What's your unusual and or lucky bow harvest?

[Pine]

I'm sure most of us have a harvest that something strange or lucky happened and you still made a successful shot.
I'll start.
Was in the mid 1970s I was walking alongside a railroad track from a morning deer hunt when I saw a rooster pheasant walk into the grass just ahead of me.
I carefully got to where it went in and I seen it sitting on the ground with its head sticking up.
I nocked an arrow with a Bear Razorhead and shot for center of mass.
The bird didn't even move.
I slowly reached for another arrow thinking I had missed and just as I got the arrow it's head and neck dropped to the side.
That was a mystery until I dressed it out at home.
I had cut both upper wing bones and both thigh bones. It was dead in just a few seconds.

[JonCagle]

Back when I was in high school and before I started driving, I would stay with my grandparents after school. I had a 45 pound PSE Walmart special type recurve and I kept it there and shot tin cans with it out in my grandparents yard. My grandparents had a few chickens running around with a bunch of young “whitties” as we called them. Well one day I was going out to shoot some cans when I noticed an old barn cat stalking the chickens on the far edge of the yard. Having the bow on hand and an arrow already nocked, I drew back in the midst of roughly ranging the shot distance. 50 yards I figured, I was a fair shot and knew I could get close enough to scare chicken killer. I let fly and as the arrow came off the bow and arced about halfway to the cat I thought “oh boy”. At about the time the arrow started to drop in, the cat reacted to the thrum of the bow or the hiss of the arrow and turned around to face the sound. He didn’t react quickly enough though as the arrow cracked him right between the eyes. That cat jumped straight up 3 feet in the air and hit the ground stone dead. I never meant to hit the cat, just spook him, but nowadays knowing the damage cats due to small wildlife im glad I killed him.

[woodchucker]

I was about 12? My Grandpa always drove around the farm, making war on woodchucks with his old .22
I took a ride with him one day, and took my bow, a 66" 35# Ben Pearson solid glass recurve.
We saw a woodchuck in a fresh mown hayfield and Gramp said, "can ya hit him?"

So... I get outa the truck, get my bow outa the bed, crawl under the fence, and SLOWLY strand up....
Gramp hollers "SHOOTIM" but he's still on all fours eating. So... I take a few slow steps closer... then a few more...
He pops his head up, and I freeze. Gramp hollers again, "SHOOTIM!!" Then, he goes back to eating.... So, I take a few more steps... This continues, as I slowly close the distance.... 50 yards.... now 40..... 30.... At about 20 yards, he pops his head up and is REALLY checking me out... I take another step and he pops his head up again.... Ok, he's got me pegged

So, This is about as close as I'm gonna get.... I let him feed for awhile, but he's still got an eye on me....
He turns a little with his head behind his shoulder, and I draw back.... he spins, and STANDS UP!! 
The strings slips and the arrow is on it's way.... I watch it fly as the chuck drops to 4 feet. The Razorhead hits him at the base of the neck, and there's a flurry of squeeling whistlepig and arrow, before all is still.
My Grandpa couldn't believe it!!! All he could talk about was how I "stalked 100 yards acrossed an open hayfield, and killed a woodchuck with a goddang bow n arrow" By the end of the week half the county knew....

[dnovo]

Number of years ago I was headed back to camp after a morning in my deer stand. Just easing along I spot a squirrel sitting on the ground about 25 yards in front of me with a large tree about 3 or 4 feet behind him. All I had were broadheads but not worrying about losing an arrow because of the tree I draw back and let fly.  No way I could ever do this again. The broadhead arrow hits him in the neck. He is directly facing me and the Zwickey broadhead went through his neck perfectly level leaving the skin on either side the only thing still holding his head on. He never even quivered.

[Pat B]

On one of my first bow hunts in 1979 or 80, with an old Shakespeare recurve I found in an abandoned warehouse and some aluminum arrows I was about 6' up a pine along a fire break at Victoria Bluff WMA near Bluffton, SC. I hear the bushes rustle and an 8pt steps out on the fire break broadside  at about 10 yards with his antlers covered with honeysuckle vines. I draw back and release; thwack...right over his back and  into another pine. The 8pt jumps a few steps and stops broadside about 15 yards out. The next arrow went right over his back...again.  The deer jumps another few steps and I shot another right over his back again. Well, that was all my arrows and he just walked off like nothing had happened.
 I've never had a chance again at 2 much 3 tries at the same deer while hunting.

