President’s Column
Kneeling in the soft sugar sand
over my first bowkill, a smallish boar hog, I was both humbled, and honestly
shocked, that after three years I had finally accomplished this end game
by hours of practice with my Jeffrey recurve and wood arrows. I had been
still hunting a management area “dim road” when the hog stepped out of
the palmettos. I suppose we surprised each other, but as he swapped ends
to escape, an arrow suddenly appeared in his side, the result of a swing
draw, instinctive shot. The second surprise of the morning was the
voice behind me yelling “hey, that’s my pig!”
By this time, four of my friends
had worked their way over to congratulate me, and as one we turned to see
another hunter rushing in to take “his hog.” He claimed to have shot the
hog at 40 yards and had been looking for it all morning. The two blade
slit from my broadhead through the vitals was more than obvious but sure
enough, there was a small, three blade hole far behind the rib cage. One
of our party, nodding in my direction, said “well he killed it!” It was
my call. Yes, I put the pig down and if I wanted it that bad it was five
to one odds in my favor to send the guy packing, but I gave the pig up
to first blood and let him have it.
I still think about that
day and my “first blood” decision almost a decade later. I guess the thing
that troubled me the most was this hunter’s confession of just picking
up his compound bow the night before for a few practice shots. Even the
best hunters, the best shots, can be originators of a misplaced hit, but
to just pick up your bow the day before a hunt, fling a couple arrows and
consider yourself fit for the woods, is grossly irresponsible whatever
type of tackle you’re shooting.
As traditionalists, we almost
have to be married to our bows. And I will lay odds that some of our significant
others would immediately claim this for fact. There are some folks that
can let their bows sit idle, pick them up weeks later and hammer the target
center. If not for the love of bowshooting, I almost wish I was one of
them, but I am one of those guys who has to practice almost daily to stay
sharp, stay focused.
We all get busy and life comes
at us a thousand miles an hour and with work, family, chores, it gets tough
to find the time to practice and I am guilty, really guilty, lately of
looking at my bow more than shooting it. I am not a big TV watcher by any
stretch, but since we got the Outdoor Channel, I tend to watch other people
shoot their bows more than I shoot my bow. And this has to stop as I am
starting to believe this nasty TV habit has taken away what little bowshooting
mojo I ever possessed. Like most archers I aspire to be a great shot and
a great hunter, but I am not there yet and never will be until I work to
at least get back what I used to have. That takes time and practice, and
lots of it. And it’s not like I never shoot anymore, but I know I don’t
shoot as much as I used to. And my freezer and confidence have been the
poorer for it.
I did bowkill three hogs in the
06/07 season and normally, that would be a real good year for me, save
the fact that I missed more than twice that many. My focus, intensity,
“eye of the tiger”, whatever you want to call it, is sitting on my shoulder
thoroughly disgusted with me as it prefers to see game on the ground, not
a dirty broadhead dulled by a miss. But I know the reason for it. My bow
has become this alien thing instead of an extension of the hunter within.
It’s time to put away excuses, grab my bow, and rekindle the love we once
shared. The sport, the hunt, and I will be the richer for it.
David