Well i guess this could go for spot and stalk also, but for you guys that do hunt the ground and move, do you move with an arrow nocked? I was watching Fred Bear last night and the narrator says that its a no-no. Since I've started I have had one nocked when I'm moving. Only time I have put the arrow back in the quiver is if I am in really steep ground where I am bound to slip.
Just wondering what you guys do?
Jeff
NO!! You'll hear some horror stories about this. Do it enough and you'll have your own horror story.
Scars to show, anyone?
Don is right! I used too but don't anymore. Ignorance of youth on my part. There was a post not to long ago about this. People have died from this and I knew someone who did. So DON'T do it!
Keeping the Faith!
Magnus
Jeff - I started out like you, with an arrow knocked. Then I started reading here, and elsewhere. The, I thought about how many times I have slipped, even on familiar ground. Its just not worth it.
Keep the arrow in the quiver until you see the quarry.
I guess I'm the daring one with an arrow nocked, I'm not going to lie but I do I have an arrow ready to go when I'm creeping for deer and I also hunt pheasants/rabbits and squirrels with my bow so I kinda need to have an arrow nocked. but 95% of the time I'm in the stand and while on the walk in and walk out my arrows are all in the quiver because I personally learned that deer are going to see me before I see them so I don't bother and move at a steady pace which seems to not spook them as much,,, I will man up and say don't learn this habit I have it is dangerous and they are right its really not needed.
honestly I think the most dangerous thing some of you guys do is use a back quiver for hunting,,, if you trip and fall forward or tumble you can get a face & head full of broadheads that came out of the quiver on the way down.
Nocked, though its a bad idea...
Nocked only if I am approaching game. No quick shot is worth hurting my self or a hunting buddy.
not till I'm ready to shoot. I prefer to see game blood on the ground not mine.
Ill join the crowd that did it BEFORE! dont any more
Quote
honestly I think the most dangerous thing some of you guys do is use a back quiver for hunting,,, if you trip and fall forward or tumble you can get a face & head full of broadheads that came out of the quiver on the way down. i've never heard or seen this happen in 40 years of bowhunting. i suppose it could. i have heard of people sticking themselves or a buddy while walking around with a shaving sharp broadhead on the end of a pointed stick though. :)
After witnessing years ago how quickly an arrow kills, my arrows stay in the quiver. I read somewhere of an accident this fall where two guys were still hunting together and the lead hunter got in some thick stuff and took a step backwards into the hunter behind him's arrow. And died.
QuoteOriginally posted by acadian archer:
not till I'm ready to shoot. I prefer to see game blood on the ground not mine.
I totally agree. Stalking about with an arrow nocked on the bowstring is a disaster waiting to happen.
A little solo on your bow will keep one arrow very close at hand when a shot presents itself, and the point is covered should you take a tumble.
I do both, but it all depends on what I am doing. If I am trying to get from one area to another or moving very fast at all like just a slow walk I don't have one on. If I am trying to get into position on something I have in site or getting around some cover to get on something moving with a lot of ground to cover I don't have one on. If I am really still hunting very slow in cover where an animal or bird could show at any second I do have an arrow on, but I am talking taking a step or two and stopping for a while. That to me is no different than having an arrow on as I cover those last couple yards planning a shot that could happen at any second on something I could see. However, I take it off if I was on any kind of footing where I could slip or trip. I would never move with an arrow on anywhere near another person; you just can't guess what they could do without notice. I also make sure to have it way away from me pointed off to the side and not out front or down. I have never taken a fall or slipped with an arrow on my bow, because I am very selective when I have one on.
You also have to keep in mind I hunt Michigan and mostly very flat land. When I have an arrow on I am not on a slope, rocks, crawling over down trees or a lot of other types of footing and cover many here would be hunting.
not nocked. Just saying.
ChuckC
Totally unnessessary. I have killed a few animals on the ground and never had an arrow nocked first. You'll have time. Like anything else, practice getting an arrow from quiver to bow till it becomes automatic. Walking around with a broadhead on the string is just plain silly.
I had never thought about it until I caught it on the Bear DVD. Now that I think about it, I can't believe I had been doing it. I ain't studying on getting stuck myself! Thanks for the replies. That's a bad habit I am dropping right now.
I'l carry a blunt nocked when still hunting small game, but never a broadhead. As said before, that's a disaster waiting to happen, and it's a pretty sure bet that it will eventually happen.
walking with an unprotected broad head is too dangerous. And quick shots are low %.
i used to but man it is too easy to stick yourself - say if you trip and fall. Plus I think it takes some of your focus from the job at hand having to watch that BHEAD going through vines and the like.
J
It's a big no-no, walking with a nocked arrow, and sets a bad example to youngsters and newbies as well, who look up to you. And someone is always looking.
I've killed quite a few critters from the ground, and like Thomas says, it's unnecessary. Look at it this way. The attention you have to pay to keeping yourself or friends from getting "stuck" by your arrow, or from dulling it in the brush or avoiding obstacles by having that 30 inches of projection sticking out from your bow, could be put to better use in spotting your game before it spots you! When a shot is imminent, then and only then should you nock an arrow.
I use a solo stalker so I have one arrow that is easily accessable when game is spotted. I carry my other arrows in a GFA style quives that I sling behind me. Walking with a nocked arrow is dangerous for you and any other person with you.
You don't stalk with a loaded rifle with the safety off do you?
IMHO Mark Baker said it best!
