Rookie mistakes

[Firefighter154]

Im new to trad archery and new to tradgang. Although I've been hunting with a recurve for two years, I can't seem to seal the deal. Last year I shot a six point and hit him just below his spine. Could not even find a blood trail on him. And again yesterday I had a doe 15 yds quartering away and again I shot high. My father in law and I found what looked to be lung blood so we trailed blood for an hour until there was nothing. Still no deer with my recurve.    

[Pat B]

Doesn't sound like it is the bow that is the problem. If you are shooting instinctively you need to practice a lot...and I mean a lot! My first year with my Treadway longbow(1999) I calculated I put at least 10,000 arrows through her and not just 10,000 arrows shot but once I got my form just right and my concentration developed I made a point of putting each arrow where I wanted it to go. When I got discouraged or disappointed or frustrated with my shooting I put the bow down and came back later when I could concentrate better. I was shooting 50 to 100 shots at each session. After about 6 months of this I reduced the number of shots to about a dozen per session. When I got close to hunting season I would shoot one arrow a day(without warm-up), either in the morning or in the evening and make sure it was a "kill" shot on my 3D deer.

[YORNOC]

Are you shooting from an elevated stand? If so you have to compensate low due to trajectory/angle. A VERY common mistake for tree stand hunters.
If from the ground, practice at deer size targets to get range buried in your head.
You'll get there.

[lpcjon2]

I agree with the above completely. practice in real hunting type scenarios,elevation,cover,and such.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Pick a spot..... and Shoot low brutha....shoot low..... on a broad side shot, shoot straight up the leg on deer, not behind the shoulder.....

hang in there you'll get er done. On a good note. The natural predators out there will thank you. The meat may not feed your family, but it seldom goes to waste.

[ArrowPharaoh]

Deer can sometimes crouch when they jump the string.  The crouch is preparatory to departure and you might not notice that it happened.....result is a high shot.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can catch the aorta when an arrow goes right below the spine....I guess you weren't lucky.

All you can do is practice and keep trying.....and maybe hold a little lower.

 

[rastaman]

Make sure you aren't short drawing due to a little target panic (i.e. buck fever...don't ask me how i know  :D ).  Shoot squirrels, rabbits, etc. practice drawing on live animals even if you aren't going to shoot.  Concentrate low and then concentrate some more! Good luck!

[D]

Hang in there.  This is my fourth year hunting with traditional equipment and haven't gotten a deer with it yet.  It can definatly be aggrivating.  What helps me is I take two arrows in my quiver with judo points and every time I go hunting I take two practice shots before I get down.  I pick out a leaf or something.  Its helped my confidence a whole lot.  Don't feel bad about the missed opportunities.  I shot over a buck at 7 yeards from a stand year before last.  Make sure you are bending at the waste too.  I was shooting high and started concentrating on bending at the waste and it cured my high shooting.

[Firefighter154]

Thais everyone for the replies. All the things you all have said are right on. I practice often, but I notice most of the time my first shot is not my best. It usually takes me a few rounds to get good shots. I know I need a lot of training. Anchor, stance, back tension, release, follow through and all that goes on with it. All I know about traditional archery is what I've learned on the tradgang website from you guys. Its going to be a wonderful journey. Thanks again.

[Stumpkiller]

As Kirk said: shoot low.  There is a sticky at the top of this forum on shot placement: study it.  You want the blood running out of the lungs, not into the cavity (that's oversimplified, but the mechanics is sound).  The deer's vitals are lower in the chest than most folks realize.  

I posted a drawing that I find an accurate depection of the vitals and where to aim; but that thread got pulled and, with no feedback, I don't know if that image had something to do with the chop so I won't repost it.

Here's an original on a game-gamera image from a friend's camera that I just drew on; having full rights and permission to do so.  The gray lines represent the leg and shoulder bones.  The larger red circle the lungs and the smaller the heart.  And the diaphragm shortens the rear of that circle, but beyond that is liver and still  lethal spot.  The lower yellow dot a ground-level aim point and the upper a tree-stand aim point.  I mentally visualize where the arrow must EXIT the deer and focus on the spot that will result in the best path to clip the top of the heart.  Deer are 3-D, but the darned 3-D Foam targets are scored on the skin - not the inner vitals (if you follow my drift).

   

[akaboomer]

I was thinking about starting a thread when I opened this one. I shot a doe yesterday evening that left no blood trail. The entry was high due to the angle, 18' to the platform of my stand. Quartered away. I tryed to get an exit of just in front of the off side shoulder. No exit because I hit the shoulder at the joint in the upper leg.

 Every shot on a deer is a chance to learn. We have to pay attention to every detail of the shot and events after the shot. I always track the deer from the point of impact visually and audibly. I try to pin point a location by the last sound.  I have found many of my deer by just listening intently to their retreating movment.

