Well,
I am officially into bow hunting and had my first real pulse pounding time.
For those who don't want to hear about blood, guts and/or bambi's relatives taking arrows please stop reading
I went out Saturday with a close friend to an area we had previously gone to and seen little action. We decided to head into a area slightly closer to a nearby golf course and apple orchard.
Steve, who only has a spacer in his left knee while he is waiting for a infection to clear up so they can put a knee back in, is only able to get a few yards off of the clean trails, so we picked a spot for him and I proceeded to hike in a bit.
I found a fairly well used game trail and decided to follow it till I found a good place to set up.
What I came on was a downed tree where the root system had left a large hole in the ground and a small pool of water had gathered. It had three trails coming into it, all with fresh tracks and other signs of recent activity, so I decided this would be a good spot to look for a setup point. As I looked around I found two trees that fell and rolled to a rest side by side just uphill from the water hole. After further inspection it was a perfect place to take a shot on all three trails, anything coming down the ravine, and was overlooking the edge of the tree line. All in all it was a pretty great spot. Please bear in mind this is my first time bowhunting, and I had never previously even fired at an animal. I may still need to learn a bit
So I got settled in to position. Got myself into a very well concealed but easy to shoot from position and began the waiting game.
I sat patiently listening to the woodland sounds. Off in the distance a woodpecker was going to work digging bugs from a tree. The breeze was ever so gently blowing my scent from the watering hole. Then began the sounds of something coming throught the brush on the far side of the watering hole. The anticipation was unbearable, but I sat and waited. After about twenty minutes of slow walking through the woods I could estimate that whatever it was only had another couple of minutes before it hit the clearing and would be approaching the watering hole.
My adrenaline was pumping, the predatory instincts were going, I could hear every tree it brushed against, every twig snapped. The hoofs hitting the hard dirt.
Then much to my suprise a loud snapped came from behind me and slightly to the right.
I had heard nothing coming from the direction. The focus being so much in front of me, and the fact that animals are amazing quiet without even trying.
Ever so slowly I turned my head and out of the corner of my eye I see a buck standing no more than 15 yards up the hill from me.
If I thought my heart was going before, now it was in complete nuclear metldown mode.
At this point I made the decision, I have both deer and elk bow tags, that I was going to attempt to make a shot on this buck.
As slowly and quietly as I possibly could I began to turn so I could get the shot. Once or twice the buck paused and looked around, but he never really seemed to notice where I was or seemed to be threatened by the noise.
After what seemed like a lifetime I finally got my body to an angle I could shoot from. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing. I was about to take my first shot on an animal with a bow from 15 yards. Full broadside.
The hunters out there can probably describe this feeling pretty well. For a first shot I could not have asked for a better spot.
I pulled back to a full draw and the bow made an ever so slight tweak sound. The buck looked in my direction and tensed. My body and mind went into a state of pure relaxation. Making the shot or not, at this point I felt like I had already accomplished more than I thought I would on my first entirely solo run.
With the bow still at a full draw I waited for the buck to relax his body and resume what he was doing. At the point I felt I couldn't hold the draw too much longer I let loose my arrow.
The shot was true. It hit just behind the shoulder in the "kill zone". The deer reacted to the shot by jumping a bit and making a squealing sound. This suprised me, as I had not been told about squeals, and then he took off.
This is where I had to learn real patience. Being so pumped about not just making the shot but hitting solid and on the mark made it difficult to not just run after the deer. But I parked myself and waited forty five minutes like I had been suggested to do.
Thus began the first tracking experience for me. I tracked the buck through dense forest, across a creek, up a hill and through more dense forest. Did I mention the dense forest?
After about 160 yards of blood, and what I thought was a lot, I came across a dime sized drop next to a deep set hoof print going up hill. I marked my last blood spot and proceeded to look for the next spot.
And nothing. I went up the trail he was following for 75 yards. No blood. I did circles out from the last blood spot and nothing. I looked down hill from the last spot thinking maybe he dove off the trail to hide. Nothing. No blood, no prints, nothing looked even disturbed.
After three hours of searching I went back to meet with Steve and get some more water and food. It just so happened that Scott, a relative of Steve's and a local to the area, wasn't doing anything and decided to come and check on us. He was walking up the road as I was traveling back to the truck. So we talked for a few minutes, and him being the experienced hunter, familiar with the area, and having pulled several deer out of this area volunteered to help me find my buck.
The two of us traveled back in, refollowed the trail out. Found my arrow and came to the same point. Even with all his experience and meticulous searching we found not another trace.
So feelilng a bit dejected, and having used the rest of my day and energy searching for my animal, we decided to call the search off after six hours of painstaking hunting.
In the end I did not get a trophy, but I got a ton of experience from this. I can see a few places where I made mistakes. As I think back through the scenario I can see where I could have improved my chances of finding him after the shot. Although I will still take any advice/tips that people who know what there doing want to throw at me.
For those interested, upon examing the arrow, 24 inches of arrow went into the buck. The arrow got tangled on a tree about 30 yards from the point of impact and ripped back out. We can only assume that he had slowed to a walk and clotted up, thus ending the blood trail, hit some hard dirt, and thus no tracks, and proceeded to go houdini on me.
I am still pumped even though I didn't get my trophy or meat. I really wanted some deer burgers
Sorry for the wall of text, but if you made it this far thanks for sharing in my experience.
I am officially into bow hunting and had my first real pulse pounding time.
For those who don't want to hear about blood, guts and/or bambi's relatives taking arrows please stop reading
I went out Saturday with a close friend to an area we had previously gone to and seen little action. We decided to head into a area slightly closer to a nearby golf course and apple orchard.
