My first bowhunt ever

[RadSav]

Had a young kid call me on the phone and ask me some questions about bowhunting the Oregon coast.  He asked me how I got started bowhunting and what my first bowhunt was like.  While I am frequently asked about my first big game bow kill I'm not sure I have ever been asked about my first "bow hunt" before.  That remains as fresh in my mind as the first deer.  Every so often I run into one of today's youth that bring hope back that tomorrow might not be the train wreck I expect.  This young man was one of those rare exceptions.

Getting started...

In 1979 my oldest brother took our modern families first deer with a bow.  He used a Shakespeare longbow, Port Orford cedar arrows and a Bodkin broadhead to take a spike buck out of the Tillamook Burn.  The stories and the equipment fascinated me.  And in little time I had decided I needed to get a bow and work myself up to the required 50# draw weight to hunt elk in Oregon.  So one day when the seas were too rough for fishing I talked a neighbor into driving me to the local Western Auto store where I bough their most expensive and highest performance bow.  A beautiful new Ben Pearson recurve, twelve Bear Metric aluminum arrows w/field points and one dozen convert-a-point Bear Razorheads.  I almost had to write out a check as the cost was $50 for the bow, $20 for the arrows and $15 for the broadheads!  Good thing I kept an emergency 20 dollar bill in my boot

Throughout that summer I practiced every day after work and twice a day when we had no trips booked.  We had no target butts to shoot at, but I would throw milk cartons around the lawn and shoot that way.  After the milk cartons got too easy I switched to shooting tennis balls and then ping pong balls.  Once a week or so my brother would take me to the sand pit behind the Taft 7-Eleven store to shoot our broadheads.  We made cardboard deer, bear and coyote silhouettes just like we had seen in the Fred Bear books.  Those were fun days, but dag gummit those silhouettes were a lot harder to hit than those ping pong balls.  But after a few months those were getting filled with holes too!

My first hunt with the bow...

The night before opening day I got the call from my skipper that we had no trips scheduled for the morning and I was free to go hunting...Yippi!!!  But I also got word that both my brother and my father had to work so I would have to hunt on my own.  No problem, there was a good clearcut not far from the house and if I cut across the Salishan airfield from my house it was only about a five mile hike.

Opening morning came and I was out the door by 4:30 A.M..  It started to get light about the time I had crossed the air field and I should be getting to the clearcut at just the right time.  About half way to my spot I jumped a grouse from the side of the old logging road I was walking.  One arrow and a little running through the bushes and I had my first bow kill on my first day...and it wasn't even 6 A.M.!  Four or five hundred yards past the grouse I jumped a covey of quail.  Two shots later I had three quail, my first double, on my first day and it still wasn't more than a few minutes past 6 A.M.!  All I needed to do was find something with hair and it was going to be the most epic of all epic days

As I approached the clearcut I could see three does and a large fork horn buck feeding their way down to the road.  I crawled on my hands and knees down the road for about 200 yards to a large deer trail I assumed they were heading to.  I nestled into a spot behind a stump and in front of a large huckleberry bush.  I had guessed right and the deer were definitely headed for the trail.  My ambush spot could not have been better and I played all scenarios over through my head.  From my hiding spot I would wait until the buck made it to the middle of the skid road and I would shoot him there at 15 yards.

As the does crossed before the buck my heart beat clicked in my throat.  I thought for sure they would hear it, but a slight breeze must have been enough to cover my beating heart.  As I drew back the bow the buck stopped right at the point I had been waiting and planning for.  I watched as my bright yellow and white fletching went under his chest missing him by about four inches.  He jumped back the way he had come and stopped at the edge of the road.  As he stomped his right hoof into the dirt I watched as my second arrow took the same path beneath his chest as the first...another miss!  He began stotting up the hill until the does came out to join him and he stopped once more about ten yards further than my last shot.  This time I wasn't going to miss low so I aimed for the top of his shoulder.  Two more arrows cleared his back by just inches and then a third made a puff of smoke like patch of hair fly off his back.  That was enough for him and in a flash he and the does were gone.

I still had one arrow left in my quiver and I took a step forward in expectation of giving chase.  In all the excitement I guess I had not realized my legs had gone weak and uncontrollable muscle spasms were causing my knees to bounce off the ground with some severity.  The sudden onset of buck fever had rendered me unable to walk!  Now I realize a 14 year old boy is not suppose to lay in the middle of a logging road and cry all by himself, but I have to admit, that is exactly what I did for the next ten minutes as my body bounced and shivered and spiked with repeated surges of adrenalin.  It was my worst moment and my greatest moment all wrapped into one!  From that experience on I was a "Bowhunter" and my life would never be the same. 

