just curious did you kill the FIRST deer you shot at with traditional equipment? i missed my 2nd deer tonight that i have shot at, well got a little hair but ya know what i'm saying. if you didn't kill the first one you shot at how long did it take to connect and kill one? i hope my learning curve is over and i can put it all together!
Nope, 3rd shot...at the same deer LOL!! I missed at 15yds..didn't bend at the waist and right over her. The doe jumped back and looked around. I got flustered and missed at 20yds. The doe then proceeds to bed down 60yds away for 30 minutes or so. She gets back up and comes back(are you kidding me?). She made it 20 yards after the shot and that was that.
I made a longbow one summer and killed a doe with it that fall on my first trad shot at a deer.
It's also the longest shot I ever took at a deer, 32yds. I had no idea it was that long, I didn't have to estimate yardage and choose a pin. It looked like a good shot, so I took it. I hit about 2" lower that I wanted.
I missed my first one due to buck fever. Connected on my second buck two days later. Just remeber to pick a spot and don't pay attention to anything else but that spot.
i missed 2 before connecting. couldn't get the "bend at the waist" thing down when shooting from a treestand. both shots went right over the deer.
The first deer I ever drew on was a broadside doe on the second morning of the season. A double-lung pass through put her down within 60 yards. As near as I can remember, I put four or five deer in the freezer with a recurve before I ever missed one with a stickbow.
First deer i ever shot at ,shot at as it came running by, took shot (using bear recurve and razorheads) cut deers throat as it passed by never sticking the deer. Deer was all bled out completely when i got to him . Pure Luck shot for sure!!!
Shot over there backs first three times,never picked a spot smaller than 28"x42" just guessing on these numbers. Connected on fourth man what a rush.Still waiting this year but I know they are around me.
Yes, opening day, first hunt, first arrow in the first five minutes, first Trad deer.! The moon and the stars were aligned :) :) :) .
That was 16 years ago. Made the switch when my wife bought me my first recurve, since I was a kid, for Christmas. A Howatt Super Diablo. Shot winter indoor league with it and broadhead league in the summer. When hunting season rolled around I just felt I wasn't ready yet and hunted with my compound. Did the same thing the following year and when opening day came along I was ready. Went out with a friend of mine to a new piece of property that I'd never hunted before. Scouted it a few weeks before and hung one tree stand. Took my friend to the stand and dropped him off, he asked me where my stand was and I told him I didn't have one yet. I was going to spend a little time on the ground seeing how the deer were moving before I hung another one. As he was climbing up the tree he told me "if you hit one come and get me because I want to track it with you".
Well I rounded to corner on the two track and within 100 yards a nice 5 point came trotting out of the woods heading for the cornfield. I stopped in my tracks as both of us saw each other at the same time. As the little buck stood there staring at me I slowing pulled an arrow from my quiver, nocked it and let it fly. Into the cornfield he bolted with a Bear Greenie deep inside him. I turned around and walked back to my partner , who I left only minutes before, as he was hauling his bow up into the tree and told him he had to get down. He thought I was joking but soon found out I wasn't!! After a short tracking job we were both looking at the little five point down in the corn. We still talk about that one and of all the deer I've taken with a bow in my life he's the one I'm the proudest of.
As a matter of fact I did. This poor little 5 pt. jumped the string and wound up jumping parallel to the arrow flight and the broadhead took out his femoral artery and layed his abdomen open. He went 40 yards. Year was 1969.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/reddogge/Archery/APG5pt1969.jpg)
No I think I missed about 13 shots before I finally killed one. Missed one deer 3 times. Then I figured out how to pick a spot and they haven't been quite as lucky since. :)
killed the first big game animal i shot at with my recurve, but id missed countless small game before that, also missed my first shot at an impala with the compound.
missing is part of the game, not a pleasant part, but it happens
good luck with the next one Man hope you put it all together
Hell no brother, I missed the first 3 deer I shot at, it was Awesome! :bigsmyl:
10th or 11th! Took me a long time to learn to pick a spot!!! d;^)
I did! A doe last year. I knew I hit her good but could'nt find her that night. The next morning I found her about 20 yards from the last sign of blood.
