First let me offer a well deserved Thank You to all the members of TradGang that have helped, encouraged and coached me since I joined here a little over a year ago. I was probably a bit starry eyed at the prospect of "whittlin" a bow up out of a stick and then taking a deer with it, how annoying that must have been!!!
I know I kinda dropped off the grid so to speak when I was mid build on my Yew longbow but long story short I did finish that bow. Turned out as lovely as I had imagined it would even if it fell a bit short of my final wishes on draw weight. I had a very limited time to hunt this year since I had not one but two boys interested in the youth hunt. I finally broke free of that when my youngest tagged out on an 8 point for his first deer and my middle boy took a smaller buck for his tag (he got the 8 point last year). After that as life will often do all of the ends that I thaught I had tied off came untied and I was in no position to prioritize my own needs over the needs of my family. In the end I got one broken weekend at the start of November to hunt and hang stands (the hunting could have been better but man I sure did hang some stands)and just last weekend I lit out after Thanks Giving to give it one last try on the property.
Well There I Was... (all good hunting stories start that way right?)
Friday, November 28 around 2 PM camp was finally set up and our bellies were full of an afternoon meal, it was time to get down to the business of hunting!!! I sat in one of my more productive blinds, the five finger we call it because 5 narrow fingers of interlacing cover all come together at one point. The action was really slow, a few turkeys milled in a picked corn field well out of range and some relatively smart squirrels stayed just out of range of my Judo points. Just after sunset and just before legal shooting ends I caught sight of my first potential customer making its way through the woods. Well she turned out to be a young of the year doe, albeit a fairly large specimen that I assumed might have been seeing her first heat. I fairly confirmed this by the sight of a wide racked buck she had in tow about 40 yards to her rear that was grunting with every step he took. I was already standing and in position for a shot as the doe walked by at a mere 4 yards, I was sure I was in for a chip shot at a pretty respectable buck with my freshly whittled bow when he stopped short and conveniently behind some impenetrable cover. He lingered there for a bit before moving off about 10 yards and stopping in a maddeningly similar location, I was on the verge of admiting defeat when fate threw me a final bone so to speak. The buck turned into a patch of open field usually reserved for does and rambunctious button bucks and proceeded to walk a steady and purposeful trail to absolutely no where. I dont actually recall drawing, I do recall reminding myself to pick a spot, then my memory fails again since I dont remember letting go of the string...
I could tell I hit the buck right away, some things you just know that way, and I got to watch his every move in slow motion in my mind as he ran about 40 yards before crashing to ground within 30 yards of my stand. He never moved again and I couldnt have been more thrilled with my first deer with a bow I whittled with my own two hands.
Details: Yew Longbow (ALB style) 42# @ 27" cedar arrows, 125 grain eclipse single bevel broad heads.
More Details: 7 point buck with 19" spread, seemed really really really heavy dragging him out of that ravine so I think he must have weighed as much as a standard 53 Buick sedan. I pinned him through both lungs at 18 yards, just shy of exiting the off side shoulder.
I started this whole endeavour so I could revisit a simpler time in my life when I started playing with bent sticks, man I sure knew what was fun back then and apparently now. I think I may actually have managed to perfect my time travel technique, Ill be visiting that place again many times in the future I can assure you of that.
Topic: Reflecting on success (Read 456 times)
