If you corner anyone who's hunted deer for more than a few years and ply them with sufficient quantities of adult beverages, chances are you can get them to admit they've missed shots at a nice buck or two sometime in their hunting careers.

If they were lucky, it was a clean miss -- no muss, no fuss and nothing to lose sleep over. Right?

Perhaps!

But misses of the not-so-clean variety are a different matter. They can haunt your dreams. It's happened to many deer hunters at one time or another. In my case, the only time I lost a wounded deer happened over a decade ago, when I allowed fatigue and a pushy guide to override my common sense.

We'd hunted hard all day in the typically broiling temperatures of the central coast during the "A Zone" deer opener. Deer sightings were few in the heat, and my first opportunity didn't come until nearly last legal shooting light. Despite the fact that the buck looked like an ant in the scope -- at what turned out to be a paced-off 500 yards -- my brain took a back seat to the screamed instructions of the guide, who shall remain nameless.

"Shoot!" he implored. "Shoot! He's gonna get away!"

I applied what looked like the proper amount of holdover, from a seated position, with no rest, and sent one off -- an "airmail special" from my .270. It connected, but not where I wanted it to. I had allowed for proper elevation, but had neglected the crosswind blowing halfway across the canyon between me and the buck.

We compounded the error by following up the wounded buck immediately, only to have him crash away into the brush in the dark, never to be seen again -- despite two days of heartsick searching on my part.

It was a lesson learned the hard way, and one I've never forgotten. If you want to avoid such nightmarish outcomes, here are 10 simple rules that can help you stay on target and sleep easier this fall.

KNOW YOUR RIFLE
This sounds obvious. But you'd be amazed how many hunters go afield without having put so much as a single box of shells through their rifle.

Some hunters even have others sight-in their scopes. That's a recipe for disaster. Because of differences in facial structure and the way we look through sights, the only person who can accurately sight-in a rifle is the person who's going to hunt with it.

There's an element of truth in the expression, "Beware the man with one gun," because gun familiarity is arguably the most critical factor in hunting success.

You're on your way to understanding your firearm, when you can . . .

Operate the safety without conscious effort,

Snap the rifle to your shoulder and have the cross hairs instantly align on target,

Know with certainty where your gun will hit at 300 yards, versus 100 yards, and

Know exactly when the trigger will break under precisely applied finger pressure.

KNOW YOUR AMMO
All ammunition is not created equal. The bullet you choose for deer hunting should be different than the bullet you choose for elk hunting. At the other end of the spectrum are the bullets you choose for varmint hunting.