well, just as title say's...I'm sitting here reliving this past season and very happy with the doe I harvested from the ground.
However a current thread on here about bows and tree stands made me think about something. Something I had temporarily forgot about.
Made me think of the first time I ever sat on stand with trad gear back in 1998. And this transpired...
I was up in my treestand I didn't yet have a quiver for my new Bear Super Kodiak so i'm using the quiver from my compound bow. I hung quiver in tree. A small buck walks in and I can't believe what is happening. I am in my first hour of hunting with trad gear and am already thinking about telling my buddy at work that got me into this fun how I got a buck my first time out...WRONG...Like I was saying the buck is coming Right down the run..picture perfect stops and gives me a 12 yard chip shot...I shoot.
He drops, shoulder hit too far forward and a little high, but the shot only stunned him. Meanwhile I am reaching frantically for another arrow from the quiver I knock the whole rig loose from the branch and down to the ground 15 feet below me...
Well a few seconds later he gets up and runs away...it was a shoulder stinger shot. And I go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. And realize this is not gonna be as easy as I thought.
Neighbor shot the buck during gun hunt a month later. The deer fully recovered.
Still trying to forget about that one. And still trying to get my first trad buck.
Anyone else want to share something...
Hmmm, me thinks I better rethink my setup?! :rolleyes:
The list is way to long for me.........
I didn't really do anything wrong here except maybe call a bit too much but this is my most disappointing ending for a bowhunt ever....this happened in October of 2012 on public land. I had scouted this area and found a lot of sign that looked like a buck was spending a LOT of time in the area. I hung the stand on shortly before Halloween and went back to hunt it the next morning.
It was a cool, frosty morning and the wind was perfect. I got to my stand really early and settled in with high hopes of seeing a nice buck. Right at daybreak I heard a buck thrashing brush to my north. I could hear him thrashing branches and rubbing trees so I decided to grunt and can call at him. He stopped rubbing and I could hear him walking through the tall weeds and brush. He was headed west. After a few minutes and with me still not able to see him I heard him stop and thrash another tree. I grunted again and he stopped thrashing and all was quiet for a few minutes. Then I heard him start walking and he appeared 40 yards north of me heading west. He continued down the hill still heading west but stopping occasionally to look my way. When he was about 60 yards northwest of me I got worried he was going to leave so I grunted again and stopped him. He stared my way and turned left on a trail headed south that would take him past me at 36 yards. I let him walk along that route until he got directly west of me and ranged him 36 yards which is WAY too far. He was now just walking steadily south so I grunted again hoping to get him to turn my way and he stopped. He stood still for a couple minutes then started walking again so I hit him with another grunt. He stopped then turned my way and started thrashing a tree 30 yards to my west. I had my recurve...a 1966 Bear Kodiak Mag in hand at this point. He finishes abusing that tree and comes around it and starts my way coming from behind the tree he just thrashed at 25 yards broadside then turned on a trail and came my way, 20 yards quartering very hard to my left...not a shot I'll ever take, 15 yards still quartering hard toward my left, 10 yards coming straight at me. All I need is for him to turn left or right. He stopped at 10 yards to rub on a big tree a bit...still facing straight at me. Then he steps around the tree and comes to 8 yards where he encountered one of those tall green weeds on a bare stalk. Can't remember what they are but it was taller than him and he stopped to lick it. When he did he tilted his head back which put me in his line of sight and BAM!! He saw me and I could see in his eyes the recognition that I didn't belong there. Just a few seconds of staring and he wheeled around and bounded away. He stopped broadside to look back at 15 but behind a tree....stopped again at 30 to wave bye-bye and calmly walked away.
After he left I saw four does....all of which passed by me at 40 yards.
Here are a few pics from the stand. No pics of the buck....he was a nice ten point with big dark bases, white beams and tall white tines. I'm guessing him 130's or so...his beams aren't that long and he's only about 16 inches wide. I wanted him to be my first recurve kill.....oh so close.
If you look at the first picture there is a white log with no bark in the lower left hand corner of the frame....that's where he was when he saw me. (http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb27/critifer/2-15-151_zps3df30cd3.jpg)
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb27/critifer/2-15-153_zps7ce2904a.jpg)
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb27/critifer/2-15-152_zpsf6f39d09.jpg)
Something similar happened to me once. The first year I tried my hand at trad hunting. Except I never got the shot off.
