first miss of the bow season

TackDriver284 · Oct 29, 2016

This is from earlier in the week,,,,,Went out to the lease to bow hunt some hogs with my PSE Nitro I purchased 18 years ago, used Spitfires and Beman Matrix from that time I bought it, lol. I had a 15 year absence from bowhunting due to blurry vision in my right eye from a severe bacterial infection from a shrimp horn that stuck my right part of the eye when I pressure washed my boat, its what happens when I don't wear safety glasses. Glad I found the verifiers last year, so I was sitting in a chair 20 yards from my feeder, and out in front of me partially blocking my silhouette was a cactus patch and some low brush. Right around 6 30 pm, I hear some pig grunts and squealing heading my way, so I get ready. Once I saw them pour in the area one by one, my heart beat faster and its a great feeling seeing them personally up close. I waited till the rest of the hogs came, and to my horror a huge boar, I would say about 300 to 325 lbs was the last one in,it was a solid boar with 4 inch tusks and it gave me the stare down and my azz puckered, lol. It was about 12 yards away, and it towered over me in size compared to me while sitting. shocked It stared at me for about 45 seconds and I never budged an inch, in my mind I looked at the tiny Spitfire mechanical and it will just stick in his gristle plate without any good penetration, I was not going to shoot him anyway, but if he charged me, I'll grab my Sig .40, lol. I wanted to harvest smaller hogs for better and tastier eating, so the big boar went about its business once it was satisfied that I was not a threat or did not know what I was. So at 70 lb draw ( I tweaked it up at camp from 58 to 70 ) I slowly got up to stand and picked out a nice looking female hog to shoot at, and checked her position which was next to the close feeder leg where I range find earlier which is 18 yards, so I slowly drew the bow, damn, it was hard drawing it very slowly when there is 20 hogs about 60 feet away and you are half not obscured by any brush. So I was a bit nervous ( hey, its been 15 years since I bow hunted ) and took some extra time to get the first pin settled in the center up the leg of the hog and let her fly, as the arrow zipped off and saw the arrow fly over some brush moments after and all the hogs took off. I was dumbfounded and not sure what happened. I was sure all my 4 pins were sighted at camp out to 50 yards. I sat back down and waited to see if they would come back, about 5 mins later, a different pack of hogs came by the feeder and most of them were bigger than the first pack. One of the males made some signals and all the hogs followed him out into the brush and never came back. I got up to check my arrow and found it, it was spotless clean of blood and I am sure it never hit the hog. It got dark and went back to camp with my head down. Got there and checked the sights and it was right on.

I think one lesson I learned is,,,,it may apply to all of you,,,don't think you can handle the most poundage out of your bow if you cannot keep it steady for your shot. So I went home and went to Bass Pro the following day to buy some new arrows and Ram Cats. Had the bow checked for poundage and it was at 68 lbs, so I had it turned down to 60 and felt more comfortable and easier to keep it steady. Keep your bow to the poundage you are comfortable with at a level when you draw it and keeping it steady on the target. Also felt that the draw length was a bit short, so added a quarter inch to my draw length. ( I guess my arms grew longer during the 15 year absence of bow hunting, lol )

Soon I will go for Round 2 and hopefully get one hog home. Cheers

DrMike · Oct 29, 2016

Excellent reminder! And a very good read. Hunting any game, but especially game with tusks (or teeth and claws) is an adrenaline rush when up close and personal. You'll be prepared on the next go round. Looking forward to the next hunt!

sask boy · Oct 29, 2016

I am quite sure that after those few minor adjustments you will have a very successful second go at those hogs :wink:.
I looking forward to you next adventure with photos I hope :mrgreen:.
Remember have Fun, shoot Straight and most of all be Safe

.

Blessings,
Dan

Anonymous · Oct 29, 2016

I think turning down the bow is a good move... I'm new to the whole archery game and a guy who's been mentoring me told me that if you can't draw it straight back while sitting in a chair- it's too heavy.

Blkram · Oct 29, 2016

Tack driver,

The following is in no way a post meant to criticize you, but is a post providing a general realization made during setting up over a 1000 new archers with compound and traditional archery equipment. Happy to see that you are feeling better with your bow at its new setting.

Most guys are amped when in the store and trying a bow for the first time, and are able to draw a bow back (if allowed) in front of the sales person and/or friends that own 70# bows; only to find when they get home and are practicing that they can not draw it back easily while keeping their arrow on the target. Then you add the excitement of trying to draw on an animal, from some type of field position, wearing heavier clothes than a T-shirt, and it gets even more difficult! As suggested by your mentor, if you cannot draw from a sitting position easily while keeping your arrow on the target, than you are over-bowed. I have had guys want practice at 60 or 65# and then crank it up to 70# for hunting. Most cannot handle a 5# increase in hunting situations, and do not take enough time to practice at the new weight before hunting. And they usually do not take enough time to ensure their pins are properly sighted in for the new poundage. A 2# increase is better handled by 95% of the people at one time. And in some cases a 5 to 10# increase in draw weight will also require a heavier spines arrow that will change pin settings as well. Changes such as this just prior to a hunt are not a good thing and should actually be performed weeks before the hunt so that you can tune your bow and your muscles to the new settings.

There's a reason why a 50# draw weight with an arrow weighing 7 grains of arrow weight/lb of draw weight and a 7/8" broad head is the legal minimum for big game up to and including bison. It will kill quickly and cleanly. Anything more will flatten arrow trajectory, which is mitigating to range estimation error, and provide more kinetic energy for penetration. Which means that 70# draw is not necessary. Women and kids make clean harvests with less draw and arrow weight everyday, even on boars and bison, some of our toughest game!

TackDriver284 · Oct 29, 2016

Blkram, I know you are not here to criticize anyone, but your response is truly correct, I made sure I got the correct poundage checked, correct spine for my new arrows and all is set up correctly. I am pretty sure I was over bowed because I tried to draw my bow when I was sitting down at the deer lease and it was pretty hard and I put a lot of effort to pull it back. I just need to do some practice at home after being absent from bow hunting for 15 years. Of course you get the adrenaline once you see an animal you are ready to shoot at, but need to be calm and relaxed to take the shot with a clear mind of the exact range and what pin to use. You are correct about being able to sit in a chair and draw with ease. I got some valuable tips and advice from the Bass Pro Shop technician and from guys on the forums, especially you. I just purchased the Blackout XL Pro 400 with 2 inch vanes and its 8 grains per inch, I checked the weight on my FX 120 scale and its 275 grains without the broad head. I tried them today in the back yard and it shoots flatter and a lot faster than the heavier arrows with the longer vanes ( had more drag) Thank you for your advice. I look forward to the hunts soon and I'll keep you guys posted. I'll have the Hero 5 setup as well. Cheers.