I have been very close. Shaved hairs on all of them but now I am learning I have to pick a spot not a region.

The first animal I ever shot at with trad archery(or any bow for that matter) was a groundhog I stalked to within about 12 feet when I was about 13 years old, while using my Dad's old recurve. I could only see his head sticking out from under a concrete building. I missed him by only a couple of inches with my Bear Razorhead tipped arrow, but fortunately, I hit a small tree growing out over the top of his den hole. I was able to save that arrow. I had tried so many times to get that whistle pig but never got off a shot until that day. I never did get him but it sure was fun trying!

I missed my first two shots at whitetails in one evening with a BW recurve back in the mid '90s. One was a small 8 pointer but 20 minutes later I also missed a nice 120 inch 8 pointer at only about 12 yards!

I did recover and have bagged three whitetails since then with trad bows. I used to get the shakes with wheel bows when the moment of truth arrived but I have never gotten "deer fever" while hunting with trad bows. Go figure.

I used to struggle to shoot "instinctively" but when I started shooting a form of "gapstinctive", if you will, is when my shooting drastically improved. I still work on my form every time I practice, but my aiming method stays the same. I got the idea from reading Byron Ferguson's book, "Become the Arrow" and applied what I learned from it.

Good luck in your journey into trad archery. Remember, keep an open mind and use whatever method of shooting that works best for you. You owe it to your quarry to make sure you do and try different things and ways(and not by using gadgets) to insure your arrows consistently find their mark. I believe game animals deserve our very best effort.

My experience is a bit different.  My first three shots netted three deer.  1 doe and 2 record book caliber 8 pointers. 2005 was a very good year.

Killy - I am surprised to hear all the stories of how hard it is to kill squirrels...you are not the only one to say that.

I use flu flu's and judos..that's it....I shoot them in the head..now sometimes I miss...but i don't lose many..maybe a dozen in 30 years max.

Tree shots are my favs as long as I have a flu flu....if they are close I half draw them.

Jer BEar

If you are already sucessfull at bowhunting nothing will change but the bow in your hand.The only difference in hunting with one bow instead of another is the learning curve to be able to shoot it.Hunting is just hunting after that.The extra challange in stickbows is learning how to shoot them accuratly.That really has nothing to do with changing anything when it comes to shooting animals.jmho

Since you've shot deer with a wheelie, maybe this isn't much help, but making sure you CAN draw and shoot from your chosen stand is important. My first time with bow in hand in a favourite stand showed me that it is a good rifle stand, not so good bow stand. I missed a first time opportunity at a nice 8 pointer because I had to move a couple of INCHES forward as he came through. With a wheelie I could have been drawn and gone. The SETUP seems pretty important when the draw has to happen at a very critical point.

My first was a Doe in 82' & it was a thrill to say the least but I had lots of practice before I was allowed to go into the woods with my bow.

Since then like everyone else I've missed a few "went to the training wheels   :rolleyes:   & now come to my sences."

Last year was the first time I was in the woods with a Recurve since 87' & unfortunatly the only Deer that was within bow range was a Button Buck that my dog Bonnie was bigger but I did take a few squirels    :D  

Like the others said, practice as much as you can, pick a spot & have fun.

"Aim small, miss small".

When you do not use a sight of some sort, the most common problem is shooting at the whole deer. You will watch your arrow sail a foot over the deer`s back.

It`s already been said...pick a spot.

When the moment comes, and you do it right, you will see your arrow appear exactly where you were looking.

Mine is kind of funny I guess. I was a compound shooter. I had stopped hunting and shooting for 5 years. Then one day during Oct. I told my wife I want to get a bow and start hunting again. I went out and bought a Bear Grizzly recurve. 3 weeks later I am in the treestand hunting. 3 deer come in. I shoot at the first one I miss. I shoot at the second one I miss. The last one was the longest shoot. I draw back on her and hit her. She dropped about 40 yards away and I had my first trad animal.Still can't beleive all those deer never ran off after the first or second shots...lol.

Good luck and have fun!!

First off Welcome from Kentucky.

Ok practice, practice, practice because at your first moment of truth you probably won't be able to remember a thing about the proper form or anything else. I can't remember a thing about the first deer I shot at. It's all a blurrrrrrr. I felt like the aliens snatched me up and time stopped after my arrow went through my first deer. You will need to have everything happen through sheer repetition.

One thing that I found out fairly quickly was I didn't like my treestands as high as I did from my compound years. Getting a hole punched through both lungs is critical in archery and with a trad bow your target (lungs) are much easier to hit with a lower treestand set.

Again welcome and enjoy the journey.

T.J.

First few......were squirrels..........and I missed.........and lost a couple of arrows to boot!

