Skip to main content

To hunt a huge buck, you need to think like one

That is our mentality as we drag that target outside each weekend and measure out distance in the snow.

For three years, I have been after this huge buck and he has stayed nocturnal.  After this past rifle season ended and Dad stayed in the woods with his muzzle loader, he saw the deer pattern back to their pre-rifle ways. They were back to traveling the paths that we assumed they used and they were coming out earlier and earlier. Dad didn't shoot a deer but he saw the small buck that we had around and a few does.

For the first time, it was blatantly obvious that rifle hunters were moving these deer around.  While we had been toying with it, it was clear that we needed to get into archery to try and get the upper hand on those deer.

My first grouping of the day
Hubby is WAY better than I am right now and he can pretty much call his shot and hit it.  He is working on his distance now. I am back at the start, trying to figure out how to get my sights just right and work on arm strength.  That is my biggest hurdle; being able to hold the bow steady before, during and after the release like I do with my rifle.



I still have not found my arrow but Hubby lost two of his (I recovered one for him) so now we are both down to 5 arrows and hoping that the snow melt will reveal our missing arrows.

Practice, Practice, Practice!



Labels:

Comments

  1. Tom HamApril 02, 2016

    nice group! looks like the craze is treating you well. I'm helping my friend get into this whole bowhunting thing too. I tunred the bow down to 50lbs for him just to gain that muscle memory, its more in the band than in the arms I think. And I always tell people, when you get a little tired, put the bow down. When I practice in the shop before we open and get pooped after 20 shots, i put it down...start the coffee, fire up the computer and then go back to it. If you feel some target panic and can't control that pin floating, just let the string up and breath in for 5 seconds, hold your breath for 5 seconds and breath out for 5 seconds, it totally resets your brain and muscles! oh, here i am rambling!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ErinApril 02, 2016

    Tom, you can ramble anytime!! Thank you for cheerin me on and reading these post :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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....
15 comments
Read more

Do Outdoor Women need to toughen up?

I hope you get shot out in the forest and wolves gnaw on your dying corpse…..WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE I’d like to rip off your f*$%ing head and pour gunpowder down your f*$%ing throat and light it on fire Only c*%t’s shoot animals and take pleasure in it. I hope you die a horrible painful death As I began to look at how female hunters were being bullied, I had to ask myself if it was because we were easy targets as women or if we needed to just toughen up a little. Once I started asking my fellow female hunters about their experiences, the things that they sent to me as examples of what they deal with daily made me sick to my stomach.  I’d like to meet you outside someday with a gun in my hand, I would shoot you several times and laugh over your f*$%ing body as you die like you do to those poor animals that can’t defend themselves.  MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Generally threats are basic name calling. They include sexist remarks, racist remar...
12 comments
Read more

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!!
17 comments
Read more