Lesson Learnt

[Antarcher]

Went to a new property yesterday afternoon and had mixed results. A lesson was learnt that I will not repeat again though. I am currently in the process of getting a new bow together and did not have one to shoot as my old faithful switchback has now been passed on to new starter.

At the farmers urgent request, I was asked to pelase come and ease him of his deer problem. I'd been chasing this place for a while with a bit um and arring from the farmer, but a doe as a hood ornament on his shiny new and very expensive BMW meant that the deer must now go and I am more than happy to oblige.

So no bow and not wanting to pass up the chance to secure the place, I grabbed Pego's bow at the last minute and headed out there. His bow is 29.5 inch draw and mine was 30, so I thought what is half an inch. Anyway I had no time to practice and went straight on a stalk on a young deer feeding in the creek about 500m from the house.

I stalked in as they watched on and got in to 27m. I waited till it was broadside and drew back. Instinctively coming to my anchor, I placed the pin on its chest and let fly only to see the arrow hit the ground, a whole 5m short of the deer. I felt a rush of embarrassment as I knew they were watching and then cursed myself for doing such a foolish thing.

I had a stump shot and found that at my anchor, on Peg's bow, I was looking a good 1 and a half inches above the peep, hence the shot dropping short. With my own bow I know that at full draw, if I am seeing pins, then this means I am looking through my peep. On Peg's bow I just assumed the same as these small details can easily be overlooked and do not come to mind when in a pressure situation of taking a deer.

I soon redeemed myself by spotting, stalking and taking out a fox at 15m and then hitting a cony, so all was not lost and a new beaut property has been secured.

So it was definitely a lesson learnt that whatever bow you pick up, you better practice with it first and also ensure that it is within your specs for shooting. The new bow will be blooded soon hopefully.

[spiderbait24]

thanks for the advice mate!

[woodstoka]

hey ant well done on the new property did u get a pic of the fox or deer
and wat bow are u getting
jesse

[howie]

On a positive note, a good lesson learned for the future, lucky it wasn't a 32 inch thumping stag!! Also, good info to pass onto other hunters who may make the same mistake, an information sharing experience. A fox and cony make the afternoon very rewarding. Well done champ.......

[Paul R]

:P

Could of been worse mate, after your embarassing display on the deer the owners could have thought you were absolutely useless and not let you back again.:D

[jason]

could have been a lot worse you could have gut shot the deer :mad:
stupid mistake from someone that should know better.. sorry to say and i am sorry for being so harsh but it has to be said..

[Antarcher]

Sorry Jess, no pics this time as I didn't take my camera with me. I thought not much would be happening being the first time on there.

I actually was thinking exactly what you said Paul in that they may give me the flick as I couldn't shoot for crap. The fox and cony redeemed me somewhat.

After much fussing, I decided to go with a new Diamond Black Ice. It is a very smooth and quiet bow and well put together. It is loaded up with a Trophy Taker Shakey hunter rest, a Sword twilight hunter 6 pin sight, a Diamond crazy thing stabiliser, a two piece Bowtech air quiver is on the way (currently has a one piece soft loc on it), an STS string stopper and a G5 1/4 inch meta peep. Got it all from Gecko and am waiting on a 30 inch module for it which should be here tomorrow.

Will do a bit of a review on it once I get it set to my draw length and sighted in. So far it feels great in the hand and I can't wait to get out and knock something over with it. Here is a pic as it is right now.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/antarcher/P1030092.jpg

[Antarcher]

No offence taken Jas and you are spot on. This is why I put it up, as I made an poor error in judgement that I should not have. Hopefully some of the younger folk will read this and realise that it is not a good idea to get out hunting with a poorly set up bow or one they are not familiar with.

[jason]

well said ant and have to agree the black ice is probably the best bow i have owned and i have had a few.. bang for buck or lack of bang i should say nothing else competes

[fallowhunter]

congratulations on the fox and cony.........but I have a slight quiry. The farmer urgently requested you to ease his deer problem but I dont think bowhunting would urgently ease the problem or for that matter ease it for some time. Do you think the farmer, who ummed and arrred to let you on in the first place, would get annoyed after a while and get someone else to do the job quicker. Just curious as to what a farmer would expect from bowhunters, do they see us as a means for culling.

Cheers Steve

[Antarcher]

The farmers wife hates firearms and that is why I was finally allowed on with the bow. The deer at the moment are hanging tight around the house and being a nuisance to the gardens and stuff. I have been on properties like this before and found that once you knock a couple over near the house, the deer smarten up pretty quick and tend to stay out further. I will be going there often enough also to chase them and this alone is a deterrent to deer, as they do not like hanging in places where they are harassed.

They also did not mind the deer before they started doing damage and they don't they expect me to wipe them out.They mainly want them away from the house, but I will be able hunt them in the hills behind the house, where they normally always were, once they retreat back. These rusa know people very well and knew that being near the house was a safe haven as they did not get hunted there. Things are about to change though as Pete and I have both been granted permission to hunt there whenever we want.