First Bow Kill For You Old Guys

[psicoo]

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[Native Texan]

Got my first bow when I was about 4 years old. It had suction cup tipped arrows that stuck to a target. Upgraded a few times from that to a shakespeare fiberglass bow and spent many barefoot summer days hunting frogs, fish, or anything else I could shoot. When I was 8 I was practicing leading a moving target (my sister on her bicycle) and accidentally released the slightly drawn bow. Hit her in the butt (it didn't even leave a mark) and she went screaming to Mama who broke all my arrows. It was a few years before I got another bow.

When I was 15 I got a Bear Whitetail and really got into hunting Whitetails. First sit in a tree stand I missed the biggest non-typical I have ever seen to this day. That got me hooked! I had a few deer duck the arrow with that slow loud bow and bought a used Jennings Sidekick from my cousin. It was a little faster but not much.

I learned the habits of a big 8 point and got a perfect broadside 8 yard shot at him one morning...and he ducked the arrow. As he ran off I could see the bloody slash on his back. I hunted him hard the rest of the season, placing stands everywhere I found his tracks in a scrape. I was obsessed with hunting him, and put stands higher and higher to elude his nose. The highest was a foot square board nailed 35 ft. up in the fork of a pine about 15 yards from a big scrape. It was just big enough to stand on.

I never saw that buck again, but one morning a 5 point and a spike were fighting under that stand. Shooting almost straight down, I hit the 5 point between the shoulder blades and dropped him in his tracks. I was so excited I think I jumped the last 10 feet to the ground.

That was over 40 years ago and I still get obsessed with patterning those big bucks.

[RifleBowPistol]

My first bow kill was probably around 1981 or 82 , I was probably 12 or 13. I was using a fiberglass Ben Pearson recurve, it was basically a beginner bow, probably 25 lb. draw weight. I killed the biggest gopher I have ever seen. I used to shoot gophers all the time with pellet guns, but decided to take out that monster with the bow. I wound up sitting in a live oak tree for most of the day, before finally getting it. The gopher was faster than my arrows. I could hit the spot where he was, but he would be 1 ft. to 1 1/2 ft. down it's tunnel by the time the arrow got there. We played that game most of the day. I kept having to climb down out of the tree and get my arrows, then back up in the tree. I finally started aiming 1 ft. or so from the opening of the tunnel. The tunnels run just under the surface, so the arrow penetrated the sand easily. I made maybe two or three shots, at the gopher a foot or more from the end of the tunnel. Then finally, I saw my arrow shaking after the shot. So I got out of the tree, thinking my luck, I blocked the tunnel with the arrow and the gopher is trying to get around the arrow. When I got there and looked down the tunnel, I had pinned the monster gopher to his burrow. He was mostly dead by the time I looked down the tunnel.

Somewhere there is a picture of me with the arrowed gopher. I probably shot 30 or so gophers with pellet guns, they are typically the size of a large mouse or small rat. That one was about the size of a king size rat. It was close to three times the size of any other gopher I had ever seen.

My first kill on something that might be considered a game animal, was a javelina, with my 50 lb. draw weight Ben Pearson compound, with some cheap Wal-Mart arrows and those old Bear broadheads, that had the big blade, that you could resharpen, then the small razor, that was replaceable. That was my first bow I had sights on, the old brass pin sights. I think Kolpin brand pin sight, and a peep sight, then a Kolpin quiver. There really was not much to killing that javelina, my cousin and I walked behind it following it through some mesquite, till I got around 10 to 15 yards. I could have easily have gotten quite bit closer, but wanted to take around a 30 yard shot, but it was not possible in that mesquite brush. We had been closer to it, but could not get a clear shot at it. Finally got a clear shot, with a little bit of range, so I took it. The arrow zipped right through the javelina. I think it jumped a little, then stood there, knew something was wrong, then walked about 5 yards and fell over. Left a trail of blood, like someone had a bucket of blood and started pouring a trail out on the ground.

I was never really excited about shooting a javelina, because I had walked up to so many of them, literally within 5 ft. to 10 ft. trying to heard them out of ranch roads, so we could drive down the roads. A few times, I kicked a couple of them to get them moving, because the pack, just flat would not move, even with me yelling and waving my arms, 5 ft. from the pack. When you can drive a truck right up to them, honk the horn a bunch, then someone gets out of the truck walks right up to them and yells, waves their arms, then literally have to walk over and kick a couple of them, to get them out of the road. There is not much sport in hunting them. I don't get how people get excited about hunting them. So they make for very easy bow kills. I went from gopher, to lots of rabbits, then a javelina, then a small buck, then a pig, ECT. After shooting that one javelina with the bow, I never shot another one.

My first compound bow was an old Indian 50 lb. draw weight bow. I don't remember killing anything with that bow, other than my left hand. I shot that bow without sights. I had two Ben Pearson recurves before the Indian bow. The Indian bow, I got when I was 12, I was not able to draw it, till I was 13. That's the bow that I ran a wooden arrow through my left had with, when the arrow came apart, when I released the string. That happened when I was about 14.

