Nivk

Last week I was sitting with my bow hung from a broken branch behind me. I was dozing and waiting for official sunrise when a buck came in at about 10 yards at exactly sunrise o'clock. I did my best to get my bow and knock an arrow as slowly and quietly as possible, but he spotted me and turned back. From now on my bow stays ready and in my hand at all times. Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

I would thinking judging distance accurately is just as important as shot form. I do like the idea of only shooting once for each practice session though. The human brain is really good at correcting for mistaken perceptions. There was a study on basketball players where they had them wear prism glasses that shifted their perception of where the net was by a few feet & after a couple shots they were able to make baskets as normal. I would imagine we can correct for pins being off in the same way when taking many shots. But if we can hit the target on the first try that means both the gear and our form is good.

A little bit but clearly not as much as I should have. I didn't want to blunt them & I was shredding my target bag. I went out and got a nice block so I can focus on practicing with my broadheads for the rest of the season.

These are some really great tips and I look forward to trying them out! On the mechanical side of things I spent some time target shooting with my newly blunted broadhead and discovered that I was shooting pretty consistently low with it compared to my field points. This should be corrected now. My new training regimen is just to shoot twice with the boradhead each day. One in the morning and one in the evening. This way I have to get it right on the first try. So far so good. On the mental side of things I will try to carry out the advice to pause and give thanks before making a shot, then listen for the arrow to hit after releasing. I have been spending 20min or so meditating prior to sunrise each day out to calm the nerves and be mindful of the activity to come. But when a deer is in range and the adrenaline rises, bringing that state of mindfulness to each shot has been a challenge.

Well done! Sounds like an eventful day. My first year of ground hunting I saw exactly 0 deer, and not for lack of trying. You must be doing something right. Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

Ok. I think I'll swap out the blades, and save these old ones for back up. Im using razor tricks so they are easily replaced, but yeah... not cheap. Might try to resharpen them if I can find my stone. Thanks for the tips everyone. Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

Hmmm... thanks for the responses. You all might be right about the follow through. I felt the setup was on point, but the finish did seem different. I guess my next question then is, what's the consensus on reusing broadheads that have been 6 inches in the dirt? Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

I was out in my stand this morning when a doe comes strolling by. She was just over 15 yards away at the far egde of my field of view. I could tell she was heading into some brush rather than continuing into the the open area directly to my left, so I turned and drew on her. She paused just before going into the bushes giving me a perfect broadside view and I took the shoot. Pfft... Nothing. Fortunately she wasn't injured. The arrow passed under her and between her legs. I don't even think she noticed. The shot was in line with where I was aiming but obviously way low. I'm so frustrated that I missed this. I have been waiting for the chance to redeem myself from a poor performance last year. And after practicing for months from all positions in the stand and from the ground I was feeling pretty optimistic about taking my first deer with a bow. But now I'm questioning whether I should even be doing this if I can't connect on a shot like this. I rarely ever miss low. I just can't believe I missed such a large target from that distance. [emoji35] Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

I hunt locally in the 'burbs in archery only areas. My sites are generally within a 5min drive & I'm a little more comfortable on public land that is archery only. All the areas I spend time in have serious overpopulation problems with whitetail, so I'm hoping to help out with population control a bit. That said, I haven't brought anything down yet since picking up bowhunting last year.

I just went through a similar thing last week. I know how much it sucks to loose something after making what you think is a good hit & doing your best to track it down. It is really amazing what these animals can endure and keep on going. Better luck next time.

I have 125 grain razor trick broadheads. http://www.amazon.com/Slick-Trick-STRT-Razortrick-Grain-Pack/dp/B003BPAV3W It was a lot of blood at first but the bleeding slowed pretty rapidly. In proportion to all of the blood in the animal, maybe it wasn't so much.

That is what I am thinking at this point. I have been back to the last bed site and searched all over but turned up nothing. No crows or vultures around either. The route I had tracked had begun to loop back around by the time I found the last bed. I backtracked the whole route to see if he layed down on the way back up or somthing, but didn't find him there either. I had followed blood for about 3/4 a mile so I had flagging all over the place that I had to take down anyway. I'll be out in that area again so I'll keep looking, but based on the way the blood trail was thinning out I think the bleeding was stopping. Maybe he'll heal up? I hope so anyway.

Right! Good idea. I do have my other tag to fill so I'll go out tomorrow afternoon and see what I see.

Well I just got back from a few more hours of blind searching in the rain. I figured the rain would have erased the little blood droplets I had left off on, so to begin I just went in the direction the trail was traveling and poked around in a thicket near a little pond. After a while I came to a bed site that was clearly a body print in the leaves with two big puddles of blood. It was so thick in there I was crawling on hands and knees, but I only found a couple more drops to indicate that the deer had traveled south after leaving the bed site. So I went south and did a search formation through the swamp for the next couple hours. Unfortunately that turned up nothing. I had to call it quits bc I was pretty soaked and I have to be a work at 5 tomorrow. What a dissapointment. Certainly not the outcome I was hoping for this morning. I really appreciate all of the advice and tips you guys. This site has been a great resource for me as a beginner. I guess my last question is just what to do now? I feel like going out after work tomorrow will be hopeless after this rain. I have heard you can call in tracker dogs in some cases, but honestly I'm thinking this guy might actually survive this!? He must be one tough buck to have gotten so far with a wound like that.

I flagged my last location. I need to recharge before going back out.