Well, my 2018 trad goal was to get comfortable enough to take a stickbow into the woods. Today, I made the leap. I have been working on a good arrow build for my Browning Nomad that I’ve had for about 3 years, and finally have a setup that I feel confident hunting with. Arrows are flying great, and the broadheads are impacting where the field points are. I set up a new stand on my lease a few weeks back as a “trad only” stand. I have a feeder on a heavily-traveled game trail that opens into a small clearing. My tower stand affords me several good shooting lanes, all of which provide shots at 13 yards or less. The kill shot at the feeder is 9 yards.
I made the decision last night that it was time. Checked the weather and wind forecast, and everything was perfect for a sit in the new stand this morning. I’m up early, and ready to get going. Close the gate behind me at the lease, and this Is where it goes wrong... I had done one previous “test-sit” one evening last week with my wheel bow as a dry run. The setup is not far from the main gate, and I didn’t anticipate having any trouble finding it in the dark—boy was I wrong. Long story short, I ended up circling in the woods for about five minutes. The oak leaves on the ground were crunchy, and I felt like any water buffalo crashing around in the brush. Then I hear the does start blowing.... at that point I feel pretty resigned to the fact that my first trad Hunt is going down the drain. I finally got in the stand, settled in, and knocked an arrow—only to hear it drop, and go skipping down the side of the tower stand. It sounded like a bowling ball bouncing it’s way down.
So, here I sit on my first day with trad gear (or what’s left of it). Looks like I’ll have plenty of time for typing lengthy posts on TBH, checking FB, and dreaming about my next trad hunt where I don’t ruin my chances from the outset. Oh well, that’s why they call it hunting, not killing.
I’ll orobably knock it off early this morning and fill the feeders and do some stand, camera and lease maintenance.
—Jaybird
I made the decision last night that it was time. Checked the weather and wind forecast, and everything was perfect for a sit in the new stand this morning. I’m up early, and ready to get going. Close the gate behind me at the lease, and this Is where it goes wrong... I had done one previous “test-sit” one evening last week with my wheel bow as a dry run. The setup is not far from the main gate, and I didn’t anticipate having any trouble finding it in the dark—boy was I wrong. Long story short, I ended up circling in the woods for about five minutes. The oak leaves on the ground were crunchy, and I felt like any water buffalo crashing around in the brush. Then I hear the does start blowing.... at that point I feel pretty resigned to the fact that my first trad Hunt is going down the drain. I finally got in the stand, settled in, and knocked an arrow—only to hear it drop, and go skipping down the side of the tower stand. It sounded like a bowling ball bouncing it’s way down.
So, here I sit on my first day with trad gear (or what’s left of it). Looks like I’ll have plenty of time for typing lengthy posts on TBH, checking FB, and dreaming about my next trad hunt where I don’t ruin my chances from the outset. Oh well, that’s why they call it hunting, not killing.
I’ll orobably knock it off early this morning and fill the feeders and do some stand, camera and lease maintenance.
—Jaybird
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