First instinctive bow buck!

[Wlog]

On Friday night I posted to the live from the field thread that I’d made a bad shot on a buck. Well it didn’t take long to find him Saturday morning. He was maybe 150 yards from where I shot him. The shot turned out to be not quite as bad as I thought. Arrow entered right at the back of the rib cage. I could tell he had been dead for a while when I found him.

A little back story...
When I started out shooting a bow as a kid, I shot my little compound with no sights instinctive, I shot it really well but as I got older and started hunting around the age of fifteen, I put a sight on my bow. My dad shot a recurve and traditional bows always intrigued me. When I was in my early 20’s I bought myself a recurve and went back to shooting instinctive. I stuck with it for a while but I was never really happy with the lack of consistency in my shooting so I continued to hunt with the compound.

Eventually I gave up on the idea of hunting with a trad bow. Every year I would play around with the recurve, plan to stick it out and hunt with it but go back to the compound because I had more confidence with it.

On my last go around with the recurve, a year or so ago, I was getting really psyched because I was shooting great. I was feeling confident and was planning on hunting with it. I stepped down in weight because years of being and electrician and playing baseball has evidently wreaked havoc on my right shoulder and elbow. I had terrible tendinitis that I couldn’t shake. I kept trying to rest from shooting, treat the elbow until it felt better than, I’d pick up the bow, shoot and start the cycle all over again. As anyone who shoots trad knows, you need to shoot a lot to be proficient. I just couldn’t do it without aching in my elbow to the point that my fingers would start going numb. Shooting the compound with a release didn’t bother the elbow at all because having a strap around my wrist put all the draw weight on my back muscles where it should be.

So jumping ahead, this past spring while one of my compounds was in the archery shop getting repairs, I picked up an older Matthews I had and started basically just playing around and shooting it with my fingers and no sights. To my surprise I was able to shoot it great that way. It was awesome. I guess because of the let off it kept my elbow from hurting and it was a ton of fun shooting with no sights. It took me right back to when I was a kid shooting that little compound with no sights. I was enjoying it so much that when I got my other compound back out of the shop, it just hung on the rack and I kept shooting the old Matthews.

I started watching some videos of guys shooting Oneida bows instinctive and I really liked the idea of kind of like a hybrid between a compound and a recurve so I ordered one this spring. I shot all summer and I’ve gotten pretty good with it. Since bow season opened I’ve been waiting to get a nice and close shot with it. Friday night I got my chance. The buck came in, had no idea I was there and gave me a nice broadside shot inside 10 yards.

The buck was walking, he got behind a clump of trees, I drew back, hit my anchor and as he came into the opening I took the shot. I took the walking shot rather than stopping the deer and that may have been my main mistake. I drill that shot on a 3D target sitting still every time but a moving target, I have to admit, I don’t practice that. As soon as I watched the arrow go through him I immediately knew it was a guy shot. He had no idea what happened, he bounded over about 20 yards and stopped, I went to nock another arrow and get another shot off but he caught me moving and took off.

I immediately started beating myself up for the shot. Second guessing myself for not having a sight on my bow. That went on for a half an hour or so. Then I had to tell myself STOP IT! Having a sight on the bow doesn’t make it full proof. I’ve made bad shots with sights too. I couldn’t let myself forget that I’d already convinced myself that I was proficient enough to hunt this way with a full summer of great shooting. Sometimes when a live deer gets in front of you and your adrenaline is pumping, stuff happens. Don’t beat yourself up too bad.

I left as quiet as I could and knew I had to leave overnight with that shot. I wasn’t that far from the property border and definitely didn’t want to push a guy shot deer. When I went back yesterday it had rained all night and there was no sign to go off of. I prayed to God to help me find him quickly so I could salvage the meat. I found him bedded down in a tall weed field up on a little rise watching his back trail. I have to say, after years of being on this forum and looking at the way bucks bed, it’s a real help for finding wounded bucks when you know they didn’t die right away. I was able to look at the lay of the land and cover and make an assumption of where he may likely be. I was surprised because I found him in about 10-15 minutes.

Thanks for reading! Got my first of hopefully many more instinctive bow kills. I apologize for the pictures, I just snapped a couple quick ones then got to work on gutting and dragging so he wouldn’t spoil.

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[Eddiegomes83]

Very nice...i would love to learn and shoot like that.

[greenhorndave]

Congrats!!

That’s really cool. Pure.

Nice job!

[john1984]

Congratulations

[Ghost Hunter]

Good read. Helps to know your area. Congrats.

[muddy]

Congrats. Those Oneidas are fun bows. Hard to believe how long they've stood the test of archery time.

[oldrank]

Nice buck !!!! Congrats !!

[Horizontal Hunter]

Very nice.

It takes a lot of practice to be come proficient with instinctive shooting. Well done.

Bob

[Jackson Marsh]

Congrats wlog! Very happy you found him

[wolverinebuckman]

Congrats man!

[Dewey]

Congrats

[Grizzlyadam]

Way to go, glad you found him!

[Hawthorne]

Congrats! Great accomplishment

[backstraps]

Congratulations Wes!! Glad you recovered him Very nice

[A5BLASTER]

Congrats on the buck sir.

I just started looking at thos onidea bows myself, thinking of picking up a phoenix after the season and see how I like it.