First off, let me say, I have hunted all my life. I hunt deer, dove, ducks, varmints....anything that I can in my part of Texas. However, I had never bow hunted.
Now, I have owned a couple of bows, but never hunted with them. I had intentions, but never was taught how to hunt with a bow or about setups. Finding a good setup in my mind was near impossible (I was using my gun thinking and not thinking about getting in the deep woods stuff).
Anyhow a buddy I work with asked me out last week to his place in Houston County and had a loaner bow for me to use. He has asked the last couple of years and I finally took him up on it.
This buddy has owned/hunted/managed this 1900 acres since 1971. I've seen the countless bucks he has killed and been on the land on 4-wheelers in the past. Absolutely beautiful. I love the pines and will all my life. My mothers side of the family is from east Texas and we visited several times a year as I was growing up. I guess that is why I am so fond of the area.
So we get there and I shoot his bow for about an hour. I am dropping them in on top of each other. He says, you got this thing down. Again, I have shot a bow a ton, just never hunted. He put me in one of his stands that he hasn't even hunted this year but according to him, produces big bucks every year. He told me to shoot whatever I wanted although I had planned to not shoot his big deer. I didn't want to be a jackwagon, but he insisted to shoot whatever I saw because he didn't know if he could get me back out this year.
I get to the stand, crawl up the 16' and make all kinds of racket getting in place and hoisting the bow. Remember, I am new at this lol. Well, 5 minutes after I sit down, a yearling buck comes out. No corn and the feeder doesn't go off for another 35 minutes. But this little guy was determined. He just hung out until the feeder went off, and it finally does.
The little buck was gobbling all he could after the feeder went off at 4:00 PM. 30 minutes later, a yearling doe comes out and my heart starts pumping. I know momma aint far behind. Sure enough about a minute later, through the thick brush, I see a leg, then another....walking right to me. So, I begin to stand up before she can spot me.
As soon as I get completely up and bow rested on my thigh, the deer comes out of the thick stuff and BOOM! It's a monster 10 pointer! The deer was bigger than any deer I have shot or seen on my place. He walks up to the feeder. My heart is pounding, I have to control my breathing. The anxiety is so high I am shaking all over.
He comes in and gets broadside and I begin to draw.....
Now lets go back to the bow i borrowed. My buddy told me a million times. Keep your whole hand and fingers behind the trigger as you draw. His trigger was very sensitive.
Back to the buck. As I begin to draw, I somehow hit the release
. The bucks jumps and trots off 20 yards. But get this, he comes back after about 10 minutes!
I knock another arrow and begin to draw. This time keeping my finger behind the trigger. Success, I am locked on and fire away.
Honestly, with my heart racing, seeing white flashes from my blood pressure being so high, I can't tell you where the hell I was aiming. A flat out miss.
It was the most exciting hunt I had ever been on. As soon as I can afford a bow, I do not think I will ever gun hunt again unless I am in some kind of time crunch.
Truely an experience I have never experienced and never will forget.