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    Bitter ending to the season

    Plan was to go spend the last weekend at the ranch but work and some other family commitments have gotten in the way. Haven’t spent much time there this year as my hunting has been more spread out than in years past, so I’ve had a fair amount of time afield it just hasn’t been at the home place. Last week we stayed for a few days and I shot over on one buck and the next day shot under another one.

    Looking at the forecast for Sunday, I decided to go up yesterday to winterize the cabin and sit for the evening hunt. I get everything situated and then get in the blind. I had really only planned on shooting a doe, but as the feeder went off the place starts filling up with bucks. I had 6 bucks around the feeder, all young, when a mature cull-type 8 shows up. Thinking this is a perfect deer to shoot with trad gear, I let him mill about for awhile and work his way closer. After about 15 min, he gives me a good broadside shot at 17-18 yards. I draw back, hit my anchor and let it fly. Release felt good, I wasn’t overly nervous but my shot ended up going further forward of where I was aiming and I watch the arrow bury into his shoulder. Penetration looked decent, it appeared it had stopped in the offside shoulder and I thought even with the sh**** shot placement it may have been enough to get it done. He takes off running, obviously hit and is soon out of sight.

    Wait about 20 min and go down and look for blood. Nothing, not one drop. Went on the trail he took when he left….still nothin, no arrow, anything. I was hoping he would kick the arrow running thru the cedar but didn’t find anything.

    I looked north, south, east and west but had no idea where he went once he was out of sight and zero sign to go off of, so I started taking trails walking, hoping to find him. I looked until dark but never found him, never jumped him and have no earthly idea where he went once he broke out of that mott, and never did find a drop of blood.

    Really disappointed in the way it turned out….this year has been a struggle with 4 misses under my belt for the year and now this.

    The positive takeaway is I did learn a lot and have really fallen in love with traditional archery hunting. Gonna take the time in the off season to really dial in and get back at it next October.
    Last edited by txtrophy85; 01-01-2022, 04:26 AM.

    #2
    Keep your head up.it happens to all of us that have hunted long enough. There are memorable seasons and then seasons as you described. I have been on both sides of the equations with family matters and hunting. Believe me take care of the family matters first and foremost, everything else will fall into place.

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      #3
      Like tps above me said..so true.

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        #4
        This has been “one of those seasons” for a lot of us. We’ll get ‘em next year. And next year is only 39 weeks away.

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          #5
          Went through this recently myself and know the sick feeling. I did locate the buck, but it was too late to salvage the meat.

          Any water nearby the stand/feeder?


          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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            #6
            My archery season was so bad I won't even discuss it.. I'll just say that I have been killing deer with a bow for 43 years, since I was 13, and this season was BY FAR my worst....

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              #7
              Originally posted by ttaxidermy View Post
              My archery season was so bad I won't even discuss it.. I'll just say that I have been killing deer with a bow for 43 years, since I was 13, and this season was BY FAR my worst....
              Not alone bud. I had a burner this year too. Time for new equipment I’m thinking. Something gotta change.

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                #8
                Bitter ending to the season

                Well, most everyone that does this has had a time like you have had this season. Yours just happened to be the first season with trad, and that kinda sux even worse. One thing you might try, especially for your first few, is to get them closer. It’s different for each guy and his ability, but I won’t hardly shoot at critters past 15yds with my stickbows anymore (exceptions would be really big critters like elk, moose, etc). I can shoot decent enough further, but experience has taught me that there is just too much that can go wrong with every added yard of distance, so for me, I wait till they get close or I don’t shoot. I also have all of my personal setups optimized for a close shot.

                Anyway, this season is about over and done with. I hope you keep practicing and get you confidence level back up and are totally successful in 2022!!!

                Bisch


                Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
                Last edited by Bisch; 01-01-2022, 10:55 AM.

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                  #9
                  Man, this sounds like a bad case of not practicing enough. I mean 4 or 5 shots of missing/crippling deer in just one season, wow. I haven't missed/crippled that many in 47 years. I know this sounds mean and all, but we need to make better select shots after tons of practice. The deer deserve that respect.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by SabineHunter View Post
                    Man, this sounds like a bad case of not practicing enough. I mean 4 or 5 shots of missing/crippling deer in just one season, wow. I haven't missed/crippled that many in 47 years. I know this sounds mean and all, but we need to make better select shots after tons of practice. The deer deserve that respect.
                    If you were a regular here in the traditional section you'd know he has put in the work.
                    While I appreciate that you understand the animals do deserve our best "shot" so to speak I think you may be speaking out of ignorance either not understanding the traditional equipment challenges or this community.
                    Hopefully these rough spots in his learning curve won't do anything but help him be stronger and better down the road.

