Thread: deer with my bow.......

Great story Rango I love bow hunting also I tried it in the 70s but but really did'nt get into it till the early 90s.

back in 68, when i got out of the army and got into deer hunting, not many folks used tree stands. if you seen anyone carrying a tree stand into the woods, youd think they was crazy, totin all that hardware. if i hunted out of a tree, id find a tree i could climb and spent the time holding on to some limbs. most folks usually hunted on the ground. times have changed. my first tree stand was a baker climber. you risked life and limb climbing trees in one them things but i killed a good many deer using it. after the baker i mostly used the loc on stands with the screw in tree steps. i still have them stands hangin on the shed. last few times i hunted i used a summit climber. a really nice stand and much better than what id used in the past. i still have it and been sorta thinking about hanging it on a tree somewhere around here this year and hunting some with my muzzle loader. i have a knight disc supreme. i need to get me the conversion kit. theyve changed the discs since i bought it. its designed for the orange discs and now i think knight rifles are designed for the red discs. i also have a TC encore that dont use a disc. i may try it. actually its the wifes and ive never hunted with it. its a really nice rifle tho. so is the knight, which i like better but i need to add the conversion kit since i dont think the discs the rifle was designed for is available now. but wether i go deer hunting (i hate all the work involved, especially after the shot) or not, i still like to think about it. :D

Does that mean we are gettig old I remember the old baker tree stands, the climber stands have come a long way since then I now use a summit viper which is 6 years old and its almost out of date.
Look at the bows now a days they almost shoot by themself.

when i started competetive shootin in the various bow clubs in our area back in 78 the only thing seperating the two bow hunting shooters was the addition of a fixed sight with 3 or 4 pins. the two classes was bare bow (without sights) and freestyle (with sights). everyone shot fingers, then releases come on the scene and we added another class, called freestyle unlimited where adjustable sights and releases was added. in the target class archers could use anything, from long stablizers, adjustable pins, scopes and yardage cards and shot from open lanes with known yardages. the bowhunters shot out of the woods from thick cover and not given any yardages. the bowhunters had to guestimate the yardages, and a lot of the shots was tough to make., a lot of arrows was bent and busted by the shooters, but everyone had a great time. each club would usually have two open shoots a year, where archers come from different areas to compete and they shot for trophies and prizes. once a month the clubs would have a club shoot where members accrued points toward a year end score and winners was given a nice trophy. each class was broken further down into a A B and C class so everyone who shot stood a chance to win a trophy, instead of just the top shooters. this went on all summer with everything geared toward opening day of bow season. needless to say anticipation was high towards opening day. :D. our club also paid for having the biggest buck and heaviest doe mounted that was killed by its members, so the competition went on through bow season.. the following spring it would start over. i started out with a compound bow that cost less than a hundred bucks. my last bow was a mathews costing close to a thousand, with all the fixings. i wish id never bought it as i hunted with it a little but give it up infavor of a muzzleloader. the following year and its been hanging on the wall since, gathering dust. times have sure changed. just like nightstalking. way back yonder wed use about two rods each, and prop em on the side of the boat. no rod holders. then rod holders come on the scene and i started using 4 rods at night, which i thought was over kill. now i use 6 or 7. some guys i fish with, like ot, uses more than i can count most times. :D SCCRAB, you are right, we gittin old :D

I didn't get started bow hunting til I moved back to NY in '81. I'd been living in Texas hunting with a Winchester .270 and killin all the deer I wanted. I had shot competitive archery in a league in the 70's using my first bow--the Pearson recurve. Well, it was my second bow. I had a popsickle green fiberglass longbow when I was about 10.

I was a almost earning a living as a field editor for a regional hunting and fishing magazine and I traded some ad space to a sporting goods store owner for an OLD jennings compound. The cams broke over at different times so the bow shook when the arrow was released. I practiced enough to compensate.

The first season I didn't have a tree stand. I found a big oak tree that had a big limb about 10 feet up that I could stand on. There was another limb a little above that i could set my butt on. There was a well used trail about 15 yards away that crossed a 10' opening that was perfect to get a broadside shot. I got up in the tree about 2 pm and waited. It didn't take long to realize that my set up was gonna be very uncomfortable, but I was determined and stuck it out.

About 4:30 2 does came down the trail and my heart started racing. Just as they got to the opening where i had planned to make the shot they turned 90 degrees and walked toward me. They stopped under the tree directly below the limb I was stranding on and started eating acorns. Blood was pumping thru my veins like gas thru a HumV. I drew back and aimed between my feet at the back of one of the does. Them deer are pertty narrow when viewed from above...lol. I let the arrow fly and it went off the the side of the deer by an inch. The two startled deer took off and I was totally dejected as I watched them go.

Then they stopped about 20 yards away and stood there looking around for a minute. I could not believe they started walking back to the tree!! My luck don't usually run like that. It became obvious they were going to come back for some more acorns. I took another arrow out of the quiver and had a couple of heart attacks as the arrow clinked against the bow as I was loading it. The deer were about 5 yards away and a little off to one side from where they first stopped so I had a little angle for a broadside. I let go and literally "wished" that arrow into the closest deer's vitals.

The deer went about 30 yards and died under some heavy brush. Just a small doe, but I couldn't have been happier if I won the lottery.

Now days i got a bad shoulder and no place to hunt and I been thinkin of putting my bow and climbing stand etc on Craig's list but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. Too many great memories come back just looking at the stuff hanging in the garage.

"Too many great memories come back just looking at the stuff hanging in the garage."

You can never put a price on memories.

you said it, SC.CRAB!

kunes, that story you told is exactly how it was back in the early 70's. All the excitement, that adredeline rush, and knowing you did something most hunters couldnt do...killing a deer! That rush is still what keeps me hunting with a bow today. Granted, it aint near the heart stopping, shakey knees and weak legs, tinging-of-the-arrow on the rest type adhredeline it used to be, but it still gets the 'ole heart beat up some. I've thought about X-bows but to me it aint about killing as much as it used to be, but more about the excitement of the hunt. I reckon when the day comes I can no longer pull back my bow will be the time for the X-bow for me just so I'm able to still get out there and keep enjoying what it's all about. Heck, nowadays with all the modern equipment out there we see or hear where anybody and everybody is killing deer with bows. Dont get me wrong, it's still fun, but it aint nothing near what it used to be like when there werent many deer around these parts. You used to really turn heads when you came into camp with a deer on your truck when bowhunting, regardless of it's size.