I had a weird experience the last 2 practice sessions out at a friend's property. Both times, things happened much the same.
Id shoot the first florescent pink fletched arrow, and just as I'd shoot the second arrow, a ruby throatted hummingbird female would dash in and fly around the first arrow, and the second would narrowly miss her.
The second session, I'd moved about 100 yards from the first trying to avoid her, and she STILL about caught my 2nd arrow the hard way. I love them so I certainly dont want to hit her. She's there before i can even react. Ill know to wait a few minutes after the first shot next time.
Anyone else with pink fletching ever see this?
When I was in Colorado in 2010 I had a male hummingbird buzz the red fluflu I had in my quiver.
I wear a red hat a lot. I have a hummingbird buzz me almost every time.
Guys, they are attracted to red. Reason you use red food dye in sugar water for humming bird feeders.
Wow , I shoot pink all the time and never had that happen .
It's kinda neat , but I see what you mean about hitting her . That would be a bad day .
I have had bluebirds buzz in front of my target though .
I had a few of them land on my arrows a few years ago in Colorado on an elk hunt. It was pretty neat to watch them and see them up close.
I did have a brown thrasher buzz me so much on two afternoon hunts that I got out of my stand and went back to camp. The second evening I realized he wasn't after me but the copperhead skinned osage bow laying across my lap.
Same thing happened to me last week at the local 3D range here. A hummingbird landed on my pink fletchings as my arrows were stuck in a deer target. Fun to watch them.
Tiny, but territorial.
You ain't lived till you,'ve been two stories up, leaning way over to paint some overhead trim on a deck, and something that sounds like a light saber goes buzzing by your right ear.
Kinda hard to maintain yer tough guy image once you,'ve been terrified by a hummingbird...
yup..... try growing up with red hair!
@ jamessh76, that's funny ... but probably not while they're coming after ya!
Its that time of year. The chicks are competing with the adults as all of them try to build strength and fluff out new feathers as they fatten up for the big trip down to the Yucatan . so anything that looks like a flower will attract a lot of attention, and your arrow is moving about the same speed as a hummer so they notice it right away.
If the Hummer had a red collar it was a male, the females are kind of plain.
I have had them land on my arrows that I had in my back pocket. When we move to camp in April for 6-7 months my wife feeds them when they show up in May.
We end up with about a doz. or more but one summer she had 40-50 of those little Hummers.
I have humming birds buzz my knocked arrow quite often while on a particular stand. All my fletching is bright (pink, chartreuse, orange...) and with a bright florescent knock and usually 4 fletched at 90 degrees. I can see how they would confuse it for flowers....
Amazing little creatures!
My wife has 4 hummingbird feeders and they've sure been busy the last few days. The last 2 days a Baltimore Oriole has been feeding on them also. I use white fletching and brown/black fletching so the little guys haven't bothered me.
That is actually how Hummingbird bows got their name. Ben and Linda Graham were just getting into the bow making business and found hummers were attracted to the colorful feathers and yarn puffs on their bows--hence they chose the name Hummingbird. They told me that story when I did the bowyer interview for TBM some years back.
It's fun to sit and watch them chase each other around like tiny fighter jets at camp. The other day as I took a lunch break from roofing the shack I had one buzzing my red T-shirt and my buddy had one buzzing his red hat while on the peak. Funny stuff.