Missed frist deer,elk,bear!you get the picture.
Center punched the heart on the very first one I had a shot at. A little fork horn back home in PA. 17 yards, from the ground. Funny thing was, almost zero blood trail. I guess if the heart don't pump, they don't leak as bad?
Also shot the first turkey I ever drew on. From the ground and no blind! Right out in the open as a matter of fact.
Been screwing up and missing all kinds of shots ever since.
yes / dead as mackerall dropped on spot !spike buck
Ken, the first year I hunted trad I must have missed five deer before I connected. I still do something dumb and end up missing, the best thing is to keep shots under 15 paces, at closer ranges you can pick out a finer detail on the deer to use as your "spot"
NO!
No. I was 14 and had a 45# Shakespear Wonder bow. I short drew on a doe and bounced that arrow off the shoulder blade. Hard to believe that it's been 30 years ago. Time flys.
killed a button buck last year ever since i have missed 6 times
Nope. Missed three before I connected.
Yes
The 1st "Trad" deer I shot at was 21 years ago when I was 15. I was using a #55 Mamba and managed to get a double lung pass through. He was also my 1st P&Y qualifier and was in velvet.....sometimes it's just your time!!!
Oh yeah!
Ill have to get back to you. Havent had the opportunity yet!
I actually did. I was on the ground behind a large dead fall over a very small food plot (about 40 yards square) in the middle of the woods. Three does came in and feed for about 10 minutes. One of them wondered up to within 15 yards and I have no recollection of the shot at all, but I hit her quartering away. She went about 60 yards. I was hooked.
Yes a 5point from the ground.
First trad shot at a deer was a good one and I took a nice TX doe. Jason missed a couple but ended up with a doe the next day.
The next fall first trad shot at an elk yielded a nice 5 pt.
Been missing my share since.
Mike
Nope...I missed my first shot this year. nice sized 4 point. Didn't "pick a spot" was too worries about the sticks and stuff in the way of the shot. Went right over the back. Fun though!
Took my first shot last thursday at a doe broadside 20yrds and hit shoulder (I think). Deer last seen limping into a swamp no blood trail. Still sickover it but will pick a spot next time, that is smaller than the whole rib cage.
Shot 3 feet behind his butt. Pick a spot!
Yes...I will never forget it either. Thanksgiving day 2001...sat in a stand over an apple orchard all moring in the pouring rain. Got down and went to the land owners house to get warm and have some coffee.
His wife walks in and says Chris there are about 5 does feeding in the tall grass of the along the swamp.
Off I go on a stalk...around the last patch of blackberry brairs and there she stood quartering away at 15 yards.
I do not even remember drawing but all of the sudden my fletching appears right where I was looking.
She takes off so I give her about 30 minutes and take up the trail. With all the rain the blood trail in sparse but still visable. She ended up running in a loop and died about 50 yards from where I shot her. Just did not hear her go down with it being wet.
It was one of the best days I have ever had hunting. I was hooked on trad bows from that day on.
NO, I've missed two. Hopefully to changed that really soon.
Wed. starts my three week vac.
:bigsmyl: :jumper:
You know its great to sit and read all the posts of everyones first deer. Mine was a small doe in West Virginia when I was still in high school, many moons ago. If she was not at 8 yards from me and i was on the ground i think i would of missed. :biglaugh:
My first trad shot at a deer was also my first shot at a critter from a tree stand. Small buck and I shot right over his back.
I missed the first deer i shot at with my LB then 10 minutes later got another opprotunity and connected.
My first year shooting trad and i missed 2 opening weekend, shot over both of them. Looking back i dont even remember picking a spot and its written on my bow. We have lots of deer where i hunt so i know its just a matter of time before i close the deal.