I was in an old ladder stand, you know the kind with metal steps. About an hour before dark a doe ran down the trail I was on and stopped about 10 yards from me.
At the time I would use my finger to let the arrow slide against to keep it on the shelf. As I began to draw my finger held the arrow too much pulled it off the string and down it went ting!.....ting!.....ting!.. Hitting what felt like ever step on that old ladder stand. She bolted never to be seen again. Needless to say I learned how to can't my bow!
yes, Wannabe1 it was your thread that got me reliving that memory.
Well, I've made a few...most recent one was in Sept of '14...I was spot and stalking Muleys in southeast WA on opening day. Really great area, lots of deer and lots of big bucks. I walked carefully across cut wheat headed toward a canyon where I knew there were lots of deer to look over. After a hilly mile walking carefully I got hot. I stopped to shed a layer in some sage, and as I'm stuffing my clothes into my pack I look up to see a nice little buck wondering what the heck I'm doing on his trail. I froze...the wind was good, but after about 10 minutes he figured that whatever I was he should not fool with me. He was about 25 steps away when he saw me, but had me with my pants down so couldn't nock an arrow or draw. I kept hunting. About 2 hours later I missed a doe due to my lower limb hitting the ground when I shot. I had her dead to rites walking toward me about 15 steps. Sooo...two blunders in one morning. As luck would have it I got a whitetail that evening on a different property. Lucky guy, to get three chances in a day. Took that many before I could manage to not screw it up.
0945, Standing since 0445 in my tree stand, thinking, hrm, been 5 hrs, aint no seen no deer, hrm, gotta pee.... Go pee... Water bottle, opening small... Pissed all over darn hands cuz a nice 6 pointer spooked the ever loving crap otta me..no idea where he even came from...
Both of us wide eyed and thinkn...where and what the heck?...
I've called in more bull elk that I care to mention that came in silently, behind me. When things quieted down, I would stand up real slowly to leave only to hear the sound of a freight train barreling through the woods. I wouldn't say it was dumb, but alot of fun. Its pretty exciting. When that happens, I try to look at it this way; If i would have shot that elk I would have had one huge rush, but there is no bag limit to how many elk I can scare.
QuoteOriginally posted by BWallace10327:
I've called in more bull elk that I care to mention that came in silently, behind me. When things quieted down, I would stand up real slowly to leave only to hear the sound of a freight train barreling through the woods. I wouldn't say it was dumb, but alot of fun. Its pretty exciting. When that happens, I try to look at it this way; If i would have shot that elk I would have had one huge rush, but there is no bag limit to how many elk I can scare.
Ditto that for me on turkeys....
QuoteOriginally posted by Lineman72:
0945, Standing since 0445 in my tree stand, thinking, hrm, been 5 hrs, aint no seen no deer, hrm, gotta pee.... Go pee... Water bottle, opening small... Pissed all over darn hands cuz a nice 6 pointer spooked the ever loving crap otta me..no idea where he even came from...
Both of us wide eyed and thinkn...where and what the heck?...
Lol...now thats funny!!
Been there on the pee thing.....
Hadn't seen Jack, had to pee. Unbuckled the belt to go, Buck comes outta nowhere from my right, I draw, he stops and decides to loop around the back of my tree. I let down and turn to get ready for the shot, I draw again. No clear shot and he goes on down the trail. Only then, do I realize my pants are around my ankles!
The funny thing is, I remember looking around hoping nobody saw me :biglaugh:
I think, an very underused tactic when all else is not working, is to drop trou and start taking a dump. Something about that calls in all manner of game. Maybe work as a tag team with one "calling" and one waiting for the shot ? Just make sure to top of your bibs, or your hood, are well out of the way. . .just saying.
All I can say is. . keep hunting and you will have PLENTY more stories to tell. These occurrences don't just happen to you, they happen to everybody, all the time. Part of what makes life fun !
ChuckC
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
I think, an very underused tactic when all else is not working, is to drop trou and start taking a dump. Something about that calls in all manner of game. Maybe work as a tag team with one "calling" and one waiting for the shot ? Just make sure to top of your bibs, or your hood, are well out of the way. . .just saying.
