Hunted w/ bow for 3 seasons (for whitetails)
hit a twig on one shot. other shot (first time out, missed over the deer). all other opportunities missed have been because I have spooked the deer.
hopefully wait until the deer has passed my stand to shoot.
you can help if you tell me when to draw my bow, other than when their head is behind a tree...


beej

Been hunting with a bow now for going on 9 seasons. I have yet to take a shot at a deer. Closest I cam was last year. I drew on a doe, and when the bow hit the wall, the arrow popped out of the arrow rest and bounced off of the riser. All 5 deer left in a hurried manner. I think I haven' t killed a deer yet because I haven' t been putting the effort in. Last year, I hunted hard. And it showed through the deer I saw and also my closest encounter with one. This year, I' ll hunt even harder. Also, I bought a new arrow rest, a bodoodle. No more arrows popping off of the arrow rest.

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Bowdacious, How is Bowsafari for hunting? I have been looking into a Hog/Exotic hunt for next spring and my group would like to know more about them.

Good hunting? looks like good prices. any info would be nice

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last year was my 6th bow season and first deer. my second year i hit a doe too far forward, hitting the shoulder blade and never recovered her. not knowing, i got right out of my stand and tried to track it. after that terrible experience, i was determined not to shoot unless it was a very good shot. last years was a 22 yrd broadside with the deer unaware of me being there, it only went 60 yrds!! i still waited in my stand a while though. i dont live close to where i hunt, and have 2 kids with all kinds of activities, so unfortunately, i only get out 10-15 days per season

what can you all do to help? give me tips on what to look for when hunting a new area. i mostly hunt public land and the area that im most familiar with is usually taken by others. i usually just look for funnel on topo maps, because that is fairly easy to pick out. my real time is getting the biggest bang for the short amount of time i spend in the woods.

CATSKILLHUNTR, if you dont mind driving a little farther then the catskills, i have
a few stands allready set, for someone to kill a deer with the bow, the most
important thing is to brake the ice, and your welcome to hunt my back yard, if
you are confident in your shooting, you will kill a deer, and maybe even a P&Y
buck, but i woulden' t worry about that, just brake the ice, could stand to lose a few does anyhow, send me a PM,

last year was my first year bow hunting....it was an experience.....the first morning, i had a nice spiked buck walk up, waited til he was behind the tree pulled back and my nock came off ...sad day, but i learned...got new nocksi passed on a doe and her yearling 2 days in a row...shouldn' t of, the yearling would of made it and i had no meat , i learned not to be overly ethical, meat comes first then i' ll be choosey...there was a poult that came in 9 yards away from me, i thought about it, i admit it, but there was no way, so i sat there and enjoyed her feeding around me, til she fed off.....then the one that hurts real bad.....there i was sitting in a tree that had fallen, actually i was standing...it was almost time to go and i had called Fl. Huntress and she said she' ll be heading up my way in about 30 minutes...a few minutes later i hear splash spash splash, actually startled me, i froze, it was doe and her yearling running, they get 20 yards in front of me and stop, then they walked off , looking behind em , all of a sudden i hear SPLAH SPLASH SPLASH, this beautiful creature comes walking in , stops exactly where the doe stopped and i went to pull back and i see him looking but not at me or the doe...he takes off, then Fl. WHISTLES...he saw her[:' (]and when she whistled , my heart sunk......he was a trophy, i have only seen a couple of bucks that nice personally, his rack just laid down, nice spread....i didnt get to count points because i was told not to count a buck by his rack , rather his age , just find the spot and shoot, they' ll be time after the harvest to count tines.....well that was tough, to this day i can see him crashing through the water chasing her then stopping for the perfect shot , all to be f' ed up...one of my bestest memories to date, bitter sweet for sure...well the following hunt i had this group of turkeys come in, my stand is only 6' , but camoed very well, i thought for sure i' d take one of the turkeys so i waited for the biggest one to stop and i released,my leg wiggling the whole time, lol..i tried to calm myself, and i really did, but my leg would not stop shaking.... the arrow fell about a hands width behind her...i screwed up and thought she was closer than what she was, hens are legal to take by the way, dont want to upset anyone....but i was off about 6 yards, give or take.....but i released and it was a clean miss, that did my heart good, i actually got the chance to release finally after all the times i should of or could of or wanted tooand i got to put another arrow in while continued walking and feeding , but i didn' t get another shot, after missing my confindence level was gone......i' m building that up every day when i shoot, i feel that has to be the one thing you bring in the woods with you ,confindence, i truely do.......while i' m at work , me and my coworker/buddy pick things out and guess the yardage and then he takes the range finder out and checks to see who' s right ..i know i have alot of learning to do, with every hunt comes a learning experience and i know my patience and persistance will be rewarded when God feels they should be......ntilo that time, i must learn all i can , the hard way is just part of it....