Main Discussion Area > Around the Campfire
Stoke the Fire!
Blacktail:
THIS HAPPENED LAST WEEK END....i went hunting for blacktails in an are that is mixed with pines and oaks...i was walking up a skid road when i came across some fresh deer track..so,i knew there was some deer in the area...the trouble i has was that the wind was blowing at my back side and all so blowing right into the same area the deer went to...after standing in one spot for 10Min's...i heard leaves rustling and deer running my way so i got into the ready shoot postion ...and here they come running in a panice..the doe was the first to show up but right after her was a young forked horn...in this unit of southern Oregon you can only shoot at least a fork on one side...when they came out of the timber and to the skid road they stop because i just walk past that spot and they smelled me...so,the blood was flowing big time in me and could feel my pulse in my neck...the doe picked me up and she went in the same direction she just came from..the fork stood there for awhile sniffing the area then he seen the doe was gone he left too...i circled the area to find them but they must have left the whole county...any how i walked up the skid road some more and then dropped off into a small wooded ravine and i found trails all over in the area ...i decided to just stand by a huge moss covered oak tree and just see what is happening in that spot...so,after standing there for an hour i seen a gray squirrel doing some daily travailing pass me...then all the sudden i herd what sounded like horns banging in the distance..but,i really was not sure if it was bucks fighting or if anther hunter was ratting or even if it was a woodpecker banging on a tree..then all the sudden to my other side i herd the scattering of leaves and the gray squirrel barking...MAN WHAT IS GOING ON HERE...i said to myself...i scanned the area to find out what the squirrel was doing. i couldnt see any thing happing.so, i turned back to the area of where i herd bucks fight and didn't see or here any thing...i turned back to the squirrel action..and all the sudden i seen it...it was a 20 pound bobcat that chased the squirrel up a tree..and he was walking on a log 20yards away and coming closer...when he got about 15yards away from me he seen me.but,rather than running off he was more curious of what i was...he went behind an old stump and thats when i got my yew wood bow up and ready..so,at 15yards he just stood there checking me out..thats when i slowly drew the bow back..but,when i got half way back with my draw the bow limb hit a branch above me and i didn't get my full draw i wanted and i released the arrow..the arrow went into the stump at 10yards and the cat just flinch...so,then i just flipped the bow over grabbed anther arrow and then the cat just walked out of range...i tried to do some squeaking with my mouth but he would just stop and look back then walk further out...that was fun hunt and some thing to remember for along time ....john
stickbender:
Well a long time ago......in the early seventies, when I was in college, I took up archery, since I had, and still have, a Bear Grizzly, recurve, and thought I could learn to shoot better, and use their targets. Well I actually got fairly good at. I would practice at the 25, and the 50 yd targets, till, I was consistently hitting the center mark. Well, I had planned on bow hunting, that year, but I never got around to it, but the next year, I decided I would go. Well I go to a place called Brown's Farm, out near Belle Glade. It was an old Tomato farm, and at one time a bombing range during the 2nd World War. Found an old Fifty Cal. shell there once. It was starting to crumble. Anyway, I get there nice and early, just as the sun is starting to come up. I seen a few does, but no bucks. Then as I am coming back at noon to get something to eat, and go to another area, I am saying to myself, All I want is a chance. Well I no More than said that to myself, when, I see a four point eating about twenty yds. in front of me. He is sort of quartered, and a perfect shot angle, I am so excited, I am shaking, and didn't even get an anchor point, and my arrow goes all wobbly to the front of the deer, and he jumps back, and then sees me, and says crap, :o that was meant for me, and takes off, well I knock another arrow, and bleat like a fawn, and he stops about fifty yds out, and turns broadside to me. Well I had done quite well at that range, but then I start thinking, ......how high did I aim at those targets? It was a year or more ago, So I think well I will just aim about an inch above him about an inch behind the shoulder . Well I do, and I have a good