A swing and a miss!
Dang, this bowhunting is hard!
I think I’ve whined that before, but I was reminded again this weekend at the Golden Ram’s Hedgepeth Ranch.
First of all, just finding a deer was a challenge over the weekend. The small handful I saw were does and youngsters, nary a buck in the mix (not even a spike). With all the youngsters in the mix, though, I knew there must be some bucks around. They just wouldn’t show themselves for me. That may be due, in part, to the huge moon that’s waxing right now.
What the place was lacking in legal deer, though, it more than made up in hogs! Hogs to the left of me, hogs to the right, rooted and plundered (apologies Lord Tennyson).
I had the first close encounter early on Sunday morning, as a big old sow came trotting across the meadow right to me. She stopped on the edge of a ravine, broadside, and I guesstimated the distance at 40 yards. Unfortunately, she only stopped long enough for me to guesstimate the range before she dropped into the ravine and headed even closer. I moved up, and waited with the bow up and ready for her to appear.
She didn’t appear. Then I heard rustling almost directly under my feet. She’d turned in the brush, and was now less than 10 feet away. I eased around to ready for a shot just as she came clear of the brambles… eye-to-eye. Pigs have rocket assisted take-off. You might have never known that, but this girl demonstrated a turn and burn that would’ve made a fighter pilot proud.
I was already at full draw, and instead of letting off, I touched the release to watch my arrow skip off the hard pan and disappear into a thicket. Crap! That’s sixteen dollars I’ll never see again! The same can be said for the pig as well, as she dove over the ridge and into the thick woods. I could still hear her running two or three hundred yards away.
That was exciting!
After a failed stalk, I made my way back to camp. I’d taken my friend’s 15 year-old son, Payton, out for his first hunt (he was observing), and they had to head back early. I got him and his mom on the road, took a little breather, and headed back to a new spot I’d just been shown. Major thanks to “Mike”, for the generosity… sharing a great little honey-hole with me. I never saw the big buck he’d been trying to arrow, but the hogs gave me quite a show.
About an hour after I settled down, I heard rustling coming from the manzanita below me. Then I heard a droning kind of grunt… not loud like a feeding hog, but just kind of moaning. Weird! I peeked around the tree I was set up under, and spotted movement low to the ground. A group of about eight tiny pigs were rooting around at the edge of the trail. I readied my bow, hoping that they’d be accompanied by a larger generation of siblings or cousins, or something… but the little crew fed across in front of me (often at less than five yards), and moved away up the hill.
After fifteen minutes of waiting for adults, I realized they’d apparently been orphaned. They were still tiny, but seemed completely able to fend for themselves. I briefly thought of the juvenile golden eagle I’d seen hunting earlier, and figured at least one of those guys wouldn’t make it through the evening. Fortunately for them, the raptor had moved on to another area.
I listened to the little hogs ravaging the underbrush for an hour or two, before things finally settled down again. I spotted hogs across the canyon, and watched some deer, but things were quiet until about an hour before dark. I was glassing the far ridges, and when I lowered the binos, I caught a black shape at the edge of the manzanita. A 120-pound hog was standing there looking at me, about 18 yards away. I froze. He froze. I waited. He waited.
Finally, he lowered his head and I was able to raise the bow. I leaned behind the tree and came to full draw, then leaned back out to settle the 20 yard pin just behind his shoulder. A chip shot… this was one dead pig walking.
I eased the release, and the arrow sprung out toward the hog. Straight as an arrow… or not! Just about halfway to the target, I heard a barely audible “snap”, and the arrow dove hard to the left and passed just behind the hog’s butt! He looked at me briefly as if to say, “well I gave you a chance,” and then he spun and bailed over the hill and back into the manzanita and poison oak.
Disappointment and frustration tried to shake me down, but I fought it off. I walked out to see where he’d been standing, and it was only when I looked back at my spot that I saw the manzanita bush sticking up a lone branch, like a desperate center-fielder reaching for a home run ball. The top two inches of the branch were leaning, clipped nearly in half by a razor-sharp broadhead. I went down to look for the arrow, but it had gone into a dense patch of poison oak. Another $16 bucks gone!
It looks like my archery jinx is still holding tight.
That wrapped up the A-zone archery season. I may try to get out for B zone archery, but August is looking kind of busy this year. May have to find my deer with the rifle this year.
I’m hoping to get back out after hogs with the bow as well. I’ve got some redemption to get.
In the meantime, there’s no joy in Mudville tonight… the not-so-mighty Casey has struck out.
