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Post by Mars on May 14, 2006 2:56:19 GMT 12.75
Thought it be interesting to hear some stories of those shots that don't quite go as expected.
My most "hated" shot was about 8 years ago. I was set up in a ladder stand between a creek and a cornfield with a housing developement on the other side of the creek. I heard bucks fighting out of sight just after daylight. A little while later a spike buck came walking past with a forkhorn trailing him. I've always wanted to take a "big" spike and this one fit as his spikes where above his ears. I waited for the perfect quartering shot which he soon gave me so I drew and released. The distance was about 20 yards.As in slow motion I saw the arrow heading for a perfect hit when a stick jumped up and hit the deer in the stomach making him kick like a mule. Yep, he kick the arrow, bending it in two. The deer walked off without a clue in the world that he had even been shot at.
To this day I've yet to take a spike.
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Post by othmar on May 14, 2006 7:33:16 GMT 12.75
Talk about messed up shots. I still can remember it like yesterday even so it was years ago. A doe walked right under my treestand... no more that 10 yards... it was a gimme shot, right? One of those a blind man couldn't miss. My index finger gently touched the release trigger, I heard the familiar swish of the bow string and then a loud thud. That somehow didn't sound right. The doe turned inside out swapped ends and was gone faster then you could say "sod it". Five feet above where the doe stood my arrow was still vibrating in a tree trunk which I cleanly heart shot. As the string traveled at lightening speed and sent the arrow on its way I felt a tug on the left arm. Looking down on it I realized I had forgotten to put the arm guard on and the string must have hit the bulky arm sleeve of the insulated camo jacket sending the arrow wayward. The lesson I learned from that is to make double sure to wear the arm guard. Paranoid I went one step further and wear ever since that fateful day the tube of an old sock, reaching from the wrist to the elbow and then over it the arm guard. Never since then had I another string hang up in the garments.
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Post by Mars on May 14, 2006 9:02:45 GMT 12.75
LOL, I've arrowed a tree or two. ;D
First year I ever bow hunted deer I had a doe with her fawn walk to within 15 yards of me. I was on the ground. I drew and released on the doe and heard a solid "thunk". The doe and fawn just kinda stood there and my arrow seemed to "hang" in the air. The doe moved away and my arrow was stuck in a sapling of about 1 inch across that matched the color of the deer perfectly. After the deer moved off the dogwood sapling fell over.
Several years ago I drew on a "monster" buck up in Indiana. At the release the arrow hit a twig and bounced up and stuck in a big oak. I was in a chain-on stand, up about 15 feet and the arrow was about 10 feet above my head in another tree. Before I could get another arrow ready a neighbor walked her dog down along the property fence spooking the buck.
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 14, 2006 11:27:23 GMT 12.75
If ya'll are man enough to talk about it, I'll fess up too.
About thirteen years ago I had saved up for my first bowhunt out west. A spot and stalk bear hunt in Wyoming in the Medicine Bow range of the Rockies. It was a pretty expensive ten day hunt and I had planned everything for two years before I was able to go.
I selected an outfitter and guide who was familiar with the area and we set out. It was very early in the season and the bear were reluctant to come out of their dens because of the still freezing cold.
I was having a hard time adjusting to the mountains also which made it tough on me. I'm a native Floridian, so being a fatguy above nine thousand feet for the first time, it felt like I had only one lung for the first several days.
We hunted hard up to the seventh morning without seeing any bear, but on the seventh evening, we finally glassed one on an adjacent slope in an open park (meadow) eating grass like a wormy dog. It was a brute of a bear, which we judged around three hundred pounds. With it's Fall fat on, it would have been a monster and it was a deep rich red, that reminded me instantly of a bloody nose.
We ran, no small feat for a fat guy in the mountains, for a half mile to get ahead of the bear and after stopping and catching my breath, we caught glimpses of him through the trees about two hundred yards out. He was still moving in generally the same direction.
The guide suggested that I try to get to a large boulder pile about a hundred yards away, which he said would get me in line to intercept the bear. I made it, quite breathlessly, to the spot and after taking a few seconds to breath, I looked around the corner of the rocks and glassed the area, but could find no trace of him.
