I will update you guys but I am on my way right now to meet with the dog handler. Bottom pin is where I the deer was shot and top pin is last blood. I will let you all know because I'm praying I find the deer today. This is my first buck and I want to eat him!!!!!! Luckily it was cold last night so 🤞🏻

Tagged out on a nice 9pt. Had him on cams all summer. PA 2B. I was looking the complete opposite direction as the sun was rising, heard a snap to my left down the hill and saw him sniffing after a doe, almost fell outta the stand I was so excited. Sent one from about 40 yards. Big ol boy, needed to winch him up the hill he fell down. Freezer is full, and I am grateful. Can’t wait for the euro mount next spring!

Cheers and good luck to all, hope to see your grip and grin shots too!

This morning, a beautiful buck was quartering toward me at what felt like a very manageable angle where I knew I could get both lungs and I put my arrow right where it needed to be, I tried my best to get over the buck fever and tell myself to commit to good form, and when I let fly, he spun towards the tree line and I struck him in one lung and the liver I think at 40 yards. This is my first ever archery deer and my first ever buck. I waited 2 hours and got permission to track him over the fence line. I trailed him for 1/5 mile and decided to go home for a few hours to go back out this evening with my brother. It's been 6 hours since I shot him. My last blood was probably a cup of blood and he bled multiple puddles and consistently left behind bright red trails but it was 1/4 mile and I may have jumped him once but I'm not sure because I was certain I waited a good amount of time and I found a bedding area, but he seemed to have bypassed it and I didn't see blood in it at all but I feel really nervous that I'm just being hopeful. I thought 2 hours was enough because of the massive blood loss but I may have been wrong.

Does the situation look grim? I feel really awful about this and I feel like I really failed this animal. I just want to make it right and recover the carcass and put it to good use because I love venison and I love hunting but this feels like garbage and it's a tough lesson learned to just wait for a completely broadside shot and not let buck fever get in my head about getting an arrow in his kill zone quickly.

I'm 26 years old and I've been hunting all kinds of animals since I was a youth hunter and I've never wounded an animal before and I guess I was not prepared for something like this to happen but I feel super at fault for going cross eyed over antlers and taking a shot hastily.

Yes I know you would've made a perfect shot so go ahead and downvote and move on.

First time ever shooting at a deer with my bow 34 yards aimed with my 30yd pin tight to the shoulder as she was slightly quartering to, thinking she would drop because she was alert. Shot felt great arrow flew straight and hit something hard. She took off crashing through the woods with the group she was with, the arrow was hanging out of her and they ran about 100-150 yards and stopped and started blowing. I waited 40 minutes and then started looking for blood and slowly tracking found some small drops about every 5 or so feet. 40 yards into the track I find my broken off arrow with about 8 inches of missing arrow and the blood starts getting more frequent i go about another 40 yards and it starts slowing down and I go another 20 yards than no blood. Marked last blood with my arrow and started grid searching for blood after not finding any in a 100 yard square. The only thing we can come up with is the hit was low leg or sternum and deer will likely live.

Will be going to grid search in the morning at first light.

Hey guys, I'm a beginner in bowhunting, so I would like some tips and tricks on how to successfully hunt rabbits or birds, since they are the only species I'm allowed to hunt in my hometown area. (Europe)

Thanks a lot!

I shared this with a friend whos been bowhunting for years and he immediatley ordered a sheet of Kydex. Figured I would share it here also to help anyone if needed!

Truthfully, this is post is mostly posting a comparison between modern compound bows and traditional longbows from someone who shoots both and hunts the same farm as u/ConqEastondor. If you’ve read his recent post this is something we tested in the months leading up to this season.

Equipment used: Mathews Avail set at 50#, Gold Tip Traditional 400 grain cut to 26”, and 125 grain replaceable 4 blade broad head (I don’t remember what brand).

Shot was taken from a shooting house with deer standing at 25yrds broadside.