I have been trying to remember the name of the Indian bow and the Ben Pearson bow, so I did a search on Google. The Indian bow was a Deer Slayer. Then the Ben Pearson was a Mirage. That Ben Pearson bow, I was most accurate with, that or the Darton, I had after that bow. Which was my first of two Dartons. I made some pretty amazing shots, or what I thought were pretty amazing shots with that old Ben Pearson. One was about a 80 to 90 yard shot, on a cotton tail. First shot, went right through the rabbit's chest, killed it quick. It was extremely slow compared to any modern bow, but very accurate. That bow and the Darton I had after it, I would shoot for many hours a day multiple times a week. Sometime after getting that first Darton, I damaged my left shoulder in two dirt bike accidents. For many years afterwards, it would cause a lot of pain, if shot for more than an hour a day. I would keep shooting, to the point, it was too painful to draw the bow. I did a lot of damage to my left rotator cup, holding the bow, with it drawn, would push the ball into the socket. Two to three hours of that, with the bow set at 65 lbs., would cause me a lot of pain. So I started cutting back on shooting bows, more time shooting pistols and rifles. I liked to shoot for four or five hours or more a day, when I shot. After the two wrecks, shooting for three hours was pure hell. I gradually cut back how much I shot, tried to increase the intervals between shots, anything I could do, to take some load off of my left shoulder, other than shoot a lighter draw weight.

Shooting a bow is still very addicting for me, when I get my bow out, I tell myself, I will only shoot about three or four rounds of six arrows. Then I wind up shooting a lot more than that. All the years I did not shoot a bow, seemed to allow my shoulder to heal up some. I don't get much shoulder pain, when I have shot my bow in recent years. It also helps that my current bow, has a very high percentage of let off, compared to the bows I used to shoot 30 plus years ago. If I would have had the bow, I have now, back in the 90s, I would have been able to shoot a lot more than I was able to.

Up until 2004, I shot with a glove, I did not use a release till I got the bow I have now, which I got about five years ago. For years now, I have noticed that my right index finger is twisted and the finger next to my pinky, is twisted the opposite direction. I realized the other day, those fingers are twisted from years of shooting with a glove.

[Tmag]

Charlie had that thing souped up it sounds like.

It is quick. Caught front leg joint on the opposite side and turned the deer 180 degrees.

[Farmdog]

Most guys bought a bow in deep South Tx, practiced a little, then smoked a javalina thats how I did it

[elgato]

I got my first deer ( doe ) with a bow in 1969. Best I remember was a Ben Pearson bow. I was standing on a tree that had been bent over by a storm. Shot at her shoulder at about 10 yards and hit her square in the head dropping her in her tracks.

Quick history lesson:
Compound bows hadn't been invented yet { I bought a Jennings compound when they first came out. Weighed about 25 pounds }
climbing stands hadn't been invented yet
Commercial Ladder stands hadn't been invented yet
I didn't own a camera nor was there one in my family
And the camo then worked just as good as current patterns!

[DFWPI]

Back when I stated bow hunting there were no cameras and a deer stand consisted of finding two trees close enough where you could nail 2×4's to the tree and use these as a ladder to where you buit a seat about 15' off the ground.

I started with a Browning recurve, and thinking back now, was way too heavy at 55#. Nevertheless, I shot about 20 smaller animals with it before I was able to shoot a doe at the age of 16. Graduated to compounds and now thinking I'm going to give the traditional thing another try this year.

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[Gumbo Man]

Cool story Rusty.

[Smart]

Those sheep were sure fun targets back then. And cheap too if you had to pay for one. Nice legs Jason. Couldn’t you have cut those shorts a little shorter? LOL. I’ve got some pictures nobody will ever see!! I was way too cool for prime time.

They were for sure. Only time I ever hunted them though. I think my Dad paid $75 each for them back then. Good times



Don't be hating on my Bike shorts

[Gumbo Man]

[QUOTE=Smart;16104524



Don't be hating on my Bike shorts[/QUOTE]

No worries. I still have em and wear em daily. My staff calls em my booty shorts. Can’t stand knee length shorts.

[scotty]

First Bow Kill For You Old Guys

Around 1988. Browning Mirage 80#, Easton 2317 aluminum arrows, 100gr Thunderhead.

[Gladesgator]

My first kill was a 140# bar hog on our sod farm adjoining part of the Everglades in 1964, with I think it was a Bear bow, may have been a Pearson, had both. Cedar arrows, white feather fletching with Bear heads.

I had previously shot a gator but wasn't able to get it out of the canal.

First, whitetail was a spot and stalk 4 point in the Glades the same year, good times.

[Smart]

No worries. I still have em and wear em daily. My staff calls em my booty shorts. Can’t stand knee length shorts.

I didn't even now they still made them..

[Fishndude]

Around 1988. Browning Mirage 80#, Easton 2317 aluminum arrows, 100gr Thunderhead.

Lots of old stories would involve that word. Lol

Awesome Scotty

[Gumbo Man]

I didn't even now they still made them..

They probably don’t. I wear my clothes for 30 years cause new ones cost money and cut into my corn and protein budget. Not everyone can pull that off like me and you.