[Bruce M]

I was about 12? My Grandpa always drove around the farm, making war on woodchucks with his old .22
I took a ride with him one day, and took my bow, a 66" 35# Ben Pearson solid glass recurve.
We saw a woodchuck in a fresh mown hayfield and Gramp said, "can ya hit him?"

So... I get outa the truck, get my bow outa the bed, crawl under the fence, and SLOWLY strand up....
Gramp hollers "SHOOTIM" but he's still on all fours eating. So... I take a few slow steps closer... then a few more...
He pops his head up, and I freeze. Gramp hollers again, "SHOOTIM!!" Then, he goes back to eating.... So, I take a few more steps... This continues, as I slowly close the distance.... 50 yards.... now 40..... 30.... At about 20 yards, he pops his head up and is REALLY checking me out... I take another step and he pops his head up again.... Ok, he's got me pegged

So, This is about as close as I'm gonna get.... I let him feed for awhile, but he's still got an eye on me....
He turns a little with his head behind his shoulder, and I draw back.... he spins, and STANDS UP!! 
The strings slips and the arrow is on it's way.... I watch it fly as the chuck drops to 4 feet. The Razorhead hits him at the base of the neck, and there's a flurry of squeeling whistlepig and arrow, before all is still.
My Grandpa couldn't believe it!!! All he could talk about was how I "stalked 100 yards acrossed an open hayfield, and killed a woodchuck with a goddang bow n arrow" By the end of the week half the county knew....

Great story and memory for you I'm sure....Hence the name "woodchucker"

[M60gunner]

Me and my old Lemon Wood straight bow with those arrows from the sports store. Walking down by the creek, saw a rabbit sitting by a tree. Oh what the heck, I will probably miss because he will jump like the others before him. Well this time the arrow flew straight and went through the rabbit’s head and pinned him to the tree. I couldn’t believe it nor could my folks when I got home. Had my first rabbit and my first lesson in cleaning and skinning a critter. Think I was 12 or 13 years old.

[Petrichor]

What a cool thread. Pulling up a chair. 

[Sam McMichael]

I've mentioned my most unlikely bowhunting events several times here on the Gang, but one more telling won't hurt. I had never killed a deer with either bow or rifle, and quite honestly I didn't really know squat about bow hunting. I was seated on the ground on a stool leaning against a tree when several does came by. I took a shot and missed, then another and another, etc. I loosed six arrows and never cut a hair. Being out of arrows, I sneaked out and returned to town. I bought more arrows and returned to my stand. After a while a 10 point buck came in. My shot was not great, but it was good enough. I loaded the buck across the hood of my car and got a lot of approving looks as I drove around the town square to take him to the processor.

I still get a good feeling thinking on that day way back in 1970. Against the odds, I got lucky a had a realyy good day.

[Pine]

Great stories, hope we get some more. 

[South MS Bowhunter]

Pine,

I’m thinking as I read these how a couple sound so familiar.

My first story is one of unusually bad luck and then a second of beating the odds and as they say “buy a lottery ticket” (wouldn’t do it though).

First

I was hunting on Little Rock AFB on land allowed for hunting at the end of the runway. I had scouted out a nice creek crossing with beds near the edge of the mowed grass of the runway.

Got to my tree stand just before grey light and settled in at about 16’. At around 0700 I saw movement at about 1 o’clock and not 5 yards in front of the tree. It was a young bedded yearling grooming itself.

How in the world it stayed there that close with me climbing etc…I’ll never know?

To this point I had never shot a deer with my bow, but had several opportunities that ended in misses mostly due to hunting with vanes off the self (didn’t know better then).

I decided it was a young deer and I’d would pass, but the longer it stayed my will power loosened 

So when it finally stood to leave I decided to take it. First arrow under at 5 yards, second under and to the front, third arrow under and to the rear

The deer steps over the front arrow shaking knowing somethings amidst but stops at 7-8 yard.

