So, I'm a novice hunter. I just started hunting in 2011 as an adult, self-interested and self-taught by reading, trial-and-error, and the occasional advice from an experienced vet. I grew up in an anti-gun, and, for the most part, anti-hunting family. However, as someone always drawn to the wild, whether in my backyard as a young boy, or the mountain wilderness as a young man, I've yearned to learn how to be part of it, not just a spectator. To join the ecosystem as a forager, predator, and care-taker. I started hunting with rifles as that is the overall norm across the nation. My first hunt was for mule deer on an 1100 acre private property (I wasn't a resident early enough to enter the public land draw) in NM in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with an SKS. I knew VERY little of what I was doing. Since then, I moved to Utah and have hunted public land during the general season with a bolt action .308, learning the hard way: mostly unguided experience.
Over 14 years ago, in boy scout summer camps I always chose to do archery, mostly due to my mother's anti-gun influence, but I loved it. Last summer, before the fall rifle season, I picked up a Traditional Bowhunter Magazine from the newsstand at my grocery store. After reading it, I was drawn back toward that stick and string. So simple, so powerful, so effective, and so versatile (squirrel and elk with the same weapon). The bowhunters who wrote the articles in that magazine seemed to have a relationship with nature much more similar to my own than the writers of rifle hunting articles. They had a peace and silliness that reminded me of my old scoutmasters. They weren't so much about gear as about communing with the ecosystem and having a good time.
Last rifle season was insane. I applied for a unit that I had read was so remote that even the general rifle season saw few and far between hunters in the mountains. That sounded like what I needed. But, when I got up the mountain, there were hunters everywhere the day before the opener. Opening morning, ATVs and 4x4 trucks were cutting paths all over the mountain. From the sky it probably looked like an anthill. The night before, a couple hunters who had stopped by my camp said something like, "Hey maybe we'll push the deer to each other." The only deer I saw that day was a wounded one that crashed through the trees and over the ridge at full speed about 30 yards from my perch. On the far ridge, I'd hear a shot and think, "Oh someone got lucky." Then they'd shoot again and I'd think, "Oh it wasn't down from the first shot." Then they'd shoot 14 more times and I'd think, "Really?". I had spent all year reading and studying natural deer behavior to be an effective hunter that season, but on the mountain there was none. There was too much obnoxious pressure for any deer to behave naturally in that unit. They were only frantic. I only saw deer fleeing.
So, I left the mountain seriously considering buying a bow and obtaining an archery tag the next year. I subscribed to TBM and found myself scouring **** (I'm a grad student with a toddler so the budget is low at this point) for a used bow. I found a Shakespeare M24 40# at 28" for $80 and bought it (I went with 40# because it's the legal minimum here for deer and elk and I'm a beginning shooter. my draw length is a solid 29".
http://shakespearearchery.blogspot.com/…/shakespeare-yukon-…).
Through the internet I learned how to set the brace height (not sure I ever got it right but the bow shoots well and quiet) and what type of arrows I needed. Through Christmas, birthday, and father's day gifts, I bought/received the supplies I need for a backyard range and a set of 3rivers hunters wood arrows, field points, broadheads, glue, quiver, etc. I'm now a month away from the archery deer and elk opener here in northern Utah. I've seen bucks in a spot I've scouted and am more ready than I expected to be. I still need to put the final touches on my accuracy at 20 yards, get my broadheads razor sharp (an ongoing struggle), and bareshaft tune. The only thing I'm really lacking is the luxury of an experienced traditional bowhunter to help me prepare and go with me on my first hunt. Most of the archers I've met are compound (a step I skipped being intimidated by all the cables and pulleys and attracted to the organic simplicity of the trad bow) and they are helpful to a degree. But, that's what this post is ultimately about. Can any of you veteran hunters offer me words of advice for this hunt?
Just reacquainting with the bow after 15 years and reading traditional bowhunting adventures anywhere I can find them, I'm already happy with my choice and I'm sure that even without a kill I'll look back on this upcoming season and be able to say, "Wow, that was one helluva hunt!" But, the goal is to kill cervids because I'm hungry. There is something about this that just feels right to me. If I kill a deer or elk, it will be my first big game kill period. Some people think I'm foolish for starting traditional bowhunting without any kills with a rifle or compound, but those people don't understand. I get that success rates are lowest with traditional archery equipment. But, you can't kill anything with a bow by not doing it. The season I can hunt stretches for almost 4 months (compared to 1 week for the rifle hunt) and the number of hunters with archery tags is always a fraction of what it is for the rifle hunt. Also, because all bowhunters need to get CLOSE to their quarry, I'm only guessing that ATV traffic will be at a minimum and we will all be more conscious of noise discipline. So here I am.
If I was your grandson, nephew, son-in-law, or young friend, just starting out hunting with a tradbow, what would you tell me before my first bowhunt? Thank you in advance.
Topic: Nearing my first bowhunt (Read 416 times)