Last nights doe ran all out for about 2-3 seconds. It took me seven minutes to find her after giving up on blood trailing her.

Know the lay of the land you hunt. Use all available information to gauge where you expect to find blood and or the deer. There are guys on here that have more deer to their credit than I do and I don't claim to be an expert, however I do believe that training our minds to pick up on even the smallest details will pay off in the long term.

I am not saying you did anything wrong. I am encouraging us all to be vigalant in the pursuits of arrowed game. Some well placed shots don't leave the spore we hope for. Some critters are just plain tough and have a determined will to live.

Keep after them buddy, you will succeed.

Chris

[Bjorn]

Practice shooting from an elevated position-that shot will often go high without a lot of practice. Also read up on tracking even where there isn't any blood. There are books and videos available to help you know what signs to look for.
Offer to help fellow bowhunters track their downed animal; you will be amazed at the dedication and technique of experienced hunters tracking their downed game.
Stick with it and you will get it; bowhunting is all about focus and paying attention to the tiniest details, as akaboomer pointed out.

[Tajue17]

if you are hitting good on 3D style targets and NOT hitting good on real animals then you either can't control the buck fever or you are not picking a spot..

also could be you haven't practiced with broadheads, to be sure your arrows are spined correctly and the Bheads are mounted true.

and you haven't practiced with the clothes you'll be wearing creating a short drawing problem.


just some ideas.

[Alexander Traditional]

I do what "D" said and shoot a few times with some field tips before I get out of the stand. I've also concentrated on what you said about the first shot. I used to not be very good on the first shot and then after a few find the mark. I've concentrated a bunch on that first shot and might go out through out the day and just shoot one arrow and see how well I do on that first one.

[ChuckC]

I think some big rookie (and non-rookie) mistakes include. . .  not waiting for a good shot,  not picking a spot to aim at,  not knowing enough about the critters anatomy to even actually know where a good spot is (this includes many many folks. .  we all would do well to review Terry's sticky up top and talk about innard placement).

Aiming at a 3 dimensional live critter is dfferent than we aim at a 3D target.  The targets, as stated above, have a point face on the side of the deer.  This is close to OK for a pure broadside shot, but sucks for any quartering or treestand shot.  We need to unlearn that and relearn where to aim on a live deer.

ChuckC

[rnharris]

tune your bow out of the tree and disregard everything else unless you are gonna hunt on the ground totally differint form and inpacts out of tree and don't be afraid to look under the deer to allow the almost 12" drop when a deer loses weight to push off good luck!!

[Firefighter154]

Thanks again everyone. Ive been bow hunting for about 16 years now with a compound that is and I feel good about knowing vitals and knowing where to put the arrow, it's just a whole different world when you take off the training wheels. As I read everyone's reply I was saying to myself oh yea I forgot to do that or I didn't think of that. Like bending at the waist, waiting on the perfect shot, picking a spot, and something did not feel right about my anchor. Because I had on a mask and I don't practice with a mask. I'm a firefighter and during the heat of the battle I rely on my training and my actions become instinctive. I know my bow hunting needs to be the same way. If a deer presents me with a shot. I don't want to have to think about all the things it takes to get it done. So I will practice untill everything becOmes natural. Thank you for your inputs.

I have a rookie mistake to confess. I went to the little bottom where I have a two stage ladder stand in a tree cluster. The wind was wrong for the stand, but right for the rest of the area. My Ojibwa great grandma would have been proud of the sneak job I did getting into position. I tucked myself into a flood washed trunk of a large tree. I should have taken my Huntmor, but I had my Nifty seat and after awhile I needed to stetch. I was sitting on the tree trunk eating an apple. When I started to pull up the zipper of my coat, I heard a noise behind me. Four does, that were apparently bedded down very close by, were standing behind me. My bow was out of reach and on the ground. I dropped to get my hands on the bow and alerted the does. They did not spook, but they were on high alert and staring directly at me, 30 yards away. I can hit a deer at 30 yards, but not one that has me pinned down.  I stayed on my knees hunched over for 25 minutes, before they went about their business.  A week later, my back still hurts and my knee is still swollen.  Hopefully, late season will give me another chance to fill those doe tags.

[gringol]

If I recall correctly, Saxton Pope hunted with Ishi for 5 years without bagging a deer.  It's actually pretty hard to do...Just a little perspective...

[HawkeyeArcher]

Wow, some great information here! Pavan, i did the same thing a month ago, stood up to stretch. . . and there was a buck in my blind spot at 13 yards. . . and my bow was on the ground.

Keep practicing, and keep learning. It's the only way to get better.

-Eric