Amazed or surprised you
 

When you were learning the great art of bowhunting what was the first thing that surprised or amazed you about it? For me it was how devastating a broadhead was, the first deer I shot was a doe at about 15 yards, after the shot she took off through the pine trees I lost sight of her after about 10 yards but I could of swore I saw blood spraying out of her sides. After I stopped shaking I walked to the pines were she entered them and there layed my arrow covered in blood. I then seen blood sprayed
all over the trunks of the pine trees 4 feet in height. I followed
trail and there she was dead. I was amazed she only went 30 yards from the time she was shot and the time it took her to exspire.Broadheads can do some sever damage.

unfortunately there are two things that have amazed me so far. i just started hutning this year and have practiced with my bow just about everyday for a couple months.

1) practice is practice, the whole ball game chanegs when your first deer is standing within shotting range of you lol, you might be able to hit that target dead on 500 shots in a row, but that damn deer must have a forecfield around it(missed my first deer by a few inches)
2) no matter how slow you think you are moving or unrecognizable you think you are up in a tree stand, those deer could see you blink an eye from 30 yards away.

interesting question!!

being a hunter all my life, and only bowhunting the last 4 seasons, its kinda difficult to answer as when i started bowhunting i had a fairly decent background...

id definitely agree with you on the effectiveness of broadheads...pretty amazing to think about the effectiveness and the power a bow produces...

the other thing i found amazing is how quick a deer can react...i learned a hard lesson about shootin at an alert deer my first season...couldnt believe that sucker dropped as much as it did before my arrow made it 20yds....

Double lunged my first doe, and sent the broadhead directly through her heart. Worst part if all was yelling at the fawn to get away from her.

+1!!! This is dead on the money. They are some sneaky little creatures!!

jag...my dad was opposed at me getting into archery as "all those guys do is wound deer, broadheads don't kill deer, they wound them, stick with your rifle"

well, that was 11 years ago, last day of the PA archery season and i FINALLY decided i would shoot a doe instead of a buck...that morning, big doe comes in and i nail her right in the shoulder, my arrow breaks inside of her about 6 inches up from the broadhead, she went 40 yards and fell over.

that night, dad and i are skinning, celebrating, hooting and hollering...he asks "where is the end of that arrow?" we bring the cape down over the opposite shoulder and it looked like someone took a chainsaw to her 'armpit' and ripped the snot out of her...

the old man looks at me and says "you keep bowhunting, that is unbelieveable the damage that thing caused"

proud to say this was the first year and is the first year my dad is bowhunting now, i couldn't believe it when he told me he wanted to hunt together with his bow...pretty cool for me...i asked him "well, i thought all archery hunters did was wound deer?" his reply, "maybe i changed my mind thanks to you"

I was pretty surprised when I actually hit the first deer I shot at with a bow. That was a long time ago. I was really surprised I missed one at 14 yards. That was three weeks ago. I shot right over her and still can't believe it. I managed to bounce back and have taken two since then.

For me, its how smart OLD does are. I always thought theres no way a doe is smarter that a buck. If they see you make even the slightest movement, their gone. When i shot my buck last year, and old doe was right below me and she had me pinned down, my buck had no clue what was going on and i was able to get an arrow in him.

Love bowhunting
 

Is how quiet the woods are during the bow season.

DB

I had been strictly a gun hunter and had shot a few deer ALL dropped on the spot or within sight. The first deer I shot with a bow (after several seasons of no deer while bowhunting) just ran off???? You talk about a confused hunter, well after feeling the thrill of the track I was hooked. I stopped gun hunting after that and poured everything in bow only hunting, that was almost 20yrs ago and A LOT OF LEARNING AND SURPRISES happened and are still happening. I did go gun hunting the last 2 years for the atmosphere though and plan to return this year. I should say I bowhunt and gun socialize. ha,ha.