I assumed he had either smelled or heard me and had taken off, so I relaxed against the rocks and waited for the guide to come up to me. While waiting, I heard a scratching on the rock above me and looked up to see the bear about ten feet over my head looking down on me.
Now if bear are as vicious as some hunters believe, I'd be a dead man because he had me dead to rights, but rather than enjoy a rather large hosr douvres, he woofed and took off.
I still had an arrow nocked, so I jumped to my feet and stepped around the corner of the rocks and the bear was running in a semi-circle around me and stopped at forty yards broadside to give me one more look. I drew and fired and as my all white fleched arrow was streaking towards the big red bastard, I had this unbelievable feeling of victory, which was instantly erased as I watched my arrow come to a wobbling halt about twenty feet shy of the bears ribs.
He ran off with a rather amused look and was the only bear I saw the entire trip. I left my arrow, skewered in the three inch thick cottonwood trunk. I hope it's still there.
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Post by Bro. Freddie on May 14, 2006 12:21:19 GMT 12.75
The first year I ever bow hunted I bought an Indian bow at Wal-Mart. you know the kind. 50 lb. pull, no release, homemade silencers, the works. The one thing I did have was a quiver that attached to the side of the bow.
I went to the back side of my grandparents land, and got up in a scaffold tree stand that had plywood floors. I set there for about an hour and then along came this doe. I drew and was waiting for her to get a little closer. At 20 yards, as I was about to release the string I heard a THUNK. One of my spare arrows had fallen out and landed on the plywood. Needless to say, the doe took of like a scalded dog. To this day, I always take off my quiver.
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Post by Two Tales on May 14, 2006 16:49:05 GMT 12.75
Oh the stories I could tell ;D ;D ;D I don't know whether to tell ya'll about "The Circular Arrow", the "you had 2 shots, dummy" or the " missing arrow incident" Needless to say all were quite embarrassing at the time....ya'll got to keep in mind that I've been hunting in one form or another for 40+ years... so here goes...
"The Circular Arrow"
About 10 years ago I was hunting a piece of private land that is under some high tension lines...I spotted this nice bodied 4 point browsing along in the edges along these power lines...I was on the access road leading to the back of the property and very much in the open... well I snuck over to the edge of the road and using the brushy over growth to hide my movements I put on the silent stalk...as i moved forward I would catch a glimpse of him as he browsed along..really not getting any closer but not further away either...sort of staying in line with him..but no opportunity for a shot..then I saw the "gap" an opening in the bushes that could afford me the shot...so I crawled,creaped and generally slithered up to this "window of wonder" there he stood in all his broadside glory looking in the other direction..I drew smoothly settling my 20yd pin an inch behind that tiny little point of his right front leg..came to full draw and hit the release trigger...what happened next seemed like slow motion..the arrow left the bow...made a funny noise and headed straight skyward...I watched it's flight make a near perfect arc up and over me and coming to rest on the ground some 40 yards behind me...I turned back to the deer who was now fully aware of my location and was watching me intently...I was to surprised even to try and nock another arrow... I tried not to move but he didn't stay around long bounding off into the thickets with a snort and a blow...I went and retrieved my arrow ...it had a perfect bend, no not so much of a bend as a perfect curve from end to end...what could have caused such a thing? ? ?..I went back to my shooting position held out the bow and looked...there. about 3 inches below and 10 inches in front was a limb about 3 inches in diameter with a fresh cut mark in it's bark...the rest is history...
I'll leave the other 2 adventures for later ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Brikatw on May 14, 2006 20:04:46 GMT 12.75
I got bit by the quiver bug myself a couple years ago. I took the quiver off, climbed the tree got settled in and realized the rope to pull up my cross bow was not there, it had come untied. I climbed down, retied the rope to the stand, good this time and went back up, pulled up the bow and realized no arrows, still in the quiver that I had thoughtfully removed to keep things quiet as possible. I sat ther cussing my self as a nice 6 point walked on up, sniffed on the quver and trotted off. ;D You know, I sometimes think, that we get too quiet in the woods when hunting. Ever wonder why, you can walk down a trail, jackjawing with your buddy or kid and see lots of deer then go huhnt that palce later and not see a thing. The woods are full of noise all the time. The only time they are quiet is when something makes it get quiet. for example a preditor. For years my Dad would tote a little transistor radio into the woods. He'd turn it on to a music station at low volume and leave it on the ground. The deer would come to check out the noise. Kind of funny how things are eh??? Try this one day, leave a tape recorder in the stand after you leave with a long tape in it and record the sounds after you leave. Notice how loud the forest REALLY is. Anyways, back to the story, one day, Dad shot at his deer. He got his deer but unfortunately he also got his radio. That was his last hunt I remember too. Is playing a radio the same as baiting?