One year later...

A year later I would miss that same buck from the same hiding spot with him in the same spot.  Only this time I would have learned one of the most important of all bowhunting secrets, "Aim small - Miss small".  My second arrow would find it's mark and my first big game animal with the bow would lay less than 10 yards away as I once again lay in the road fighting back tears like no 15 year old kid is suppose to.  My knees still bounced uncontrollably, my whole body still shivered and the surges of adrenalin still attempted to lift the hat from my head.  But this time it was not my worst moment...just my best moment ever!

[Todd_ID]

Very good story!  Humbling is a word that was invented by a bowhunter.

[Jonathan_S]

What a great story.  Thank you for taking the time to share it Sir.

I do not have that moving of a first bowhunt or bowkill story.  I'll always remember that 95-100" whitetail 4x4 standing 42 yards away broadside though.  I have in my mind's eye the image of him dropping at the shot and hearing a thump as the arrow cut through his heart and the vanes disappeared behind his shoulder.

First bowhunt has a different story...

I had a day off in the middle of the week.  A few days after the Spring Turkey opener.  I grabbed my bow and went out to walk a ridge.  After trying to locate a gobbler (or any turkeys for that matter) for a few hours, I was headed back to the truck.  I heard that thunderous gobble down the hill below me so I set up and put a decoy out about 20 yards in front of me.

For about 40 minutes I gave sparing little yelps and the quieter I got, the louder he got.  Finally he sounded closer and all of a sudden...THERE HE WAS!!!  He was 27 yards away and he fanned into half strut and then unexplicably walked away from my decoy out to 36 yards and entered full strut.

When he turned away from me I came to full draw and SNAP!!! I watched my arrow sail over his back by about 2" and him twitch as it whistled over him.  Then he headed out at about Mach 2 when my arrow exploded against an eggplant-sized rock behind him.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

My first bow hunt was a bust.  Into the late season I was short on arrows I lived in fife a went up to fed way Sportsmans to stock up.  I got there to find they closed early for thanksgiving.  So I was stuck with one arrow till 9 or when ever they opened the next day.  I didn't want to miss prime time so I headed to carbanado to hit a gate a few miles out of town.  I got up in to the woods and a few miles up I came around the corner to see a doe feeding 15 foot off the road.  As I came to full draw I relished there was a second deer behind a tree.  I side stepped around a tree to see a big two point standing 15 foot feeding.  I settled my first pin 30 yard pin on his chest and whiff right over his back.  He jumped and came closer to me standing about ten feet now staring me down about to gore me to death.  I reached for a second arrow to end the fight and nothing!  A few minute stare down ensued and I figured get up that hill and find that arrow!  As I walked up the hill the deer didn't budge.  I looked for over an hour for that arrow to no avail.  As I walked back down to the road the deer stood five foot from me looking confused.  I screamed very loudly all the way to Sportsmans.  I got back into those same deer that same day but no shots.  The next morning I was back on em but no shots.  That was 2008 and I have yet to kill a deer or elk with my bow.   

[Jonathan_S]

 

That sounds like a bad dream DIY.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

I still haven't woke up.  not till I kill one.  Two years ago I shot a big Rosie bull.  I hit him hard.  he spun and went up hill only to spin again to show me the shoulder I hit him in.  He was pouring blood from mid shoulder.  I could clearly see the blood from over 70 yards.  he side hilled into the timber out of sight.  We got on his blood trail atleast an hour later.  followed blood for over two miles and looked for him for two days to no avail.  if that buck was a bad dream, that bull was a nightmare!   

[GoBeavs85]

Is it too much of a hijack to turn this into a thread of everybody's first bow hunt? I'm loving the stories.

Opening day of archery elk my first year(2011) I went out with another complete newbie. We had shot together all spring and summer. Neither of us know all that much about elk hunting but I was tired of seeing hundreds of people during rifle season and rarely seeing elk. So I switched archery.

At first light on opening morning we found ourselves 100 yards off a landing in thinned timber. He tells me to "blow your call". Again without really knowing what I'm doing I start cow calling. We are both standing up in the wide open when we immediately here loud crunching! We look at each other in disbelief that it actually worked. I scrambled to fall behind 40 yards and kept cow calling. A lone cow passed by my buddy at 80 yards never even glancing at us. That dumb luck encounter was all it took, I was hooked to archery elk hunting within the first 5 minutes of the season.

I shot my first archery elk last year and w how much my wife likes eating it I know this is going to be a life long passion!