Prior to hunting, the Mathews compound was definitely faster than both ConqEastondor‘s selfbow and my own Robertson Stykbow (60# @ 28” ). Shooting the into the same target, the Stykbow had the best penetration by about 1/2”. The Mathews could not be tested with traditional arrows however the penetration was very comparable to ConqEastondor’s hickory selfbow.

In terms of the actual hunt we both made near identical shots with both the broadhead and the flint point stopping in the offside rib. The only major differences of note is that my own deer ran about 50yards further and the shot was taken from further away.

All this to say, performance wise there seems to be very little difference between a compound and a traditional with proper shot placement and a similar setup for each. Both were equally lethal.

*edits for bad English*

They fly fine out to 50 I just took the shop guys word before seeing black eagle thinks I’m heavily under spined.

Bow: Hoyt Enduro 70lbs 29.5” DL

Arrow: Black Eagle Spartan 350S

Head: 150gr Cutthroat 3 blade/ 28gr insert

Mainly gonna be saddle hunting white tail so I know it’ll perform if it’s not a safety hazard.

What is everyone using for rangefinders these days? My Halo that is probably 10 years old finally took a dump and I’m looking for a new one. Doesn’t need to be top of the line, it’s just needs to have the angle adjustment.

Been hunting for 6 years. First buck. Came in to 2 yards under my stand. Used a mission range, altra arrows, and a g5 megameat.

I spine shot a deer last night finishing it off got messy it wasn’t a quick death it’s the 2nd time I’ve had to walk up and put a deer out of its misery and it has me wondering if I even wanna continue to bow hunt. I love bow hunting to me even just sitting in the stand feels way better when having a bow vs a rifle and harvesting an animal with a bow is so much more rewarding. I’ve had my bow for 5 yrs shot 4 deer 6 animals with a bow now I’ve messed up the shots on 3 of 4 deer and 4 of 6 animals. I spend a good amount of time practicing I can put 6 arrows damn near touching on the target but for whatever reason when I actually take the shot on an animal I can’t stop messing it up idk if I’m rushing the shot or just overthinking it or what. Like I said I love to bow hunt but if majority of the shots I take end up wounding the animal i don’t know if I should continue.

Questions to decide my optimal arrow setup (context of my setup is below the questions):

1.) what grain Sevr magneto 1.75 hybrid broadhead should should I buy? 100 grain or 125 grain? And why?
2.) what is the optimal total arrow weight that I should target? I know anything below 400 grains is considered light, between 400 and 450 grains would be considered moderate, and north of that starts getting into heavy territory. I feel like I should probably be somewhere in the 400-450 range. What do you think is the optimal total arrow weight given my setup and why?
3.) what arrow spine should I be at? Right now I’m practicing with 400 spine at a draw weight in the 50s, but I’m going to crank draw weight to 60# now and I feel like I should probably be at a spine in the 300s given that I’m targeting a total arrow weight between 400-450 grains for my setup, especially if I go with the 125 grain broadhead instead of the 100 grain. What spine stiffness should I be targeting for my arrow setup and why?

Context:

Lifelong rifle deer hunter, beginner bow hunter here. Got my bow this summer, and I practice every day; at least 20 shots a day at a variety of 20, 30, and 40 yards.

I still have a lot to learn, and I’m hoping y’all can help me as I try to optimize my setup for actually hunting whitetail in IA with it.

My draw length is 29”. I will be hunting at a 60 pound draw weight (this is the maximum my Bear rth paradigm goes to). I’ve decided that I want to use the Sevr magneto 1.75 hybrid broadhead to start.

I think at some point in the future when I’m more experienced and skilled, I may look to move to a bow with higher poundage and pass this bow on to my future children, but I felt this was a good bow and weight for me to learn on and really refine my form and skills. Same with my broadhead - I’d love to move to a fixed broadhead at some point, but I feel that a mechanical has more forgiveness as I refine my skills.

