Don't know if this is the right place as I'm a newbie in this forum. But I've been shooting a bow since 1979 off and on - my first bow was a Bear Whitetail Hunter ... it's still sitting in the shed and I still take it out and put on the glove and shoot it a bit. In 2009 I bought a leftover 2008 Limbsaver DZ32, 70# at 29" draw length. I found it to be a fairly comfortable bow to shoot and a quantum leap from the old Bear (duh). In 2012 I had surgery on my left shoulder and have rehabbed it well ... it's probably stronger now than before the injury, but my stamina is not as good.
I can still shoot nice tight groups on a target, but they start to spread out after 8 or 10 shots. While I was getting ready for this deer season (my first in Texas) I tried to build up to shooting a couple dozen arrows daily ... same trend continued. Accurate for the first few shots then things started to open up. I reduced the draw weight to about 60 lbs ... but still observed that once I got up to that 8th, 10th or maybe 12th shot, I would start to pull my shots low and left (I'm a right hander). I even managed to completely miss the bag target - putting the arrow in the dirt to the left a number of times toward the end of shooting sessions.
Not too big a deal I thought, I'm not going to be slinging 8 to 12 arrows at a deer ... well, true ... and not so true I found.
First deer of the year went according to plan. Nerves were definitely there, but I drew and took the shot ... hit a bit high and caught the spine on what I thought was a doe ... it dropped in its tracks and was dead before I got out of the stand ... whoops took down a nubbin' buck. Oh well, there's plenty of them out there and this one was in the freezer.
Here's where it gets interesting ... a few days later a really nice heavy, mature, 8-pointer walked out and stood broadside to me at 25 yards. I drew ... and the Velcro on my glove got stuck to my face mask. Only thing I could do was draw through it ... it popped free with a very slight Velcro rip sound. The deer startled slightly ... but didn't go anywhere ... just turned a bit so I no longer had a good shot. He quickly continued browsing in front of me and moving around ... so I held the draw for probably 30 seconds or so, waiting for him to return to broadside.
He took his time and wasn't going anywhere, but I couldn't hold the draw any longer and had to let down. Surprisingly, I managed to do so without spooking him any further. A couple minutes later the deer was again standing broadside to me facing my left. I drew and placed my first pin about 1/3 of the way up his chest in line with his heart and let the arrow go. It flew low and left, going through his upper leg and hitting the dirt about 10 feet behind him. I searched for him for hours ... never finding a drop of blood. He has been seen alive and well, with a slight limp.
Similar thing happened yesterday. I had a spike that I drew on who just happened to turn away from me causing me to have to hold the draw ... and then let it down. He returned to browsing and came broadside facing my right ... he wasn't as fortunate as the big 8. I let that arrow go and I pulled the shot catching him probably just behind the diaphragm. The broadhead (original Rage) went through him and he ran off with the arrow sticking out both sides of his body. Again, I searched for hours ... even got a friend with a young bloodhound to come help. We found the arrow on the ground about 250 yards from where he was shot, and a little bit of blood in that area ... then nothing.
Anyway, I'm crushed at how these hunts turned out and I'm going to retire the Limbsaver. I'm not planning on taking any 50 yard shots and money is an issue, so all the top of the line bows need not apply. A 50# bow is plenty to take out a whitetail at 25 or 30 yards (heck, 40# would do the job) so it can have a significantly lower draw weight than what I'm shooting now and I'd prefer as high a let off as possible (the DZ has 80%). At this point in the season I'm ready to hang up the bow and get out the rifles, so waiting for end of the model year clearance sales is also appealing.
Since I started my archery career shooting fingers with an anchor point with the tip of my index finger at the corner of my mouth I developed a shooting style where I like the string to go to that same anchor point. Guys at archery shops tell me I ought to be shooting a 31" draw length based on my wing span. I don't know if that would require a significant change in form, or if that might even help my shooting stamina?
Thoughts? What should I look at? I don't really want to go to a crossbow, but that might be an option if going to a lower draw weight/higher let off bow can't solve my problem of pulling/dropping shots after several shots or an extended hold at full draw.
I can still shoot nice tight groups on a target, but they start to spread out after 8 or 10 shots. While I was getting ready for this deer season (my first in Texas) I tried to build up to shooting a couple dozen arrows daily ... same trend continued. Accurate for the first few shots then things started to open up. I reduced the draw weight to about 60 lbs ... but still observed that once I got up to that 8th, 10th or maybe 12th shot, I would start to pull my shots low and left (I'm a right hander). I even managed to completely miss the bag target - putting the arrow in the dirt to the left a number of times toward the end of shooting sessions.
Not too big a deal I thought, I'm not going to be slinging 8 to 12 arrows at a deer ... well, true ... and not so true I found.
First deer of the year went according to plan. Nerves were definitely there, but I drew and took the shot ... hit a bit high and caught the spine on what I thought was a doe ... it dropped in its tracks and was dead before I got out of the stand ... whoops took down a nubbin' buck. Oh well, there's plenty of them out there and this one was in the freezer.
Here's where it gets interesting ... a few days later a really nice heavy, mature, 8-pointer walked out and stood broadside to me at 25 yards. I drew ... and the Velcro on my glove got stuck to my face mask. Only thing I could do was draw through it ... it popped free with a very slight Velcro rip sound. The deer startled slightly ... but didn't go anywhere ... just turned a bit so I no longer had a good shot. He quickly continued browsing in front of me and moving around ... so I held the draw for probably 30 seconds or so, waiting for him to return to broadside.
He took his time and wasn't going anywhere, but I couldn't hold the draw any longer and had to let down. Surprisingly, I managed to do so without spooking him any further. A couple minutes later the deer was again standing broadside to me facing my left. I drew and placed my first pin about 1/3 of the way up his chest in line with his heart and let the arrow go. It flew low and left, going through his upper leg and hitting the dirt about 10 feet behind him. I searched for him for hours ... never finding a drop of blood. He has been seen alive and well, with a slight limp.
Similar thing happened yesterday. I had a spike that I drew on who just happened to turn away from me causing me to have to hold the draw ... and then let it down. He returned to browsing and came broadside facing my right ... he wasn't as fortunate as the big 8. I let that arrow go and I pulled the shot catching him probably just behind the diaphragm. The broadhead (original Rage) went through him and he ran off with the arrow sticking out both sides of his body. Again, I searched for hours ... even got a friend with a young bloodhound to come help. We found the arrow on the ground about 250 yards from where he was shot, and a little bit of blood in that area ... then nothing.
Anyway, I'm crushed at how these hunts turned out and I'm going to retire the Limbsaver. I'm not planning on taking any 50 yard shots and money is an issue, so all the top of the line bows need not apply. A 50# bow is plenty to take out a whitetail at 25 or 30 yards (heck, 40# would do the job) so it can have a significantly lower draw weight than what I'm shooting now and I'd prefer as high a let off as possible (the DZ has 80%). At this point in the season I'm ready to hang up the bow and get out the rifles, so waiting for end of the model year clearance sales is also appealing.
Since I started my archery career shooting fingers with an anchor point with the tip of my index finger at the corner of my mouth I developed a shooting style where I like the string to go to that same anchor point. Guys at archery shops tell me I ought to be shooting a 31" draw length based on my wing span. I don't know if that would require a significant change in form, or if that might even help my shooting stamina?
Thoughts? What should I look at? I don't really want to go to a crossbow, but that might be an option if going to a lower draw weight/higher let off bow can't solve my problem of pulling/dropping shots after several shots or an extended hold at full draw.
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