First Traditional Harvest

[redant 60/65]

My first trad. harvest was before I even knew what a trad. bow was, it was back in the mid 50's I was about 9 years old and my next door neighbors where from Tennessee and there dad was a carpenter. Well some how we got the idea to make some bows and arrows, what we came up with was a branch from a cresol bush for the bow, about three feet long. You had to look for the right limb to use, we used cotton kite string for a string.
The most interesting thing that I remember was how we made our arrows. We used a weed type plant that had a long stem about a 1/4 inch in diameter and a soft inter, so what we did was take my next door neighbors dads finishing nails and put them in the end of the shafts for a point.We didn't know anything about fletching a arrow.
Our bows where probably good to shoot about 10 yards max. Well one day while out shooting I came across a road runner bird, at the time I didn't know it was against the law to shoot. So after a long chase and shooting two arrows I finally hit it and killed it.
Well after thoses early years I didn't pick a bow up untill the late 70's. I shot a Bear recurve and then went to a compound for about five years.Now all all I shoot is a long bow kind of like what I started with and having the same kind of fun, just shooting at stuff, 3-D or real animals.
The best thing about archery is the way you can go up or down, you can shoot a self bow,long bow, or recurve, and even a compound.
You can challenge you're self at any level.    :cool:

[tyee]

I went agaist the grain right off the bat. It was 1990 I was fifteen working in a bike shop my first hunting season with a bow came and went that year I used a hand me down compound. Sometime in the late season one of the fellas in elk camp showed up with a black widow, and I knew right away what I would be saving for. A few months later I purchase my first custom bow a trailblazer built by Kitsap Traditional Archery and then a howatt longbow soon followed. I was in deep, christmas brought a crester, spine tester. I was now building my own arrows. I even built a yew longbow with Jay St Charles guidence. Started a broadhead collection with his brother Joes guidence. It was two years after that first bow hunt December 7th 1992 my father the worlds best hunting buddy and I were hunting blacktails there was a little snow on the ground. I can not remember who spotted the deer but I will give the credit to dad as back then that was most often the case. There were three deer on a hill above our position maybe 200 yards up the hill. A logging trail went up the hill and would put me on the top where I could try for a stalk above their location dad waited at the bottom I was on my own.
Upon arriving on the top of the hill I realized a stalk wouldn't be needed as the deer were feeding out at about 35 yard the largest doe never presented a shot but another did and the cedar shaft walnut stainded with two orange cresting stripes and orange barred turkey feathers was brought back to full draw the four blade delta look imposing. The string broke free of my grasp and is always the case time stood still. I was brought back to reality when that whack echoed on the hill and with out thought as the deer was heading strait away anougher arrow laid chase and caught it in the femeral artery. The deer dropped fast from two fatal shots my dad saw the whole event from the bottom of the hill. I still have that arrow sixteen years later the tail from that deer rest above my desk. I often look at that tail and that arrow and wonder if any trophy I bring home will live up to what these artifacts from my past mean to me.

[BEN]

I started hunting as a kid using a crossbow... and stuck with it for years----until about age 28 when my buddy talked me into trying a compound bow. I tried it and switched to it for about 2 years and 2 deer. But, wasn't any more fun to shoot than the x-bow was during the off season. Plus, I was terrible at range estimation. So, same buddy as before talked me into trying Trad archery. LOVED IT!
No more worrying about whether my yardage was right where I needed it for whatever site pin I was using. Fun to shoot during non hunting months. Alot more help-full folks who genuinely wanted to offer help, advice to improve my shooting and not just telling me I needed this or that new technology to make my bow "better".
Any way, first year hunting with recurve was a bust----missed 2 does and wounded 1 buck. I was ready to pack it in. Went back to compound bow and got a deer. So......I sold the compound so now there would be no "crutch" in the closet. 2 Years ago while getting ready to climb down from my stand, a beautiful coyote came lopping around  the hillside in front of me. I thought, "Man, that 'yote is out there...wonder if i can hit it from here......I think I can.......might as well try it!" I let out a little "squeak" and she stopped and stared. I drew back and she started to trot off. I thought "Oh no you don't" and let the arrow fly >>>-------->   Beautiful flight and watched it disappear in her side. She ran about 30 yds and laid down. ended up having to shoot her again but man was I pumped!!!!! When I stepped off the range, she had been 33 steps from my stand and I didn't even think about "how far".
 

