Archery Talk

it only stings for a lil bit...

 

Yea but it makes me a sad boy for that split second. Plus I aint got much beard so I need every hair I can get

 

Saw a few small bucks the other night. First night out in Missouri this year. I have to find who made this.

Ordered a new hang on stand today. Hopefully it is comfortable because I’ll be putting some time in it soon.

 

Have my first personal bow on the way. Got a Prime Nexus 4 fully loaded. Getting stoked!

 

Nice!!! Post up a picture when it arrives.

 

Just arrived

 

Let the shedding begin!

 

Looks like our non-typical survived all gun seasons.

 

Wow!!

 

You know how old he is? Hope to see some pics of him next season!

 

We think 3, seems to have body of young deer.

 

Just a little after Christmas story. 2021 was a year of ups and downs, with quite a few downs. It started on New Years Day with my wife ending up hospitalized for the better part of January. As if that wasn’t enough, Janus, the roman god of mythology, and namesake of our first month, thought losing my job the end of the month would be an added benefit. *SIGH* I did do some contract work for my former company and in March I ended up finding a job with some former co-workers in a pretty good company. Spring and summer was a blur. I was trying to get everything ready for a September elk hunt. Practice, training, work, and more training kept me busy. In August, my father in-law, whose health was declining, took a turn. As August turned into September it became apparent that the inevitable was coming. I pushed plans back, and then canceled. He ended up passing on 18-Sept. He had lived a great, full life. We hunted together quite a bit and in the last few years, he would always check to see how my season was going.


The end of September blurred into October and next thing I knew it was the start of PA’s archery season. Although I was excited, my heart just wasn’t into it. The first morning my son and I hunt together, just like we have for the last fourteen years. We saw several doe and two buck, none of which offered a shot. The evening I was back in our morning spot and my son was about a quarter mile away on the edge of a bean field. I saw several doe, including one that offered multiple shots. I picked up my bow twice and hung it back up. Just wasn’t feeling it.


The following week was a repeat of the first, with one little difference. My son shot a doe that he watched for a while, finally giving him a ~20 yard broadside. One benefit of my new job is that I drive thru my hunting area twice a day. I’ll go in a bit early, leave early and be in a tree by 4pm. The third Saturday in October, two buck a six and a five passed pretty much under my stand. Again, I picked up my bow, looked at the six and hung my bow up. He was decent, probably typically of what is roaming the hills and draws at my spot. Even though my heart starts racing as soon as I see deer, the desire to drop the string on one isn’t burning.


I’m off the first two weeks of November and my son is off the second. Because of school and work we’ve never been able to hunt together for a full week and are really looking forward to it. As our vacation kicks off, we are seeing plenty of deer. Seems like most of the buck are passing just out of range. On November 6th my son had a real solid 8 point work a scrape about 25 yards away. Buck just wouldn’t stay still for a shot. Our normal routine would be up at 4:30am, hunt till 11-11:30am, back at the truck for a tailgate lunch, maybe a nap, back on stand by 1:30-ish. One afternoon I got so caught up in the setting sun against a far hillside, autumn colors peaked, that I didn’t see the lone doe at 15 yards till I spooked her. And so it continued right until the end of our vacation. Gorgeous fall colors, stunning sunrises, beautiful sunsets. When it finally got to dark to see my pins on the last Saturday, I was disappointed that the season was almost over. I got to spend over a week with my son, and although no tags were filled, the company was great.


Two years ago, PA extended the general archery season an additional week, ending on a Friday. I decided I could try one maybe two more times. Turned out to be only once, Friday the 19th. The last day. Told my manager at lunch I was gonna roll a bit early, maybe 2:30pm to climb a tree. He hunts as well and said “2:30 hell, get outta here at 1pm” By 2pm I’m in one of my favorite spots, a hang-on in a beech tree, nestled between two shallow draws and a little finger ridge. Based on the NE wind I’m downwind of the scrape that has been seeing a lot of action, including the buck my son saw. Mother nature had different plans for the day. It was overcast, I mean dark gray overcast, and a little breeze of 15-20mph. Couple that with temps just above 40, it wasn’t a pleasant day. I sat there for about an hour and as I looked around, the yellow maples and burnt orange beech trees against a very gray sky, I thought to myself, if this is how the last day ends, I smiled and thought I’m cool with that. Sunset is at 4:46pm and with as overcast as it is, even though we can hunt a half hour past, would be the final bell of the season. Around 4:30 or so I notice a buck passing from left to right about 40 yards out following the edge of the one draw. I check him with my Vortex’s and I’m pretty sure it’s the six I passed on earlier. I grunted twice and he stopped and then continued on. I thought what the hell and just gave a series of long grunts, like I’ve heard some buck when dogging a doe. About a minute later, I see the buck heading back my way, quartering from right to left. At 20 yards he turns broadside, my bow is already up, he stops, green pin tight behind his shoulder and the arrow is gone. I see blood at impact and he goes crashing off. I hear a final crash and thrashing and then silence. I gather my gear AND my thoughts and climb down. I walk over to where he was standing and there is blood right at the impact. It’s easy enough to follow, down the hill, cross the little draw, up the other side, maybe sixty yards and there he is. He slid down a fairly steep hill. I text my son I’ll need a little help and also my phone is at 1%. He responded he was on his way. And with that my phone died so no pics. By this time, it was sunset and my previous thought was spot on. I had shot this buck with about 10-15 minutes of shooting light, left The last few minutes of archery season. He wasn’t the biggest or smallest buck I’ve shot. But it did remind me. Never quit. Never give up. Ever.

 

I appreciate the heart-felt story...and truly sorry about the passing of your father in-law.

 

Condolences. Been a crazy year for sure. Glad you stuck with it

 

Thanks, Bob.

 

Man this is my first season to experience that feeling of “nah, not today” where I’m hunting but damn my heart isn’t in it. Lost my grandmother a couple weeks ago and before that when I was home I was spending as much time with her as I could knowing that her days were limited. Plus this was the first year I shot something and was unable to recover it.

you cannot give up and certainly cannot stop moving forward. Life has beaten that into my head, time and time again.

 

Condolences, its tough but keep going

 

Yea wasn’t trying to make that post be about me. I’ve lost the vast majority of my family and too too many friends.. im a bit calloused at this point in my life. I just experienced that loss of passion this season for the first time in my life and so I wanted to relay that empathy