Well I did not expect to see this thread yet....Tim sounds almost as excited as I am and that is pretty excited!! I cannot post a pic from here but I have a signal right now and I will try to tell the story.
I was hunting at the Werner Ranch near Douglas WY. As some you know I am a long time compound shooter and have never taken trad equipment on an outfitted hunt. I have only used trad on local whitetail hunts, but when it counts I have fallen back on my training wheels. I worked really hard this year with the help of many people and I decided about a month before the hunt that I was going to hunt with my recurve. Although I have to admit that I took the Bowtech along.
So for the first two days of the hunt I only saw one buck - saw him a couple times but only one buck. This buck will score in the high 70's minimum - beautiful buck! The buck stayed at 30-40 yards for 40 minutes on one trip in and all I could think about was - man are you lucky I don't have my Bowtech!!! I survived the two days and even though there was some peer pressure to take the Bowtech the other hunters and definitely the outfitter supported the only trad hunter in the group.
The third day I went to a new blind and the action was significantly different - I had 4 close to shooter bucks come to the blind by 10am. At 10:30 I had another buck that I was watching approach the blind and I just wasn't sure. As I watched him I caught movement out the other side of the blind and it was another buck. No question when I saw this one so I got set for the shot. Not easy since I was setup on the wrong side of the blind and had two bucks watching me. The bigger buck appeared to be much wearier and very slowly approached the blind. As he got broadside at 18 yds I drew the bow, settled in to my anchor, but my head on the string, aimed and released. As I was going thru my "steps" (thanks Tim) I could see the buck getting nervous as he could see my slow draw. As I went to release the buck stepped back and turned away from the water. So shot went slightly forward and buck ran off.
Normally in this country all you have to do is maintain site of the buck and you will find where he beds down and expires. Things don't work that easy for me....so then it gets interesting.
The buck gets over the hill, walking very slowly and obviously very hurt but to make a long story short he did not get to lay down. The buck walked right past a coyote who decided he was an easy meal. Antelope are one tough critter - the wounded buck took off and managed to stay alive until we found him with the trucks. The trucks scared off both animals in different directions. 3 trucks, 1 car and a horse later we found my buck.
The buck was 5 or 6 years old and was a beautiful buck. He will make P&Y, but that really makes no difference to me as he is my first big game traditional harvest. I could not be more excited - thanks to all on here that have been soooo helpful you are a great group and I am thankful to have found this site.
Pics to follow - hopefully!!!
Mike
Topic: First Traditional Critter for PAMIKE!!! (Read 1083 times)