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 15, 2006 8:22:31 GMT 12.75
Quiver bug? Oh yeah!
When I first switched to carbon arrows, I kept the same quiver attached to the side of my bow. The quiver had been carrying Aluminum 2413 arrows and the little carbons were quite loose in it.
Well, being too cheap to buy a new one, I took off on opening morning and arrived at my stand well before daylight. I clipped the retrieval rope onto the top wheel and climbed up. Once I was in place and comfortable, I pulled my bow up and found that all of my arrows were missing!
I climbed back down in a hurry and backtracked myself far enough to find three of them. I went back to the stand and hunted and ended up killing a fat doe.
I found two more arrows dragging out the deer. There's still one out there somewhere along with the quiver, which I took off of the bow and threw as far as I could!
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Post by Paws on May 15, 2006 9:44:34 GMT 12.75
I wish it were a "Ka-thunk! " Me and cousin Chris were hunting deer, off hand and stalking. We never used stands or bait. We had seen I guess probably thirty or more all of which were too far off for a shot so we were working around them when we discovered a group of six or so decided to take a walk up a gravel driveway right to us. Wind was with us so we took up positions behind some cover dead and down timber where they would cross in front of us headed for a creek at about a fifty yard clear shot. They did, we did and not even a "ka-thunk". Mine wasn't chambered and Chris's, well the firing pin had fallen out!
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Post by Two Tales on May 15, 2006 10:04:22 GMT 12.75
OK the next one in the series ;D "You had two shots Dummy" I was at the club after some pheasants 2 seasons ago... and while out there chasing them pretty chickens we jumped 7 or 8 doe...we finished up with the birds and I figured what the heck might as well go see if I could bag me one of them doe...I changed the chokes in the gun got rid of the bird shot and grabbed two slugs and off I went..skirted the big swamp waded through the small one, came to the fallen tree that I sometimes take a break at and figured that to be a good spot..sure'nuff.. here they came...I slide the barrel out over the limb put the bead on the spot and let it rip.... what just happened the deer didn't move except to raise it's head...and look around..she just stood there...I missed, how in the he double hockey sticks did that happen..looked at the deer she looked around some more and went back to feeding on the acorns, I just keep looking at my gun and back at the deer...I then broke open the O/U and was hit smartly between the eyes with the unfired round which fell directly under the the center of the fallen tree's trunk...and the spent casing flew out past my shoulder...no more shells and there I was fumbling trying to dig the good round out from under the tree with my toe..by this time all the deer had noticed me and decided it was time to find better tasting acorns to munch...I had a fairly large welt from the round right above the bridge of my nose... Next installment the "Missing Arrow Incident"
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Post by Bro. Freddie on May 15, 2006 10:26:22 GMT 12.75
Something like that happened to me TT. When I was real young, my dad took me hunting with him. Understand, that my dad has never bben a great hunter, in fact he has never killed a deer because he worked all the time keeping us in food and clothing. Anyways, we wnt one morning and I was stationed next to a clear-cut that had been cut the previous winter. My dad backed the pick-up up to the edge of the clear-cut so I could see over some of the brush and went down the road a short ways. I was about 10 and had a single shot .410 that has the break down button right by the hammer.
