datamax

Last fall I was hunting with a longbow in kansas. Big deer country, the hunt was for P&Y bucks in an area that produces them. A trophy hunt.

I shoot pretty good, I killed a 140" 11 pointer last year with a longbow but was using a different bow this year. Long story short - my shooting got worse and worse. I could practice at night indoors and my groups sucked. During the day, I'd shoot right when I got into my stand and several shots when I got out and my arrows were going 6" to 18" from where I wanted them too. Terrible shooting and I figured my odds were high of missing/wounding a deer.

The hunt started on Sat evening and my Dad killed a big buck on Mon with his Q2. Monday night he asked if I wanted to finish my hunt with it. We changed the sights a bit to accomodate my style of shooting and within 30 shots I was grouping very well at 20 yards.

I hunted Tues/Wed/Thu/Fri with it and on Sat morning shot a nice non-typical with it. One shot, one kill. I heart shot him at 14 steps I think it was.

On another thread a guy said

" the weapons should not be adapted for the hunter "

Thats what I did. I chose a much easier weapon to finish my hunt because my shooting sucked with the bow I took. Not unlike a bowhunter going to Alaska caribou hunting with a bow and finishing the hunt with a borrowed rifle.


Anyway, I'm very comfortable with my choice and would do it again. What are ya'lls thoughts ? Was I "bad" for hunting with a bow after 30 shots of practice ? Was I "bad' for switching weapons ?

Charlie P

Nope and nope. Seriously.

gutshot

Dude don't put to much into what other people think. My personal feeling is that you did nothing wrong.

zak123

Would you have wanted to wound the deer? I say no to both questions.

recurver67

My personal feeling is you let yourself down.. You set out to take a deer with the longbow,why would you give up. At first you don't succeed try and try again. You should have figured out the reason why you lost your group. If I start scattering arrows I don't hunt.If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

zak123

If my shooting was that bad I would have never have gone. You switched your weapons so you could hunt and I have no problem with that.

Washington Hunter

There's a saying that I heard somewhere and I like to use it in situations like this, "Opinions are like a**holes, everyone's got one."

I beleive you did the right thing. I would say no to both questions.

Xtec Shooter

You should have picked up a xbow and used that. j/k

datamax

I did to a degree. My goal was to hunt with a longbow and again shoot a big buck. I did not accomplish that. But ...... I also didn't wound a deer, I didn't miss a deer , and shooting a deer with a compound though much easier than with a recurve, still isn't an easy task. But yeah, I know what you're saying and you're right to a degree.

Zak123 - here is what happened. I bought a top of the line TD longbow - and the poundage was near the top of my weight range. During practice in Arkansas, non-hunting situations, I was pretty good with it. It was a VERY finicky bow to shoot (LBR knows what I'm talking about) - it didn't allow for much error in shooting it. Anyway, although I practiced from treestands, hunting clothes on etc, I couldn't duplicate sitting 5 hours without moving in 20 degree weather like I faced in Kansas. Coupled with the finicky nature of this bow ....... I just couldn't shoot well. Mentally I was already defeated - archery eventually becomes so much more mental than physical and I'd lost the mental part.

The compound allowed me to continue hunting, no fear of missing/wounding and hey, bowhunting is still a huge challenge. I had some VERY nice bucks that never came to within 30 yards of me. Honestly , one buck I watched for maybe 20 minutes and he was every bit of 180" typical 5x5 - 26" spread maybe, 30" beams .......... awesome buck, largest I've ever seen by far. Landowner calls him pitchfork ! Anyway , even had I been able to use a crossbow and one been available, I'd still have had the same challenges for the most part and thats getting into 20 yard range.

zak123

I understand now datamax. You did the right thing.