... mike ...
Not unless I have a target in sight or unless I have reason to believe I'm about to.
I have carried my arrow in my shooting hand but only when I think I might run into something. Otherwise it's in quiver.
Ok, I must live on the edge I do nock and hunt going in and out and I am as attentive to my broadhead and arrow as I am to the ground, branches and deer.You could pull and arrow out(and try to nock it) while watching a deer and get stuck just as easy.Do you guys who dont nock ever walk around your kitchen with a knife in your hand or even out to the back yard to the barbecue with one.or does it get secured in a sheath first.
Just back from an absolute miserable still-hunt in a sleet/snow mix just hoping to catch something as dumb as me out in that mess! Anyway, I never nocked an arrow until I got to a spot that I setup on to watch the last little bit before dark. I have to admit, I'd rather do a still-hunt with an arrow nocked, plain and simple. So, I'm sort of up in the air on this one. I know the safety risks are great, but in certain areas I'll be nocking an arrow when I still-hunt, but when the terrain gets a bit rough I'll un-nock.
Plus, I hunt alone, so the only person I may stick will be myself.
I just don't need to kill anything that much. I like myself way too much.
I still hunted today for the first time with binoculars. What I found is that if you scan the area around before you move, you can move freely knowing that you will not spook game or jump an unexpected deer. That also means that your arrow can stay in your quiver because you know you won't need it in a hurry. I had encounters with five deer today all within 25 yds and I was able to nock an arrow fast enough.
In the quiver. I don't jump shoot with my bow unless I'm hunting rabbits and then it's with judos or hex heads.
Not that I've hit a rabbit jump shooting but I've been close a time or two!
Not till I`m bout close enough to shoot.Lot of times I may have got a shot if I had walked with an arrow on the string....lots of times I may have tripped and got killed.I want to live to hunt with my Grandson .RC
I don't walk around nocked-do it just before ready to shoot.
Have been, but I won't anymore....Phil
That's how I tell which guys on TV are dipsticks...the guys who walk around with an arrow on the string don't know much about how a broadhead works.
As Irish said
QuoteI like myself way too much
:biglaugh:
Seriously
One slip on wet ground or a stumble over a tree root and that broadhead won't have to travel far to puncture your femoral or sub clavian artery .
No, and for the same reason I dont walk around gun hunting with the safty off.
Unnocked although I don't still-hunt deer -- I'm not patient enough. I know, some think hunting in tree stands demands more patience than still hunting. However, I find it much easier to remain still in a tree stand where mobility is restricted by the tiny perch. On the ground I get too antsy to see what's around the next bend or over the next rise.
Neither do I approach down game with a nocked arrow. The arrow is safely in the quiver when I'm moving.
When I still-hunted squirrels, move to a hickory, stop for 10-30 minutes - hunt, then move again. I would nock the arrow when I stop and requiver when time to move again.
No!!! Keep that bh were it is suposed to be, in a good quality quiver, until you are ready to take a shot.
Walking around with a nocked broadhead arrow is worse than walking with the safe off on a loaded gun, a lot of bad things can happen if you do. No deer is worth the chance not a one :nono:
I carry an arrow in my right hand but, the 2 blade broad head is covered with a thick leather cover.
If Im shooting bunnies or ground squirrels with blunts ect . But never with a broad head, or any thing sharp.
in some of the thick cover that i have been in its near impossible to be on the move with an arrow nockedits just one more thing to make noise snagging on some of the brushin fifteen yrs of shooting trad there has been only 2 occasions ive been able to sneek up on deer and get within 20 yrds without them knowing i was even there.i actually had time to pull an arrow from my bow quiver and nock unnoticed. both times i blew the shot arrow went low and missed.since then i have shot a doe, from a tree stand. after witnessing what a good sharp broad head can do to a deer, the lesson is 1 mistake could be your last, especially if you are on a solo hunt. evolution does work. ruddy
i nock when im putting on a little stalk where i know deer might be . but i wouldnt nock an arrow an follow a friend around in the woods.
Nope not until I'm ready for a shot. Had a friend stick me in the back 20yr ago nothing bad but brought it home.
Nope, & I don't walk around with my pocket knife open or the safety off my shotgun either.
Unknocked. but sometimes, if Im walking about and I approach an old clearcut or field edge or place I have repeatedly walked up on deer, I will take an arrow out of my quiver and carry it in my drawing hand as I painfully slowly approach said spot. If i get to the spot where I can see and there is nothing to shoot at, I put it back and continue walking. Some things are inherintly dangerous....and Im all for safety. I would never do what I just explained, being behind a buddy though, or on ice, or...you get the point. Always wear my safety harness in the tree, no exceptions. But there are no seatbelts on motorcycles! Guess it comes down to common sense and sound judgment and knowing your limitations.
Nocked.
I have a single arrow bow quiver and don't nock until game is spotted.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/HPIM1065.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/HPIM1068.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/HPIM0346.jpg)
If I am stalking game I might nock an arrow. No big deal. Doesn't mean I'm dangerous or gonna die any more than it does to cross the street. It's all about how you do things..
In my younger days perhaps, as some here have said "If I am safe what's the problem". Now older and realizing that there is a reason its called an ACCIDENT. I take all precautions not to become a statistic.
Weigh the risk and benefits fellas, if you think that carrying an arrow on the string is really going to help you become more successful, you should just put in more time being a stealthy hunter. IMHO