How long did it take you?

[ScottV_7]

Originally posted by elknutz:
1st season, was on the ground.  Proof its better to be lucky than good sometimes.

Ditto

[Birdbow]

Patriarch,
 Here in NH where BH success rates are very low, I hunted 10 years before connecting on a button buck. A few misses were experienced along the way - sometimes euphemistically called a "learning curve". Still after it 17 yrs later. Love being in the woods.

[Bowwild]

PatriarchArcher,
Mine is a pretty lucky story because I possessed very little knowledge or skill when I killed my first deer. The only thing I can say is that I was a pretty good shot by then.

I had not seen a live deer by the time I went on my first bowhunt at age 16 in 1969. On my first hunt I killed a 5-point buck, the first live deer I ever saw, with a cedar arrow from a Ben Pearson Cougar at 15 yards.

So...it took me about 75 minutes of hunting to get my first deer. I had terrorized chipmunks and squirrels for about 3 years prior though.

This year, was my first back to traditional since 1974. It took 14 days to tag a doe that I was very happy to take.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Three years after switching to trad gear.  Switched after eight years of hunting with the wheels.

[sheriff2]

this is my first year of hunting and i still havent got a shot on one.  i see alot but im waiting on the right shot

[SilverTip]

i took a doe the first year but it was 3 years before a buck was taken. Billy

[mmisciag]

Shot at 3 and missed last year. Still trying. It's been 3 years...

Heading out this afternoon. (:

Martin

[canoeman]

Not sure yet.  Been trying for 2 years.

[gjarcher]

It varies widely due to factors like deep population, location/habitat, hunting pressure, hunting skills, and shooting skills.

I think it is more important to gauge the hunt by what you see and not by what you kill. If you are seeing deer and getting opportunities, but missing, then its shooting skills you need to hone.

If you are not seeing deer and there is little sign, then it is location that needs to be changed ... you are fishing a dry hole.

If you are not seeing deer and there is plenty of fresh sign, then it is hunting skills that need refinement. Different situations require different hunting techniques. Spot-n-stalk requires the most hunting skills and is the most difficult, but the most rewarding.

Took up my old Trad gear 2 seasons ago but only hunted this season. Took 1 hour out of a treestand to put a cow elk down ... so Luck helps.

[reddogge]

Started bow hunting in '67 and killed first deer I ever shot at in '69.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

5 years ... But way back then there was not much info , equipment and deer as there is today... Yes it was "THIN" times but I wish I was back then.... You relied on yourself then...and really learned ! When It comees down to it Its really you and the deer not the "HYPE"..remember that !

[Ranger58]

I switched over nine years ago now, and I still haven't let an arrow loose yet.  The past seven years have been dedicated to hunting strictly on the ground and now I'll never climb again.  Like others have stated in this thread, I feel like I didn't start "hunting" until I picked up the recurve.  Along the way, I've learned more about getting close, too close at times, than I ever did in the combined forty years of hunting prior.  
I've also learned, that it isn't about the kill for me any longer.  When the creator feels it's my time, then I'll loose that arrow, till then I relish every second that I get to spend out in his creation and I'm sure to Thank Him for my time afield.  
There is nothing that compares to being out amongst nature and truly enjoying what I do there.  Give it time and just learn to enjoy whatever it is that you're experiencing.

[Cottonwood]

This was my first season after picking up traditional again, to completing the quest I set out to do.  I say I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, as many will tell you and have posted to, it can take time.

When it happens, what a RUSH and FEEL of that first traditional bow kill.

Don't give up, as if any of us wanted it the easy way we would not be hunting with traditional bows.

[FerretWYO]

It took me two years to take my first animal with a trad bow. In the time since then there has been a few drought too.