PM SENT....
killed the first hog I shot at, but there's 4 mule deer in WA and 2 blacktails in CA that know what an arrow sounds like when it zips over their back. ;) I haven't gotten the chance for a shot at a whitetail yet, but I hope when I do it meets with the same fate as the hog. :D
LOL!! Nope :D
Took a few misses for me to finally start calming down and making my self pick a spot and let the subconscious do its work. I still have misses now and then, just gotta figure out the mind game!
Yes, two years ago I shot the buck in my avatar, which was my first shot at a deer with a stickbow. Never shot last year and I've missed twice this year. I ended up getting the first deer I missed this year with a second followup shot. I missed what would have been my second biggest buck on Sat. Perfect 15 yard broadside shot and fired right under him. I need to work harder at calming down, picking a spot, and keeping my bow arm up.
Yes I did, it took a few more years before I got another one though!
I'll let you know, when I get a shot at one... :bigsmyl:
Duane
I was gong to say that I never shot a at a deer yet with trad equiptment but realized it's a lie.
My first shot at a deer with a bow was when I was 15. 45# Bear recurve. Didn't think of it as Trad back then.
The basket rack with a lot of points (stickers everywhere) was trotting in. I found a hole in the brush at about 18 yards where he was going to pass. I picked that spot in the brush and right before the deer entered the hole I released.
He stopped dead in his tracks and I missed just in front of him when he heard the twang of the string. Perfect shot through the hole in the brush, right where I was aiming just no deer in the hole.LOL
Great memory for me.
Charlie
nope
I missed the same deer twice last year, got the first deer I shot at this year.
Missed a FEW before I connected and have missed a FEW more since than. LOL
I have never missed anything, but I sure have scared several dozen on purpose. If you believe that, I have a nice bridge that I am selling in Brooklyn.
yep!
back in 98. i was bout 15 with a kodiak magnum. i had been playing/practicing a long while and finally figured i would go with the recurve. i remember sharpening the buck pole patriot head almost all day the day before! i was usung a 2117 out of the bow.
i was hunting an old hardwood ridge loaded with oaks. i was sitting in a 12'ladder. i had a little spike come in. as he got closer to the big oak i decided that i would draw when he went behind it. i did and at the shot i saw it burry tigh in the creasr behind the shoulder and as if in slow motion, the arrow passed though the deer, stopped in mid air and fell to the ground. i jumped down and we to get my dad to recover him.
on the way back in a group of hogs had came in and my dad shot one of the hogs. the sad part of the hunt is that both animals went downt the same trail. i really didnt get to trail my deer like i wanted but the hog and deer only went about 30 yards and were piled up pretty close together.
a great hunt and my first time out eith trad gear. i would go on back to the compound until last deer season came in and have been carrying it ever since.
Yes. Missed my second though.
My 1st trad deer was a very nice 8 pointer at 10 yards. Right over his back. Almost cried. I decided it was my heart jumping out of my chest that hit my arrow and sent it high:)
Missed a doe on my 2nd. Shot low.
Have beem dead on with the next 2 deer(buck and doe).
Let you know how the rest of this season goes!
When I miss I got back to the spot and re-do it. Same stance, same draw. Go over t in my head. It helps me to see why I missed and remember not to do the same next time. I missed a doe once because she was on edge and jumped. Now I just don't take that kind of shot. Not worth it if they jump and your arrow wounds and not kills. That is a hard rule for me sometimes. Just don't want the heartbreak of a lack luster blod trail!
Got out and get you another shot Ken!
Nope, I hit a doe in the shoulder and needless to say no pentration. I was really feeling bad about it a long time too. Then about a month later I shot at a small 8pt and made a perfect shot.
When I started bowhunting, before wheels were invented, I missed the first three then killed one.
On my return to Trad in 89 I killed the first two I shot at and missed the next 11, all my shots went over their backs.
I got into 3D and became deadly after I learned to pick a spot.
Yes, I was 12. I missed the second, third and fourth. #4 was the first buck that I had offer me a shot. I missed him FIVE times!Emptied my quiver.(Can you say "Buck Fever?")