Fourth arrow over down the middle, deer moves out to center of creek at about 13 yards and the fifth arrow is loosed under down the middle. I have one more arrow in my Quiver but could not bring myself to shoot again. I thought if the good Lord protected it 5 times it was meant to live 

Second story of profound luck.

This happened just a couple years back at home. I walked out side my garage with bow and arrow in hand to do a little practice. And immediately seen a squirrel at about 30 yards and had no intent on shooting. I have shot them in the pass from my little wood lot but for the most part live and let live these days, (except for my neighbors young son, pure death on anything that moves lol).

But all of a sudden the squirrel leaps and is on a flat out run heading for the tree line. Something comes over me and next thing I know everything is in autopilot. Arrow nocked. Squirrel at 35 yds. Bow is swinging and rising, squirrel approaching 40 yds and afterburners ignited. Squirrels path and bow swing and reaching anchor simultaneously converge as the arrow is released.

Squirrel now at 45 yds and arrow connect to a rolling squealing fur ball

I could not believe what had just happened and I look around to see if anybody else seen it. I’ve had one other instances of this but with a rim fire, that’s for another day!

[Pine]

It was the early 80s and I guy I worked with invited me too hunt his farm.
He gave me a tour and set me up in a back corner in the morning.
Stayed on Stanton until aro 10:00AM and came back up to the farm house.
As I walked past the end of the barn, there was a doe standing about 5 yards from me with its head down in the grass.
I froze; it picked its head up, looked away from me and went back to eating.
I slowly pulled an arrow off my quiver, got it nocked and slowly drew up and popped an arrow right in the sweet spot.
It ran about 30 yards and piled up.
I couldn't believe that and my friend was right behind me watching the whole thing.

[Pat B]

This was 1999, shortly after I bought my new(then) Mike Treadway long bow. I had been hunting with a Jeffry's recurve and lost a nice 8 point that I hit in the shoulder and tracked for over 5 hours and over 1000 yards. Very disappointing but he lived. I saw his odd track tending a scrape a few weeks later. Anyway, on this evening hunt I walked to the tree I had previously set my summit climbing stand in. I climbed the tree, got myself situated, filled my cheek with Red Man and waited for the evening to unfold, spitting the tobacco juice at the base of my tree.
 Within a few minutes of sitting down I see a doe stand up in the canes about 20 yards from my tree. I stand, place my feet for a shot, put tension on the string and watch in amazement as the doe walks directly to my tree. As she gets close I take the shot almost directly down.(a shot I wouldn't take again) The doe turns and runs up hill about 50 yards. She stands there for a minute or so with her back humped up and my bloody arrow was in the ground 8' from the tree.
 The doe slowly walks back down hill and right back into the cane she came from. I heard her lay down, get up and lay down again. After about 30 minutes and no additional movement from the doe I headed back to camp.
 A few hours after supper myself and 4 other guys went back to recover the doe. With flashlights and Coleman lanterns we scoured the area but no doe. After an hour or more of looking we went back to camp for the evening. I'd go back in the morning for a better look.
 The next morning I went back to my tree, climbed into the stand and pinpointed where I last heard the doe. I climb down and went to that area and there she was. She had bowed up with none of her white hair showing. I really don't know how we walked all over the area the night before and never saw her.
 This was my first trad kill. When I picked up my new Treadway, Mike knew I hadn't killed a deer with a bow yet and told me it was going to be my lucky bow. On the inside of the top limb I wrote..."First Blood, 9/19/99".  A few years ago I asked Mike if he would reduce the weight of this bow for me. He did, reducing the draw weight from 56#@26" to 46#@26" and he added my inscription back when he refinished it.
 That Treadway bow, back in 1999 cost $318.00, custom made for me. I think I paid Mike $200 to reduce the weight a few years ago.

