Ohio trad hunt

[Chisler]

I have really enjoyed and have really been motivated by all the great stories I have read on TradGang.  This year I have a story to share:
     I switched to traditional archery gear 5  years ago.  The last 4 years I have been hunting with a 55 pound 3pc takedown longbow that I made from a Binghams kit.  That was the bow that I started with this year.
     I have a friend that has a great piece of property in eastern Ohio.  It is great deer habitat and he even has a "cabin" there.  We mow trails in the summer, maintain some stand sites and even try to grow some food plots - but we're always thinking about white-tails in the fall.  I usually get over here early for a couple 2 or 3 day weekends but I always try to come for 5 or 6 days in November.  It's hard to plan time off from work to coincide with the rut.  The rut, as we observe it here in Ohio, can be so variable in timing and intensity.  The weather is so unpredictable.  The rut often seems to be getting started, then we get a couple days in the 70's.
     This year I was able to plan a 6 day hunt starting Friday, November 11.  Friday and Saturday were perfect days for fall hunting.  We try to hold out for bigger bucks and we're always trying to kill more does.  I saw a lot of deer on Friday and Saturday but never the right one in the right spot.
     Sunday was super windy and I did not see a deer all day.  I always carry a practice arrow and usually shoot it from the stand.  It's only one shot, I play a scenario in my head, and I focus and make it count.  This is a great confidence booster.  So, on Sunday, after 9 hours in the stand I decided to take a practice shot.  I needed to be ready as I knew the wind was going to ease up and the deer were going to move.  I picked a stump, and pictured the crease behing the shoulder of a deer standing broadside, facing to the right, I focused, drew, and the lower limb exploded!  Jeepers!!  My bow hand was suddenly empty, the string hung limp from my left hand, with the arrow still attached to the serving, I felt like I got punched in the cheek, and my dear bow lay in three pieces on the ground 18 feet below.  I was fine. I was glad it was the lower limb.  I was truly relieved that if I was going to experience a broken bow, that it happened during practice and not on one of those bruisers I saw on Friday or Saturday.
     So now what?  I have 3 more days to hunt and my "go-to" bow is gone.
     PLAN B:  I have a back-up bow, a sweet osage selfbow I got from Soopernate in the 2011 TradGang Bow Swap.  66" N-N, 54# at my 27" draw.  It's a beauty and I feel real fortunate to have it.  It feels great, minimal hand shock, and the arrows go where I think they should.  But it's not as fast as my laminated bow and I just haven't had the confidence to hunt with it.
     I will practice and I will hunt with the osage selfbow on Monday.

[Chisler]

I got up earlier than early on Monday morning so I could practice with the selfbow under the spotlight on the back of the cabin.  15 yds and the arrows are flying nicely - especially when I focus on "the target".  11/32 cedar shafts that I fletched with 1 hot pink store bought turkey feather and 2 home-made Canada goose feathers.

Daylight creeps in slowly with a steady rain.  I love my tree umbrella, seriously.  I like the feel of this selfbow in my hand but I question the gloomy day ahead.  Forecast for rain off and on all day, getting warm too, probably too warm for any real deer activity.  Too bad I'm not flexible enough with my work schedule - if I could go home to Pittsburgh, work a few days and come back on Thursday and Friday when it's cool again...  But I am here now, the deer will come, stay alert.

Catastrophic failure of my fancy longbow, that's what it took to get me to hunt with a selfbow.

I'll finish this Tuesday evening.

[DannyBows]

Sorry to hear about your bow and glad you were not hurt, especially in the field.

That selfbow will do an awesome job for you, and your feeling of accomplishment will be deeper when you score with it.

I understand they are super quiet bows, so speed will not be such an issue in reality, just mentally.

Pick a spot when the time comes and we'll be looking at your hero pics here. Good luck!

[Chisler]

OK, back to Monday morning:  Where was I?  This is my first time hunting with a selfbow.  I'm in a stand we call "The Crossing", a natural  pinch point/funnel between 2 big beaver ponds in the bottom of a big valley. Trying to stay down low out of the wind. I have spent more time in this stand than any other. I haven't actually seen that many deer from this stand, but just the way it is set up, I know it's a good spot to kill a big buck.  I have so much confidence in this stand it makes it easy to sit here all day.  I have only killed one deer in this spot - 4 years ago I killed my first "trad deer" here. A mature doe wih a complete pass through shot from my first 3 piece take down long bow.
    I felt good about my practice shots with the selfbow at 5:30 this morning under the garage spotlights.

    Shooting instinctively is SO mental!  I know its been said a million times, but you HAVE to pick a spot and focus on your arrow going to that spot, otherwise it doesn't happen!

 

 

[Chisler]

So, first day hunting with selfbow and what do you know?!   I had the chance to really PICK A SPOT !
 
9:45 a.m.:  There's a buck at 40 yds, walking through the timber, following a little bench,  right towards a perfect shooting spot 14 yds away!    I was sitting down (that's the best way for me to keep still)with my bow on my lap when I spotted him.  I was able to stand up slowly, get the bow in front of me, fingers on the string, he's just walking, still among some small trees, but holy moly now he's only 20 yds, in a second he's gonna be less than 15 yds and pretty much straight downwind. This is happening right now!

