In a big time SLUMP.....

[BEN]

Can't believe I'm saying this: I'm actually glad to have to work 12 hr. shifts the next 3 days! Get out of the woods and  do something different.

Reason?  :confused:  

Early this season, I nicked a doe with an arrow. shot went high; 1 bleeder blade caught her hide as it creased her back. Can't get much closer of a shave than that.......

Spent 2 weeks of vacation out camping/hunting = saw lots of deer but never could geta shot.....

This morning, I missed not 1, but 2 turkeys in a half hour!!   :mad:    :mad:  The first miss was at least close---popped some feathers (high again). But the 2nd was off to the right by at least a foot! I was so pissed at myself,I left, growling at myself all the way out of the woods and home.

I may be done for this year with the bow.....happened my first yr. with trad.  Couldn't geta shot no matter what, and if I did--I missed. Confidence is at an all time low!!  :(   I practice all yr., go to shoots, practice some more. This year has just about taken the fun out of this...........      

[PEARL DRUMS]

Next year will be here before you know it. Relax, enjoy the holidays and get ready all over again!

[Stumpkiller]

The answer may just be that you need a break from it.

Years ago I lost confidence in myself after putting an arrow almost straight-down into a nice buck.  He collapsed in a heap - good so far - but as I was headed down he got to his feet in a flurry of kicking and bounded off . . . as my bow was hanging by the parachute cord I used to lower it down.  I spent the last days of a camp/canoe hunt trying to find him with no success.  I was shattered.  

I gave up hunting from tree stands (for about 12 years!), changed bow and broadheads.  I'd "second guess" myself on shots and hold off because I just wasn't sure.  One thing an instinctive archer needs is confidence.  I got mine back bunny hunting.  Even then, it is amazing I can miss a sitting bunny at 10 yards but pop one running at the same distance.  Why?  No time to think!

I don't ever snap shoot (or at least I try not to) but I found if I made the decision to shoot and then did the draw and realease in one continuous motion with just a heartbeat at anchor I did better than sneaking the bow up and slowly inching the arrow back.  Just take the shot.  Finally, I once again found an obliging deer (a little button) and after a good shot and quick kill felt better about the world in general.  It's OK to miss.  It's not OK to think "I'll probably miss" before the shot.  THAT is fatal to success.

Good luck.  Relax and kill something.  ;-

[Wannabe1]

Ben, sorry to hear about your hunting season. Not that it's any consolation but, I haven't even had a shot at anything. Still gonna keep trying though. I practiced as much as Uncle Sam would allow me this summer too but, I am still holding out hope for the late season that starts tomorrow.

Good luck in whatever you decide. Maybe you just need to come back out to Oregon and get some high mountain air!   :D

[centaur]

We all miss from time to time. I know I do! It's part of the deal when you hunt with a bow. It just makes the successes all the sweeter when you score. Just last week I had a benevolent and possibly suicidal doe give me a second chance. I missed a turkey earlier in the fall, but ended up with two on the ground. Keep on keeping on, things will get better.

[rice]

I missed a coyote and a medium sized 10 point last weekend!!  :(

For just a short while, I was bummed, but then I thought: That sure was fun!  

I try not to take it too seriously, if all I wanted was success, I would be using a different weapon.

usually after a few days at work, I'm chomping at the bit to get back out there.

I bet you will be too.

Chris

[meathead]

Sucks doesn't it.  Happens to everybody though.  Don't get to discouraged.

[joe ashton]

It can all change in an instant..  Take a break and get back out there .. You'll not shoot anything in your front room

[Sixby]

If you saw your success differently and enjoyed the hunt itself and the kill as an added bonus it would help. I bet in the long run you will remember those times you miss as much or more than the times you killed. I know I do. I believe that there was thread about that not too long ago.  God Bless you and have a wonderful day, Steve

[wixwood]

Hey, I switched to the trad side about 15 years ago. 12 years ago I made the personal commitment that I wasn't going to Muzzle hunt again until I got an elk with my longbow. This year I burned 12 pref. points and hunted 14 days and still didn't get my shot.......maybe if they could put up the weather forcast when aps. are due, hmmm no I hope they can never do that. Anyway, it all has it's ups and downs and I've had some great experiences in the woods, soooo close yet....! I could fill a book with stories on the ones that got away. Have I been down, you bet, way down at times. But, to kinda steel a line. If it was easy, everybody would do it, being hard is what makes it great! I sometimes think it is part of my penance or that it is just part of the personal tests that get thrown at us from time to time. Bottom line is, I'm still kickin' and I'm planning on being in the woods with longbow in hand and elk tag in pocket next year. If I never get anything else but another chapter in my "book" of almosts and I have a camp with fire, friends, food and festivities........well, I'd still go even if I knew that was the limit for me. Hang in there, I'll bet there are many who would trade places with anyone of us in a heartbeat.

