How long did it take?

[codycoyote]

Hey fellas I was just wondering, how long did it take everybody to kill their first big game animal with a bow? I just finished my second season archery hunting and both have been unsuccessful but I am determined to get it done next year.

 

[lang]

Roughly 5 years. Early years were little more than a couple Saturdays a season due to school,and football. Then college and a mission, and worked for an outfitter a couple years. That all just served to get me hungrier every year.

 

[4corners_sportsman]

Started bow hunting in 2013 and didn't get anything. First hour of opening morning for 2014 and I killed my first bow kill which was a nice 6x5 bull elk. This year I hunted a total of about 13 days for deer and didn't get one. Bowhunting is a TOUGH game!

 

[ForkWest]

2nd year, but more out of luck than anything. It starts to come together over time. I found more success as I become a better hunter versus shooter. Shooting for me came easy, finding and closing in on an animal is far tougher. Every blown stalk hurts, but you sure learn a lot.

 

[RabidRattleSnake1]

3rd year out, but I was just a kid and didn't have a clue what I was doing. Sure got easier once I figured out a few things. Wish I had had someone to show me the ropes. My dad was just a gun hunter so I was kinda on my own with my friends

 

[3blade]

2nd or 3rd year I think? that was 30 years ago, my how time flies when you are having fun

 

[BOHNTR]

I've literally had a bow in my hand since I was old enough to walk......hunting small game and such. So the first year I was old enough to deer hunt (some 37 years ago), I was fortunate to arrow a blacktail buck with my longbow. Been truly hooked ever since.

BOHNTR )))---------->

 

[pushin_30]

started archery hunting when i was 12 now 35. Killed my first animal with a bow at the age of 30. I was hooked at age 12 even being unsuccessful for so many years. Its not about the harvest but the adventure and the encounters that make it addicting

 

[Matapatos]

3 years into bow hunting I took my first buck with a bow this year, 2015.

 

[KillaB]

(3 years) I started in 2004 and shot my first deer (a 3x3) in 2007. I haven't tasted my tag since, excessive practicing at the range helped calm me down and prepared me for every moment that presented itself.
In due time, if you can shoot a bow without feeling the ill affects of buck fever, your success will come.
I have bagged 4 bucks over 170" including one that topped 190" and all with a compound bow. There are three things that I attribute to my success, first thing is to practice at every angle and situation that may be presented to you wherever you hunt secondly, an archer's range finder that will calculate the yardage per degree of angle and third, learn to stalk your animal as patience is the key.

 

[cavemn5050]

This was my first year bow hunting for both deer and elk, and I ended up shooting a doe around the middle of November. I had a couple opportunities at some small bucks early on in the season, but was holding out for something 3-point or better. Missed a decent 2x3 during the extended. Got to put a stalk on a couple nice deer, two somewhere in the 150-170 range (still not too great at field judging).

I spent a lot of time in the field, and living in the extended area, I hunted a lot. It's such a challenging game, but one that I love!

 

[critterstalker]

Archery opened a whole new world for me.Got my first bow in the spring of 08 practiced almost every day shot. went to 4 or 5 3-D shoots. Guess the all the practice paid off 1st year deer,bear,and elk. And I have managed to get my deer and elk every year since something I couldn't during the general any weapon hunts here in Idaho.

 

[ElevenBravo]

If you consider hogs to be big game, a few months after I started. I'm going on an archery-only javelina hunt next week, so I guess I get to see if I was lucky.

 

[nfh]

Started when I was 12. My first year at 12 years old got nothing. The next year at age 13 got a 130+ whitetail and at 15 years old got my first archery elk a 320 class bull.

 

[huckleberryhi]

I picked up archery about a month and a half before the x1 season this year here in California and was extremely lucky to have an incredible successful hunt on a warrior of a buck. I am hopelessly addicted to say the least. I learned a lot in the ten days I hunted and was rewarded on the last day of the season with a spot and stalk that put me through extreme highs and lows. I cant wait to pursue an elk with my Hoyt nitrum turbo this year.

 

[Sherlock]

22 years. Embarrassing?

Started bow hunting as a young teen in 1988 with a crappy bow and a 50 lb draw weight and finger release. Could barely hit the hay stack at 50 yards. In 1996, I got my first actual archery shot off at a buck. Up until then, never really expected to be able to hit anything if the chance came up. Just enjoyed walking around in nature with a bow in my hands. Well, my arrow hit the ground at the hind feet...don't ask the distance. I must have looked up on the shot. Buck fever like crazy...so close I thought it was a done deal.

Did not do much archery again until a few years after grad school. Never really had another legit chance until 2010. Then it all came together. Had an updated bow that could actually hit stuff. Wow, it amazed how much better bows had gotten since my '80s bow. Actually believed i could hit something, if given the chance. Sure enough, on one fateful Labor Day weekend, I shot both my first archery buck and first archery elk. All with my 12 year old son by my side. Best weekend ever.

After the first(s), they come a lot easier now.

 

[Zeke]

I started at 16. The year was 1969 and I killed a doe mule deer. It would be a couple more years before a little buck fell and a couple more after that for yet another one.
Since those early years of bare recurve bow shooting the equipment has improved along with a little acquired skill and the bucks began to fall at very regular intervals.. sometimes 2 per year in my home State. Of course that's back when the archery and rifle deer tags could be filled during the bow season.
They are deadly in the right hands and your day will come. Your success, or lack thereof, is nothing out of the ordinary as you move toward honing your skills and knowledge.
Keep it up.
Zeke

 

[goofyelk]

I grew up with a bunch of rifle hunting farmers.

Didn't really get into archery hunting till I got out of
the military in 1982....
Killed my first buck mule deer in 1983 on Boulder...

Last big game animal I harvested with a rifle was in 1992,
Every thing since has been archery ................
Including 3 elk, 3 antelope, several deer and a moose.


Some 32 years later, this last 2015 archery season, on
Boulder again!. In my mid 50's now, one of my most memorable hunts yet!

 

[Silentstalker]

I love hearing all the stories of peoples first archery kills! I too grew up with a bow in my hand. I have until recently been almost exclusively a bowhunter. Heck, I shot only my second mule deer with a muzzy and my first muley with a rifle this year!

My first archery kill was on opening morning of my very first big game hunt. I firmly believe that being a successful bowhunter starts with confidence. Not in your shooting anility, but in your ability to kill.

For those of you struggling to get your first, dont give up! It will come together for you and the success is that much more rewarding when it does!