I'll have to admit, I'm somewhat of a lurker. The part of my brain that does the typing don't work so good. I just had to share this story, because without you all, this day would not have come. I've been bowhunting for 19 years, all in North Carolina (a.k.a. God's Country)
. Until this year almost all of my hunting has been with Compounds. I had a fair amount of success in the woods and at 3-d tournaments.Looking for a new challenge, I bought a recurve about 8 years ago with the intention of hunting with it. I practiced for 6 months, shooting almost every day. On my first Whitetail hunt, I bounced an arrow off of a deer's back. I wasn't accustomed to missing and quickly returned to my "training wheels" . Over the years since then, my bowhunting seemed to not be as much fun, even though i finally took a P&Y whitetail 2 years ago. As I sat there in the tree after shooting that animal, I thought "Man, I wish I had that recurve". I vowed to return to the recurve. In January, I started shooting traditional again. Soon after, I found this forum. I read every post I could find on form, arrows, aiming methods, you name it. What helped the most was reading about others struggles and realizing I'm not alone. I've had days when the light came on and I thought Ihad it all figured out :cool: . Then again, Ive had days when I was totally clueless
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But,I hung in and by the end of the summer my shooting started to come together. With young children and a busy work schedule (plus being to big of a "wuss" to sit in a tree when its 95+ degrees), I haven't had much time to get in the woods. When I have, getting a shot on a deer hasn't been easy (but its been a blast trying). I set my limit at 20 Yards, with 15 yards or less being preferred. Well, friday morning the stars all lined up perfectly.
A little "can" and a little "grunt" brought him right in. When he first came out I thought "how in the heck am I going to hit this thing?" But, I settled down and picked out a tuft of hair on his rib cage and found my anchor. The next thing He's running off with my arrow hanging out both sides. A few seconds later, that telltale crash. Not the biggest deer, but definitely one of the best moments I've ever had in the woods! Thanks for all your help and Happy Huntin'.
David