I was so mad at myself I could have spit nickles.
I went home and practiced everyday in every weather, in every possible position I could imagine might happen from 3 feet to 110 yards. Went to every broadhead shoot I could.
Killed my first buck the next season.
well i killed my first buck with a compound. then the next year i went to trad and i missed 2 bucks and i still waiting this year i hope i can get one this year.
thanks everyone for sharing your stories! i see i am in good company, i don't feel as bad and learned a few things from everyone's misstakes, PICK A SPOT if the theme, think i am also going write that on my bow!
little paint for a slow learner!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v119/adkmountainken/bow%20hunting/spike001-1.jpg)
Heavens no!!!!! I think I missed about ten before I finally hooked up. I hunted a stand back in the mid 90's in WvA and I missed the same doe 4 times. Yes,4 times in the same sitting. I thought the tree was bad luck so I moved the stand. Well I ended up missing 6 more times that week. I ended up connecting on a doe later that season. I was having fun though.
First black bear, deer, elk, and wild hog, in that sequence.
No. It was about the 6th or 7th deer that I took shots at before I got the buck in my avatar. All clean misses except for the first which bearly nicked her back.
Bona
Yes. A 15 yd double lung, complete pass through, with a 60lb Ben Pearson recurve that I bought at a flea market for $18. If that doesn't boost your confidence I don't know what will!
Nope! Had a spike come in at 7 AM sharp on the first morning I hunted with my recurve. He jumped the string then proceeded to feed out of sight.
The next morning the same deer came to the same tree at 7:05 and I had a couple extra silencer on the string......and missed him again! Both times he moved just far enough to get behind something before feeding outof sight.
Finally killed one on my third shot, but it was the following year.
This is a hard one.Killed my first deer in 1976 and my grey matter is kinda grey.That season I missed a hog,and a deer and killed one just not sure in what sequence.I think I killed one ,next week missed a deer and a hog the next weekend.
I killed the first deer I shot at. Took me 4 years to get a shot. Shot was head-on at about 15 yds. Hit him right where he would knot his tie. Went 30 yds. and it took me 5 hrs. to find him. Hap
First shot at a deer with a recuve, 1967 or 68. shot at a 4 pt. at 26 yards missed clean and haven't had a shot since.......
no way,mybe the 3rd one but that was over 40 years ago.
Ken, my first shot was in October of 1965, and at 12 yards I missed by a foot and a half 8^). Back then, some of us had to learn a lot on our own and I didn't do well until I got into the local archery club. My first one wasn't taken until 1967; after that, I did a lot better 8^))). That first deer tends to throw everything off balance...hard to even think. I think I picked a spot...but it was the whole woods, not a spot on the deer. Persevere.
not only no but hell no, lost track of how maney missed shots
yea I misswed a bunch too, one big old buck I missed twice before he had enough of my games. I not only failed to pick a spot but was jerking my head up to see the arrow etc. Its tough to stay cool, pick a spot and keep good form. Stay the course I'm sure you'll pull it off.
1st trad deer came on a powerline right of way near the top of a hill in Pleaseantville Pennsylvania in 1988. 1st buck, 1st day, 1st shot, 1st time out. I was climbing a tree when he came by and walked to the other side. I climbed down and picked my bow up I had forgotten to tie it on the bow rope. The shot was 12 yards out. It was just meant to be...
First year got busted 4 times in mid draw. Second year got busted opening morning, but got lucky for my first traditional kill that afternoon. This year haven't seen a deer yet......don't need to tell you about hunting the Adirondacks.
I got the first deer I ever shot at, but not with the first shot. I was 15, 1975, and it was opening day. I was 6 ft up in an oak and got a 15 yard shot at a doe. I aimed low and missed low! The doe ran out into a field and stopped broadside at around 40 yards and I made a heart/lung passthrough.
