When a nice close shot becomes ...too close?

[muirsy]

Had my closest encounter behind the recurve tonight (searching for my first archery harvest)....

Stood in a spot I knew was usually actioned packed leading up to last light. Had great cover leaning up against a tree for close to 90 minutes, and finally I heard some cracks in the distance. Then some more. Then movement. Before I knew it, there were 5 mulley does meandering their way in my direction - this was it, I would be eating tenderloin in a couple hours!

The heart starts pounding as they get closer - a light wind in my face and I’m convinced that I’ll at least be getting a crack at something any minute now.

They keep coming in and still have no idea I’m there (30 yards now) and my heart begins to sink - they’re getting way too close, and literally are coming at me dead-on. I had expected them to walk parallel to me on a trail...nope. You’d have thought there was a trail of apples leading to my position.

By now they were so close that I had to start making a move to raise my bow. One of them is now looking at me, flicking her ears...I knew I had maybe 5 seconds. Got about .5 inches into a draw and they took off haha. In hindsight I should have had my bow up before they got that close.

Has this ever happened to anyone else??

Had they quartered and turned down that trail it was a 15 yard layup - but no, they had to beeline from 200 yards right to within 18 yards directly in front of me.

What’s a guy to do? Ah the highs and the lows...

Thanks for listening to a rattled bow hunter haha

J

[Bigwoodsman]

If you ever get the chance try giving them a loud mew or a sharp whistle as they're starting to leave. Often they'll stop and look back for a second giving you another chance.

BW

[robson3954]

Yeah 5 yards last year. Waited in a wash for mulies to cross and head up a coulee. Too many started pouring through so I never had a chance to draw and hold. When a couple were at 5 I decided to try anyways - same result as you - bow up but they all blew out at 2" of draw.

[Lefty-Canuck]

The drawing motion is what busts the majority of archers. This is the major difference between archery gear and x-bows. It's a huge difference.

LC

[3blade]

They will bust you every time...if you move. Wait em out, chances are they would veer off and you can kill the last one. Done that a couple times.

I had a decent buck decide to make his own trail through thick brush, 5 steps from my shooting lane. He sounded like a buffalo going through there, got downwind, and stared into the field trying to find me for 20 min. Eventually just walked away. They do crazy things sometimes.

[calgarychef]

If you bowhunt long enough this will happen lots of times. Some day you'll be able to poke a deer by hand with your arrow, don't poke too hard those things are sharp! Two years ago I shot a nice buck at about 10 feet after I let him get a bit further away mat first he was too close and I wasn't sure if the arrow would clear the bow. When you're hunting with a recurve keep it vertical with an arrow on the string all the time be ready all the time. I kind of hide behind the bow when I shoot, straw it straight back and release. Compounds have a huge advantage in being able to draw and hold for long periods of time, recurves have the advantage that you'll really know what you've accomplished when you get your animal.