Well, it is my first year bow hunting and I had my first experience with the difficulties of making a shot with a bow from a stand this morning. I went out hunting before work and was about to walk out of the woods when I caught a glimpse of something walking up a deer trail towards me. I had put out a little doe urine earlier this morning in hopes to attract them in with it being the pre-rut. Sure enough a 4 point walked right through by the branch I hung the scent on and into my shooting lane. When he crossed into about 25 yards and was looking like he would was going to turn and walk away I made a quick grunt to stop him in his tracks. I lined my sights on him, slowly pulled my release and away the arrow went......miss. It went just over his back. At 25 yards.....yes 25 yards. That is when I realized I was so tensed up and jittery that I have no idea how I even got as close to him as I did. The good thing was he started slowly walking underneath my stand now. So now I am thinking oh great he is gonna give me a second shot. He passed right underneath my stand for me and started out into a small food plot that I was off. He stayed almost squared up with my stand until about 30 yards out, then he started to quarter away with me and gave me a shot. I grunted again and he stopped in his tracks. ARROW AWAY!! Miss.....a second time. At this point I was ready to jump out of my stand take off running after him and cut his throat with my knife. He looked back at me and then briskly walked away almost laughing at my bow hunting abilities. I guess what I am getting at is does anyone have some tips for calming down in the stand to get a good shot off. And also how much of a difference is their in distance from 25 yards standing on the ground from your target compared to being in the stand shooting down from 20 feet up. Hopefully this story wont get to many laughs, like I said this is my first year with a bow. Good luck out there as the season is heating up.
the difference at 25 feet... assuming our 20 feet off the ground is only about 2-3 feet.. not really enough to create the miss.. most likely buck fever... and your hold... when shooting down at an angle, dont just aim the bow down, you need to bend at the waist to keep your upper body in line with the bow just as it is when shooting level, by not bending at the waist you change the level of our eyes in relationship to your anchor point.. this could mean a difference of many inches in arrow impact, thus the miss... why they always preach practicing from your stand... as for the buck fever.. ya just need to calm yourself and control your breathing... don't think "a deer, a deer"... think about your shot, your form, your anchor point, ect.. then think about your breathing, take a few deep breaths, let half out and hold...
