2016: we become bow hunters

When I said that I was interested in trying out some bows, the first thing out of the guy's mouth was, "these are the only ones we have in pink or purple." He hadn't even finish the sentence when I noticed Hubby take a step back. "Good, then those are the only ones I don't want to shoot." I replied. The guy had no idea what to do or how to respond but after an awkward pause, he said that he should measure is to see what our drawn length will be.

As he fumbled with the measuring tape, I wondered if it was even worth staying there. I did not feel like I was being taken seriously and it was clear that the employee was hoping he would be helping Hubby and not me. I knew nothing about bow hunting going into this. I was surprised that I had to put on a wrist band that had the trigger connected to it. I was as green as they come.

Me "shooting" the PSE

The first bow that I tried was the PSE Stinger X. He had set the drawn length to 27 inches and set it for 45 pounds. Having never shot a bow (besides this) it was unconformable and I could barely draw it back. I asked him to lower the weight, which he did. The second time that I asked him, he tried paying more attention to other customers.

Then, Lee showed up. It was night and day. Lee either runs that archery shop or is their top tech because it was a complete 180. He helped me hold the bow correctly (I snapped my wrist the first time) and worked on my form and trigger placement in relation to my face and nose. It felt a little too big and stiff and it was not an easy draw back to where I needed it to be lined up. I shot the bow six times before I decided that I wanted to try a different one.

Lee stepping in to help me with the PSE

The next bow Lee got for me was the Matthews Mission Craze II. Lee made some tweaks before he let me shoot it. He dropped the draw length down to 26 and reduced the weight to 35 pounds. He made sure that I had the trigger set up where I needed it to and watched me as I drew back to help me hit one spot on my cheek every time.

From the minute I picked up the bow, it felt better. It was shorter and a little more top heavy than the PSE. The shorter draw length also made a difference, I think.

Hubby took over after I shot a few times and tried a PSE and then a Matthews. We were only 10 feet from the target, but he was nailing those targets shot after shot. His grouping was incredible and he seemed relaxed and comfortable. We knew that we were in trouble then.

We spent well over an hour in the shop talking with Lee and figuring out what we may want and what felt comfortable for us. Lee said that he would set aside the triggers, some arrows and the bows and we could decide what we wanted to do.

If you follow me on social media, you know what we did. Otherwise, stay tuned for another blog post.

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it....

So much to celebrate - let's give away stuff!

As you know from my last post, this month I am celebrating the one year anniversary of this blog, 10 years of hunting with my Dad and a milestone birthday. In honor of all three, I want to give away some great Maine stuff to all of you! Rules: 1. Leave a comment 2. On Oct 28 (my big bday), Dad will pick a number and the corresponding post will win. What will you win? A big basket of great Maine and outdoor things! Such as: fly fishing flies, blueberry something, Maine maple syrup, apple butter (to be made by me on Tuesday), something related to deer hunting and a couple of great books signed by local authors. (Pictures will be posted when I am back at a computer). So thank you for your support and for helping my celebrate such a great month!!

So much for respectable stand placement

Dad has hunted on the land that houses the Sky Condo for the better part of his life. About six years ago, we built the SC and started hunting there full time. At that time, there were no other hunters near by. A few years ago, a hunter bought a bordering piece of property, re-did the old camp that was there and brought his buddies along. We haven't had a lot of incidents with them (trespassing last year, putting pink ribbon on my tree seat and lying to us when we asked them what they shot - a search through the list at the tagging station said an 8-point buck). Two years ago, Dad bought a piece of land that is separated from the Sky Condo property by a powerline and a driveway that is privately owned by our hunting neighbor. The land was bought in May and once October came, our neighbor put a treestand up along the edge of the powerline, facing our new piece of property and right next to our traveling path. We were cautious from that point ...

and a strong cup of coffee

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