Lost my bowhunting virginity this weekend.

[Torrent50]

I got my first animal with my bow this weekend while elk hunting.  We were sitting on a ridge where the elk had come thru the day before and I heard something walking our way.  I looked over, expecting the elk, but saw a line of deer instead.  There were 4 bucks, 2 does, and 1 fawn that I saw and they were all playing follow the leader my way.
 
I drew and waited for the lead buck to get into my shooting lane.  When he got there, I didn’t trust my range estimation (mistake number 1).  I let it fly and watched the luminok as it sailed clean over his back and off into oblivion as the buck ran off. 

I was beating myself up for that mistake when I realized the rest of the train was still coming along.  I nocked another arrow and drew.  When the second buck got into the same shooting lane, I corrected for my range mistake and released.  Naturally, this one went right under his belly.  He spun and went back the way he came.  Arrow number 2 gone.

I actually put my bow down and put my head down in frustration.  When I looked up I saw one of the does staring at me and saw that that second buck had turned around and was coming back for more.  I nocked a third arrow and waited until he got back near the lane and drew again.  The third time was a charm and this one hit hard.  He spun again and headed off with the rest of the bunch.

Turned out to be a very difficult track after the first 75 yards (thank god my buddies were there or I would never have found him).  We finally tracked him down only to have him jump up again.  We gave him a few minutes and found him about 20 yards away.   Unfortunately I got him thru the liver so it wasn’t as quick and clean as I would have liked.

It felt good to finally notch a tag.

[NW-GSP]

Congrats!. Also good to hear someone be honest. Not very many guys admit to getting a bad shot placement.

[demontang]

Congrats 

[Duffer]

    

[Jrod79]

Congrats 

[csaaphill]

Nice and grats been there done that bow hunting.
Had em jump up and miss just under their belly. had em sail way over their head so ya cool beanz!

[MLBowhunting]

Nice job.  Great buck.   

[elkoholic1]

 

[lamrith]

Way to stick with it!  Congrats.

[Elk Plain Taxidermy]

Great job. Congrats.

[Turner89]

   right on

[sakoshooter]

Congrats. Like the story.

[beave]

nice,congrats

[jasnt]

Congrats.