Less than a month into "gun" deer season I've 2 decent sized deer skinned/gutted/aged in a cooler for 10 days/butchered/wrapped (plus some sausage). Sort of makes one think before pulling the trigger, i.e., how much work do I want to do this evening, the hauling/skinning/gutting part.
All my wife and I need are 3 deer; we both love deer and have some reasonable recipes, but there's lots of other good stuff we enjoy also. So, I've the opportunity to take up something I'd thought about for years, bow hunting. The "gun is on", and if I get towards the end of the season dropping another deer shouldn't be too challenging.
So, doesn't really matter now if I make a fool of myself and blow a dozen bow shots in a row, or more likely the deer detect me moving and bound off before I've a chance. I purchased a medium echelon bow, one of those listed in the top few of that range by 2 major hunting magazines, took a couple of lessons and now shoot at a target block every day or 2.
By asking a couple of the few veteran bow hunters at my club, I've gotten some advice, and am looking for other reasonably common "good practices". First off I was told to practice from a sitting position, not just standing.....and that was awkward but I can hit the target OK. I was also counseled to shoot from an elevated position, more like the stand I've modified for bow hunting (took out front rail). So, I shoot, sitting or standing, from a porch at a target 25 yards away by laser sighting, the same distance as the corn pile will be. Lemme see, what else (1) watch the arrow via the sight all the way to the target rather than pulling the bow aside to watch (that corrected my tendency to shoot to the left of bulls eye), and drop the string tension until I can very easily pull it while sitting and with little extra effort (so I dropped from 60 lbs to 54).
What else, besides humility and good tracking ability???.....I've not been concerned with missing the target or tracking the deer, til now - seems (1) I'm going to have to get used to muffing shots, and (2) deer even when shot properly in the chest can go a LONG way.
All my wife and I need are 3 deer; we both love deer and have some reasonable recipes, but there's lots of other good stuff we enjoy also. So, I've the opportunity to take up something I'd thought about for years, bow hunting. The "gun is on", and if I get towards the end of the season dropping another deer shouldn't be too challenging.
So, doesn't really matter now if I make a fool of myself and blow a dozen bow shots in a row, or more likely the deer detect me moving and bound off before I've a chance. I purchased a medium echelon bow, one of those listed in the top few of that range by 2 major hunting magazines, took a couple of lessons and now shoot at a target block every day or 2.
By asking a couple of the few veteran bow hunters at my club, I've gotten some advice, and am looking for other reasonably common "good practices". First off I was told to practice from a sitting position, not just standing.....and that was awkward but I can hit the target OK. I was also counseled to shoot from an elevated position, more like the stand I've modified for bow hunting (took out front rail). So, I shoot, sitting or standing, from a porch at a target 25 yards away by laser sighting, the same distance as the corn pile will be. Lemme see, what else (1) watch the arrow via the sight all the way to the target rather than pulling the bow aside to watch (that corrected my tendency to shoot to the left of bulls eye), and drop the string tension until I can very easily pull it while sitting and with little extra effort (so I dropped from 60 lbs to 54).
What else, besides humility and good tracking ability???.....I've not been concerned with missing the target or tracking the deer, til now - seems (1) I'm going to have to get used to muffing shots, and (2) deer even when shot properly in the chest can go a LONG way.
