The Best Hunting Advice Received And Not Listening To It

Why It’s Important To Wait After Executing A Shot In Bowhunting Rather Than Jumping The Gun

I won’t even pretend that I am a quick learner at anything. It’s normally through my vast mistakes that my most rewarding lessons have occurred. This applies to every area of my life.

From dating the wrong guys in high school to choosing a bad hair cut that can’t grow back fast enough, or just simply trusting the wrong person to confide in. I have made my fair share of bad choices against the advice of well-meaning family and friends. But one thing is for sure. I have always received my best hunting advice from the one person I know is an expert in the field. He’s not only my hunting buddy. He’s my hunting husband.

As it is with everything, the best advice usually comes after the biggest mistake. This stands true with bowhunting as well. One of the greatest pieces of advice my hunting mentor, and my biggest fan, ever gave to me came AFTER one of the most significant mistakes of my bowhunting history.

If I had heard it once I had heard him tell me a hundred times. “If you make a shot WAIT for at least 30 to 45 minutes BEFORE getting down from your treestand to begin tracking your deer.”

You’ve noticed that I capitalized WAIT and BEFORE because I had heard him say that so many times over the years. I KNEW to do this but because I am an impatient soul and have a hard time sitting for long periods in the treestand at all, I needed it tattooed on my forehead to get the point across.

I have always received my best hunting advice from the one person I know is an expert in the field. He’s not only my hunting buddy. He’s my hunting husband.

Not heeding to good, sound advice can sometimes cost you if you don’t take it to heart and put it into practice. By not following my husband’s rule of thumb, it almost cost me finding my buck.

Old Habits Die Hard

It was in the middle of archery season. I had been playing tag with a certain eight-pointer that had shown up on our trail camera multiple times.

Up to that point, I had never had the chance at a shooter buck, and I had my heart set, THIS PARTICULAR SEASON, on him. He was the one. I wanted to harvest HIM.

I would get to my stand early and leave in the dark. In the morning hunts, I would walk out there in the pitch black, feeling my way up the ladder stand with nothing more than my Bushnell headlamp on my head.

I did this every day. I did this for weeks.

Until early one Saturday morning when the stars were aligned just right. He came sashaying up from below my stand with only one thing on his mind. He was trailing a doe.

As it is with everything, the best advice usually comes after the biggest mistake.

I’m not going to lie. When you are in your stand and a deer comes within shooting distance, your heart beats faster than it ever has before. Your adrenaline is in overdrive and you begin to tremble and shake.

Maybe not every hunter feels like that. Personally, I get excited, as well as a little nervous, when I know I’m getting ready to take a shot.

He was about 20 yards in front of me when I stood up to draw my bow. Although my memory says he was broadside, looking back at the trail camera pictures proves otherwise.

In the excitement of the moment, I didn’t realize that he was ACTUALLY quartering TOWARD me a little bit. So when I executed my shot into the “vitals” I didn’t get the penetration as I thought. I did get some penetration. However, I also managed to stick my arrow down around his “buck parts” as well. But, I didn’t know this at the time.

BE PATIENT

It’s Always Better To Wait Than To Push

After I shot and he took off running, I did what any non-seasoned hunter would do. I immediately climbed down from my ladder stand to see if there was any blood. Then, I got back UP into my stand to send my husband a text letting him know I had just shot “the buck.”

After texting me back “Good job” he told me to stay put for about 30 to 45 minutes to let the deer lay down and die. To not push him and make tracking the blood easier. In an investigative, hesitant “texting voice” he asked, “You didn’t get down yet did you?” And of course, my answer was “NO?”

The truth of the matter was that I had climbed down SEVERAL times, and then scurried right back UP again.

Because my stand was fairly close to our house, I actually made several trips back and forth in hopes of seeing my dead buck laying there ready to field dress. But that didn’t happen.

My husband and one of our sons were at another farm hunting. I knew it would be a while before they would get there to help me track my deer. A couple of hours passed before they returned home. The first question my husband asked me was “How long did you stay up in your stand before getting down?”

I wanted to lie, I really did. But the trail camera set up in front of my stand had the proof. I had made multiple treks to and fro looking for blood and looking for my deer.

Busted!

My son, husband and I began the search and started with the first drops of blood I had found. It was slow. A drop here and a couple of drops there but nothing substantial. We tracked small droplets for hours, over barbed wire fences and along creek banks. The trail was winding and sparse with blood.

After several hours we came to the conclusion that we were pushing him. We needed to let him lay and marked the last major blood spot we found. We decided to wait until morning.

LISTEN TO GOOD ADVICE

Sometimes getting caught up in the moment overrides any sound hunting advice we’ve been given

I felt devastated. How could I have been so stupid to have gotten down right after I took the shot? I knew better. My husband taught me better. But that side of me that occasionally takes over my common sense took control that morning. And I had no one to blame but myself if we couldn’t find my buck.

To say I didn’t sleep that night would have been an understatement. I tossed and turned worrying about him injured and laying out there dying a slow, painful death. Replaying the morning’s events, in my mind, from beginning to end, made me sick from the whole ordeal. I wanted to quit hunting. It upset me that much.

The next morning we all went out looking again but couldn’t even find a tiny blood trail. We ended up calling a friend, who had a tracking dog for help. Bruiser led us straight to my buck in a matter of minutes. By the time we found him, he had managed to make it to the water’s edge by the lake. Coyotes had eaten his back end so the only thing left to salvage was, thankfully, the backstraps.

It was a horrible experience and it’s one that I will never forget. I could have avoided it if I had just listened to some of the best hunting advice I’ve ever received.

Not only did that hunt have a great impact on me but my husband’s unyielding wisdom did as well.

Since then I have branded his advice of WAITING on my heart. I will never forget the lesson that came along making that one crucial mistake. I am now more concise and conscientious as a hunter.

LEARN FROM IT

Every Silver Lining Has A Lesson Attached To It

What I learned, as a result of not listening to my husband’s advice is to WAIT before tracking a deer. Hunting is all about patience. It doesn’t hurry or rush. Nature is the same. It doesn’t hurry either.

Also, that hard lesson reminded me of the importance of regular and consistent shooting practice. The more time you set aside for practice, the better your accuracy will be.

Another incite I gained from this experience was to pay attention to your surroundings and always be ready. Deer move very quickly and can be quiet in front of you before you even realize it.

However, the most critical thing I learned as a result of ignoring what I knew to be true, is that NOT putting solid hunting advice into play could sacrifice the very thing you’ve worked hard to achieve. Not only could it cost you a successful harvest. But even worse, not heeding to good instruction could cost you your life.