The TG St Jude auction has always been a really cool thing to me. Back in 2011, I was lucky enough to get drawn to have the Hope bow for a month during deer season. It was a Stalker Custom Tracker longbow (I’m pretty sure South does not make that one anymore). In the month I had that bow, I was lucky enough to take 5 critters with the bow during my time with her, and it was a sad day when I had to send her on to the next person on the list.
The auction came and went in 2012, and I was not the lucky winner of the bow. I was sad about that, but life goes on!!!
A couple years later there was a thread where that bow was mentioned. I posted a lament about how I wished I had bought that bow.
Soon after,there was a PM in my inbox, and the next thing I knew, a deal was done and Hope was headed my way!
It had been quite a while since I had shot the bow, and when I got it, it did not have the “feel” I remembered from the passaround time I spent with her!
Well, after a lot of consideration, I took a sander to the riser and reshaped it a bit, and had a little weight reduced.
She then felt really good again, but I was so in love with my Sarrels Blueridge longbow, that I just never put a lot of effort into shooting her.
Then, in 2016, I severely pinched a nerve in my neck. It really messed up my left arm. It has been a 2yr struggle to try to get back to the level of shooting that I was at before the injury. I’m not there yet, but things continue to slooooooooooowly improve in baby steps.
Anyway, for the last 2yrs, I have been very frustrated with my shooting. Last deer season was the worst I have ever experienced as a hunter. So bad, that I went out and bought a c, c, c , aw, you know what I was trying to say!!! I shot one deer with that mechanical arrow launching device last year. It was not the same, and made me determined to figure things out again.
While still making small improvements this year, I am still not at a level of accuracy where I was prior to the injury.
When Critergetter posted he was going to have a passaround bow for folks to try, I jumped on board. I had shot one of Randy’s bows a bit earlier in the year and was impressed. I wanted to be able to really test one out. Anyway, I got that bow on 10/1/18, and from the very first time stringing her up, noticed I was really shooting well with it.
I was lucky enough to get a nice fat doe with it, and then my time was up, and on its way it went!
So, what’s a guy to do
I broke out my goto Sarrels Blueridge, and noticed again that my accuracy was lacking. I banged my head against the wall trying to figure things out, when it hit my like a train! The grip!!!!!
There was something about the grip on that Primal Tech that was working for me. It was a very different grip than I was used to with my Sarrels.
That’s when I remembered I had Hope in the closet!!!! It had a similar grip to what was on the Primal Tech, so I decided to give it a try.
Wow!! The accuracy was back, not pre-injury, but way better. My hunch was right. There was something in that style grip that was treating me right!
So, I decided to hit the woods. Last Monday, I got a real nice 8pt at a friends ranch.
Fast forward to yesterday morning! I got in my ground blind on my property real early. As daylight approached, I could see a few deer moving around in front of the blind. One of them was very dark, and bigger than the rest. I figured he was probably a buck, but assumed him to be one of the smaller ones that hangs around this area.
It kept getting lighter, and he kept moving in closer. When there was just enough light to make out horns, I almost fell out of my chair. This deer had big horns. I knew he was a shooter before I could make out exactly what he was.
As it continued to get lighter, I realized this was the Wide 6, a deer I had missed twice last season while I was in my funk!
Last year, I had many trail cam pics of this buck, almost all at night. His brow tines laid straight back and could not be seen in the pics, thus the name, Wide 6. Once I saw him in person (and completely missed him twice in two consecutive days) I realized he did indeed have brow tines, but the name stuck!
I have only had 2 or 3 nighttime pics of this buck all year this year, and never expected to see him on this day, but there he was right in front of me!!!!
It got lighter, light enough to shoot, and he worked into a good position at about 11yds. I went on autopilot, and the arrow was away! I instantly knew it was a good hit. It wasn’t very cold, but I began to shiver as I realized that I had just shot this majestic buck!!!
He made it about 80yds in a straight line to his resting place. I was in awe as I walked up to him and got to see up close just how cool of a deer he really is!
So, it’s nice to know that when things are down, there is always “Hope”!!!
Sorry this got so long winded! I’m not much for story telling, but thought this buck was sure worthy of a story!!!!
Bisch
Topic: I got a special buck with my special TradGang bow!!!! (Read 8551 times)
