After reading some of the replies on other another thread, I thought about my first bow and just how I came to love the sport of bowhunting. Here is my story, I'd love to hear each of your's as well.
My dad bowhunted and in those days (early 60s) it gave him extra time in the woods hunting and more of a chance to put meat on the table. Not that we ever went hungry, but every little bit helped. I guess I was 3-4 when I wanted to try and dad would help me draw and shoot his old Indian Longbow. I was hooked at that time and for Christmas, when I was 6 (1966), I got my first bow which was a fiberglass Bear longbow. You could find me most days out at the ole hay bale slinging arrow after arrow.
I didn’t get the chance to bowhunt until 1973 when I got my first hunting bow, a Bear 76er metal riser, fiberglass limbs recurve. I missed my first deer that year, my only shot that year, but there were a many rabbits that hit the dinner table because of that bow. I never knew why but I would rather hunt with the bow even when my dad, brother and I when rabbit hunting and they carried shotguns. Most days I would hold my own with them rabbit hunting. Needless to say I was hooked on bowhunting even though I never gave it much thought of why.
The next October (1974) archery only season I killed my first deer with a bow. It was purely a luck shot and one now in my aged wisdom would never take today. I had stalked up on a group of does that were eating at an old apple tree, by moving down an old fence row. Thinking I was close enough for a shot, I eased out for a look only to find that I was a good 50 yards from the deer. Worse one of the does spotted my movement and bolted, followed by the rest. Now I had gotten pretty good hitting rabbits on the run so I drew and let an arrow fly at the last doe and caught her through the midsection. The impact made her fall and she laid there about 60 yards away. This is where I learned my second important lesson by making the mistake of running over to the downed deer and I didn’t even have a second arrow ready. When I got about 10 yards from her, I was in awe when she raised her head and looked at me. Needless to say, she was soon up running. It took us over 4 hours to track her and she covered close to a mile.
I had many other bowhunting adventures between this deer and 1980 when I joined the U.S. Air Force. During the 8 years I was in the USAF I didn’t have many hunting opportunities. In 1988 I got out of the USAF and moved to Houston to take a job as a contractor for NASA. Then in 1990 a coworker asked if I bowhunted and I replied not for years. He said he wanted to learn and that his dad has some property in Bandera if I’d like to hunt with him. I might not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but I’m not stupid either so I told him yes. The only bow I had at the time was an old Bear Whitetail Hunter that I had gotten for Christmas back in the late 70’s. At the time I didn’t even have any arrows for it, but it didn’t take me long to get some and start practicing. Come October we were in Bandera for opening weekend, and Sunday I took my first Texas deer, a nice 6 pointer. I was re-hooked so to speak, really my love for bowhunting was just rekindled with opportunity. I spent the next 6 years hunting with this friend on his dad’s place in Bandera. I bought a new compound and had it rigged out with all the new bells and whistles. I took at least 1 deer each archery season in Bandera and on year I took a spike and 2 does one weekend.
This is when it started to get a little stale for me. It seemed the challenge and enjoyment wasn’t there like had been in my youth, in other words the rush was gone. Sure there was some of a rush on every deer I took, but nothing like back in my teens. So I decided to go back to my roots, go back to the way it was in my earlier simpler years of bowhunting, go back to traditional archery and hunting. It took a bit to save up for my first custom longbow, but man was I ever glad I did. I also made a switch from hunting in Bandera to hunting public land in the Sam Houston National Forest. Going back to traditional and hunting public land sure did put a new twist back in to bowhunting. It took me three years before, I even got a shot, and then I blew the shot mainly due to the rush I had. Heck I don’t think I could have hit the broadside of a battleship. This was what I had been looking for, the thrill was back and I never looked back to those compound days. Sure I still have a compound and there are a few times when I knock off the dust and shoot or hunt with it, but they are very few and very far in between.
Why do I still bowhunt and why is it my preferred method with muzzleloaders being a distance second? To tell you the truth I cannot pinpoint a single reason. I know I get far more enjoyment and satisfaction from every bowhunt, whether or not I take an animal. It is like I’m at peace with nature and myself and this is what I should be doing, what I am meant to be doing. Words cannot properly express what I feel each and every day that I am lucky enough to spend in the woods, bow in hand.