[Gordon Jabben]

Sometimes you just get unbelievably lucky.  I was hunting on my place and as usual not seeing anything and it was getting late in the morning, a grey squirrel came by on the ground and I was lucky enough to get him.  After getting down from my stand and retrieving him, I decided to walk down an old oil field road through some blackjack timber and maybe get another shot at a squirrel.  Surprisingly I noticed I had walked up on a bedded doe maybe thirty yards away and it hadn't seen me.  I put the squirrel arrow in my back quiver and drew out a broadhead.  I managed to get a few steps closer and made my shot.  It wasn't good, going high and a little forward of where I needed it completely missing the doe.  Three deer exploded  like a covey of quail, two going one way and one the opposite.  In the cover I hadn't even seen the two other deer.  When I went to retrieve my arrow, I notice the beds in the leaves were behind the doe I had shot at and I couldn't find my arrow.  Thinking surly I didn't hit one of the deer I hadn't seen.  A few yards and a good blood trail and I'm hoping it isn't a fawn of the doe I had shot at.  A few more yards and there was my deer, a very nice doe. 

[smag]

Hmmnn

Shooting straight down on big game is mighty effective. Put kids thru college and fed a family with that shot with 35-40lb selfbow. You slip an arrow on elk, sheep, or deer size game right behind the top of shoulder blade tops on either side of spine it's a done deal. Hit spine they fall right there, pluck 2nd arrow if need be and yer packing meat.
Great thing about that shot is if they directly under you they hardly ever see you bend over and draw and you get to watch the mystical flight of your arrow disappear into hair. Albeit a short flight.

Best shot I ever saw as a boy was my father. They had just had 1st season of Wild Turkey hunting and with bow you could take a hen or Tom. We were on our way to a hasty blind on a big pasture on a hilltop. Moving along and below the military crest of the this field. I was follow the old man and could not see over the crest but he could. he took a knee and I stopped behind him. He knock an arrow and stood back up. I watched him draw and shoot.
I says " what was it". He replied " I just shot a bird, up by the top fence". I was thinking that 50-60yds from where we were. I asked " you get it"? Old man says " I think so, I saw it spinning in circles after shot".
Well, we get up and walk over top of the sloped field to where he shot a bird and there was the bird. My father had shot but did not see the bird was right behind the barbed wire of fence. When arrow came in it hit fence and deflected right into the birds neck. Just a sliver skin holding head on. I still have the state certificate he received for the first wild turkey killed with bow after the reintroduction in state, late 1970's or maybe 1980?

Hedge~

[Orion]

First, let me preface this by noting that Turkeys often have a way of rattling my cage.  A few years ago, hunting out of a pop-up blind, I had a nice Tom come in. I did a ye-hah and missed him (by a lot) in full strut.  BTW, a Ye-hah is a total breakdown in my shooting form -- usually a gargantuan pluck in coordination with a humongous jerk of my bow arm.

Obviously, he didn't want to stick around after that, and after jumping in the air about 5 feet, he started to walk away.  I managed to get another arrow on the string and do another, lesser ye-hah as he was quartering away from me.  Pulled my bow arm and the arrow passed harmlessly in front of him.  Or so I thought. His head was out front, not up, when I shot, and I thought the arrow has passed by just in front of him and under his neck.  But as he walked over the rise in the alfalfa field, he seemed to be listing to the left. 

Hmmm.  Better check it out. Got out of my blind and walked to the crest of the little hump some 20 yards away, and there he was flopping another 20 yards out.  Was hunting with a 3-blade Woodsman, and as the arrow passed one of the blades cut the bird's throat.  Just a tiny bit of blood on one blade, nothing anywhere else on the arrow and one slit across the throat, of course. 

Sometimes you get lucky. 

[woodchucker]

Oct.15th,1976 Was the opening day of my first NY Bow Season.
We usually deer hunted up to my Grandpa's farm, and a weekend trip, as it was 4 hours upstate.
Instead I would be hunting in my "backyard".....

My "backyard" was about 500 acres of land locked property, consisting of small ridges, little pond holes, a few cedar thickets, a large swamp, and what was construded by a young boy to be a "mountain".... This was my playground.
The perfect place for a boy, dreaming to be Fred Bear, to roam with his bow and arrows.

