Sit back this will be a long one
A little background on me.
I got into archery through self bows. Reading TBB Volume 1 and 2 and building crude board bows brought me into the magic of archery. I hunted with traditional equipment for 2 years and never had a deer come within my 15 yard max distance. Many tempting 20-25 yard shots but I never loosed an arrow.
I started hunting with a compound the following season and never saw a dear. I also started Junior Olympic Archery development. I got good really fast with Olympic recurve and was asked to go to James Madison University to be on the archery team. I shot on the team, won a national championship, multiple time all-american and got burned out from competing. I started to not enjoy shooting.
Then everything changed.
The end of my senior year I decided to get back into traditional archery. This past summer I bought a used black widow PMAX from Dewayne Martin. Shooting it was addicting and sent in motion my archery rebirth. It wasn't long before I was thinking of building bows, wood arrows and of course hunting season.
Bows bows bows
In the past three months I've acquired three bows. A PMAX, a 7lakes bow blank (really fun project), and a centaur.
Opening Day
I was able to get private land permission about two weeks before the season opener. The property is 5 acres bordering a 200 acre wildlife preserve. I had consistent trail cam pictures of deer in the day light so it would all come down to me. I decided to bring along my centaur because I love it. I had two small does come in during my morning sit but I decided not to shoot.
The afternoon sit brought a doe with a fawn and a single doe. I was hunting on the ground and they spotted me almost right away. I held still. I got an approving tail flick but they were skeptical. I was finally able to grip the bow string. My nerves were ridiculous to say the least I could feel the adrenaline overdose in pumping through my body.
I patiently waited for my shot opportunity. A slightly quartering away shot...I dont remember the shot at all...