Alrighty, it's bow hunting season round these here woods and that brings lots of memories of lots of stories.
I have hunted and fished all of my life, so there are years of memories that I enjoy, for instance:
My former husband and I hunted together often. Sometimes we would put our stands within 30 or so yards from each other in the trees, scoping separate areas of the woods waiting for that thirty two point buck to walk in front of us.
It was quiet with a slight breeze in the woods, and the squirrels and chipmunks were busy doing their final scurrying for the day.
I got my bow ready, settled in and began my night, scanning right and left...waiting.
Funny thing about whitetail deer, seems you scour the woods back and forth with your eyes constantly so you don't miss a thing...and then all of sudden there it stands and you wonder "where the heck did he come from??"
And that's how this buck appeared, out of nowhere...just standing there. I drew my bow back, zeroed in and shot. {{{THWACK!!}} I watched the arrow as it landed smack into a tree just above that bucks' head! Trotted off, he did...not knowing how close he came to being winter food for me.
I sat down cussing myself and wondered what the heck went wrong, I'm a danged good shot and there was no excuse for that.
So, I sat down again and waited. Ten minutes or so later here he was again!! He wandered back in so stealthily. Again, I pulled back, aimed and shot. {{sigh}} The buck scampered off as if slightly spooked as I saw the arrow sticking out of the ground behind where he stood. This time the shot was too low. Good grief! My frustration was high.
Once more I settled in and waited. And again, that buck came back. Just as I was pulling back my bow, I hear a familiar sound {{THWACK!!}} and the buck ran off. I scanned the area and in the same tree, very near to my first arrow was another arrow. Apparently my husband decided not to let me miss again, and tried the shot himself. I looked over to his stand, and he just shrugged his shoulders. I guess everyone can miss now and then. LOL
So, we settled in....again. Yep, you guessed it...he came back. There must have been something in that area of woods that he was real interested in.
And I shot again....and missed again. I was just dumbfounded that I had three shots at that buck and missed all three!!
Now, when that danged buck walked back in there for the final time (yes, this is absolutely true, he came back again!) I had decided that it was just not meant to be. He was meant to live. I stood up and yelled down at him "Get the "H" out of here!!!" He jumped and flew out of the area deep into the woods. He did not come back that night. Apparently seeing the human and hearing me, not just a noise from a tree told him not to come back.
Before returning to the house for the evening, I realized why I had missed on every shot. While sitting in my stand I had the bow leaning into my leg between my feet. Apparently just so that the knock on the arrow was being pushed off the string slightly. When I shot, the arrows were not fully seated on the string. I discovered this when I took the arrow off to put it back in the quiver. I felt better about that.
Those two arrows are still in that tree, they were too high up to retrieve and probably too seated into the tree to remove. But I giggle every time I walk past that tree, and I'll bet that buck does too.
I have hunted and fished all of my life, so there are years of memories that I enjoy, for instance:
My former husband and I hunted together often. Sometimes we would put our stands within 30 or so yards from each other in the trees, scoping separate areas of the woods waiting for that thirty two point buck to walk in front of us.
It was quiet with a slight breeze in the woods, and the squirrels and chipmunks were busy doing their final scurrying for the day.
I got my bow ready, settled in and began my night, scanning right and left...waiting.
Funny thing about whitetail deer, seems you scour the woods back and forth with your eyes constantly so you don't miss a thing...and then all of sudden there it stands and you wonder "where the heck did he come from??"
And that's how this buck appeared, out of nowhere...just standing there. I drew my bow back, zeroed in and shot. {{{THWACK!!}} I watched the arrow as it landed smack into a tree just above that bucks' head! Trotted off, he did...not knowing how close he came to being winter food for me.
I sat down cussing myself and wondered what the heck went wrong, I'm a danged good shot and there was no excuse for that.
So, I sat down again and waited. Ten minutes or so later here he was again!! He wandered back in so stealthily. Again, I pulled back, aimed and shot. {{sigh}} The buck scampered off as if slightly spooked as I saw the arrow sticking out of the ground behind where he stood. This time the shot was too low. Good grief! My frustration was high.
Once more I settled in and waited. And again, that buck came back. Just as I was pulling back my bow, I hear a familiar sound {{THWACK!!}} and the buck ran off. I scanned the area and in the same tree, very near to my first arrow was another arrow. Apparently my husband decided not to let me miss again, and tried the shot himself. I looked over to his stand, and he just shrugged his shoulders. I guess everyone can miss now and then. LOL
So, we settled in....again. Yep, you guessed it...he came back. There must have been something in that area of woods that he was real interested in.
And I shot again....and missed again. I was just dumbfounded that I had three shots at that buck and missed all three!!
Now, when that danged buck walked back in there for the final time (yes, this is absolutely true, he came back again!) I had decided that it was just not meant to be. He was meant to live. I stood up and yelled down at him "Get the "H" out of here!!!" He jumped and flew out of the area deep into the woods. He did not come back that night. Apparently seeing the human and hearing me, not just a noise from a tree told him not to come back.
Before returning to the house for the evening, I realized why I had missed on every shot. While sitting in my stand I had the bow leaning into my leg between my feet. Apparently just so that the knock on the arrow was being pushed off the string slightly. When I shot, the arrows were not fully seated on the string. I discovered this when I took the arrow off to put it back in the quiver. I felt better about that.
Those two arrows are still in that tree, they were too high up to retrieve and probably too seated into the tree to remove. But I giggle every time I walk past that tree, and I'll bet that buck does too.
