The long way around.

After my humbling experience yesterday, I figured I really needed to start shooting again.  Consistently and constantly or else I may not be ready for bow season.  My groups got better, ending with a solid group of 3 touching, which is on the picture page.  I have a long way to go to be anywhere close to being ready though as all this time off has not been good for me.  'Til next time.

Thanks for reading.

Tree Trouble

I tried out my tree stand today.  It was quite an experience as it was my first time using a climbing stand.  I have only shot from a stand once before a few weekends ago with my buddy.  The prognoses: 

The stand works.

It doesn't work well, and it's even falling apart.  One of the six straps that attach the seat to the stand ripped.  There are a few others that look ready to go as well.  I'm hoping I can find an easy and cheap, yet reliable fix.  I could just get another seat, but I'd rather use either materials I have around the house or something really cheap from Walmart.  BUT it does work.  Once I fix the seat I will also rig up a better foot system as the current straps are way too far back and are just cumbersome. 

My shooting out of the stand is a subject that is best left to the abyss of lost souls and broken dreams.  AKA my shooting was absolutely terrible.  Now granted I have taken a week or two off due to work getting busy and making excuses for why I wasn't shooting.  But it was still bad.  Worse than the first day I started shooting.  Pictures of the stand will be up within the weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Monkey Business

When I first looked into hunting this season, I figured I'd buy the bow and some camouflage and I'd be good to go.  Hunting from the ground wouldn't be too hard if I found a good set-up and always accounted for the wind.  However when I went scouting with my friend, there were a few stands on the property we looked at.  I got to thinking if I could find a used stand for cheap that still worked, I'd grab it.  Well I found one on Sunday and I went and bought it.  $40 later I have a climbing stand that looks to be in relatively good condition.  It has at least one season left in it, if not a few.  The only thing it is missing is that the front of the seat part was cut off, so using it with a bow will probably be easier actually.  But climbing with it could prove interesting.  I am hoping to try it out in the woods behind the house this week, since I will be busy this weekend.  Pictures will be posted soon.

Thanks for reading.

Just a good stretch of the legs.

Went scouting today.  Just looking for a feel of the land and figure out some possible deer spots.  There were a good amount of tracks.  No rubs or scrapes yet, but I think it's a little early for that.  However I'm completely new to scouting for deer, so I don't have a good ground of knowledge to base that off of.  Regardless, it was a nice walk and there are some great spots that I think we're going to find some deer.

I also shot from a tree stand today.  It was a 20 yard shot and I was  trying to aim over a branch without a safety harness on.  Definitely not something I would recommend to anyone.  Especially after trying that, I would certainly have a harness the next time I'm in a stand.  Also make sure you have a shooting lane.  These are all things you learn in the bow hunter's education course and if you do some research it's pretty simple.  But it definitely makes sense when you try it yourself.

The guy that I was with was pretty knowledgeable about the land and he's bow hunted before.  He also turkey hunts the land, so it is definitely good to have all of that experience.

After today I am really looking forward to hunting season and as much effort as this is going to be, I think it will pay off great in the end.  Thanks for reading.

Heat Wave

Today is the second day in a row that it was above 90.  Now that may not seem like much to someone from Texas or Arkansas, but with the humidity it is awful.  Not to mention I'm wearing a hoodie to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  To add to that, I shot a lot yesterday.  So needless to say after 5 or 6 rounds I was about done practicing for today.

I realized something though.  At 30 yards I can see the target twist or lean way back after a hit and I think "Man, way left." or "Too high."  When I get done with the round and go look at the arrows, they're only 2 or 3 inches out of the group.  I'm expecting it to be 2 or 3 inches from the edge.  It's definitely a nice surprise.  My last round from 40 was pretty awful though.  Two in the center circle, but the other two were way off.

Another good practice day, but I can't wait for the days when I'll be able to shoot with a light shirt on and not be eaten alive by bugs.  Summer can't be over fast enough.  But not too fast.  I need more practice before hunting season starts.  Thanks for reading.

Twoscore

After a few days break from shooting, I was determined to shoot until I couldn't pull the bow back.  Now I didn't really get that tired, but I definitely shot the most today in one day than I have before.

I started at 40 yards and took a few rounds to see how I was doing.  The results were pretty much just like my first attempts.  I was shooting low and to the side, but the grouping wasn't really good enough to justify pin movement.  I moved the lower pin anyways, and it definitely brought up the center of the grouping.  At that point I moved in to 30 yards and the difference was pretty awesome.  I was a little shaky due to already shooting several rounds, but the groups were all within 5 inches.  Moving in to 15 yards had all my arrows in the 2 inch center ring.

Throughout the movement I noticed a trend of the arrows shooting left.  Obviously this was very noticeable at 40 and tapered off as I got closer.  So I moved the gang left and that cleared up the arrows farther out, but left the closer ranges almost to the right.  My guess is possible movement from the damage of the fletching.  The rest could also be a possible source of error, but I'm going to fix the fletching first and then do some paper testing.

Overall a great day of practice and my progress is pretty awesome.  At 15 yards I can take the shot almost immediately and the more practice I get from farther away the better overall I'll get.  Next thing to try will be getting some elevation.  This weekend I'm going to look into the local pro-shop as well to get my cam lean fixed and my vanes replaced.  Stay tuned for updates on my stabilizer as well (doing a little research and I'm going to talk to the pro-shop when I get the fletchings looked at this weekend).

Thanks for reading.

Sunday is a day of rest.

But not for me.  I started shooting at 30 yards right off the bat today.  My first grouping had one arrow way out of the rest, but I knew it was a bad shot.  The rest were all touching in the lower left of the outer ring.  Which I actually went and measured the other day and it's actually only a 5.5 inch ring.  That makes the middle about 1.5 to 2 inches.  I felt really good about the consistency of my shot.  The next few rounds were nothing spectacular, but I could definitely feel the shooting in my arms.  I think I'll be taking a break from shooting for a day or two and just work out.  By Wednesday I think I'll be good to go again.

So after that I came back to 15 yards (where my top pin is sighted in) and I crushed em.  I was driving those tacks hard and fast and every one of em was in the 2 inch ring.  It just goes to show how important it is to practice at different distances.  Now that I've broken into shooting and I am doing well at my 15 to 20 yard shots, it's time to back up and really practice from 30 and 40 yards.  My 40 yard round was not good.  I had one in the inner ring, but the other three were not.  There was one two inches from the bottom of the target, the next was halfway between the first and second arrows.  But the last one was not even on the target.  When I shot it I heard more than I should've.  Usually all I hear is the "thwack" of the arrow hitting the target and going partially through.  This time I heard more of a "smack" and then almost a rustle.  So I figured I had missed.  When I finally found the arrow, it was in the woods behind the target.  I believe it just went over the target, but it's possible it went through.

Then I decided to try a little broad head practice.  I haven't yet shot my broad heads, so I was a little excited and nervous.  I also took a field point for my first shot, just in case.  I let the first shot go at 20 yards and it looked good.  So I shot the broad head.  It was a little off to the right, but I think that might have been hand torque.  It looked like a good shot.  I tried again, and not bad results.  I think it will take a few more than two broad head shots to really see how their performance is different, but I believe it won't be that much off.

So a great day of practice and I know what to focus on in the near future.  Of course the basics are always important, so it's imperative to make sure the fundamentals always come first.  Thanks for reading.