Went to my parent's today to help out with chores. Dad's in his early 70's and has difficulty getting around. After digging a drain ditch and painting some for him I went to the woods for a few hours.
I got settled in along a well worked trail. This trail is nearly worn down to bare dirt in a pine stand. Set up a light ground blind with the little green that's around. Carried a milk crate to the woods to sit on. Sat there for about two hours before the squirrels became active. Then the woods were noisy with the squirrels in the nearby oaks.
I stood up to get some blood flow back to my legs. It was about 6:20pm. The sun was getting lower and the woods were already getting darker. I figured I'd leave the woods at 6:30 so if I did shoot a deer I wouldn't have to track it in the dark.
Suddenly to my right I saw a brown blurr as a doe was running straight down the trail I was watching. She had been spooked by something. Maybe one of those starving squirrels. I saw a opening and drew back my arrow. I was going to grunt to get her to stop at the open lane, but she saw me draw. She stopped instantly, right behind two trees that formed a V. She repositioned to get a better look at me. There I was, drawing about 52# and trying to figure out what to do.
I had shot at a straw bale before heading to the woods. The arrow I had drawn back was flying true. SHe was about 15 yards away. I thought about trying to split the V of the trees. If I could get the arrow to fly through the two trees, the arrow had nowhere else to go except in her right shoulder. She was quartering towards me and was downhill about 4-5'. I felt that if the shot made it through the V then a kill shot was inevitable. If not, there would be no chance of an injury as the trees would stop the flight of the arrow.
Sure enough, I let fly. Split the trees perfectly. But, since she was looking right at me when I released, she jumped the string and dipped heavily before she spun and ran downhill. The arrow went right over her shoulder. She must've dipped at least 8". She was spooked before headin' my way, but she really must've been spooked to have dipped so low. I heard a distint thunk way past her. I knew I had shot a nice tree somewhere downrange.
She ran about 20 yards, looked back uphill as if to laugh, or breathe a sigh of relief, and trotted off. She never blew or anything you'd expect from a spooked deer. She looked to be a yearling born last year sometime.
I went to search for my arrow and hope to not see any blood to confirm my vision of the arrow sailing over her. Found a Sourwood that had tried to eat my broadhead. Thankfully the two blade pivoted out fairly easily. No blood on the arrow.
If I have to miss, I hope I always miss cleanly.
It was nice to get into the woods after a long hunting hiatus of several years.
She's still there.
And as Ah-nold would say, "I'll be back."
NICE!! When alerted they can really react!!
That is funny - as a miss pushed me into the chasm of no return with traditional bowhunting.
Its been over 3 decades and I am still as excited when I see a deer approach as that first time.
And I still occasionally miss - just to keep the memories strong. :rolleyes:
missed the biggest,uglyest doe tonite. She was almost black and had a nose that looked a foot long. Whitetail skank lives on!
My first shot ever at a deer with a longbow this past weekend...whacked my arm after a long staredown at half draw and sent the arrow low and wide. Good clean miss...like you say if you're gonna miss, miss big.
Excellent action and nice reward for helping your Pop. That doe was on double red alert! It is amazing how quickly they can react.
I've never been much of a fan of stopping deer with grunts or other sounds. I fear it will get the deer in a better position to spring from the arrow.
Great story, thanks for sharing. It's funny how sometimes the misses are as memorable as the hits.
CKR
i missed 2 this past weekend, and what an exciting 2 misses i had. good luck to ya this season, ruddy
missed four times in one day on sunday!
i also missed :-( it was a cake shot at 13yds. all i did was trim some hair off her lower chest.
I nodded off Saturday and woke up to find 6 nice does right in front of my blind. 2 laying on the ground. When I picked up my bow the arrow fell out and hit my boot and spooked them all. Not sure if you call that a miss but it sure was a blown shot. Part of the game.
sam
mmmmmmmmmmmmmisses are memorable.
Joe
:thumbsup:
I missed a bull elk at 20 feet with my wheels 5 years ago. I had taken a fall and hit the fancy pins going up the mountain. Now if I fall going up I have no sight to tear up unless you count my head which is hard enough to withstand most falls :) It started this wonderful journey of traditoinal archery for me. Missin' happens...keep after it!