Archery Talk

Lots of sign, lots of poop, heard one bugling bull waaaaaay off. Elk tag soup for dinner. Thankfully deer season isn't as short as elk season

 

My day was a bust.
Saw two other hunters and they didn’t see anything either.
Nothing came along
Not even a squirrel.
I did scare the crap out of a mountain biker... lol

So all in all
A Fantastic Day..
Always next time..

 

So got out to check on a few things....

Taco parked in it's normal space.



My favorite road in the world. Thankfully the gate in the previous picture is still locked.



Always something special to see during a walk....



Stands are checked out and set. Lifelines installed. Just need to trim a few lanes next week.

 

So...pulled a real bonehead move the last time I checked the trail cams. Apparently the one card I pulled I ended up putting in another camera. Only noticed it when I check the cameras today and saw another folder on the card. Anyhow, some really nice buck. This is from the camera where my son shot his buck last year.

I'll never get to hunt there now.

 

Oh yeah, found a real nice tree stand ready to go today. Looked super safe

 

Always wondered about all those old stands I come across.... the stories, the history....

 

I built many of those back in the day!

 

That 'favorite road in the world' got me thinking about a couple of my favorite spots. When the wind is right, the temp is right, the time of year is right and you're early and in no rush. Just easing back to your favorite place knowing something is gonna happen.
It usually doesn't, but hey, it's the thought that counts.

 

Something always happens. It may not be what we expect, but the funny thing is, it's usually what we need. There was a sunrise a number of years ago, that is etched in my mind. As the morning started to get light, there was a hard frost, with a bit of light fog in the air. When the sun peeked over the ridge, everything link up with this pink hue, the frost sparkled pink, it was reflected in the air. Never seen anything like it. Or the sunset as I made my way out Tucquan Hollow. It had been a gray cloudy day. As I walked out, the sun was almost set, and peeked out from beneath the dark gray clouds, it was all red and lit up the hollow, the maples had already turned red as did some of the oaks. It was almost like each one had a red light. Just watched until it was almost dark. The Sharp Shinned hawk I watched from 30 yards away as it watched me, then decided my head was a meal. Landed on a limb next to me with a WTH look and then flew off.

Yeah....something always happens!!

 

Yesterday was our bow opening day. Didn't get out because we went to Minneapolis.
Anyway, I was having my coffee and looking out the kitchen window and there were 5 deer in clearing I have were the dogs are buried. I thought how fitting it is, opening day and by the dogs. We had to put Star down in June and she loved watching deer.

 

Thought I’d share my bow hunting story.

A friend of mine got me into bow hunting when I was 14. I got an old Bear bow from my brother. He never hunted with it, he just had it. My dad always deer hunted and my brother and I would go with him every chance we got but he never bow hunted. I eventually got a new Darton bow and dad wanted to shoot it one day. The draw length was to short for him and he hit his arm and busted a blood vessel. He hit the bulls eye but that’s the one and only time he ever shot a bow.

I had a High Country Supreme when I got a little older and could afford it, shot a nice 13 pt with it and several others. I’ve wounded and missed more deer with a bow than I care to think about.

I then thought I had to have the best of the best and bought a Matthews Switchback and had a lot of money in it. It had a 70 lb draw weight and I have 3 bulging disc in my neck and got to where I couldn’t pull it back so I sold it and bought a crossbow about 4 years ago.

Our son is now 7 and got his first bow at 6, I told my wife I’d like to get another bow with a low draw weight so he and I could shoot together. Went to a friends bow shop earlier this year and bought this Bear Outbreak with a draw weight of 15-70 lbs. I shot a nice 8 pt with it Friday and it’s on 51 pounds draw weight. I have less than $200 in it.

I’ve realized I don’t have to have the best. We just have to humble ourselves and use what we have.

 

So...............what's everybody's "How I got started bowhunting story".

 

My Dad got me started. Started squirrel hunting when I was about 12-13 and deer hunting when I was 15. Been deer hunting ever since...45 years now and still learning!!

 

That’ll never stop will it? I started shooting at them at about 12 but didn’t kill one until I was 15, that was 29 years ago and I’m still learning too.

Around here up until the mid 1990’s we only had 2 doe days. Now we can only kill 2 bucks but we can shoot 6 does any day if we choose. Holding off shooting them then obviously paid off but man was it hard to not shoot does when you’d see them any day but those two allowable days.

 

There's this private land 20 minutes away that I would always see 30-50 deer everytime I drove by. Somehow got permission to bowhunt it so I bought a PSE from a guy at work and finger shot hay bales a couple of times and off I went. Prolly missed 20 deer that year, never even cut a hair. The next year I bought a new bow, got a release, actually practiced and shot my first deer. A 40 pound doe. Been hooked ever since.

