My story is probably like a large number of folks here. Not growing up in a hunting family, I learned by trial and error with great emphasis on error. Even though I had been familiar with the bow, like so many young guys, I got all wrapped up in the boom of the rifle. I just had to have a cabinet full of them. Still, it took a while before I started killing deer with any regularity.
It was during this time that I became a hunter. I studied and read all kinds of material on hunting the whitetail deer. However, it took a while before I started to see success. However, I didn't forget the bow altogether. I bought a Ben Pearson recurve in 1969 on sale at K-Mart. I bet a lot of you guys don't remember K-Mart, but it was my go-to store for "hunting stuff".
Finally, after many failures, things picked up. Even though I shot and cleanly missed 7 times that morning, I was still pumped. I slipped out of the woods and went back to town to get more arrows. I returned to the same location. After a while, a buck came along and offered a shot. A HIT! Man, was I excited. After twenty minutes or so I checked for blood but didn't find any. Luckily, I had thorough knowledge of the land, so I had a pretty good idea where he was likely to go. After about 80 yards, I found him. He was beautiful! He had 10 points and an even rack. At that moment I felt neither Howard Hill nor Robin Hood had anything on me.
Looking back on it all, I did a lot of things all wrong. One, I really wasn't that good an archer. Luckily, I'm a little better shot now. Second, I didn't know much about fine tuning my equipment. I had found some arrows that shot pretty well from my bow, so that is what I would always ask for. I still have that arrow from that kill. What capped this off more than anything else was that this was the first deer I ever killed.
I stilled used the rifle a lot in the gun season, but occasionally used the bow. Eventually, I acquired a longbow from Archery Traditions. It was the Bamboo Long Hunter model. It changed my hunting life. After archery season ended, I decided that I was having so much fun, I would stay with the bow into the gun season. After all, if I grew tired of the bow, my rifles were always available. That was over 30 years ago, and I am still shooting only the longbow. Now, I shoot Hill style bows.
I don't claim to be a great hunter or a fantastic archer, but I am proud that I have never stuck a deer that was not retrieved. While I have never bow killed many deer, it has been fun. Over 100 deer have been 15 yards or closer, but I just decided not to drop the string. Sometimes it is more satisfying just to watch. Yearlings and bucks seem to be come in closer than the old wise does. In my opinion, if you can consistently fool the older girls, you are a master deer hunter.
I have relayed this story before, but hopefully, some beginning bowhunters who may be a bit discouraged at not being successful yet will read it and realize that perseverance will pay off. Keep on practicing, and keep on hunting.
Topic: A bumpy journey (Read 921 times)