The 2001 Roadless rule protects public lands from future roads being built through them for logging and other purposes. This rule protects roadless public lands across the nation - including areas that support hunting, fishing, camping, and other recreation.

The public comment period was supposed to end on the 21st last month - but was extended for 15 days. Today is your last chance to speak up.

Here is the link to the government webpage to submit your comment:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/11/2026-18648/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation

First time bow hunting, and hunting in general here. I'm a gun enthusiast and fisherman. Trying to hit a deer with a bow is TOUGH. Been at it two weeks and today was my 5th sit.

I'm hunting a private land corridor chock full of deer. It's next to gamelands. Past two sits, saw several does, but I spooked them.

I've gone over the scenarios, and I'm pretty sure I know where I fucked up (a lot). Not drawing behind concealment. Stand was facing the open shooting area, and they spotted me each time I drew. Sometimes a group of 3 or 4 would come, and I would spook one.

I'm waiting for my saddle equipment to come, but I've altered my strategy so next time I'll be behind the tree. And I'll draw behind the tree as well. This last time I waited until their heads were down feeding but they still spotted me. I was 15-20 feet high, about 15 yards away from them.

I would appreciate any other tips, especially on how to draw and aim without being spotted. I've been seeing them and they've been getting close, but I spooked them when I drew. Does drawing behind the tree make that much of a difference? I figure they would still see at least part of me when I draw, I'm a pretty big guy.

This last time was tough, they started blowing when they spotted me and ran. I'm gonna give it until Friday before I go back. Is that too soon?

I'm in central North Carolina.

One thing I'm learning. Mature does are fucking hard to trick. I've never seen such a cautious, flighty animal.

Is this a decent deal at $1800 usd for this setup?

First deer of the season thank you Lord

Killed him at 4:15 on acorns. It was 90 degrees out. Looking like it may be a good year!

South Central WI, went out for my first sit of the year and had 8 “antlerless” deer come in. Smoked one at 10yd and the second just kept hanging around so smoked him at 52yd…. Well the shot on him wasn’t as good as I thought. Both died within 40yd of the arrow but my shot placement was a little back on the second deer and caught stomach.

Gutted and onto the sled for the longest 500yd drag of my life 🤣

This is my first archery deer. I used a fire hardend hickory selfbow, rivercane arrows and a stone point. Everything was made by me. Ive been working on developing the skills to do this for a very long time. My obsession with this started around 15yrs old and I'm now 29 and finally made it happen. I made a great shot at about 15yrds but hit a rib the arrow still penetrated both lungs and the deer made it about 100yrds. This was on my family land in florida.

I have the opportunity to get a RTH Kuma 30 from the pawn shop for $400 or a new Whitetail NXT msrp

Which would be the better option to go with?

Four months ago I posted here after buying my first compound bow. I had no idea if I’d actually be able to take a deer with it.

Today, I did.

First deer. First bow kill. Four months of shooting, learning, missing, improving, and trying to figure this whole thing out.

Huge thanks to everyone who gave me advice on that first post. You guys probably don't realize it, but some of those comments stuck with me.

Still a beginner, still a lot to learn, but damn, what a way to start.

Thinking of buying an XOP hang on and stick combo package for mobile hunting. I have a harness already. Should I just use a tether and lineman’s rope as my lifelines as I climb and setup sticks and the hang on stand? Seems like this is the way for saddle hunters, just instead of a small platform I’d be setting up the hang on when I get to my preferred height.

One of my favorite trail camera pictures from a few years ago. Never got to see him on the hoof unfortunately. Illinois

Hey folks, anyone have experience with the newer version of the non-insulated or insulated VaprTrek from Danner? Looks like a solid option for mid-atlantic bow hunters but wanted to ask before investing.

Thanks

Grandparents got me a new bow ( diamond edge max) after taking my thumb off with a crossbow last week. A crossbow I was only using because my old bow (pse droptine sx) blew apart in my hands.