Climbed in one of my treestands on a beautiful WV fall evening yesterday at the farm, with my Longbow "GRANNY". It was a great evening to be in the stand and enjoy the woods. Had 8 big Gobblers, a couple yearlings come by me. Just a few minutes before dark was blessed for this beautiful Ol' girl to stroll by an offer up an 18 yard shot. I did not see her go down and did not want to push her, so I backed out and recovered her this morning right after daylight, before coming into work. She will provide some good eating and I am thankful to her for that.
Awesome job! Way to put the meat in the freezer! I'm already bad enough even with a compound so I totally respect you trad guys. I got a nice doe last night, too. I shot her around 6 PM. Heard her crash just out of sight. Got here dressed and butcher and everything cleaned up before 11 PM working a leisurely pace and stopping in the middle for about an hour to eat dinner.
Nice shot Mike! You guys got me missin' those days sitting in the stand, taking in all of the October scenery here in Maine. I'd need a camo bucket truck now to get my fat azz up there...
Not a problem Mike, I think we should start a harvest thread, we can all post pics of game we take on one thread. We do this on a couple of Trad bow sites I belong to.
Took my climber to a spot i haven't hunted in two years. It's right on the edge of a horse farm. Was a quiet night and only saw a few does just out if shooting range. Still a good evening in the woods
"DANG!" I should never have posted before all my tags were filled. I shot a nice, big and fully mature doe tonight to fill my freezer for the next year. At least that's what I was thinking when I let the arrow go. REALITY CHECK, I shot her way back, like guts/ham. I've never missed so badly before. However, I take full responsibility. I'll be out at first light tracking her. I'll be praying tonight that I caught the femoral or iliac artery and she bled out fast. I hate to imagine that I hit only guts and she dies of peritonitis/sepsis. Please send good vibes my way. I'm not happy at all right now. Bow hunting is VERY difficult, even with modern, compound technology.
Mike, As bad as it is, at some point and time, it is going to happen to anyone that hunts. We all hate that feeling when the shot is bad, the best we can do is exactly what you are going to do, and that is giving 110% on trying to recover the animal, we owe it to them to be as ethical as we possibly can. At the end of the day though, that is hunting..... good or bad. I will be hoping you make a speedy recovery of the Ol'girl, good luck.
Found her in about 5 minutes this morning, about 30 yds from where I last saw her running into the brambles last night , less than 100 yds total. Thankfully we don't have yotes or bear here, so, there was only minor nibbling by varmints and some spoiled meat from the gut shot. I was still able to harvest about 2/3 of the meat. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Same thing happened to me Saturday morning. Shot a decent buck a little back and low. Was very upset that I rushed the shot due to buck fever. I felt like I did everything wrong that could be done wrong other than put myself in the right place at the right time. Anyway I found my arrow covered in fatty tissue and very little blood. I was able to track him for 70-80 yards but then lost all traces of blood. Spent several hours searching to no avail. Man what a lousy feeling I have about this. All I can do now is hope that he lives. I know this happens but doesn't make feel any better about it. Glad you were able to recover your doe though. Congrats !
Nice cool morning here. My hunt was interrupted by a doe crashing through with an arrow in her. Then about 20 minutes later two guys came walking from the neighboring property. I got down to meet them and it turns out i knew them both. We didn't even know we were hunting neighboring properties lol. I told them the shot looked high and back and the shooter agreed. We found blood and tracked for quite some time but the deer made all sorts of loops and then we lost blood. I had to get going but let them continue to look on our side. Hopefully they find it. Here's a view from the stand this morning and the buck i was suprised to see in my camera!