Steve, who only has a spacer in his left knee while he is waiting for a infection to clear up so they can put a knee back in, is only able to get a few yards off of the clean trails, so we picked a spot for him and I proceeded to hike in a bit.
I found a fairly well used game trail and decided to follow it till I found a good place to set up.
What I came on was a downed tree where the root system had left a large hole in the ground and a small pool of water had gathered. It had three trails coming into it, all with fresh tracks and other signs of recent activity, so I decided this would be a good spot to look for a setup point. As I looked around I found two trees that fell and rolled to a rest side by side just uphill from the water hole. After further inspection it was a perfect place to take a shot on all three trails, anything coming down the ravine, and was overlooking the edge of the tree line. All in all it was a pretty great spot. Please bear in mind this is my first time bowhunting, and I had never previously even fired at an animal. I may still need to learn a bit
So I got settled in to position. Got myself into a very well concealed but easy to shoot from position and began the waiting game.
I sat patiently listening to the woodland sounds. Off in the distance a woodpecker was going to work digging bugs from a tree. The breeze was ever so gently blowing my scent from the watering hole. Then began the sounds of something coming throught the brush on the far side of the watering hole. The anticipation was unbearable, but I sat and waited. After about twenty minutes of slow walking through the woods I could estimate that whatever it was only had another couple of minutes before it hit the clearing and would be approaching the watering hole.
My adrenaline was pumping, the predatory instincts were going, I could hear every tree it brushed against, every twig snapped. The hoofs hitting the hard dirt.
Then much to my suprise a loud snapped came from behind me and slightly to the right.
I had heard nothing coming from the direction. The focus being so much in front of me, and the fact that animals are amazing quiet without even trying.
Ever so slowly I turned my head and out of the corner of my eye I see a buck standing no more than 15 yards up the hill from me.
If I thought my heart was going before, now it was in complete nuclear metldown mode.
At this point I made the decision, I have both deer and elk bow tags, that I was going to attempt to make a shot on this buck.
As slowly and quietly as I possibly could I began to turn so I could get the shot. Once or twice the buck paused and looked around, but he never really seemed to notice where I was or seemed to be threatened by the noise.
After what seemed like a lifetime I finally got my body to an angle I could shoot from. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing. I was about to take my first shot on an animal with a bow from 15 yards. Full broadside.
The hunters out there can probably describe this feeling pretty well. For a first shot I could not have asked for a better spot.
I pulled back to a full draw and the bow made an ever so slight tweak sound. The buck looked in my direction and tensed. My body and mind went into a state of pure relaxation. Making the shot or not, at this point I felt like I had already accomplished more than I thought I would on my first entirely solo run.
With the bow still at a full draw I waited for the buck to relax his body and resume what he was doing. At the point I felt I couldn't hold the draw too much longer I let loose my arrow.
The shot was true. It hit just behind the shoulder in the "kill zone". The deer reacted to the shot by jumping a bit and making a squealing sound. This suprised me, as I had not been told about squeals, and then he took off.
This is where I had to learn real patience. Being so pumped about not just making the shot but hitting solid and on the mark made it difficult to not just run after the deer. But I parked myself and waited forty five minutes like I had been suggested to do.
Thus began the first tracking experience for me. I tracked the buck through dense forest, across a creek, up a hill and through more dense forest. Did I mention the dense forest?
After about 160 yards of blood, and what I thought was a lot, I came across a dime sized drop next to a deep set hoof print going up hill. I marked my last blood spot and proceeded to look for the next spot.
And nothing. I went up the trail he was following for 75 yards. No blood. I did circles out from the last blood spot and nothing. I looked down hill from the last spot thinking maybe he dove off the trail to hide. Nothing. No blood, no prints, nothing looked even disturbed.
After three hours of searching I went back to meet with Steve and get some more water and food. It just so happened that Scott, a relative of Steve's and a local to the area, wasn't doing anything and decided to come and check on us. He was walking up the road as I was traveling back to the truck. So we talked for a few minutes, and him being the experienced hunter, familiar with the area, and having pulled several deer out of this area volunteered to help me find my buck.
The two of us traveled back in, refollowed the trail out. Found my arrow and came to the same point. Even with all his experience and meticulous searching we found not another trace.
So feelilng a bit dejected, and having used the rest of my day and energy searching for my animal, we decided to call the search off after six hours of painstaking hunting.
In the end I did not get a trophy, but I got a ton of experience from this. I can see a few places where I made mistakes. As I think back through the scenario I can see where I could have improved my chances of finding him after the shot. Although I will still take any advice/tips that people who know what there doing want to throw at me.
For those interested, upon examing the arrow, 24 inches of arrow went into the buck. The arrow got tangled on a tree about 30 yards from the point of impact and ripped back out. We can only assume that he had slowed to a walk and clotted up, thus ending the blood trail, hit some hard dirt, and thus no tracks, and proceeded to go houdini on me.
I am still pumped even though I didn't get my trophy or meat. I really wanted some deer burgers
Sorry for the wall of text, but if you made it this far thanks for sharing in my experience.
I have taken everything from Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Moose, Elk, Goat, Sheep, Hog, Antelope, Coyote, Bobcat, Deer, and the list goes on. This much I can tell you, if you shot a deer from 15 yards behind the shoulder and it didn't go clean through, fletching and all, you need to throw that bow away and get a heavier bow. I wouldn't think of hunting with less than 70 lbs of draw weight. 