As time went by, I noticed a young buck running in a small circle, with a bird pestering him. He was trying to hook the bird! I finally remembered what I was there for and put the gun to my shoulder, tried to cock it, and instead of cocking it, broke it down. Shell goes flying out of the gun and rolls around in the pick-up bed. I'm chasing the shell and the buck chases the bird. I finally get my shell but by then it was too late. Would have loved to have a video of that. Could have made a lot of money on Armerica's Funniest Home Videos. ;D
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Post by Mars on May 15, 2006 10:46:42 GMT 12.75
I had a crazy doe at my stand by the creek one year. She'd show up just before daylight and all morning long she'd run in a big circle through the woodlot. Every couple of minutes here'd she come again running full bore. After a couple of mornings of this I decided to ground hunt about 1/4 mile away at another patch of woods just before dark. Wouldn't you know it but here came that goofy doe again doing the same thing in this patch of woods. ( hate to think there were two nutsy does around) Anyway, I got fed up with her and decided to attempt a shot at her if a half decent one presented itself. Well, she ran by at about 20 yards so I shot and missed. This also happened to be the only year I tried one of those "string" tracking devices so now not only did I miss but I had string going clear through the woods. While standing there thinking I was the biggest fool in the land with 50 yards of string hanging from my bow the doe starts heading back my way. This time she was headed right for me. When I drew the bow she skidded to a stop less then 10 yards away facing me. I aimed for the middle of her chest, between her front legs and released. I saw the arrow sticking out her side near her right leg so I figured it went where aimed and came out at that point. I looked until after dark and only found one drop of blood about 60 yards from where I shot. I returned the next morning and could not find another trace of her so I gave up and decided to walk the edge of the cornfield (still standing corn) out. I found her along the edge, dead as dead could be. I had hit her liver going in from the side and not going out as I thought I had. Not a drop of blood on the outside of the deer. I never saw the "crazy" doe again so I figured there was only the one.
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Post by Two Tales on May 15, 2006 15:52:29 GMT 12.75
Mars,
I seen some deer do that...but only after they ate them red cap mushrooms ;D ;D ;D watchd a full spread mature 10 point about 3 weeks prior to bow season munching away for about half an hour then he starts to staggar around then sits down on his rump like a big fat dog..swaying back and forth and finaly falls flat over on his side...sort of like that fellow with the trike on the Rowland & Martin Show ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 15, 2006 17:10:10 GMT 12.75
That mushroom story reminds me of a fellow who told me that his brother in law had a licensed cannibus farm in CT. He daid that deer regularly broke into the greenhouse and annualy ate about a hundred and eighty thousand dollars worth of medical marijuana.
He said he was invited to hunt the property once and killed six deer in four days, each of them stoned out of their mind! He said the more they ate, the hungrier they got until they would tip over and bed up, just outside of the greenhouse to sleep it off. Each deer, he jumped up out pf cover and tey'd just stand there kind of staring at him with big old eyes and he'd shoot them.
Said the fat was kinda yellow, but the meat was really sweet tasting. He didn't know if that was from the jane or not, but he swears to the story.
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Post by Paws on May 16, 2006 1:02:23 GMT 12.75
Mars, I seen some deer do that...but only after they ate them red cap mushrooms ;D ;D ;D watchd a full spread mature 10 point about 3 weeks prior to bow season munching away for about half an hour then he starts to staggar around then sits down on his rump like a big fat dog..swaying back and forth and finaly falls flat over on his side...sort of like that fellow with the trike on the Rowland & Martin Show ;D ;D ;D ;D I would love to have seen that! ;D
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Post by Brikatw on May 16, 2006 5:46:08 GMT 12.75
I had an old doe come running upto me on a muddy trail one day. She was about 20 ft away when she noticed me and went sliding to a stop. Ended up sitting on her butt like a dog, looking at me with one of those sideways, "what are you doing here" looks. I took her with my shotgun and a slug, thren drug her the 9 ft to the truck. It was the last day of the special season on the base I was on I figured what the heck, might as well go out this evening. ;D
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Post by othmar on May 16, 2006 16:54:07 GMT 12.75
Many animals get stoned and drunk on all sorts of plants and fruit. There is some scientific evidence that some species search for such plants and fruits. In Africa we observed wild elephants getting drunk on some fruit that turns into alcohol on the inside once ripe. Elephants and monkeys travel far distances to get to these trees and they seem to know when the fruit is just ripe enough. Animals and humans are no that different it seems.
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