Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Okay, I had a monster 12 point big buck (I had seen him on my trail camera the day before) I hear him come up from behind me and I don't make a move. Then I slowly turn with bow in hand only to find him 60 yards behind me and then he slowly trots off.[:'(] Had this been blackpowder or gun season I would have had him. He never circled back around and I have hunted it the last few days. I now have to wait 3 weeks to hunt again, but that will be blackpowder season.

This is my first hunt with a bow and I'm really upset. All of my friends are saying I told you to stay away from bow it only leaves you with frustration. I never give up on anything, but I'm really disappointed to say the least he was a big buck. Have any of you guys faced this before? Thanks

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Hey this is my first rule bowhunting and im going into this season on Saturday thinking I will see more deer but I wont shoot more deer.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Your friends are losers.[8D]Don't listen to them. Just think if you would have gotten that buck with your bow. How would you feel? What would your friends say then? I'm guessing, NOTHING.

Last year I took my bow out some during rifle season. This year, the rifle is staying in the cabinent. I love the looks on peoples' faces when they see me hunting with a bow during gun season.:D

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

bowhunting is challenging, no one says it is easy, but hang in there. i am overjoyed when i finally harvest a nice buck. With more challange comes more hapiness and reward.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Hey man thats bowhunting for ya. That's what makes this sport so challenging and always coming back for more. I haven't gun hunted for deer in 3 years and I can honestly say I don't miss it one bit. Iwill alsosay that because of my addiction and love for bowhunting I have no desire to persue deer with a firearm.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Do you expect it to be easy. IF that's the case, I agree with your friends, stay away from bowhunting. It's not for you BUT the reward is so much more rewarding when you do take your first animal etc....there is a reason for the addiction. Bowhunting has more lows than highs depending on how you look at it. I don't view your deer trotting away as a failure but a success at even seeing him while hunting. You'll learn with every success and failure and if your anything like me, your guns will be a thing of the past.;)

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

This is my first year bow hunting. I was worried about the same thing. Now, as if I wasn't already, I'm addicted. 2 does down, and one more weekend to hunt. Muzzle loader season opens in AR next weekend, but I'll be out with my bow. Don't give up. When you take your first one with a bow, you'll never look at gun hunting the same. I won't give up my gun hunting, but it'll never have the same appeal to me that it once did.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Amen to that Rob!!!!!

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Couldn't have said it any better myself. I don't even gun hunt anymore for deer. Bow is where its at, and until I shot my first I didn't even realize that myself!!!

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

You are missing the whole picture. Yes, it would have been nice to have the deer right underneath your stand an make a perfect shot. The best is you witnessed why an what drives every bowhunter is the chance at such a nice buck. That is what drives me year after year to keep trying an trying. You are not going to have everything to fall into place but maybe 1/3 of the time. That is what makes bow hunting challenging.

I had a doe an a 150 class 10 within 65 yards of me last year for an 1 hour an 10 minutes. They got to with in 25 yards an to witness everything to fall apart in just a few seconds wasa let down, but that is what drives me an he is still there.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

I need encouragement right now, I'm just down. I checked four of my hunting spots all with cameras and there are plenty of big deer. It is just so frustrating to see a trophy walk by and not be able to take it. You guys are right though, it will feel so good when it happens with a bow. I didn't feel right grunting this early in the season, so I just had to sit and hope he came back, but he never did.

Any tips to bring them in closer on a deal like that?

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

You should have tried grunting him in. I owe a lot of my success to calling. We might be having a different coversation right now if you had tried. Thats why it's called hunting and not killing. :) Hang in there bud.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

I agree, I've grunted deer from the first day to the last day. If you do it sparingly, you won't spook him. You didn't get a shot anyway so grunting wouldn't have hurt anything, again done sparingly and naturally.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Love it!

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Wow, your first hunt with a bow in hand, you have a 12 point at 60 yards and your bummed!! Welcome aboard, enjoy the ride! Good luck staying away, you just may be hooked!

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

for people who cant bow hunt or cant bow hunt enough im glad to see them kill a deer with a gun but for me i just look at gun hunting like putting meat in the freezer, i hate being out there with it but enjoy going with people who enjoy doing it. i shot my oldest widest racked buck ever with a gun at 15yrds (i hunted with the bow durring gun season until this day) i proud of the deer but honestly not really happy that i shot it with the gun. once you get good with the bow it just doesnt feel like you did your best when you get them with the gun, i dont know but id rather shoot a 6pt with the bow then a record setting buck with the gun, maybe its just the orange army here in pa but shooting a huge one here in pa in rifle is usual just cause he was running out of places to hide and ran past you. i have a spot i see a few deer most days of archery but i take people in on the first three days of gun and i will see at least 30 deer within the first morning and usually same deer keep running back and forth, its feels like a joke shooting one this way when you know you can track one down and get him with the bow at 50yrds or less. just how i feel. keep at it and be mindful that being new youmay have a few misses before you get those nerves down enough to connect.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Thanks for all the advice guys. Next time I will try to grunt him in that was my mistake.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

robbcayman, Just because you didn't kill him doesn't mean you made a mistake of any kind. You have to have luck to kill a deer with a bow. Getting 60 yards from a mature buck is a feat on its own. Killing one is a near improbability. That is why it is so satisfying when it all actually comes together. You'll get there. Just know that you will have many more encounters like that than ones where you actually kill the buck. And after years and years, you will look back at those encounters just as fondly as the kills. That is what makes one a bowhunter in the end.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Its just part of it. Always will be. You have to decide for yourself if the prize is worth the price.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

We have a saying: "Grandma can kill a buck with a gun!"

