I posted this in my Team thread this morning, but wanted to throw it in here as well. As they say, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all! Well, guys - had the darndest thing happen to me yesterday. I spent the weekend in Iowa and decided to sit all day yesterday. Packed all my gear into a tree I hunted a few weeks ago, about 1/2 mile back in some timber on a nice bench that I watched a bunch of deer use. I figured it would be as good a place as any to catch a buck cruising through, looking for does. I got set up before light and sat in that stand all day long - sick, cold and generally wondering why the heck I do this to myself. Around 4 pm I look down the hill and here comes a shooter. I knew immediately he's coming up to this bench as I've seen multiple deer do this same thing. Instead of coming in front of my stand and giving me a 15 yard chip shot, he veers off and comes hard on my left-hand side, about 6 steps from the base of the tree. As he pulls level with me I draw back, stop him with a grunt, and let it fly. He runs off down the hill with his tail up and no sign he was hit. I'm dumbfounded. I had him dead to rights. What just happened? So I start looking at the ground for my arrow and notice a fletching laying on the ground along with what looks like a piece of my arrow wrap. So I climb down to see what's going on only to find the front 2/3 of my arrow stuck in the ground, and the back 1/3 of the arrow blown into a million pieces and scattered all over the woods. I was finding arrow pieces 20 feet away in all different directions. Luckily it was a clean miss (still not sure how) and my bow seems to be fine. I have no idea if the arrow failed or maybe the nock failed, but in any case, it was a bit of a letdown. But hey, what are you gonna do? Things happen that at out of your control at times. Just have to roll with the punches and keep after it. For the record, it was a brand new arrow that had never been shot, so if it was compromised it either came from the factory that way, or I damaged it during transport somehow. If the nock failed, perhaps it had been damaged earlier as I do move my lighted nocks from arrow to arrow. Note to self - always flex test and shoot all arrows before going hunting with them. Lesson learned the hard way.... Oh, and it was about a 140" 9 pointer. The first legit shooter I've seen since early season in Kentucky, and the first buck I'd see over 100" in Iowa in 7 or 8 days of hunting. I leave for Wyoming on Friday for a 5-day hunt and we should be hitting things perfectly for their rut. Weather looks decent, so I'm looking for some redemption!
Man that sucks. Glad it didn't badly injure your bow hand when it came apart, we've all seen those nasty pictures.
No doubt! Could have been way worse as thankfully neither myself or the deer were wounded. My bow seems okay as well - shooting good and no noticeable damage to string, cams, etc. The buck may have a few carbon shards embedded in his hide somewhere. So if anyone shoots a tall 140" 9 point in NE Iowa and finds pieces of carbon with an orange BHOD arrow wrap in him, now you know why.
Frustrating but all the potential mishaps is what makes bowhunting a challenge and what it is. You will always remember that particular hunt and maybe even more vividly than some of your successful hunts. And if you’re like me, before long he will be a 160” in my mind,lol Good luck in Wyoming.
That's strange. I bet it was a defect. Sorry man, but hey, you get to go hunt for 5 days and just came off a great hunt for 7 or 8 days with a great buck.. I have the utmost confidence that you have a great time in WY and will likely fill your tag. go get em!
JZ does the video reveal any insight? I know it does not explain or why post. But can you slow it down and examine?
I wish it did, but unfortunately, there's not much to see. The deer had me wrapped around the tree to my left, which is the worst spot for self filming. As I draw and bend to shoot him I accidentally nudged the camera arm with my hip and he steps off the screen as I release. My GoPro was overhead but with me shooting almost straight down and to my left my head/arm is blocking the actual shot as it goes off. All you see on either camera is little pieces of arrow flying all over the place. One whizzed right up over my head.
What a bummer. We spend many hours waiting for that moment a shooter comes into range. I do shoot all my arrows prior to hunting I wonder If you had shot it prior to hunting if it would have done the same thing?
If the arrow was damaged already, I'm sure it would have. I just fletched up 1/2 dozen new arrows on Friday night. I put broadheads on all of them, spun them to make sure they were good, then put 5 in my quiver and shot the 6th one a dozen or so times to make sure my bow was still shooting good. Just sheer dumb luck that the one I grabbed out of my quiver was bad when the moment of truth came. I've shot tens of thousands of arrows in my life and never had this happen before. What are the odds it happens as I'm shooting at a deer? It has to be astronomically low. But such is my luck! My streak of not killing bucks on out-of-state public land hunts seems destined to continue one way or another....
It's Murphy's Law Justin.. odds are low, but when it happens, it's going to happen when you absolutely don't want it to. That buck just wasn't meant to be that day.. who knows.. I bet you were sick on your stomach though.
Justin Glad you didnt get hurt, Also check those nocks all the time, especialy the see thru nocks they age from sun and exposer faster than solid colored nocks.
Did you hear or feel the explosion when it happened? I shot an aluminum arrow with a cracked nock once........ I heard and felt that! Left a big blue welt on my left wrist.
Nope - everything felt and sounded normal when I shot. Which is part of why I'm so confused as to what happened. I still can't be sure if it was an arrow failure, nock failure, or something else altogether. All I know for sure is that my arrow is in a million pieces and the buck escaped unscathed. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess to what happened.