anchor point, and good stance, and I release the Arrow, and it flies perfectly straight, towards, the Deer, and perfectly one inch above the shoulder, about one inch behind the shoulder, and on into the muck past it. The Deer, says yeah, right, ::) and down shifts, and I bleated, and then grunted, and he flipped me the hoof, and was heading to Miami. Well I look for the arrow, and found it, but didn't find the first one., so I go on down the trail to my truck, and about a hundred yds or so, I see this Deer tail, just wagging, and flicking back and forth. I walk up, and see a young doe eating something, and she is just in piggy heaven. I read in the Outdoorlife mag, years before about a guy, who watched a South American Indian walk up on a deer in the open to with ten feet or so. He said the Indian explained to him, that deer, when feeding will feed for about ten seconds, and then look up and if nothing is moving towards them, or they don't wind anything, they will go back to feeding. I tried this a few years before, and was successful, on a doe, and a fawn, till the fawn saw me move. I went to another area, and jumped two six points, that a small plane had circled above and dipped their wings to let me know there was deer there. 8) But they got up and left, and I couldn't get a shot at them. But I had a great time, I got my chance, but I just was not prepared. The next year, I found my first arrow. I haven't bow hunted since then, but I am going to get back into it. And I WILL be prepared for the next chance, ;)
Wayne
Wolf Watcher:
In the early 70s I was teaching school and coaching wrestling in the little coastal town of Reedsport, Ore. We had made several bows, strings, arrows, etc. in a volunteer class. The bow I made was from materials from Bingham Archery which sold at a good price to schools. I had a tag for Eastern Oregon so I took the Wagoneer and headed for the mountains. The second day I had found some young bulls feeding on a rocky hill side about a mile across a canyon. I had already walked a good five miles from the jeep! By the time I finally made it across the canyon one of the bulls had laid down at the edge of a huge boulder. What a good opportunity for a good old Indian sneak. Took about 45 minutes for me to reach the back side of the boulder. What to do to get a shot? Dropped my quiver and took out my very best port orford cedar arrow with one of the best jasper points I had ever made. With much effort I started climbing the boulder with my bow across my back and the arrow in my teeth. Had to be slow and quiet and prayed the elk would not hear all the grunts and effort and head for the Sisters mountains. When I was almost able to break over the top of the rock I took the bow off my back and pushed it up and laid it there thinking that when I did top out it would be ready for a quick shot. Well, I still had the arrow in my teeth so it took it by the flech end and reached it toward the bow. It seemed to snag a little so I gave it a shove. I will never forget the noise and shock of the sound the bow made as the point cut the bow string! They probably heard the it all the way to Bend! There was no sound of hoofs beats of a very startled elk so I made it up the last little bit and stood up. There was the bull standing there below me looking up at about fifteen feet below! He only took a couple of seconds to decide he did not like the looks of me and headed full blast for the big timber! I did not know whether to cry or just laugh at what had just happened. With no extra string even back at the jeep that marked the end of my Eastern Oregon hunt that year! Thats when I started carring extra strings and of course have never needed one. A/Ho Pokie
Keenan:
Awesome stories. thanks everyone this makes for good coffee sipping in the morning.
John to bad you didn't get the bobcat.
Wolf Watcher: Great story, I was also a wrestler and had a jeep waganeer years ago as well. got a good chuckle out of that story. Do you get down around these parts any more.
Wolf Watcher:
Keenan: One of our daughters lives in McMinnville, but I never get out that way anymore. I taught school one year in Milton-Freewater before I went on to Reedsport. Later I worked as a pipeline welder all over Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Idaho. I grew up in Cody, Wyoming and thought I was a fairly good deer hunter until those little black tails proved me wrong. Had to learn to hunt in the rain and was constantly outsmarted by them. Have some elk hunting stories in the coastal mountains. You have to have been there to realize the difference in the hunting techniques. A/Ho Pokie
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