All I can say is. . keep hunting and you will have PLENTY more stories to tell. These occurrences don't just happen to you, they happen to everybody, all the time. Part of what makes life fun !
ChuckC
I recall a time when, at first light, a bull elk was screaming his head off, not 100 yards away. As I attempted to put the sneak on him, THAT feeling, a remnant of last evening's chili, became undeniable, and it was time to go, right now. As I squatted down to take care of business, I feel the wind start to move in the direction of the fired up bull, and in mere seconds, I hear the crashing of hooves away from my location. A time to feel both relief and frustration.
I was hunting a surburban area on Long Island over looking a trail and I was most of the way up a little ridge. right at prime evening time I hear a "deer" walking behind me. I slowly turn and there is a hiker there and he tells me that he is lost. I tell him which way to go to hit a close by mountain bike trail to get him out.
About 5 minutes later I hear him again behind me, so I turn around to look and a nice fat 4 pointer is 15 yards from me in no time. I swing around to shoot and unfortunately caught my lower limb in my bibs pocket and didn't know it. The shot flew awful and hit him high and way far back with no penetration and he bolts out of there fast.
I wait about 15 minutes and then go to go see if I can find any blood where I last saw him go. About 20 yards past that point I see him crumpled up on the mountain bike trail with two mountain bikers looking aghast at the dead deer in the trail. I had hit him in the kidney and he bled out in 50 yards.
I was hunting with my BW recurve one October evening after work.A big boar hog comes in and I shoot him.I hit kind of high and far back.I get down to look for him and nature called.There was a dry creek bed right under my tree so I began to do my business right there.I have my pants down to my ankles.I feel a sting on my butt,then another,and another.Next thing I know is that I am being swarmed by hundreds of yellowjackets,hornets,or some type of wasp,etc...I tried to pull my pants up and just ran.I was fighting them off and after it was over,had dozens of stings on my butt,legs,face,you name it.Now,the problem is that my gear is still in the creek bed.I ran over to grab it and got hit again but not as bad.I wasn't allergic or would have died.I was in plenty of pain though.I look for the hog half heartily bu never found it.I had a 3/4 mile walk back to my truck.I'm sure that it would have made a hilarious funniest home video and now I can look back on it and laugh but at the time.it was no fun.The wasps were in a hole up under the bank of the creek bed.
This past fall, I was sitting a little off a well used trail. Good sign, a coupla scrapes. I was sitting in one of Big Jims Gorilla blinds. Ya know the little pop-up kind. I'd bleated about 30 min. before and had waited a while, was reading a good book, looking around , read some more. I heard leaves rustling off to my right, being real still. I look around real careful. Use the Binos. Nothing !! I turn back to my left and a Large 10pt. , nose on the ground highballs right in Front of me not 4ft. away. Never slowed down . Never looked. Just Gone ! What the Heck?? :laughing: :laughing:
In the early 70s I was hunting on Aberdeen Proving Ground and it started to rain hard. I was hunting next to a WW2 airplane graveyard so I found a dry spot under the wing of a C47 and sat down. Shortly there after I fell asleep. Upon waking I spent some time crawling through the cockpits of some planes. A very unique experience.
The oddest one thats happened to me was a year or so ago. I found a mob of nice eating size pigs. They were in quite open country but with a few thistles and a small depression I crept up within 20 yards and drew back and released on the best of them. Now i could have absolutely sworn that my arrow passed clean through the pigs chest. it felt good, I saw the arrow disappear at the correct point, and the pig gave a small jump. However after that it trotted over too its mates and continued to feed. I watched for quite a while expecting it to fall, but it never, so I crawled forward and retrieved my arrow. Sure enough a small amount of blood on the shaft and a fletch was missing.
Thinking my shot must have gone awry, and not wanting to leave a wounded pig, even if it looks fine, i creep back up and try again. this time the result is immediate, a big squeal, and a panicked run in a circle before it drops dead about 5 yards from me.
Try as i might I cannot find 2 arrow paths.I think I have lost sight of the correct pig and shot another. I gut it and as i remove the heart I see the arrow has gone clean through it. Sticking out of the heart in the arrow wound, is the missing fletch.
