Believe me, I think we've all been there! I had a stretch of 3 or 4 years where I could not kill a buck to save my life - and it wasn't for lack of opportunities or flinging arrows. I hit shoulders, necks, trees, and even my camera arm once. It was awful and, to make matters worse, it was all on film! Between you, me, and this keyboard, I deleted some of the footage and didn't tell people what happened because I was so disgruntled and partially ashamed of myself. I also chucked my bow out of the tree once in frustration. So, yeah, it sucks! I still get "deerpression" and it's compounded by all of my family, friends, coworkers, teammates, and random people on the interwebs killing deer, and I'm over here twiddling my thumbs and wondering WTF I'm doing wrong. There are times I question both my sanity and my abilities as a hunter. The one thing that keeps me going is asking myself what I would say to one of my own kids or a young person that I was coaching in a sport if they were struggling. I certainly would not tell them to give up or hang their head in shame. I would tell them to have a positive attitude, and keep trying until they figured it out. With that all said, deer hunting is still the stupidest hobby anyone could ever think to have.
I give you a lot of credit, man. I can't imagine how I'd feel if everything I've gone through this season was on YouTube for everyone to see. When I took the shot and missed the most recent one the other day, when I decided to shoot him I knew he was at least 100+ and at least 4 on one side but had no idea how nice really he was until he spun and ran dead away and I could see his antlers were another ears' width beyond his ears, causing me to loudly yell profanities into the woods and straight punch my tree- hard. I'm nearly 50yo and I had a temper tantrum like a kid. that's the thing. I am, and not bragging just stating a fact- a very good archer. But as this year has shown, I am apparently a pretty crappy bowhunter. Agreed. And yet I'll be at it again Wednesday AM.
I read that as “camera man” the first time through. I thought “Jesus man, he even deleted the evidence” lol
Just remember to keep the mindset of "I'm going to kill this deer" when you come to full draw, and not "I better not screw this up." Personally, I like to go with "You're f***ing dead", but that's just me. It's the same thing I tell my baseball kids when I'm coaching - go in with the mindset that you're going to get a hit and not that you're afraid to strike out. So often, we mentally defeat ourselves before the battle has even begun.
I was a relief pitcher in HS. And you're right on. It's far time I adopted that same mindset. Seriously, thanks for that.
I slipped out to the food plot after work on a gut feeling. Bumped something bedded off to the side and then a one spiker and a forky came through. That forky was working the one spiker over pretty good. Didn’t see anything else. I took Wednesday off to hunt as well.
Hunted this morning for the first time all week - saw a bunch of does and fawns and caught a glimpse of one small buck. Now I'm home for a few hours to check emails and take a couple of meetings, then back at it this afternoon. I'm going to put the decoy out in a big open green field and see what happens. If nothing else, I may have some entertainment if one of these little bucks sees it. And if I get a clean shot at a big doe tonight I'm taking it.
I'm on the board. Sort of. https://forums.bowhunting.com/threa...tand-thread-2024.101909/page-318#post-1819951
I think anyone with more than a few season under their belts have had those kinds of years. It feels bad, but don't get too upset about it. Like you said, work on the fundamentals and don't worry about the deer ... they'll make more.
Dead is dead and points are points! Nicely done. I had a big doe come in last night that I could have shot, but she was pretty nervous around the decoy and never got closer than 30 yards. I told myself if she got under 25 I would do it, but that I didn't want to risk it at 30 since she was on pins and needles. Eventually she spooked before I could get the shot I wanted. Right at dark I had a nice little 2 year old come in and posture up to the decoy which was fun to watch. He was there for a good 5 minutes, walking all around, side-stepping, grunting, pawing at the ground, and pretty much doing everything except attacking the decoy. If nothing else it was cool to watch. This morning I put the decoy out again. At first light I rattled in a little 1 year old buck but he didn't like Rod (the decoy) and wouldn't get closer than 50 yards. Later in a morning a big, lone doe popped out and she was not a fan either. That's the nature of decoys! Some deer freak, others come in on a string. Hopefully I'll be back at it tomorrow morning for a few hours. My wife and I are going with a couple friends to see Sebastian Maniscalco tonight so it will probably be a late arrival back home. Not looking forward to getting up on 2 or 3 hours sleep, but that's what you do when it's the rut!
Sorry to come into your guys room but this is great advice. I know Justin will remember when I couldn’t kill anything. And it went on for a long time. It was actually Germ that told me stop thinking about everything and just kill the deer. Ever since then that’s what I’ve been doing. It really is the mindset. I don’t think I’m gonna do anything but kill the deer when I draw back. Now After the shot, every possible doubt comes into my mind but thankfully, it’s almost always a great outcome. So noodles, just kill the ******* deer like Justin says. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I guess I picked the wrong stand yesterday morning. It was between this one and the one I sat in and I chose wrong (again). Our stand is in the background - it's about a 30-yard shot to where he's standing.
Saw 3 does and 5 little bucks this morning. Does we’re moving through pretty quick so didn’t have a shot. Different stand for this evening. Saw a doe and a button (I think) on the other ridge about 5:15. At 6:06, right at the end of legal shooting time. Something got up, headed across the valley to me. I couldn’t tell if it had antlers. It, of course, went to the field, and I bumped it coming out. Sounded heavy Hunting tomorrow am. Good luck to everyone and congrats on the buck dnoodles!
That's exactly what I did- I was at full draw when the original buck went into the pine thicket and I never switched off KILL MODE when the second buck stepped out. I just saw antlers and automatically assumed it was the same buck. Arrow sent. Dead deer.
'score' posted. https://forums.bowhunting.com/posts/1820212/ not hunting until Nov 11, then it's back to MI where I will be bowhunting through the 14th, then it's rifle with the '06 from 15-17 unless I tag out first. I have shot several bucks over the years in MI from Nov 10-14 so not all is lost. I am horn hunting plus I have a doe tag up there still. Everything from me is 50 points here on out. If I don't tag out in MI then I will buy IN and IL tags and hunt late season.
I had an incredible encounter with what was probably a 130” 8 point. He came in behind me and I heard him working a scrape at 15 yards. Walked to 5 yards behind limbs, no shot. Saw me in the tree, and bounced out to 40. I drew but had limbs in the way, no shot. He walks back towards the CRP field. A doe and spike come flying out of the CRP, he watches them and turns to slowly follow. Works a scrape on my left at 25 yards, limbs in the way, no shot. Starts walking the edge to where I have another scrape at 19 yards. Stops just before the scrape and goes up behind some small trees watching the doe and spike, stops in an opening but looking like he is about to chase. I judge for 30, and sail an arrow right over his back. He probably at 23, founda the arrow in the ground at 28 yards. Should have held dead on for 25, dead buck. Right in the middle of the picture behind the small trees. Sat through almost two hours of rain without a rain jacket to blow it when a big one comes to check the scrapes right after the rain stops, 45 minutes before dark. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
