Author Topic: I feel conflicted...really really happy, but conflicted. Long read...pic heavy.  (Read 6081 times)

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Offline TimBo

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So far all of my deer harvests have been with a rifle.  I like to think that once I get one with a bow, I won't go back...but it is awfully nice to have some venison in the freezer.  Whatever the weapon, you definitely put in the work to put you in the right position.  (And you're right - the photos do look a lot bigger!  But it's still a great buck.)

Offline StickMark

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Interesting topic. You were hunting, and your plan worked. Hunting is ultimately about attempting to lay your hands on the animal. Successful harvest.
Lots of food for thought in your post.

Crawling. Yes, it can get you into the "close range", but too close and its hard to go from the crawling to shooting position, just like you said. Back tension is much easier standing up. Crawling up and transitioning to the shot is something I need to really work on.


Prior years of 2019 and 2020, I did not connect in Jan or velvet season, but I did with a rifle, two bucks in a wilderness valley, good shots, 130 or so with open sights, and 102 yds with a scope. The last deer lay dead on the ground twenty yards from where I did not release on a big couse whitetail in 2012, because I was not fully confident in my first made selfbow.

This year is dedicated to the bow. I thought briefly on giving it a weekend with the bow, and then taking a few days off, bringing the 30.06. However, I am yearning for the bow harvest, and that decision is one only stickbow hunters understand.

Ortega Y Gasset wrote about hunters, in Meditations on Hunting, a book based on his eulogy for a Portuguese wealthy man who big game hunted. Gasset said that no matter the prey or the method of chase, a man who spends his leisure time in pursuit is a hunter.

Your post, regardless about the method of harvest, is definitely about hunting. Thanks for taking the time to write it up, and good luck with the stickbow.


Offline swellcat

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Quote
Your post, regardless about the method of harvest, is definitely about hunting. Thanks for taking the time to write it up, and good luck with the stickbow.
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Nice assessment, and agreed.

Offline George D. Stout

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Mom would have said, 'don't be crying over spilled  milk".   You can't change anything you have already done, so why fret about it.  If you feel like you cheated yourself, that's just a burden you have to deal with but sure not worth spending a lot of time pining over.   Today is a new day, and your decisions will mark what you feel like later so pay attention to them.  I don't regret any deer I've taken with bow, rifle, compound, recurve or longbow.  Those are things in the past that I did because I wanted to do them at the time.  Who knows what I'll do tomorrow....maybe take the over and under pheasant hunting.  :)   
On still he goes with back berond of cedar shafts with feather frond;
for him the great success you see, is not to get, but just to be,
amidst the oak and the hickory tree.