I'm hunting outside a tree line high up in the Siskyou mountains in S Oregon and I see a couple of really nice three point bucks. Not trophies but good size bucks and its the last of the season so I determine the direction that they are traveling and note that they are heading for the side of a 15 foot cliff with a break in the side and I figure that they will go through that little break. So I simply get beneath the cliff and wait for them . Buttttttttttt, Naturally I got to look after a while. Soooooooooo I move very slowly and get far enough away to barely see over the cliff and I see that the bucks are almost to it and walking near the edge toward the break. Then I hear this scream., Its the only way I can describe the sound and I see this golden eagle coming from the tree line in fighter plane mode with his wings set and he hits the larger buck right in the center of his back really hard. It knocks the buck off the cliff and I'm standing there dumbfounded. The buck jumps up and takes off and I don't even get a shot. Anyway I think I am really blessed in seeing something few people will ever have the opportunity to see and few would even believe. I firmly believe that eagle attacked to disable or kill the buck but did not get into the spinal cord with his talons or break the bucks neck or legs in the fall.
God bless, Steve
QuoteOriginally posted by Sixby:
I'm hunting outside a tree line high up in the Siskyou mountains in S Oregon and I see a couple of really nice three point bucks. Not trophies but good size bucks and its the last of the season so I determine the direction that they are traveling and note that they are heading for the side of a 15 foot cliff with a break in the side and I figure that they will go through that little break. So I simply get beneath the cliff and wait for them . Buttttttttttt, Naturally I got to look after a while. Soooooooooo I move very slowly and get far enough away to barely see over the cliff and I see that the bucks are almost to it and walking near the edge toward the break. Then I hear this scream., Its the only way I can describe the sound and I see this golden eagle coming from the tree line in fighter plane mode with his wings set and he hits the larger buck right in the center of his back really hard. It knocks the buck off the cliff and I'm standing there dumbfounded. The buck jumps up and takes off and I don't even get a shot. Anyway I think I am really blessed in seeing something few people will ever have the opportunity to see and few would even believe. I firmly believe that eagle attacked to disable or kill the buck but did not get into the spinal cord with his talons or break the bucks neck or legs in the fall.
God bless, Steve
I watched a big golden eagle kill an antelope fawn doing the same thing. The dive bombing routine is really something to see.
It was October, 1978 in the Clark State Forest (S. Indiana). I watched squirrels and chipmunks going from the woods edge I was in to the adjacent standing cornfield. A little while later a grey fox entered the same corn field, within bow range of my tree stand perch.
A few moments later I hear a commotion. First comes the chipmunk, then the squirrel... both running like....well, a fox was after them! The fox was 3rd it of the corn and he caught the squirrel right in front of me. Picked him right off the base of a tree Mr. Squacker was trying to run up.
Not long after a 2nd fox or the same one (??) came down the same trail and simple followed the way the 1st fox had gone with his prize.
All critters were legal but it didn't even occur to me to try to shoot one. I was just watching the show.
I'm sitting up in a tree next to a bog, I could see about 150-200 yards in that direction even though I am about 20 yds in,I spend all kinds of time being as quite as possible going in and up the tree, I get everything set up, I get all compfy and cozy, I'm relaxed looking around checking things out and, I hear this loud skreach ! I look in the direction of the only dead tree left in the bog just in time to see a bald eagle take off from the top, cursing me out in bird talk as he/she flies away from me. Now this was very cool as there weren't many eagles in n.j. back then, I will add that I didn't see a darn thing the rest of the day !
When I was 14 or 15 I had been badgering my dad to death to let me hunt by myself. Like most boys that age I was a true hunter, experienced, a master at my craft. A true phenom (I hope you guys can detect the sarcasm). Dad told me I could hunt alone, but if I was going to do it, I was going to do it ALL by myself. Scouting, stand hanging, preparing, all the things that go into the hunt. "I'll show him", says my brash teenage self.
At that time we lived close to a very large piece of public ground, but I needed permission to cross the neighbors land for access. Of course this was something Dad normally handled, however this time it fell to me. I mustered all my courage and one day after school sheepishly asked Mr. Doster if I could cross his land to hunt the forest service ground. He said "Of course you can"!! I was impressed with myself, not knowing that he had also granted half the county the same privilege.
