I have noticed this year that there are a lot of folks who are going to be hunting with trad equipment for the very first time come October. I think that is freaking awesome!!!!
I am by no means an expert when it comes to hunting with trad gear. I feel like I have only learned like 2% of what there is to learn. The majority of what I have learned, I have learned from the guys and gals on the trad forum and usually after making what I would consider "rookie" mistakes. Some things of course just have to be learned in the field... you have to see it, feel it, and watch yourself screw up before you can believe it.
I'm hoping this thread can kick start a few words of wisdom about HUNTING with trad gear... or advice that can help the incoming crop of rookie trad hunters. We spend alot of the offseason talking about form, tuning, 3D shoots, spinkled with a little bit of hunting advise... but lets talk about what it is like HUNTING with a trad bow. I can predict that some of the experts on here will be humble and say they are still learning themselves... but I tell you, it is worth listening as they have likely put more time in a stand with a stickbow than most of us have been driving a car.
I'll kick it off with a couple of things I learned right off the bat:
1) Deer duck and duck quickly... so it is advisable to learn how to aim low on them. I watched last year as my arrow was headed towards the "12" ring on a deer 15 yards away... only to watch her duck so hard that it just clipped her back. I had to see it to believe it. I had seen deer spin and such shooting with a compound... but my vanes had seemed to reach their target in time... Not so much with my recurve. I went out and had to buy a 3D deer target after that and learn how to aim and shoot for the arm pit... or at least where the leg meets the brisket. It wasn't until after I posted about my experience did I find out that some folks on here literally aim down the leg below the body!!!
2) 10 yards is CLOSE!!! I mean it is CLOSE! Okay, it isn't really that close, but boy does it feel CLOSE!!! I am a big fan of hand corning. I know that some folks don't dig the whole baiting thing... but if you hunt a feeder with existing sets... hand corning is going to be your friend in order to get those deer in CLOSE! I don't leave camp on my way out to a stand unless I got a small bag (ziplock or a small ditty bag) of corn with me to spread out about 10-15 yards in front of where I am sitting. Oh, and I remember looking at my son with a "WTH!" when he reached his hand into a bucket of corn to throw out. "You said it was HAND corn dad!!!" Well yes son... but you don't put your man smelling hands on the corn... it is figurative speech... Don't touch the corn Now I have seen Chunky throw out some corn in front of my stand once and had exotic does hanging out for nearly an hour 7 yards from me... while I don't think he was wearing gloves... I just assume not take the chance.
3) If you are a range finder hunter like me (I have depth perception issues) then it is a good idea to just use that thing to range your ring of death. Find spots on the ground that mark off your 15 yard circle (maybe longer or shorter) and then tuck that thing away. This allows you to not have to pick that thing up anytime something walks in.
4) Which brings me to my next point... shooting of out of a blind really can screw with your depth perception (even if you don't have any...) Small windows... only seeing parts of the landscape make animals look closer than they really are. Practice these if you can... but if you can't, bring a range finder, or take a hard look at the your setup from a different angle to see what those distances really look like. I will drop hand corn at 12 yards, sit down and think WHOA that has got to be like 12 feet away! No... it isn't... The reason I bring this up is because when folks go trad, they often times think that they don't need the range finder. Well you don't, but you need to mind your ranges no matter how you "find" them.
5) I should have said it the first... but WIND WIND WIND WIND... this is true for any hunting... just like most of the stuff up top but if you are going from compound bow hunting to trad hunting, you are cutting your distance in half or even more (depending on what kinds of shots you took with your compound.) I really really really like those chalk puff things... They really help you see where your scent is drifting off to.
6) Clearance and movement. You are carrying a bigger stick than you used to most likely. Swinging your bow around can get you busted pretty quick. In a ground blind, when I see deer coming in, I like to shift my bow from my lap, or off a hanging hook and rest my bottom limb on the ground and hold my bow out so that all I need to do when I am ready to take a shot is slowly lift my bow up and draw. Since I tend to draw up the leg, by the time I reach anchor, my bow hasn't had to move much at all. I don't know how the folks who shoot canted do it, but work out how you will sit for a couple of hours and get your bow into position to shoot without it looking like you are waving a flag around! CLEARANCE may be a problem now that you have doubled your limb length. Just be aware of it. A lot of my "need to build tall cattle panel" blind stuff came from the fact that a lot of our permanent box blinds didn't take into account that I'd need a roof just a tad higher than 6'
7) Have fun... have lots of fun! Enjoy the fact that you are hunting with trad equipment. Don't be afraid to fail. It can be really easy to get caught up in the pressure of the task... but just think about what it is you are doing and that not a lot of folks would dare to trade in a rifle... or their rest, peeps, and pins for just a stick and string. The more relaxed you are about it, the more confident you will be, and the more likely things will go your way. I'm not saying be overconfident. Definitely know your limits... but many others have gone before you and they have proven that it can be done, so don't stress about it.
I absolutely know I am missing alot of things... some things I am likely to repeat this season for sure. I know I'll second guess that I thew that corn to close or too far when I get into the blind and the sun comes up.