I had built a wooden tree stand overlooking one of the mostly dried up pond holes. There were many deer tracks in the mud around the little pond, evidence that they were coming in to drink... 
Between the 2 ridges on each side, were about a dozen Red Oaks, and 3 huge White Oaks in the bottom.
Food!! and Water!! This is a great spot!  (Hey, I was 16 LOL)

Opening Morning, I set in the dark on the edge of the woods, waiting for enough light to slowly sneak in to my stand. As I set there, I heard hoof steps, and the rustling of leaves. DEER!! Then... a tremendous crashing and sticks breaking!!

Soon, it was light enough for me to slowly pick my way into the woods, and I started in on the trail...
In all my years since this day, I have never shaken like I did that morning! A combination of anticipation and adrenalin I guess...?? About 75 yards in along the trail, I found a Beech sapling SHREDDED!!! This was not here yesterday, I thought to myself, and I REALLY started shaking!!! Slowly I picked my way along the trail, expecting a deer behind every tree.... Finally I was at the base of my stand. I climbed up into my stand and set down, hung my Boy Scout knapsack on a board, The hauled up my bow.....

As I sat there with my new (to me) 50# Bear Alaskan, with it's Bear tape-on bowquiver with 4 Bear cedar arrows tippped with Razorheads in my lap, it hit me.... I'M DEER HUNTING!!!!

After an hour or so, I hear a YIP!!! I see a Grey Fox come out of the brush around the pond hole. Then another yip and here comes another one! They start yipping & yapping and chasing each other in and out of the brush...
I don't know how long I watched them for, maybe 10-15 minutes? Then, one catches the other, and they're a yipping, yapping, rolling, Foxball.... One is on top, so I draw my bow and loose my arrow.... The arrow hits the top Fox in the back and he lets out a loud YIPE!!! Then heads for the brush with the feathers sticking out of his back.
I look back to see the other Fox thrashing on the ground, pinned there by the other half of my arrow!!!
By the time I lowered my bow and climbed down, all was still. The Fox pinned to the ground was dead, and a blood trail heading into the brush.... I found the second Fox dead about 40 yards away.

I grabbed their tails and carried them back to my stand. I sat there for a while, just thinking....
It was my first ever REAL hunt, and I had killed 2 Grey Fox, with one arrow.
On that day, I felt like Fred Bear 

[South MS Bowhunter]

Great stories!

[shankspony]

Ive got a couple, one a kill and one a miss.

The kill was a fallow doe. I had been out working when I saw a doe with a limp come out of a forest area not far away. I snuck home and grabbed my bow, as I though she might be a good one to try take seeing as it had an injury. when I got back she was gone but I reasoned not far, so entered the forest to look for her. As I did a huge thunderstorm that had been threatening broke over top of us, and the rain coming down through the trees was just incredible, bouncing back off the ground- Huge drops. I took shelter under the only thing i could find, a low leaning tree fern.
The storm stopped as quick as it came, and there was this moment of quiet and peace and the whole area looked stunning with that fresh rain washed air and light coming through the trees with drops of water falling. So much so that i was kind of spellbound and despite being cramped up and bent over under my tree, I stayed a bit and just watched.
A sound brought me back to earth. A footstep behind me. I tensed as the doe walked past my hiding spot barely 3 yards away. there was no way I could draw my bow to any kind of anchor, but she was so close I just drew back to my chest and released. The arrow flew perfect and a few seconds later i watched her stumble sideways and fall.



The other was a hunt with some rifle carrying mates. We were strolling too our hunting area and they were giving me a hard time about the bow. A hare gets up in front of us and sprints away around a track. The guys start calling me Robin Hood and telling me to shoot it with my bow. The track curves to 90 degrees about 70 or 80 yards away and having fun i draw the bow and send an arrow in a long arc way out in front of this running hare. Stunned, we all watch as the arrows arc and the running hare start to converge. In the last few moments i hear one of my mates say "No way!" and there are some in drawn breaths. The arrow thuds down under the belly of the hare as its on the topside of its leap.if it had of been on the down side it would have plunged straight through it.
There is a bit of silence and the guys start swearing and saying stuff like, OK, dont piss Shanks off!

It was to be fair, the best miss I have ever made.

[Red Beastmaster]

Ground mole at 150yds!

I was shooting up in the air seeing how close I could group. When I pulled my arrows from the field one of them had blood all over the first few inches. Cool.

Hill got nothing on me.