So, are you up for the challenge or not!!!

I ain't just saying this. I sat and looked at an 160 class buck last year in IL. 90 yards on the rangefinder is as close as he got. It would have been easy with a gun. I could have gotten frustrated, but I'm back looking for that buck again this year! There truly is nothing like bowhunting!

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

This is gospel. You saw something that they never will. Stick with it.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Don't get frustrated and don't give up. Your "friends" are idiots. I bow hunted 3 years to get my first deer. I was lucky that it was an old 8 point buck. An hour earlier I shot a twig to keep the arrow from dropping a beautiful 13 point buck. The year before that, I missed 3 deer mostly due to what I attribute to putting pressure on myself to be successful with a bow. The first year (before I found this forum), I didn't have a deer come close enough to any of my stands to even get a shot. I still hunt with shotgun and black powder, but bow hunting is the most challenging and has the greatest rewards when that first deer drops. Keep the faith and keep persuing that first silent kill.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Hunting with archery tackle can be the most frustrating and the most rewarding hunt you'll ever have. When you score, there is nothing better...knowing you've accomplished one of the most difficult hunts for anytype of game.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Im going into my third season of bow hunting and like every other sport you only learn by experiences and you can only get better when first starting off. I havent gotten my first kill yet but its still addicting.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

I have been bowhunting for 20 years this fall and have had way more missed oportunities than tagged animals. I still look forward to bow season like I used to look forward to christmas as a kid though. Learn to enjoy the archery part of bowhunting and you will gain more confidence. I try to shoot from the time the snow melts untill it gets too cold to shoot again. That year round practice helps to give you confidence that when that deer does come into range that bad boy (or girl) is yours. Bowhunting will also make you a more effective firearm deer hunter as well since you will have much more time in the woods to study the animals and alot more "missed opportunities" to learn from. Take it in stride and try to outsmart him again.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

I have to agree with the exception of guns. I still gun hunt but that is more of a family thing every year during thanksgiving week.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

First time with a bow and you didn't get one, sorry to hear that but you did see one. That is the challange of bow hunting. Have faith in yourself.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Gosh dang it I had a bunch of posts in a row in this forum and you broke the chain

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

I've been a bowhunter exclusively when it comes to deer for several years now. Seeing deer that you could have taken easily with a gun make it that much sweeter when you see the deer you want approaching your "high percentage" zone. I don't gun hunt for deer anymore, but when I did, I had decided that if I saw a true monster, it would be a let-down to take him with my gun when the bow kill is so much more satisfying. Keep at it and you'll feel the addiction so many of us have caught when you arrow your first.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Your first bowhunt and you saw a monster 12 point. You already won, man!!! ;) You just don't know how lucky you are. I'd be smiling and thanking God for that great hunt you just had.

Which way was the wind blowing? Maybe he just winded you. That's part of the game.

Stick with it. If you pay your dues the rewards are SO much greater than gun hunting. I've done both and it's no contest. I'm the only one in my group that carries my bow out with hunters orange on opening day of rifle season. Sure I've missed opportunities at bucks that were a little too far for a bow. But the way I see it everybody else is missing the opportunity to do something really special - take a deer with a bow and arrow.

RE: Frustrated with Bowhunting
 

Sounds like you are doing alot right and not much wrong to me. 1st time out and you see the buck you want to take at 60 yards. Just hang in there and I would try to stay away from that spot for awhile because I doubt if he was spooked to bad and once the rut kicks in one of those slickheads will more than likely make this bruiser make a deadly mistake. I remember a couple years ago I saw a monster that could've gone close to 200", I hadn't checked ranges from the tree which was my mistake, all of the sudden this monster shows up in front of me. Well I thought he was out of my range so I just stood up and picked up my bow and tried a little grunting at him to no avail. He had love on his mind and trotted off directly away from me. Before I went to get down I took my practice shot at a bush that this buck had been standing by and drilled it right where I was aiming with my 40 yard pin. I am not that upset though because guess what I wasn't sure about the shot and didn't want to wound the majestic beast. I was hooked be4 this point but this encounter was like icing on the cake for me. Ignore your friends and just hang in there cause the way it sounds you have a great spot and a great deer in yer area.

Sorry about the rambling but I just wanted you to see that it can happen to anyone and it will happen to you again if you stick with it.