This is my third year of hunting for whitetails. I am enjoying the learning process, but it can be frustrating because I haven't even got a shot yet. How long did it take you before you got your first one?
Five years of ground hunting.
Six hours in a tree-stand. :biglaugh:
I replied to the first post......
1st season, was on the ground. Proof its better to be lucky than good sometimes.
2nd full season of trad, on the ground. Put in a lot of hours. Really depends on the type of property you are hunting. Now I'm on public grounds and just seeing deer is a challenge.
This is my third year and I got my first and so far only shot a few weeks ago. Seen plenty of deer, but getting a shot is another matter.
It took me two years to get my first deer, a doe. I was 14 years old when I started bowhunting. When I arrowed the doe, I was 16 years old. Shot from a concealed ground blind.
It took me 5 years and I didn't start until I was 39. I missed a few those first 5 years and I kept saying "you can't keep getting closer forever without connecting sometime." Yes, it is frustrating but it will happen. If you are doing the right things then you will connect.
Make a point of enjoying the out of doors time. Be thankful you can go hunting. Watch the squirrels (use them for target practice) and it will happen.
Took me about 3-4 weeks of hunting my first season with a bow to get one. I had friends though that had hunted for years without getting a deer so I may have just been lucky. That was 28 or so years ago.
It took me 3 seasons of trad hunting before I killed my first whitetail with one back in 1997. It was a young doe. Then, one week later, I killed my second whitetail, my first buck with trad.
Three frustrating years! When I finally took my first buck I felt like I won the lottery, but better!
GLENN
It took me 3 years.
Tried 9 years of frustration with 3 misses and one injured deer before I went back to wheels. I still love shooting traditional and I still hunt with traditional bows, but my confidence was so shaken 4 years ago that I have not dedicated myself to it completely again. I am getting there though and have hunted more with a traditional bow this year than in the past 4. Don't give up I haven't. I basically look at my compound as a rifle and use it in certain situations.
I may also be one of the lucky ones...this was my first year w/a trad bow and I put a doe down...she was the first deer I ever shot at and only the third animal (I smacked a red fox w/the shaft of my arrow and smoked a fox squirrel prior to her.) Good luck.
Been at this Trad game for almost 8 years. I've had some shots at deer but have never killed one with Trad gear. Keep at it.
8 years with a compound nothing to show for it first week with trad equipment 8pt buck and gave the training wheels away.It will happen if you keep with it.
This is my forth season of trad without a deer. Missed a few and hit a buck this year that I did not recover yet. I have killed two black bears & a turkey though. It is all good. Enjoy the journey.
25 Minutes into my first hunt on stand with a recurve. Couldnt have worked out better. That was three years ago. Go figure, this year I never got a shot in 4 weeks of hunting.
First full year got a button buck, once again better lucky than good.
I've been hunting with trad gear for 4 years and havent connected...YET, but it will happen if you give it time and be patient. As far as I'm concerned I didnt start hunting till I picked up the recurve. Stay at it and good luck!! Jason
QuoteOriginally posted by elknutz:
1st season, was on the ground. Proof its better to be lucky than good sometimes.
Ditto
Patriarch,
Here in NH where BH success rates are very low, I hunted 10 years before connecting on a button buck. A few misses were experienced along the way - sometimes euphemistically called a "learning curve". Still after it 17 yrs later. Love being in the woods.
PatriarchArcher,
Mine is a pretty lucky story because I possessed very little knowledge or skill when I killed my first deer. The only thing I can say is that I was a pretty good shot by then.
I had not seen a live deer by the time I went on my first bowhunt at age 16 in 1969. On my first hunt I killed a 5-point buck, the first live deer I ever saw, with a cedar arrow from a Ben Pearson Cougar at 15 yards.
So...it took me about 75 minutes of hunting to get my first deer. I had terrorized chipmunks and squirrels for about 3 years prior though.
This year, was my first back to traditional since 1974. It took 14 days to tag a doe that I was very happy to take.
Three years after switching to trad gear. Switched after eight years of hunting with the wheels.
this is my first year of hunting and i still havent got a shot on one. i see alot but im waiting on the right shot
i took a doe the first year but it was 3 years before a buck was taken. Billy
Shot at 3 and missed last year. Still trying. It's been 3 years...
Heading out this afternoon. (:
Martin
Not sure yet. Been trying for 2 years.
It varies widely due to factors like deep population, location/habitat, hunting pressure, hunting skills, and shooting skills.
I think it is more important to gauge the hunt by what you see and not by what you kill. If you are seeing deer and getting opportunities, but missing, then its shooting skills you need to hone.
If you are not seeing deer and there is little sign, then it is location that needs to be changed ... you are fishing a dry hole.
If you are not seeing deer and there is plenty of fresh sign, then it is hunting skills that need refinement. Different situations require different hunting techniques. Spot-n-stalk requires the most hunting skills and is the most difficult, but the most rewarding.
Took up my old Trad gear 2 seasons ago but only hunted this season. Took 1 hour out of a treestand to put a cow elk down ... so Luck helps.
Started bow hunting in '67 and killed first deer I ever shot at in '69.
5 years ... But way back then there was not much info , equipment and deer as there is today... Yes it was "THIN" times but I wish I was back then.... You relied on yourself then...and really learned ! When It comees down to it Its really you and the deer not the "HYPE"..remember that !
I switched over nine years ago now, and I still haven't let an arrow loose yet. The past seven years have been dedicated to hunting strictly on the ground and now I'll never climb again. Like others have stated in this thread, I feel like I didn't start "hunting" until I picked up the recurve. Along the way, I've learned more about getting close, too close at times, than I ever did in the combined forty years of hunting prior.
I've also learned, that it isn't about the kill for me any longer. When the creator feels it's my time, then I'll loose that arrow, till then I relish every second that I get to spend out in his creation and I'm sure to Thank Him for my time afield.
There is nothing that compares to being out amongst nature and truly enjoying what I do there. Give it time and just learn to enjoy whatever it is that you're experiencing.
This was my first season after picking up traditional again, to completing the quest I set out to do. I say I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, as many will tell you and have posted to, it can take time.
When it happens, what a RUSH and FEEL of that first traditional bow kill.
Don't give up, as if any of us wanted it the easy way we would not be hunting with traditional bows.
It took me two years to take my first animal with a trad bow. In the time since then there has been a few drought too.