[northwesthunter84]

My first bow hunt was chasing whitetail back in 2000 in Illinois, I was 16 and finally met my dad's wicket of be able to drive so I could bow hunt deer.  I had already been gun hunting for 6 years with 8 deer under my belt but nothing could compare.  I caught a doe slipping down the field road on my way out, I had climbed out of my stand early because we knew they often did this based on summer scouting.  I shot her at 40 yards and hit a little lower than I would have liked, found good blood and soaked arrow after she ran off.  I let her lay and went to get my dad as I wanted to share the moment with him (he never really got the opportunity to take an animal with a bow even though he hunted for a quiet a few years).  We followed good blood for about 400 yards and then we heard the coyotes.  All we found was some hair, head and blood.  That pack must have found her shortly after I left and run her until she was done.  It was a sad night for me and a lesson to be tucked away for later.

Two weeks later I shot my first archery deer at 3 yards from the ground, it was a little 3x2.  All I remember about that one was I watched him for so long that I almost could not get my bow drawn I was shaking so bad and I ran the 1.5 miles back to the truck.

Congrats GoBeavs, I was also lucky to take my first archery elk last year, got lucky 4 days into my first elk hunt.

[RadSav]

Is it too much of a hijack to turn this into a thread of everybody's first bow hunt? I'm loving the stories.

Absolutely not!  I was hoping for these stories few get to hear.  We all started somewhere and for most of us that start resulted in a failure.  Yet we became bowhunters anyway   Might help take the sting out of the first failures of a new bowhunter.  I think it is good to know that excitement level and your best days don't always have to end with a bloody arrow.

While compound bows, good arrow rests, good sights and rangefinders have decreased the early failures we use to see back when recurves and longbows were the norm - learning failures still happen.  I think it's good for new bowhunters to understand that and enter into the sport with eyes wide open.  That's not an easy thing these days with internet experts that have never failed in there lives and TV shows where failures are frowned upon.  The key is to teach these new archers to learn from the early mistakes.  I know myself, I learned more from making mistakes than I ever did from my easy victories.

[DaMitt Mystagin]

... I'm loving the stories.

Me too!  It brings back a flood of memories.

Hello all, I'm relatively new here, but just had to chime in on this.

First off, great story, RadSav.  I enjoyed it immensely.

Mine is of a inexperienced, naive kid, who couldn't shoot out of the tree-stand he was in because the tree was way wider than the stand!  And of course the deer came in from behind.  He also didn't get the doe that stood for broadside, for a long time, at 10 or 12 yards, but she captivated his soul for life.

BTW, he was wearing Army Navy Store OD green fatigues and white Converse tennis shoes!

DM

[RadSav]

BTW, he was wearing Army Navy Store OD green fatigues and white Converse tennis shoes!

I was wearing Army/Navy store Tiger Stripe jungle fatigues and Nike red swoosh sneakers!  I was a sneaky little F*(^&r    Had a lot of very close encounters wearing that combination!

I'm planning another elk hunt using the recurve as soon as we start launching the 145/150 grain broadhead.  I hope I can find some of that Vietnam Jungle cloth for that hunt.  Always reminds me of my bowhunting heros growing up - Bowen Weems, Jim Dougherty and Judd Cooney!  I studied every picture and read every word I could get. 

I feel really disappointed I was never able to meet Weems.  But meeting Dougherty and Cooney were great high points in my early archery career.  And sharing a hunting camp with Dougherty, Len Cardinale and Doug Walker might be one of the most fun experiences of my life.  When those guys got to drinking it was out an out of control good time!

[sakoshooter]

Good read Rad.

[sakoshooter]

Nov 29th, 1968 I turned 12(WI age to hunt)and whined long and hard enough for Dad to buy me a hunting license. I'd tagged along for a few years as a driver as that's how 'The Group' hunted - making small, quiet drives in northern WI. About 10 - 12 bowhunters.
The very first weekend I was able to hunt I got to be a stander and missed an 8pt whitetail running past me at about 30yds. I figured I'd never get another opportunity to be a stander again but as luck would have it, the next drive was the 'school bus' drive and only needed a couple drivers and the rest standers.  I was dropped off next to the old abandoned school bus at the first stand. I heard the sound of hooves on the hard jack pine plantation ground and my 36# American Archery recurve with cedar arrow tipped with a Bear Razorhead w/insert was at full draw when the spike buck hit the clearing. The release just happened like it was supposed to but the buck spun when I shot and the hit was just above the rectum, hitting the tail bone, paralyzing his back end. Immediately another arrow entered his lung on the L side and he stayed down. I hardly remember shooting it. Another arrow thru his neck, hitting the jugular ended his life as fast as I could. 35 paces for the first two shots and point blank for the last. Dad was as proud as can be of me that day and I'd earned my stripes in "The Group". I was hooked forever after that. I can remember it like it was yesterday.