Joe
I was fortunate enough to kill the first deer that I shot at with a recurve. The shot was close and I made a good shot. I also killed the first deer I shot at with a longbow. It was the following year, although not a one shot kill like my recurve doe. It was a nice fat six point and I shot him about 15 yards from my stand. Shot too high and spined him. He drop right there and I proceeded to miss him two times from the stand trying to follow up. Only had four arrows in my quiver, so I climbed down from my stand and got a little closer to make the final shot. I was a bit shook up, to say the least. He kicked around before expiring and broke all but one of my arrows, but I was happy as can be! That's been a few years ago and have have missed a few in the years since, but still feel that excitement although it doesn't get as out of hand as it did then.
No, I missed it....twice. Could have shot again but realized I wasn't ready. This year I'm two for two but went out back tonight and was lucky to hit the front third of my target. Where your mind is has a lot to do with it.
I drew on, and missed my first doe of the year about two weeks ago! got busted by the second one! still looking for my first trad kill! both were on the ground,probably 10 yards, very cool!! Jason
No, it was my 6th shot before I killed and recovered one. But unlike the near miraculus records of most everyone else, I did not go from misses to kills - there where 2 wounded in the 1st five shots. Must be my luck cause everyone else seems to miss or kill??
I've learned for me that picking a spot has nothing to do with it for me - I can't imagine ever pulling back the string without a clear aiming point. Learning when to shoot is what has made my kill/wound/miss ratio what it should be for me to be comfortable hunting with a recurve.
Steve
I took the first one I shot at it happend to be 7 pt buck, first day of bow season.
I thought man this is easy. Then later in the season I missed a doe at 10 yrds..
Brought me back down to earth.
I've never shot any way but trad, and have killed every deer I've shot at except 3 in the past 48 years.Killed my first and probably the next 30-35 before missing the first one. Missed 2 after that and they were about 3 years apart.
I'm not nearly as good a shot as I was in my 20's and 30's, but like then I don't take a shot unless I'm completely confident I can make it.
Also have never had Buck Fever when bowhunting, only seem to get it if using a rifle.I don't know maybe it's a distance thing.
Third times a charm. I missed two, clean over the back before i placed a good shot on this one.
(http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss174/byron_021/LongBowDeer273-1.jpg)
Yes, got the first deer I ever shot at.... with the second shot. It was two weeks ago and the first time I ever took my long bow to the stand. Missed her at 12yds then drilled her at 22yds??
Split Arrow,
great picture man! looks like a pretty heavy doe.
No, but the one I missed in late September I later killed in late October. :) Pretty nice 4x5 taken on a Platte River Island and the article appeared in the TBM issue that had the late Paul Schafer on the cover. But I think I also missed two other deer in between.
Man, I was pretty green with the stickbow back in '88. And now I shoot a pretty green stickbow. :)
Shot six arrows emptying my quiver at my first doe at less than 10 yards. Took the hair off her twice. My arrows were sticking in the ground all around her and she never moved. Either did the 10 or so other does near by! From that day on I was hooked! Try that with a compound!
I missed my first, right over the back of the biggest buck I have ever shot at.
Oh, did I mention the distance was about 5 yards.
Of course I also missed the first deer I shot at with a compound and several more after the first.
Not only did I miss the first one, but I missed all of 'em for years and years until I learned to pick a spot. I could kill squirrels and groundhogs and rabbits, but when it came to deer, I ALWAYS shot way the heck over their backs. Once I understood that the animal coming toward me was not a deer, but only a spot, I started connecting.
I have no idea how many deer I've missed over the years, but I know for sure I missed several before I finally connected.
1967.catskills. first day. climbed into an old apple tree,with my hoyt pro hunter. in about thirty minutes two does walked down the mountain. right to me. i shot the bigger one. it took me 4 hours to find her. she didn't go more then 100 yards. but in my excitment i got off the blood trail and got lost.. remember it like it was yesterday.. Ed
hell no i missed about 10- maybe 12 before i started to get meat on the table. and i still miss every now and then. LOL!!! but hey its all fun if i miss or if i get one. i love it. :archer:
Yes, oh how I long for those days!!!
ha! good one!