I think I practiced some new swear words after those "shots"........most likely directed towards the lost arrows and the squirrels (should have been towards my pathetic shooting).

Guys, what GREAT information!  I really appreciate all of you taking the time to help me out.  I am going to make a bunch of targets tomorrow and hang them in the woods at varying distances, then I will shoot from elevation.  I am going to start shooting from elevation soon. With a compound, it would usually take me 4-6 weeks of shooting from elevation to get confident. I bet the process will take months longer with a recurve.  

And about hunting from a lower stand to get double lungs, I will take that to heart. I like to be up 18-20 with my compound, but will lower down to around 15 or lower with my recurve. It would seem my aiming point would be better the lower I am to the ground as well. THANK YOU.

I look forward at working hard to improve my shooting, because god knows it ain't that good.  

The biggest problem I had w/ the transition,was going from release to fingers.I first started w/ fingers as a kid but when I got caught up into compounds the release aid made a huge difference in my consistantancy and I became reliant on the devise.When switching.I soon realized that finger shooting is a whole nother ball game.I set up my compound for finger shooting and found it made a huge difference in my transition.
If you are going from release shooting to fingers.I strongly suggest you give this exersize a try.

Hey Brett, welcome aboard brother, good to see you over here on tradgang. As you know, a great bunch of folks here, enjoy!


Now on to the question at hand... My first 2 shots were about a minute apart and I missed both Does, it was awesome! Took me a long time to even figure out what happened! Lol. I've killed plenty of deer with a compound but for me it was a whole new ballgame with a Longbow in hand. Just like the first time all over again, talk about shaking, I love it! For me the thing is to pick a spot and NOT shoot at the whole animal. Practice is the key, 3D shoots is also a great way to do it. Stump shooting, taking shots that seem impossible and then hitting your mark builds confidence quickly! It also important to keep up the practice while in season as well. squirrel hunting is a blast, my deer hunt changes to a squirrel hunt pretty quick sometimes! Hundreds of shots and only hit one so far. I do a lot of shooting while on stand, I carry 4 judos/blunts in my quiver with my braodheads at all times! Most important... Have fun while doing it!

Thank you BHF--I look forward to the challenge.  The entire trad hunting process is intriguing and I am loving every minute of it.  The once dreaded compound practice seasons are over and I am actually enjoying the recurve shooting.  I am shooting my recurve a lot more than I ever did with the compound. It has been a lot of fun.

My first shot at a deer came this past gun hunting with my 10 year old son.  My son was using a rifle but I have got into the habit of taking my bow as well, because you never know what might pop up. Anyway my son shot and killed his first deer, unbelievable excitment, we yelled and screamed, high fived, and all the works, truly awesome experience. As we got down from the stand and made our way over to the downed 4 pointer, and preparing to field dress the deer, about 50 yards up on a small ridge came another 4 point just meandering along not paying attention to us. We stood still and as he got past our line of sight I grabbed my bow. The deer turned and crossed a ditch about 40 yards ahead of us and I told my son to hit that can call (doe bleat), and that is all it took, the deer immediatly began coming straight toward us and gave me a shot of about 20 yards. I drew and missed the deer about 5 yards behind him. After the shot I realized that all the "do's" i didn't do, and all the "don'ts" I did. I am sure if there was a picture of my face prior to the shot my eyes were as big as saucers. Oh but what a rush it was. To say the least my son got a good chuckle from it, and still reminds often. Exciting Stuff.

My first time was when I was 13. I had a 40 lb. target bow and some old blunt target arrows that didn't have any points. We was poor. I placed a piece of balogna on the back fence about one foot high and climbed on top of the roof of the house. Lo and behold, a house cat comes to check out the baloney. Just as he puts his nose to it, I let loose from 15 yards! My blunt arrow hits him square in the butt! He jumps up three feet in the air and YOWLS! Then he runs off, I didn't recover him. Course it only poked him and didn't go in, so I figured he's just wiser.

Sad to say, I have  YET  to get a Shot off at My Quarry.....I  KNOW  the Turkeys are Laughing in the Tall Grass!!   :rolleyes:        

12-13 yd miss on whitetail. Didn't "pick a spot" Hopefully I'll try again!

Hey good - interesting thread.
My first shot with trad gear was at a mule deer doe..  I saw the deer bedded down mid day.  got as close as the cover would allow and then had to wait and wait and wait.  She finally got up and walked away but passed through a window at 30 yards. That was 18 years ago and I can still see that white dipped and fletched arrow arching to her rib cage.  I had no confidence in broad heads at the time and was completely surprised to find a dead deer at the end of a very short blood trail.  Big horn recurve (58lbs) cedar shaft and a 2 blade zwicky broad head.  5 miles past the end of the road,  alone!
Joe