[Bjorn]

Think positive: you are missing and not wounding, that is a big plus. Missing has been with archery for thousands of years-that is part of the magic. Take a break for a week and you will come back refreshed.

[njloco]

I'm probably wrong about how I think about this, but here goes. I had a possible chance at one of the biggest bucks I've seen on the property I hunt on. I chose not to take the shot as it was a tough one, and he just walked off from about 10-12 yds. away, never knew I was there !

I then took two shots at the same buck, one at 15 yds. and right after that another at 8 yds. Missed both, he came back because he never knew I was there !

I had a shot at a real nice fox last evening at about 8 yds. missed, but the only reason he knew I was there is because he busted me when I drew back.

So what am I getting at, I'm a reconvert from a wheeler and treestands, now hunting from the ground Trad. This is the first full year to hunt with Trad. and from the ground, and LOOK HOW CLOSE I AM GETTING, and they don't even know I'm there !

I'm feeling positive brother, and having a blast doing it.

Feel better and don't give up because, YOU CAN DO IT !

[Wiley Coyote]

Don't get discouraged. Take a break and get right back to it. Traditional bowhunting is never easy but it is rewarding. Good luck!!  

[rascal]

Not a good deal but it does happen.  Look at it this way, its the second best shot you could possibly make.  I want either a clean quick kill or a complete miss in that order.  Last years buck was a bad shot to put it bluntly and I spent the first afternoon and that night and the next morning looking for that buck.  All the while I was just sick and loathing myself.  In contrast I have let fly with more arrows this year (5) than any year Ive ever hunted with archery gear of any sort.  Ive hit a tree, ruined a broadhead hitting a pile of rocks and punched lots of holes in the air.  Ive been high, Ive been low and Ive been left, figure one more miss to the right and I should have them out of my system.    

Truth is Ive been having a ball this season even though my lease got logged over the summer and Ive literally moved all my stands more than once.  Ive whacked my stands with the lower limb and actually ruined one of my bows... still having a ball.  My reality is Ive been seeing enough good bucks (135" and above) to allow me to take those 5 shots and to make those 5 misses.  I could hang it up for the season but every miss has prompted me to fix some detail that hadnt been addressed prior to the miss and Im still confident I can bring it all together.  

Dont take this wrong either, Im a good shot.  I practice out to 30+ yards at targets no larger than a soup can and hit consistently.  I limit hunting shots to 20 and under and never shoot at alert deer or moving deer.  I guess I just suck at this whole trad hunting thing this year and have a bad case of buck fever... Oh and my thumb hurt one day and on another day it was cold.  I think that covers all the misses.   :D  

Just take a break and come on back and have some fun with it.  Look at it this way bud so far no animals have been injured in the making of this season for either of us!

[South MS Bowhunter]

Ben, stick it out it will come back together.  I know mine seems to come in cycles (shooting that is) up and down but I can't quit too addictive!

[glass76]

Hang in there, it's only temporary.

[GrayRhino]

Relax, go stump shooting or small game hunting for an afternoon and just have fun.  Get your confidence back, stay at it, and we'll be reading about it in the Highlights forum soon!

I wish I could go hunting today and have the chance to miss a deer.    

"Life's greatest accomplishments are those that at first seem impossible."

[bad arrow]

This week... 4 deer busted me(1 nice buck) missed 1 turkey, a groundhog and a couple squirrels. But I was hitting stumps dead center inbetween getting busted and missing game!.... Phil

[Bonebuster]

Been there done that.

Looking back at the times I felt as you do, it was when other things in my life were too out of control and my focus was way off. I may have even felt irresponsible by being out hunting when there were so many other things I should have been doing. Kind of like I was punishing myself for even being out hunting.

I do that to some extent every year. Life is busy, and there are alot of people who depend on me. I sometimes feel guilty about being out hunting with my two boys, when I know my daughter would love to go for a walk or ride bikes together. Oil changes, clean out the gutters, cutting firewood...the list sometimes seems endless.

I just try to do my best with everything, and enjoy the time I get. Some things are simply left undone when hunting season comes.

Hunting can go your way to the point that is it almost magic, and the pendulum can swing the other way until you feel as if you carry a curse. I have found that when I seem cursed, I slow down, and do some investigating of new territories. I no longer allow myself to sit and stew about it in a treestand. Try to find an overlooked location, or ask permission at one of the places you`ve been meaning to do so. I do SOMETHING different.

As far as shooting goes, if you have been at it for any length of time, you already KNOW what lack of focus does for you there.      

You are far from alone in this. In fact, I bet this is a topic that many of us would like to discuss here much more often, but we simply do not. Who wants to talk about problems...right!?

Be brave...build a campfire and count your blessings.  

[L51]

As it's often said, thats why they call it hunting, not killing.

Misses and frustration are part of the game, if it was easy everyone would be shooting trad equipment!

Stick with us, it'll come around.