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in reply to: Your first trad kill… #18154

Other than an armadillo or two and various amphibians I took as a teen my most memorable came in the early 80’s. I had been out of the Army for some 12 or 14years or so and hadn’t done much hunting since I was a teenager but just before bow season opened that year the desire to hunt came over me and I just had to go. Not having a bow any longer ” the nice Ben Pearson I had as a kid disappeared while I was in the service” I borrowed a recurve from a friend and bought a few arrows. I don’t remember practicing but surely I did and one day headed to the WMA on the Pearl River above Jackson, Mississippi to hunt wild hogs. After stalking around in the woods that first day, I headed home in an old jeep when I noticed a small field on the left where someone had cut and baled some of the waist high grass and something was standing by a bale at the far end of the field. Thinking it was probably a hog, I pulled over, grabbed the bow and walked out to the middle of the field. I turned left and slowly crept forward to get a look at whatever may have been there when along come a coyote out where the grass had been cut. This was the first coyote I had ever seen but there was no doubt as to what it was so an arrow was sent and as it found its mark the dog snarled and bite at it as it passed through him. What happened next was completely unexpected . The coyote not sure what just happened thought it might be a good idea to run up in the tall grass where I was standing. Apparently he was unaware Of my presence cause he took the some path the arrow had taken at almost the same speed. In the moment it took him to close the gap, adrenaline was released in great quantities into my blood stream and just before dog ran up my breeches leg I lept into the air so high I feared the fall might injure me and screamed like a little girl. The coyote veered off to my right, ran a little way and fell dead. Descending to the earth again and finding my self unharmed despite the free fall, I found the coyote, took him home and had the hide tanned. Kept it for years but like so many other things it has wandered off. That shot had been at 27 yards as I paced it off. A few days later , now that I was a great white hunter, I bought a compound and took a hog with it at again 27 yards shooting instinctively. Arrow passed right through the heart.

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in reply to: Bow to heavy? #59171

That’s what I’m thinking. About 10 seconds and I start shaking pretty bad. That’s with a 52# @ 28″ and I’m drawing about 29″. So I’m considering dropping down to a 45# bow just to see if maybe my shooting will improve as well.

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in reply to: Bow to heavy? #59126

While it’s true you normally don’t hold full draw for long, I have had game move so as to cause me to have to hold off releasing, sometimes only for a couple of seconds sometimes longer and sometimes I’ve had to just ease the arrow down because I couldn’t hold it any longer. Which has as often as not spooked the game. But really that’s neither here nor there I was just curious as to how long most archers can hold their bows at full draw before they begin to show signs of weakening.

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