Always talked about hunting with my recurve but when it came down to it I didn't want to limit myself to under 30 yards. After some pondering I decided I was going to do it and figured setting water would be my best chance, I made multiple scouting trips and set up some trail cameras on water. One had several bulls that I would love to shoot with a compound let alone a recurve so I hung my stand and counted down to opening day, with a newborn at home I decided I'd shoot first thing with 5pts on one side so I could go home and help my wife with the kids.
Opening morning wasn't very productive seen a few cows and a spike but I was a few canyons over from the water with my stand on it. Elk where primarily coming in during the evening and I can't sit still for 14 hours. Around 2 I got to the stand and didn't see anything other than squirrels for the first 5 hours, right around 7 I seen a sow with 2 cubs walk thru the meadow and thought that was pretty awesome. Well the sun started to set and I still hadn't seen or heard an elk and was about ready to call it quits, last 20 min of shooting light I heard a bull bugle on the hill behind me figure what by he heck I'll bugle see if I can get him to come in. After I bugled the whole canyon lit up, there was probably close to 10 bulls that answered and they where bugling non stop after that, short time later a bull bugles 70 years behind me, when he couldn't find the "bull" that was bugling he decided to come in and drink and offer me a 8 yard shot, the angle was pretty much straight down and I only got one lung because of it and he ran farther than I would of liked.
There's something special about hunting with a traditional bow. Neither my kills where monsters by any means but being up close and personal and using bear minimum equipment added to the experience and both rank my best archery hunts and I plan on using the recurve more in the future
Opening morning wasn't very productive seen a few cows and a spike but I was a few canyons over from the water with my stand on it. Elk where primarily coming in during the evening and I can't sit still for 14 hours. Around 2 I got to the stand and didn't see anything other than squirrels for the first 5 hours, right around 7 I seen a sow with 2 cubs walk thru the meadow and thought that was pretty awesome. Well the sun started to set and I still hadn't seen or heard an elk and was about ready to call it quits, last 20 min of shooting light I heard a bull bugle on the hill behind me figure what by he heck I'll bugle see if I can get him to come in. After I bugled the whole canyon lit up, there was probably close to 10 bulls that answered and they where bugling non stop after that, short time later a bull bugles 70 years behind me, when he couldn't find the "bull" that was bugling he decided to come in and drink and offer me a 8 yard shot, the angle was pretty much straight down and I only got one lung because of it and he ran farther than I would of liked.
There's something special about hunting with a traditional bow. Neither my kills where monsters by any means but being up close and personal and using bear minimum equipment added to the experience and both rank my best archery hunts and I plan on using the recurve more in the future
