TipMOver
Active Member
- Messages
- 453
Ok boys and girls. I am as pumped as a husband can get here! We just got home from a hunt and Wifey took her first archery deer!! She asked me to leave the computer room so that she could write her own story. I just read it and I have to say that I am absolutely floored!!! Hopefully, some of you can relate with your wives or significant others! BTW....Wifey lost her wedding ring on a stalk on Friday morning. We looked for it for hours with no luck. I guess its shopping time. Enjoy the story. It's a real nice little read that you may enjoy!
Wifey writes:
My rangefinder said 59 yards. Initially I was stalking another deer. I had got within 50 yards of him when a bigger deer popped his head up. At 59 yards, he was at the top end of my comfort zone with my bow. Having stopped in the shade between two pine trees, I decided not to try to stalk any further. The deer was behind a lot of brush and offered me only head and antlers to sit and ponder. It felt like an eternity, but was probably closer to 30 minutes that I waited in the shade to take my shot. As the deer started to take a few steps right, I pulled my bow back, thinking I would get a shot?only to have to let back down when I got too shaky waiting. The deer changed his course and started left. I watched. I breathed. Finally, I got a shot. As the deer ran away, I saw that he had been hit.
Hubby and I regrouped and waited a short time before trying to locate my arrow, afraid we might bump the deer if he wasn?t quite finished. We ended up at the top of a small knoll hunkered down and waiting for the deer to pass on. As I sat on the knoll about 20 yards away from Hubby, I found myself thinking about the journey that had brought me to that moment.
I first learned that Hubby was a deer hunter over shots of tequila at age 23. At the time, I was a lapsed vegetarian, and was not pleased. I'm sure I gave him the same line I now hear from others, ?You kill bambi?? We agreed to disagree, and fell in love. I knew what I was in for when I looked in his freezer for the first time came across a whole pheasant, tail and all, waiting for the taxidermist. After the shock wore off I realized this man was different.
The following years included many cold mornings that started at 1am in the grunt line for duck hunting, and many miles walked in wet and exhausting asparagus fields looking for pheasant. Slowly, I came around, and found that I too enjoyed hunting. When Dave would go bowhunting I usually stayed in camp with the girls. Sometimes I would join him, but I never really understood what he was so excited about. After a few years of hunting big game with a rifle with minimal success, Hubby offered to buy me a bow. Thinking I was not ?good enough? at hunting with a rifle, I figured I would just practice with him but would not use it to hunt. That idea didn't last long. We applied for archery tags together the next year.
During our first bowhunt, I finally got it. Unlike rifle hunting, finding the deer is just the beginning of a bowhunt. Bowhunting is all about your ability to control your emotions and remain calm under pressure. It is trying to climb a mountain in your socks in 3? tall sagebrush and not make a sound. And the most important part is making a smart, educated shot on the animal so you harvest your buck in the most humane manner.
Back in the moment, Hubby and I had a conference. The deer was down. He wasn?t going anywhere, but was still alive. Though we could wait and he would probably pass during the night, it didn't seem right. I crept about 80 yards through the sagebrush and put another arrow in the deer at close range. Standing there alone with my deer, a flood of emotions hit me. Crying, I called Hubby on the radio and told him he was done. I cried for the deer, and for his life. I cried out of excitement, and pressure, and relief. My ?forkie? is a trophy to me. I got him with a bow and arrow, and I did it the hard way.
Wifey writes:
My rangefinder said 59 yards. Initially I was stalking another deer. I had got within 50 yards of him when a bigger deer popped his head up. At 59 yards, he was at the top end of my comfort zone with my bow. Having stopped in the shade between two pine trees, I decided not to try to stalk any further. The deer was behind a lot of brush and offered me only head and antlers to sit and ponder. It felt like an eternity, but was probably closer to 30 minutes that I waited in the shade to take my shot. As the deer started to take a few steps right, I pulled my bow back, thinking I would get a shot?only to have to let back down when I got too shaky waiting. The deer changed his course and started left. I watched. I breathed. Finally, I got a shot. As the deer ran away, I saw that he had been hit.
Hubby and I regrouped and waited a short time before trying to locate my arrow, afraid we might bump the deer if he wasn?t quite finished. We ended up at the top of a small knoll hunkered down and waiting for the deer to pass on. As I sat on the knoll about 20 yards away from Hubby, I found myself thinking about the journey that had brought me to that moment.
I first learned that Hubby was a deer hunter over shots of tequila at age 23. At the time, I was a lapsed vegetarian, and was not pleased. I'm sure I gave him the same line I now hear from others, ?You kill bambi?? We agreed to disagree, and fell in love. I knew what I was in for when I looked in his freezer for the first time came across a whole pheasant, tail and all, waiting for the taxidermist. After the shock wore off I realized this man was different.
The following years included many cold mornings that started at 1am in the grunt line for duck hunting, and many miles walked in wet and exhausting asparagus fields looking for pheasant. Slowly, I came around, and found that I too enjoyed hunting. When Dave would go bowhunting I usually stayed in camp with the girls. Sometimes I would join him, but I never really understood what he was so excited about. After a few years of hunting big game with a rifle with minimal success, Hubby offered to buy me a bow. Thinking I was not ?good enough? at hunting with a rifle, I figured I would just practice with him but would not use it to hunt. That idea didn't last long. We applied for archery tags together the next year.
During our first bowhunt, I finally got it. Unlike rifle hunting, finding the deer is just the beginning of a bowhunt. Bowhunting is all about your ability to control your emotions and remain calm under pressure. It is trying to climb a mountain in your socks in 3? tall sagebrush and not make a sound. And the most important part is making a smart, educated shot on the animal so you harvest your buck in the most humane manner.
Back in the moment, Hubby and I had a conference. The deer was down. He wasn?t going anywhere, but was still alive. Though we could wait and he would probably pass during the night, it didn't seem right. I crept about 80 yards through the sagebrush and put another arrow in the deer at close range. Standing there alone with my deer, a flood of emotions hit me. Crying, I called Hubby on the radio and told him he was done. I cried for the deer, and for his life. I cried out of excitement, and pressure, and relief. My ?forkie? is a trophy to me. I got him with a bow and arrow, and I did it the hard way.