                    Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by DRT View Post
                      If you were a regular here in the traditional section you'd know he has put in the work.
                      While I appreciate that you understand the animals do deserve our best "shot" so to speak I think you may be speaking out of ignorance either not understanding the traditional equipment challenges or this community.
                      Hopefully these rough spots in his learning curve won't do anything but help him be stronger and better down the road.

                      Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
                      Hmmmm..... I started with trad when I was 17 in 1974. At first, I shot instinctive, then, I put on some pins and got my first compound when I moved to Texas in 1980. I've shot many deer with both, missed two and had a nice buck that I couldn't recover, which still bothers me to this day and I hate taking about it. I practice all the time, mainly one shot a day cause that's all you get when hunting. How can you justify missing 4 or more shots in the same year. I can't. The man needs to practice every day until he can hit every single shot and he needs to shorten his range. That's all.

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                        #12
                        Think a lot of traditional hunters have similar years, I know I did. Only difference is sometimes we share our misses and lost game and most times we don’t for obvious reasons. We definitely learn each and every sit, regardless if we let an arrow fly or not.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by DRT View Post
                          If you were a regular here in the traditional section you'd know he has put in the work.
                          While I appreciate that you understand the animals do deserve our best "shot" so to speak I think you may be speaking out of ignorance either not understanding the traditional equipment challenges or this community.
                          Hopefully these rough spots in his learning curve won't do anything but help him be stronger and better down the road.

                          Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
                          I'm by no means a regular in the trad section but I still agree. One can practice and hone their skills on still targets forever but live animals are a whole different game with any method, but I imagine trad has an even bigger gap between the two. The only way to get better at trad hunting "live" is on live animals and its unfortunate that sometimes the deer pay a price for it. Live trial and error is the only way to get better.
                          Good luck to the OP and hope things take a turn for you in 2022.

                          Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

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                            #14
                            I'm not saying he doesn't have work to do. We all have to work at it to keep up.
                            But any archer who has hunted for decades and actually fills all their tags every year with archery gear has had a few that were bad shots.
                            I know many hunters are less than forthcoming about bad shots. And believe me with way over a hundred archery deer under my belt I've had a few that I'm not proud of. But with no sight and no let off I make a decision to make it more difficult on me and less efficient on the animals so I really limit my range. 15 is good. 12 is better. 10 is great. But I'm also at that point in life where I'll wait til next time if the right shot doesn't present now.
                            Even the buck I took this year was at 15 yards for 20 minutes and I waited. But the shot I took was at 12 or 13.
                            All of life is a learning curve. Hunting is no different.
                            People make bad shot decisions or executions with all weapons. A group near our farm in Missouri shot 3 nice bucks this year and recovered none. Well one shot with a crossbow was found the other day. A beautiful 10 point. At least he got the rack.
                            So yes, he needs to examine and learn and work. And if he doesn't and continues to struggle maybe be discouraged by his peers.
                            But even our most lethal brother here has had bad runs, bad shots and discouraging runs. But I'm **** glad he didn't quit but always stayed in the game and worked his way out of the slumps. I'm especially glad he wasn't a total *** to me when I had one and was educational and encouraging instead.

                            Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

                            Last edited by DRT; 01-01-2022, 01:37 PM.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by DRT View Post
                              I'm not saying he doesn't have work to do. We all have to work at it to keep up.
                              But any archer who has hunted for decades and actually fills all their tags every year with archery gear has had a few that were bad shots.
                              I know many hunters are less than forthcoming about bad shots. And believe me with way over a hundred archery deer under my belt I've had a few that I'm not proud of. But with no sight and no let off I make a decision to make it more difficult on me and less efficient on the animals so I really limit my range. 15 is good. 12 is better. 10 is great. But I'm also at that point in life where I'll wait til next time if the right shot doesn't present now.
                              Even the buck I took this year was at 15 yards for 20 minutes and I waited. But the shot I took was at 12 or 13.
                              All of life is a learning curve. Hunting is no different.
                              People make bad shot decisions or executions with all weapons. A group near our farm in Missouri shot 3 nice bucks this year and recovered none. Well one shot with a crossbow was found the other day. A beautiful 10 point. At least he got the rack.
                              So yes, he needs to examine and learn and work. And if he doesn't and continues to struggle maybe be discouraged by his peers.
                              But even our most lethal brother here has had bad runs, bad shots and discouraging runs. But I'm **** glad he didn't quit but always stayed in the game and worked his way out of the slumps. I'm especially glad he wasn't a total *** to me when I had one and was educational and encouraging instead.

                              Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
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                              Well, keep this in mind: it is the hunters duty and responsibility to efffectively and quickly kill his deer and not just recover the head. Anything else is excuses. Just imagine how that part of your story sounds to a non hunter. With the reported crippling and non recovery of deer on this site alone, would make an antihunter target archery first. Perception is Reality.

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