Trad Gang
Topic Archives => Memorable Hunts => Topic started by: Bill Carlsen on November 18, 2006, 05:55:00 PM
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Well, to be honest I think she wouldn't do it. We live in NH and the bow kill success rate is the lowest in the nation or at least has been for many years. Anyway, getting any deer here with a bow of any kind is a tough assingnment. My wife, Laura, started hunting with me last year and took a nice black bear with her DAS bow. It was a goal she had set out to accomplish and she did it. You would think I would have learned something about her from that.
She has a "thing" about shooting does and/or yearlings. I have no problem with that except that in NH any deer is a good deer. Where we live we have set up a feeder and it is frequented by a number of does and fawns during the entire year. The number increases during the winter but we understand that and enjoy observing them. Often, after the season, the bucks show up. Sometimes a lot of them. One year we had a bachelor group of ten bucks show up every nite for several weeks and we would watch the "boys" engage in various forms of male dominant behavior including sparring and harrassing the "ladies". Some years this goes on well into early Feb.
Back to Laura, sorry for the digression but it all fits. Laura will watch hunting shows with me now and actually she listens and talks to me about what she hears. One of the things she heard is that the best buck "bait" was real live does, which we have around all the time. So she figured that once the rut started that all she would have to do was go sit in one of the stands and the bucks would eventually come by to check out our local group of does and fawns. Well, yesterday afternoon, after retruning from a doctor appointment Laura walked in the back door in her hunting duds. I asked, "See anything"? "Shot the four pointer", she said. Seems that we had seen a four pointer a few weeks back at the feeder and wondered what had happened to him. Laura decided to sit in her stand while I was at the doc's and she wasn't there very long when this four pointer walks past her into a patch of woods that we knew was a bedding area for one doe and her fawn. Not too late, but just before it started to get dark she has one of the does run by her stand. A few minutes later she hears (for the first time in her life) what she recognizes as a buck grunting. She looks in that direction and see the four pointer coming her way looking, obviously, for the doe. When the buck walked by at 15 yards she simply shot him...just the way she had figured it would be. Trouble was was that the shot was a little far back (she didn't try to stop him but thought she could get him walking by). We got out the lights to take a look and found a sparse but evident blood trail. About 80 yards later we found the arrow....covered in blood but with the tell tale odor of paunch. We backed out and to make a long trailing job short we found him about 200 yards away this morning in his death bed by our brook. The arrow (a 500 size Beman Max 4 with a 100 grain insert and a 100 grain Phantom head) had taken the liver and just nicked the front of the stomach. She shoots a 58" DAS bow. Fortunately the arrow was a pass thru which leaked enough to make finding him challenging but rewarding.
After all the advice I gave her during the season I promised her that I would no longer put myself in that position again. She is just going to do it her way regardless of what I suggest. Besides, I do not like the taste of crow.
Here he is where we found him
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Laras2x2.jpg)
Here she is with him
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/Lauras1stbuck.jpg)
By the way, this is Laura's first deer and I am very proud of her. She beat all the odds and did it with a stickbow!
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Bill,give her a big hug for me thats awesome.
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now that is all in the family!!! :clapper: :clapper: :clapper: :clapper: :clapper: congrats..Tell us about Laura's bow , poundage and arrows...my daughter is looking at this THANKS
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Nice job Laura. I like the forks on that buck kind of unique.
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Congrats, Laura. Nice job on that buck.
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WOW!!! way to go girl. see girls can do any thing. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: jeff
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Very nice!!! Congrats on your first trad deer!
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Just to add a little frosting to the cake....we are in the middle of the firearms season. When she didn't get a deer during the early bow season I figured, well, you know, I had little hope for her getting a buck. I never did tell her that the odds got even worse when the guns started to blast. But, she insisted that the rut would rule....and it did! I wish I had her optimism....and patience.
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WOW thats great, Iam still looking for my first bow buck CONGRATS!!
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Congratulations Laura, way to show Bill how it's done! :goldtooth: Great story Bill, you both have the right to be proud.
David
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Bayoulongbowman: Laura is only one of two women in the whole world who shoots a DAS recurve. As far as I know she is the only female to hunt with one. Her bow is 58", and this year we have it set at 43# at her 26" draw. Her arrows are Beman Max 4, 27", with 100 grain brass inserts and 100 grain Phantom four blade heads. The beauty of the DAS bow is that it can be set up for short draw or low poundage shooters and get the same kind of performance that those of us who draw 28" get. Her bow. by the way, is set up with an elevated rest and a plunger. Last year she took a black bear with that set up at 46# and got a pass thru on her bear. DAS bows should be seriously looked at by women and guys who need to shoot low weight or have short draws.
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Well way to go Laura :thumbsup:
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Wonderful news!!!
Best wishes to you both,
Rich
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:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
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Wow....way to go!! We have a rack like that on the back porch that we hang key-chains from....reminds me of the hunt every day.
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Congratulations,nice to see you guys wives hunting!
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most excellent!!! :thumbsup:
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Great job Laura!
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NICE JOB LAURA!!!
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Congratulations Laura :bigsmyl:
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Way to go, Laura!!! Neat looking buck to boot!
Claudia
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Nice job; please get it mounted in some way for her as she will never forget the 1st one; :archer:
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That is Fantastic
What a joy it must be to have your wife hunt with you and take game like this.
Congratulations !!!
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Laura great job :) Can't wait to see what this DAS thing is all about. My Dalaa is somewhere in transit...Doc
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nice job laura , especially in the middle of firearms season.real nice job!
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Tippit: When you get your Dalaa and if you then decide to sell all the bows you told me you own (at the Poke and Hope) I would like to take a ride down your way to check out the collection before they are all gone. Joking aside, my guess is that you will really like the Dalaa and how it performs. Let us know what your experience with it is.
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WOW! I'm smiling ear to ear! Fantastic job Laura!! Congrats on a job well done! CK
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Congrats on your deer,It sure is a nice one. Good luck on many more.
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Nice hunt Laura. Wish I could get my wife to hunt.
Chort
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Beautiful harvest...so very special! Would make a great story for PBS or Trad bowhunter magazine. That is a very pretty deer. Most deer in Pa are now very dark grey...that one has a nice brown coat and would make a nice hide to boot. :pray:
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Very nice!
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Nice job!
Woody
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Congratulations, Laura! Jawge