I scouted heavily, or what I thought was heavily. I set my stand up in sight of a nice rub line, with a big hub scrape about 20 yards off to the North. It was all I could do to let my honey hole cool off a couple days, planning to hunt the next Saturday morning. In my teenage haste I managed to get into my tree a solid hour and half before daylight. A half hour before daylight I see a very faint light coming up the ridge. Not bright enough to be a flashlight. "What in the world is that", I thought to myself. The light would flicker, and brighten, then fade. Then I smelled it. It was tobacco!!!! Some dern yokel was stomping up my spot, and he was smoking while he was at it. He got right up on top of me, I was half scared for my life. I finally meekly said "excuse me, sir"...he turned inside out. I scared the poor guy out of his skin. He moved on, and now it was pink light. Just after legal shooting light I heard a rustling. Deer?? Nope, it was ANOTHER hunter. This one I could see plainly in his blaze orange. He was bold enough to ask me how my hunt was going and generally stomp up my spot even more. Disgusted, I climbed down and headed for home.
After telling dad the tale, he remained silent for a time. He didn't gloat, but I could tell I was about to learn something. He said "Thing about all that buck sign so close to the road, everyone see's it." That's all he ever allowed on the subject. I decided then and there that perhaps my apprenticeship wasn't over yet. It still isn't, not by a long shot.
Cool thread,
Jake
Last year hunting a small 30 acre property with 4 guys. I just get settled in look up the hill and a huge black animal is moving quick on the hillside. a bear? no,one of neighbor's, (who doesn't know what he is doing, and that's all I'll say about that) black angus cows was on the loose. I text everyone not to shoot it. I got the "thanks dad" back at me. Jeez i was just making sure...
Years ago I decided the 1st of the season I was going to shoot the first deer that come by to get some meat. Along comes a small button buck broadside at 15 yards.
Still I don't know what happen but arrow flew real weird and went way over the deer's back. He jumped about 3 yards closer and was looking around. As I nock another arrow it falls off the string and bangs against the stand falling to the ground. The deer jumps closer to the stand again.
So I slow down and take my time and make a good shot with another arrow and the deer speeds off. He goes about 30 yards and run head first into a big walnut tree, then crumbles too the ground. I wasn't sure the shot killed him that fast or if he broke his neck.
As I rolled him over I see the base of a deer shed sticking out of the dead grass. It ended up being the best shed I have ever found. It had 5 regular points and 5 non typical stickers branching off the main points.
I guess some things are just meant to happen.
Wake up really early one morning I was hunting...ate a big breakfast, eggs,sausage, bacon, toast,and of course several cups of coffee. Get to stand climb up.get settled in put in my coppenhagen and BaM!!! Guts are rolling! Time to repel off this tree stand like a ninja or I may not make it...get to the bottom as I start ripping off coveralls! Well u know the rest! Lol I left more scent that I ever would that mornimg. Saw a doe later but no bucks! Better than smeared britches I guess!!!hahaha
I was muzzleloader hunting with my uncle in Indiana one year. He put me in a spot and says the deer will be there at around 4pm. Ohhkkkkk? Im ready and sure enough at 4pm here comes 4 does and they stage right in front of this field where I am. Not 20 yds away. I fire at doe number one miss!! Huh?? They run away. So I reload and a few minutes later here comes a bucket 8 point. I aim and fire and miss him from 15 yds max. He doesnt run. He just stares into the field. I reload and this time hes 20 yds. Blamm and smoke and he stands there still looking. I reload my last pre-made pill bottle load and take careful aim...you guessed it I missed him again. He finally runs off and my uncle shows up and asks where are the dead deer. I have never been that bummed out before or since.
I took up a night stand next to a really big cottonwood in a washout in the Badlands of ND.
I took a seat on the ground as the light came to an end to wait for total darkness to move out.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and wouldn't you know it, it was a porcupine moving in to climb the tree for the night.
He was going to climb right over me as if I was a rock or a log. I had to use my bow to keep him off me, it took 3-4 nudges in order to change his mind. this whole time he was less than a foot from my leg.