This past year  I finally got my first Trad deer----a little doe at 7 yds. ---same deer as in my avatar. I was pumped again!! I finally got it through my head that I could do it! During these last 3 years, I had had many shot opportunities but always held off, or couldn't get my nerve up to move and take the shot-----finally learned "just DO it!"

ben

[Danny Roberts]

KYTJ,
Is that an old Bear you have there ? Where at in the Blugrass do you call home ?
DR

[KentuckyTJ]

Danny it is a Kodiak Mag. I live in Shelby County.

[Two Arrows]

I copied this from the Memorable Hunts section.

November 15th, 2005;

Two Arrows

Trad Gang Member
Member # 3855

  posted November 15, 2005 11:55 PM                    
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I went out this afternoon with not alot of confidence that I would see a whole lot of deer, if any, as the wind was howling and the snow was flying. I thought what better of a day to be out there slowly stalking through the trees, just to see what I could see. The wind was gusting up to 33 mph, and there was no way I was going to be up in my treestand.

At the sign in area ( public hunting grounds ) I expected to see 5 to 10 vehicles as this is the normal amount of hunters parked there almost every night. Much to my surprise, there was only one other guy at the parking area when I got there. When I met him, he actually laughed when he saw I was carrying a recurve. He was too! He was laughing that he was not the only person crazy enough to be out hunting in weather like this, but another recurve shooter was out there too. We exchanged good lucks and to each their merry way.

About 35 minutes later I'm slowly creeping through the timber and notice some movement to the northeast of me. Turkeys, and a bunch of them. About the time I am putting my binoculars up to look at them, out of the southeast strolls a decent 4x3 on the troll for does only 15 yards from me. I had no time to get an arrow ready, and he continued on to the northwest, but I did manage to find my grunt call and grunt at him about five times with no response from him at all.

Five minutes go by, and I'm thinking I need to be about 15 yard deeper in the brush to break up my outline when he appears again. Mr. 4x3 is coming straight at me and I knew it was the same deer as he had a bloody right ear from fighting which I noticed the first time I saw him

Down on my right knee I waited for him to finally turn broadside. After giving me "the look " once, twice, three times, he finally turned and gave me a 15 yard quartering away shot that I made good on. I was shooting a Chek-Mate Hunter II 55lbs @ 28" and a Wensel Woodsman on a Blackhawk Vapor 3000. He went about 80 yards before going down.

This is not the biggest deer I've ever shot, but certainly the most memorable.

 

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TGMM Family of the Bow

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From: Blair, Nebraska  |  IP: Logged |

[huntnmuleys]

my first was a hog in texas.  i shot it in its bed, and honestly it acted like it was stoned, cause all the rest of em had blown out on us.  i was pretty happy with it anyway.

[tarponnut]

Great stories guys!

[Jack Denbow]

It was November 11, 1969, Veterans Day when I killed my first deer with a bow. There may have been some rabbits before then but I do not remember the details. I remember the details of this hunt like it was yesterday. I was hunting the marine base at Quantico, Virginia. This was before portable tree stands. If you wanted to hunt from a tree you had to build a stand. I had found a spot that I liked with good sign. I had selected a 3 forked tree that was grown up with honeysuckle to build my stand in. On that fateful morning I was in my stand and unknown to me my buddy came in after daylight on the way to his stand. He later told me he had jumped a buck near his stand that ran my way. As the buck passed me I kept waiting for it to stop to shoot. He finally stopped at about 40 yards slightly quartering away. I drew my Super Kodiak and sent the 2020 tipped with a LaFond Lightning Four on it's way. We weren't very smart in the ways of bowhunting back in those days and most of what we knew was self taught. I waited an hour before getting down to look for my buck. I could not find my arrow or any blood. While I was looking my buddy called out to me telling me he had found some blood. We followed the blood trail till it petered out. I found one pine needle with blood on it while crawling down the left fork of a trail and knew he had turned. We jumped some deer while going the way we thought he had gone. We went up over a hill and decided to wait another hour before going any further. After about 45 min. a doe came from the direction the deer had run. I told my buddy that maybe she had been with the buck and now he was down. Little did we know he was just out of sight in the direction the the doe had come from. I had hit beside his rectum cutting the femoral artery and most of the blood drained into the body cavity except when going uphill. As I type this I can look up at those horns with that 2020 laying across them from 40 years ago.
Jack
 

