That is one of the best stories ever...wow.  Thank you.

I wanted to take the time and return a very heart felt Thank You! to everyone that followed and read, commented and encouraged me through out my story. I really appreciated your posts as this was my first Trad Gang story and most certainly the longest, in depth tale I've ever put to paper. I plan to use a link to the story as an invitation to my brother Dan and father to join the site and share the complete story as they have not yet seen it.

I loved adding the photos to the story, what a great site this is! Not owning a computer or being that savy on one I learned a lot along the way, thanks for your patients. lol It honestly took me the better part of a day to post my first photo and even then Terry had to fix one and Rob deleted another. Ha, I think I have it now! Greg thanks for telling me to use more paragraphs for ease of reading, I honestly didn't know what u were saying until I found myself using my finger on the screen.

I also wanted to clearly comment on an aspect of the story. Mark pointed out the white elephant in my story, and I agree, he posted "not a shot I would recommend but you pulled it off." A head shot is a low percentage shot and i'm relatively new to my longbow. It would have been easy to glance the broadhead off bone or some other way wound the buck. When I first sat to begin the story that was one of my first thoughts, the ethics of that shot.

I don't want to appear to defend or produce an excuse but rather say at the time it happened fast and a lot of emotions ran through me, I learned a lot last season. I anticipated and deserve that constructive criticism, I will leave that thought with a humble and honest... thanks for your honesty Mark.

This weekend I plan to have my first get together with Trad Gang members at Harwood Lake to bunny hunt. I'm really excited! I have looked at the hill hog hunt, the CA bear hunt and different gatherings so I see this as a cool first step in a long walk!

The site has stirred passions of making bows, arrows, stone points, so many things that otherwise would be so much farther out of reach than they feel now. For the generous sharing of knowledge and eagerness to post replies by those who know so much, thank you, very appreciated! Sorry this was a little long but I really wanted to say a few things. Best of wishes to you all,
Gratefully, Jim

Bravo!  I am sure there will be many more stories to come.

Jim,

That was AWESOME    
Everything from the first spark of the    

God Bless
Ben

Outstanding hunt.  I didn't come all this way to be critical of your shot.  Given your situation and the nature of whitetails you were denfinately in a conundrum.  You believed in the shot and executed.  Well done.  Personally, the thought of a nice buck spinning around with blood spewing from a head shot at 10 yards paints an amazing visual and shows courage, hunting from the ground.  Thanks for the story and welcome to TG.

~CB

 Congrats, great story thanks for sharing.

Great job Jim. I cant believe this is your first try at writing. I enjoyed it very much. Congrats on a nice buck!

A well told story......but a head shot.....not trying to rain on your accomplishment, but you got LUCKY, 9 times out of 10 this story doesn't end well...it is probably the lowest percentage shot to be taken with a bow....maybe next time let em walk or wait em out.   Congrats on a beautiful deer especially for NY.  Looks like some beautiful property also.  Joe

That was a hell of a story!  Way to go!

Way to push the envelope!

QuoteOriginally posted by Chromebuck:
Outstanding hunt.  I didn't come all this way to be critical of your shot.  Given your situation and the nature of whitetails you were denfinately in a conundrum.  You believed in the shot and executed.  Well done.  Personally, the thought of a nice buck spinning around with blood spewing from a head shot at 10 yards paints an amazing visual and shows courage, hunting from the ground.  Thanks for the story and welcome to TG.

~CB

Hear, hear!!

QuoteOriginally posted by JoeM:
A well told story......but a head shot.....not trying to rain on your accomplishment, but you got LUCKY, 9 times out of 10 this story doesn't end well...it is probably the lowest percentage shot to be taken with a bow....maybe next time let em walk or wait em out.   Congrats on a beautiful deer especially for NY.  Looks like some beautiful property also.  Joe

Couldn't have said is any better...

Wow! I think you already understand just how badly that could have ended so I will say no more about the shot. But at the same time, that is the coolest story I think I have ever read on Trad Gang! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

TTT

This one is worth bringing to the top!!!!

A great story!!!

Fantastic story! Congrats. I grew up hunting Western NY and those pics brought back a lot of great memories and lessons learned in the fall woods.

I was ice fishing at the time you put this story out, I don't come around often at that time of year. This is a amazing story. I'm so happy it was brought up and I came across and took the time to read through its entirety. Congratulations well put and thank you for taking us along on your journey.

Jim, I appreciate good writing like many here have stated and this is as good as it gets! You are obviously in touch with your environment when out hunting and to be able to communicate those deep, sometimes hard to explain feelings and realizations on the journey called hunting is- well special.
Concerning your hunts - not just the last one - congratulations!!! I love hunting from the ground and you guys did it up in spades!

Thanks for bring this story to us, and thanks for bringing it to the top!  What an amazing read. This was a story that had to be told, and you, sir, told it well.  As far as the first shot, it's hard for anyone to know what he/she would have actually done in that situation... easy to say what we would have done... hard to know.   Definitely a learning experience for you, I'm sure, and I'm certain it will be a learning experience for everyone who reads the story.  

Congratulations, and thanks again for sharing.