He pauses with his head behind a tree but a couple branches are in front of his chest. Now he looks alert, did he catch a whiff?  I look ahead to the original spot where I pictured shooting him. He only has to take a few steps and he will be into, and out of, that narrow lane.  Should I grunt and try to stop him?  I think of Gene Wensel, or was it Barry  (I can't tell those guys apart) saying he never stops a deer for the shot, he prefers to lead a calm deer.  This all happened so fast but this is all the stuff that went through my mind.  He paused for only a second with his head behind that tree, then started walking again, I decided I would try to lead him, so I had to draw this 54# bow to 27" and loose this wooden shaft tipped with 135 grains of 2 blade Magnus steel as soon as his shoulder appeared in the 10" space between those trees. That all went through my mind in less than 2 seconds, except for the part about the Magnus broadhead.

 

 

[Chisler]

It all happened just like that and the next thing I know that buck is running away with the back half of my arrow sticking out of his chest! Just like it's supposed to happen - ha ha!!
    The arrow made quite a crack when it hit, and it didn't go all the way through. I saw the arrow hit in the top third of his chest and maybe little bit forward.  Maybe I caught the scapula or maybe centered a rib.  He sprints 30 yds uphill away from me and I see and hear the arrow break off.  Now he slows to a walk. Quickly I hang up my bow and start watching him through the binos.  He was walking R to L when I shot him. Now he is angling up a hill, walking L to R so I can't see where my arrow went in. I watch him step over a log at about 50 yds and I can't see any blood. At 60 yds he stops behind some branches, its hard to see him even with the binos. He just stands there for maybe 30 seconds, I don't know how long, I keep thinking he’s going to get wobbly... then he flicks his tail and just walks out of sight, up the hill.  I thought he was going to fall right there at 60 yds, but he didn't. I listened real hard but only heard the wind, the leaves are damp from early morning rain.
    I can see the back half of my arrow on the leaves. I'm going to wait 2 hours, climb down, take off my rain gear and go examine the broken arrow and the trail. I think this story will have a happy ending.  I'm not used to having the arrow only penetrate that far. And, why didn't he act like he had an arrow deep in his chest.
    Oh, I think I forgot to say that he is a small 8 point. At least he’s 8 if he has some small brow tines. Maybe as wide as his ears, not heavy, not tall...  But he's an awesome trophy to get with my osage selfbow!  I kind of told Joe this morning that no buck would be safe if it got too close to me with my selfbow.

Here is a hard to see picture of the broken arrow lying in the leaves.
 

[Chisler]

Those two hours took a long time but finally it's time to take up the trail.  I get to the arrow and am disappointed that only the first 6" is missing.  I sneak ahead to the log I watched him step across and there is a big blotch of blood on it.  I look ahead and can see a lot of blood.  Based on the apparent lack of penetration I am still worried that this might be a long search.  I ease forward, only 3 or 4 cautious steps at a time, then scan everything I can with binoculars.

Something catches my eye, it's the remains of a shed antler, wait, I think it's one of those shelf type mushrooms that grow on a tree trunk, I look on the other side of the tree and realize the brown color is deer hair.  It's him, dead stiff, died 2 hours ago.  What a relief, what elation, I am so thankful.  I thank God, I thank my family.  I laugh at myself, thinking the antler was a shed or a mushroom - it was so bleached out.
 

 

[swp]

ALRIGHT! Congrats!!!!

[FlyFixer]

Nice buck, congrats!

[cnorth]

congrats..      

[Robert Cunfer]

Hey Great Job on the recovery, and you did it with your backup bow and a selfbow no less.....Congrats........Bobby

[Hot Hap]

Congradulations. Hap

[Chisler]

Thanks to Brian for getting me hooked on traditional archery and bowyering.  Thanks to KellyG for managing the 2011 TradGang Bow Swap, and thanks to SooperNate for knowing exactly how much wood needed to be removed from that osage stave to reveal such a fine bow!

So what happened with that arrow?  My memory was correct in where the arrow hit.

 

A little high and a little forward - gotta work on that leading thing...

Necropsy results: The arrow went through the left scapula, went through the 4th rib  on the left, just barely below the spine, severed the main artery that goes forward from the heart, I think the carotid artery, then continued on and stuck in the 4th rib on the right side.  The chest cavity was FULL of blood on both the right and left side.  As much blood as you get when the aorta is hit.  So the arrow head only went through about 3 or 4 inches of actual chest cavity, the very dorsal or upper part.  Surprisingly the lungs were not touched and it was too far forward to hit the aorta.  I think it was fortunate that the 2 blade arrowhead was vertical as it went through the dorsal chest, increasing the chance of cutting that artery.

Is it OK to post necropsy photos?

This is the 6" shaft with arrowhead attached in the very dorsal and cranial part of the thoracic cavity:
 

And a closer up view:
 

Not the biggest buck in Ohio
 

[KellyG]

and another fine buck down.

[Bernie B.]

Great story and pictures!  Congratulations on a very nice buck taken with equipment that means a lot to you!  I like the complete picture story.

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[Looper]

Congratulations! That is a fine trophy and he'll look great on your wall.

[David Yukon]

Way to go! An other good story of a great hunt!!

[Izzy]

Now thats a hunting story. Congrats.

[LV2HUNT]

Great story, great hunt, great buck! Very interesting post recovery photos (you were forward but it worked great). Big congrats on the self bow, hardcore!

[Tony Sanders]

Congrats on taking a nice deer. I really enjoyed the pics and story telling. Way to put some good mojo on that self bow. Shoot straight and Good Hunting.