[Greyfox54]

I pestered my Mom and Dad every year for a bow when I was a kid . Well one Christmas when I got up there was a yellow all fiderglass 15# dream come true made by York Archery . I wasn't sure if it was for me or not as I have 2 brothers but I grabbed it first and as posession is 9/10's of the law I wasn't letting go . I ran outside and shot in my pajamas until I was forced to come inside . I was about 8 or 9 and by that spring I was launching arrows at all kinds of game with no success . We lived on a salt-water lagoon and had muskrats raiding our garden , one day I spied one under our birdfeeder eating scraps of bread and the stalk was on . I don't think he took me seriouly until I fired . I don't know who was more surprised him by being hit or me by hitting him . I was the talk of our neighborhood. I have a pic of me holding him up with trusty bow in hand . I have to figure out how to post it . I have been fortunate to have hunted in a lot of far away places and have been blessed with some great trophies but without a doubt this will always be up there with the best of them , this took place around 1963-4  , Fred

[KentuckyTJ]

That's a great story Jack. I was four years old on your special day. Thanks for sharing.

[smoke1953]

I'm now 55 and began bowhunting around the time that Whip and I graduated from high school together. The first three years with the recurve was difficult except for the many carp shot each spring. I never had problems with the fish but the deer were another story.  I remember glancing a shot off the shoulder of a doe while she was lying under my tree and shooting three more times at the same deer missing each time while perched on a branch without a tree stand. I never learned to properly shoot that bow.  Like many in the 70's that took up the sport, we immediately put on a rest and attached some type of sighting device which certainly led to my difficulties.  After the episode described above I switched to a Browning compound and didn't come back to traditional until two years ago. I sometimes wonder if we had the internet community back then whether I would have changed to the compound. Without the support system I was easily swayed. On Nov. 3rd of last year I left my tree stand an hour early slowly making my way the half mile back to the cabin.  I've encountered many deer on these return trips, but this was the first that I consciously was attempting to hunt my way back.  It took me an hour to cover that first 1/4 mile and the light was diminishing. As I approached one of my favorite spots in the woods a doe was standing above me on the 6 ft. high ridge just past "The Great White Oak." I hadn't seen her until I was 30 yds. away and now she was staring a hole right through me. Nothing I could do but continue on the well worn path towards her with no thought at all of getting a shot.  I might as well see how close I can get. I had been holding the arrow in my bow hand and I now slowly nocked the arrow made with fletching from last years turkey.  She didn't move while I went through that excruciatingly slow process,(kind of like this story). As I continued towards her with my hat tipped low she moved downslope to my left as I took her position on top of the ridge.  She was still staring as we seemed to circle while I pretended to ignore her.  Finally there was an opening and as I turned she now decided it was time to leave and the arrow some how found that spot and I've never felt more fulfilled as a bowhunter.

[Steve O]

I was a late bloomer, but I started big    

The whole story is here:

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=90;t=000094;p=1

 

[Oliverstacy]

Steve O...nice looking whale tales ya got there!!!

Lets see I've killed my target about 12000 times at least in the last 2 years of trad shooting, it’s still kicking so I keep flinging arrows.

I killed that nasty piece of alfalfa that was somewhere around the first turkey I missed last spring.

I crushed/killed the dirt clod just behind the second turkey I missed last spring, he was walking and I guess I led him a touch to much!

Never had the pleasure of killing something around a whitetail yet since I haven’t gotten a shot at one…but I’m sure this fall I’ll get that chance.

Some comic relief for the morning crowd!!!

Josh

Seriously…I need to get my first this spring!  Anyone got a dumb one-eyed turkey pen’d up in the lower 1/3rd of Michigan?