 

Never hunted growing up. Never even shot a gun until I joined the military. My uncle is a huge bow hunter and I always respected the work he put in to take a huge bull every year. I started my degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management with the idea that I would start my career as a game warden in Wyoming. I decided that I should probably understand hunting from a hunters perspective if I am going to enforce it. I gave my uncle a call to find out more. He has a friend who owns a bow shop and next thing I knew I had a bow shipped to my house (the friends and family discount helped). I knew a lot about the life history of elk but very little on how to hunt/track them. It took a few days in the field before I had the first one bugling and I was hooked! Like fishing, it’s more about the journey than it is about being successful for me. I love making mental maps of game trails, applying my knowledge to try and target them and learning new tricks to handle different situations.

I ended up never trying to become a game warden and I am working as a fish biologist in Idaho instead. Man, I am sure glad I made the decision to just go for it!

 

Sometimes I say what I saw, other times...i say I didnt see anything. just depends what mood Im in....

before there was a "market" for them thats what was around, Ive seen a few out in the woods near me.

Ive seen some, not built though...

I never had the chance or desire to hunt with a bow until I bought a cheap bow years ago, it was so old they didnt even make the cams anymore or I couldnt find them...this was in late 99. so fast fwd 9yrs and just out of the blue again the bow bug got me we had a long bow season in MD, so I ordered one and it was ok "bear" bow, but the chump at the local shop was an idiot I later found out. But this avid bowhuntress had a shop and got me back on track and set up right... I jumped into hunting but had some mishaps in 2008 with me eating some tag soup for that season. Next year I get a Mathews that feels great for ME to shoot. So I get it set up to me, I end up getting 2 deer that year with my bow, 2 with muzzle loader and it continued on since...

 

So….I didn’t come from a hunting family. My dad fished, but wasn’t a hunter. He did take me out for doves and small game but it really wasn’t his thing. When I was old enough I was out every chance, small game, waterfowl, ran a trap line.

Summer of ’79 my one hunting bud stated “We’re going bowhunting this year!” I thought cool, what the hell is bowhunting. Well a trip to Kinseys, the local archery shop, and I was outfitted with a Bear Kodiak Hunter #45 draw, with a quiver full of microflight arrows and Bear broadheads. We picked up several hay bales and started to shoot. All summer long, back and shoulders grew stronger as the groups got smaller. I’ll never forget the sight of the red and yellow fletching spinning in a rainbow arc towards a paper deer target.

We decided to hunt a public hunting area near a local power reservoir. I remember the anticipation as dawn slowly came. The eastern horizon slowly turning lighter and lighter, then yellow orange and finally the sun peeking over the ridge. I remember seeing a ton of deer. I remember working my way thru the woods to where it dropped off to the river. I remember stretching out on a large rock, looking at the autumn colored hills overlooking the Susquehanna . I remember drifting off, sun warm on my face. I remember knowing I was hooked. For life.

That was 40 years ago. And nothing has changed. I still love to shoot. I still am as excited as a little kid at Christmas the night before bow season opens. I still love my naps, with the sun warm on my face. My heart still races when a deer walks in range, doesn’t matter if it’s buck or doe. Each day in the woods is special, whether it’s early season, warm and buggy, or a day in mid November where it’s so gray and overcast that you know at dawn this is as light as it’s going to get.

Yeah….I’m a bowhunter. It’s my life. The rest is just details…..

 

Well said!
Gonna throw a question out there, see if anyone else has went thru the same cycles that I have.
When me and a buddy first started bowhunting we would be like, "you think you'll shoot a deer this year" or, "man, I hope I shoot a deer this year".
After we had shot a few it was, "how many do you think you'll shoot this year".
Then it was,"I hope I shoot a big one this year"
I'm still at the 'hope I shoot a big one' stage (prolly always will be), but I'm starting to enjoy the whole exxperience more and more. As my knees, back, shoulders...start to hurt a little more each year, I appreciate the time away from work, sitting in the quiet and just enjoying nature.
I would love to kill a huge deer before I hang it up, but if it doesn't happen, the ride has been more than worth it.
Last thing; I may have posted this last year, can't remember (that's another thing that's not what it use to be, my memory) I was in a tree way b4 daylight, in the middle of a swamp with 10" inches of water all around me. I heard a single deer slowly wading thru the water. It's too early to shoot so I'm hoping it's not a giant. I remember trembling a little bit in anticipation of what I might see. I was pretty confident it was a buck. I caught his reflection in the water as he passed by my tree at 5 yards. It was a 120" 8pt. I'm glad it wasn't a giant, I prolly would have been pissed. But that sound of deer walking through water will always get my heart pumping. Have a great and safe season. I plan on posting a lot of deer pics in this thread. Hope ya'll don't mind.

 

Im at the man I hope to shoot a deer with my bow Sure Id like to get a nice buck but they are hard to pin down here. I have one spot Im going to try, Its going to have to be an all day sit though so Im not to fond of that