I am by no means an expert when it comes to hunting with trad gear. I feel like I have only learned like 2% of what there is to learn. The majority of what I have learned, I have learned from the guys and gals on the trad forum and usually after making what I would consider "rookie" mistakes. Some things of course just have to be learned in the field... you have to see it, feel it, and watch yourself screw up before you can believe it.
I'm hoping this thread can kick start a few words of wisdom about HUNTING with trad gear... or advice that can help the incoming crop of rookie trad hunters. We spend alot of the offseason talking about form, tuning, 3D shoots, spinkled with a little bit of hunting advise... but lets talk about what it is like HUNTING with a trad bow. I can predict that some of the experts on here will be humble and say they are still learning themselves... but I tell you, it is worth listening as they have likely put more time in a stand with a stickbow than most of us have been driving a car.
I'll kick it off with a couple of things I learned right off the bat:
1) Deer duck and duck quickly... so it is advisable to learn how to aim low on them. I watched last year as my arrow was headed towards the "12" ring on a deer 15 yards away... only to watch her duck so hard that it just clipped her back. I had to see it to believe it. I had seen deer spin and such shooting with a compound... but my vanes had seemed to reach their target in time... Not so much with my recurve. I went out and had to buy a 3D deer target after that and learn how to aim and shoot for the arm pit... or at least where the leg meets the brisket. It wasn't until after I posted about my experience did I find out that some folks on here literally aim down the leg below the body!!!
2) 10 yards is CLOSE!!! I mean it is CLOSE! Okay, it isn't really that close, but boy does it feel CLOSE!!! I am a big fan of hand corning. I know that some folks don't dig the whole baiting thing... but if you hunt a feeder with existing sets... hand corning is going to be your friend in order to get those deer in CLOSE! I don't leave camp on my way out to a stand unless I got a small bag (ziplock or a small ditty bag) of corn with me to spread out about 10-15 yards in front of where I am sitting. Oh, and I remember looking at my son with a "WTH!" when he reached his hand into a bucket of corn to throw out. "You said it was HAND corn dad!!!" Well yes son... but you don't put your man smelling hands on the corn... it is figurative speech... Don't touch the corn Now I have seen Chunky throw out some corn in front of my stand once and had exotic does hanging out for nearly an hour 7 yards from me... while I don't think he was wearing gloves... I just assume not take the chance.
3) If you are a range finder hunter like me (I have depth perception issues) then it is a good idea to just use that thing to range your ring of death. Find spots on the ground that mark off your 15 yard circle (maybe longer or shorter) and then tuck that thing away. This allows you to not have to pick that thing up anytime something walks in.
4) Which brings me to my next point... shooting of out of a blind really can screw with your depth perception (even if you don't have any...) Small windows... only seeing parts of the landscape make animals look closer than they really are. Practice these if you can... but if you can't, bring a range finder, or take a hard look at the your setup from a different angle to see what those distances really look like. I will drop hand corn at 12 yards, sit down and think WHOA that has got to be like 12 feet away! No... it isn't... The reason I bring this up is because when folks go trad, they often times think that they don't need the range finder. Well you don't, but you need to mind your ranges no matter how you "find" them.
5) I should have said it the first... but WIND WIND WIND WIND... this is true for any hunting... just like most of the stuff up top but if you are going from compound bow hunting to trad hunting, you are cutting your distance in half or even more (depending on what kinds of shots you took with your compound.) I really really really like those chalk puff things... They really help you see where your scent is drifting off to.
6) Clearance and movement. You are carrying a bigger stick than you used to most likely. Swinging your bow around can get you busted pretty quick. In a ground blind, when I see deer coming in, I like to shift my bow from my lap, or off a hanging hook and rest my bottom limb on the ground and hold my bow out so that all I need to do when I am ready to take a shot is slowly lift my bow up and draw. Since I tend to draw up the leg, by the time I reach anchor, my bow hasn't had to move much at all. I don't know how the folks who shoot canted do it, but work out how you will sit for a couple of hours and get your bow into position to shoot without it looking like you are waving a flag around! CLEARANCE may be a problem now that you have doubled your limb length. Just be aware of it. A lot of my "need to build tall cattle panel" blind stuff came from the fact that a lot of our permanent box blinds didn't take into account that I'd need a roof just a tad higher than 6'
7) Have fun... have lots of fun! Enjoy the fact that you are hunting with trad equipment. Don't be afraid to fail. It can be really easy to get caught up in the pressure of the task... but just think about what it is you are doing and that not a lot of folks would dare to trade in a rifle... or their rest, peeps, and pins for just a stick and string. The more relaxed you are about it, the more confident you will be, and the more likely things will go your way. I'm not saying be overconfident. Definitely know your limits... but many others have gone before you and they have proven that it can be done, so don't stress about it.
I absolutely know I am missing alot of things... some things I am likely to repeat this season for sure. I know I'll second guess that I thew that corn to close or too far when I get into the blind and the sun comes up.
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