(Hopefully I’ve got some good video of the weekend… I’ll try to get that online ASAP)
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August 3rd, 2009 at 5:46 am
Bummer! But lots of cool close encounters, at least…
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:43 am
Ah, bowhunting can sure be tough. You’ll get ‘em next time, Phillip. I can’t wait to see the pictures of a nice hog you whack with the bow.
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:20 am
Oh, no! But, what a story, eh? I know you can’t eat stories, but neither does man live on bread alone… one day, I might come up with my own stuff.
There’s no law against hunting the general season with a bow. I know, I know, I won’t, either.
What a great time!
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:33 am
Tough is an understatement… but I guess that’s why I do it. If I’d been rifle hunting this weekend, I’d have been done in the first half hour.
Josh, I’ve done the bow during rifle season thing, and while it’s certainly possible if you have the right place to get away, it’s crazy if there’s significant hunting pressure. Last year at Hedgepeth, for example, even the does and yearlings were so skittish they’d jet across any clearing that was more than 50 yards wide… just not taking any chances. Getting in range with the bow was an exercise in pure frustration.
So, Holly… when you gonna get your bow?
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Your first statement is the same conclusion I’ve came to. But memories are good too – they just don’t fill the belly on a cold winter day, but they’ll do! I’m hoping to get the archery monkey off my back this fall.
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
When am I gonna get my bow? Well, the news that one freelance client doesn’t have money to pay what he said he’d pay me puts a little damper in that. Grrrr.
But soon. I actually bought a Bowfit so I could start working the right muscles and maybe not have to start with a totally girlie draw weight.
I anticipate a LOT of practice before I hunt with a bow. But I must admit I like the idea of deer hunting during my peak vacation time, since much of fall hunting is impractical for me because of my limited ability to take time off.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Tom, fortunately I’ve already got a freezer full of pork, and you don’t have to field dress and pack out a story, so maybe missing that hog was a mixed blessing. I’d truly love to break this archery jinx, though.
Holly, it doesn’t surprise me a bit that you’re going at this with forethought and planning. I have no doubt that when you do get a bow and hit the field, you’ll probably get that first kill (and recovery) before I do.
A lot of practice is absolutely imperative, by the way. It’s not like using a gun, and a marginal hit…especially on a hog… will very often mean no recovery. I know you don’t want that (none of us does).
One of the things that I’m going to start working harder on is shooting more quickly. I’m accurate as hell if I have all day to level the bow and get a good bead… but shooting at stationary targets has made me a little slow. I could have killed that first hog if I hadn’t been over-thinking the whole setup.
Anyway… bowhunting is an absolute kick.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Interestingly enough (or maybe not), I did my best shooting at Team Huntress in June when I just let go and went with my instincts – including hitting moving targets.
Not that I think that qualifies me to shoot at any animals yet – it was always a surprise when I hit something – but it was an important reminder not to over think. And you know how I like my targets to hold still and give me lots of time to think…
August 4th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Oh, the trials and tribulations of bowunting.
I myself am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a hickory longbow and handful of turkey feather fletched wood arrows for this fall’s deer season. I would like to baptize them on hogs. We shall see.
Best regards,
ALbert
Fallow Deer: Hints and Tips
August 4th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Albert, you and me are kindred spirits. I took my first (and only) deer with a recurve and cedar arrows, three years ago.
Holly, you sound like you are more comfortable with your instincts, which is awesome. I have to say, of the women I’ve seen shoot, their instincts were better than the men at archery. Now, when are we going to go out and shoot some hay bales?!? I’m itchin’ to have another archery partner. I’ve also got a 30 lb. practice bow, which is probably around your bowfit wt.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I’m pretty sure I can do way better than 30 pounds right now. I’m gonna keep up the workouts for a couple weeks and then run to Sportsman’s Warehouse (if they’re still in business) and test out some bows.
I’ve got an enormous field behind my house I can use for practice. Nice thing about the crappy economy – it stopped that high-density housing project cold. Neener neener.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:28 am
My recurves are in semi-retirement, and they’ll stay there until I find myself in a place (physically and geographically) where I can shoot as much as I need to achieve real consistency. I am not happy at all about my performance with the trad bow on game. I know it’s the archer, not the bow, but for my tastes, I need to be a lot more sure of where every arrow is going to go before I sling another one at a living creature.
I have that confidence with the compound, although as we can see, chance still rears its ugly head.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
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August 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Wow, an illiterate spammer. Awesome.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:47 am