Well, after 25 years of hunting intermittently with a compound bow, I bought a Hoyt Dorado recurve 3 years ago. I think I owned every manufacture of compound bows, looking for the "magic fix" for my competition shooting and hunting. My dad was a NFAA archer in the 60s. I have seen him shoot pennies from the air. I decided that trad archery was something that I wanted to return to since I first shot a recurve when I was 10 years old.
I had no luck hunting public land the first year. Last year I stepped up to the plate and bought a Blacktail Elite VL 52 lbs at 28 inches from Norm Johnson. The 15 month wait was worth it. I joined a lease with some family members in South Louisiana. We hunt a pine plantation with some hard woods. On 10/19/2012 a small doe came into the oak flat at 0740. I think this was the same animal I missed 2 weeks ago, because she looked right at the stand. I shot 2 inches over the deers back on 10/2/2012. Well we played "catch me if you can". This deer did everything she could to get me to move. She finally relaxed and another deer came in. Now I have two deer to deal with. After 7 or 8 minutes I pulled back on the closest deer, reached anchor, released a Beman MFX 600 with at 125 grain VPA 3 blade head. The arrow hit the deer in the flank just in front of the rear leg. I think she tried to move forward upon reacting to the shot. This deer walked 50 feet, stood still and laid down. Now the shakes begin. After shaking 20 minutes, I climbed down and looked for my arrow. I could not find it at first, but saw the deer taking her last breaths. I was unable to place another arrow in her because of the thick vegetation and I did not want to spook her and have her run. She laid her head down within 30 or 40 seconds of me seeing her. I still gave her time, thanked the Good Lord and realized what had just happened. I later found my arrow. A complete pass through. The VPA did an impressive job. I now have accomplished something I longed to do for years. Taking a deer with a traditional bow is a unique experience, one that can't be explained easily. Thanks for all the advice on this forum. I do apologize, I don't have any pictures to do this justice. Will pack the camera next time. Hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did sharing it.
Topic: 1st trad deer (Read 744 times)
