whitetail hunter, but I'm hardly inexperienced. Between us I'm sure we've taken several hundred deer, and we've both taken some good ones. If we can make stupid mistakes like these, what chance do less experienced hunters have? Truthfully, not much--especially if, like we did, they place too much faith in first impressions. You must constantly be wary of the tricks your mind is likely to play. Sometimes you'll get it right, and sometimes, although you clearly must take time to make absolutely certain of sex and species, there isn't time to properly judge antler size and age. Too, much of the time it just doesn't matter; the goal is to shoot a buck (sometimes any deer), so there is less to try to be certain of. But sometimes, in a good area or at a certain time of the season, it does matter because you know there's good stuff out there.

It's always better to not shoot than to make even a minor mistake, so take as much time as you can to be certain you're looking at what you think you're looking at. At a distance with binoculars, I like to put them down, then raise them and look again. Sometimes that second look is a whole lot different. Up close, I like to look away for a second, sometimes just by blinking slowly if head movement is risky. If there just isn't time for close study--and there often isn't--either pass on the shot or be prepared for ground shrinkage.

I can honestly say that most of the game animals I've taken have been exactly what I thought they were in antler or horn. On the other hand, I admit to several that weren't quite what I thought I had seen, although I think this Georgia buck is one of my biggest boo-boos. Sunlight often exaggerates horns and antlers. Poor light and brush are risky and require extra scrutiny even if you don't have time for it.

Unfortunately, your mind rarely plays reverse tricks; in my experience, "ground expansion" is very rare. The only game animal I can think of that turned out to be significantly larger than I thought also happened to be a whitetail deer. I knew he was a good buck, but getting a shot was so difficult that I didn't take time to ponder what he really was. He dropped to the shot, and the closer I got, the bigger he looked. That was a wonderful feeling, but it's too rare to count on. Jack O'Connor said, "The big ones look big," which is absolutely true and applies to all game. Unfortunately, animals that aren't big can also look huge if you let your imagination hold sway. So take the best and longest look you can. If you aren't absolutely sure, it's far better to pass the shot.