Terry: Master Bow Hunter

Last Updated on December 28, 2018 by Terry

Allan thinks its luck!

Most folks have heard of Jack the Giant Killer, but do you know the Notorious Rabbit Slayer? Yeah, that’s me.

A couple of weeks ago I told you a story of me missing the same deer with my bow, 6 times! That’s pretty bad. Matter of fact, the more I say it, the worse it sounds. I guess I should be embarrassed, but no one really cares.

Remember from my first book, what Carla said to me, “You’re unembarrassable!”

It doesn’t even matter, my goal in life has always been to follow the advice of Dr. Seuss and Winnie the Pooh: Have fun! And I always did. (Regardless of shooting accuracy or level of embarrassment.)

You know who and I were on another bow hunting adventure back in the 90s. It was the same area where the other adventure took place. We were parked in the same spot, but this time I spent most of my hunt in the other direction.

We were employing the art of Still Hunting. In some circles this is called Slipping. You can’t accomplish this skill if the area is crowded with hunters. Allan and I were the only hunters around so it was working out fine.

The trick is to move around in the woods very slowly. Ease/slip through the woods for about fifty yards or so and settle in and scan the area for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Then slip another fifty yards, pause, and keep scanning. It’s very effective if you are using a rifle or buckshot, but a little trickier with a bow and arrow.

It is easy to spook the deer and thus the shot may be too far for a bow, but we have in fact killed deer with our bows employing this method so we were sort of confident of our skills. Well, Allan was confident. I usually just flung arrows at running deer. With that much flinging going on, sometimes I would end up needing to purchase more arrows after returning home as mine were lost in the woods and brush.

I think I remember that on one trip back in the 1970s, we had to drive to Truax’s Mercantile in Gillette for new arrows during the hunting trip as we had run low from missing so much.

This particular morning, I had been slipping around for about an hour. About twenty minutes into the hunt, a medium size doe had run out in front of me and slowed to a walk. I raised my bow and shot. Per my usual, a clean miss.

I decided to head back to the right-of-way which would put me about three hundred yards from the truck. I was going to get a drink and consume some more breakfast, marked down day-old cupcakes, and then head back out.

As I stepped into the open, a rabbit hopped out right in front of me and stopped. The little bunny was about six or seven steps in front of me and motionless. I eased up my bow and twang/boom, I pinned him to the ground. I gathered him up and headed for the truck.

I cleaned and dressed my game, wrapped it in plastic, and put it in the ice chest. (Gutted and skinned the rabbit for the un-politically correct.) I now knew what we would be adding to supper tonight. Fried rabbit is great and it does not taste like chicken.

After another couple of hours of meandering through the woods, missing another doe and letting a buck outsmart me, I was ready for lunch. I met Allan at the truck and we drove back to camp. While we were eating, as our custom, we would each describe the morning hunt.

Allan had seen several but had taken no shots. I dramatically retold my adventure of missing two deer. I received a smirk and a head shake from my partner. It was enough to hurt a lesser person’s feelings. I suddenly remembered the rabbit. I relayed that information in hopes of getting a kudo or something. I just knew he would be impressed. I was wrong. “We ain’t huntin’ rabbits,” he reminded me.

Thirty minutes later, we were back at our special area of mixed woods and underbrush along the river. We went our separate ways while planning on meeting back at the truck about dark.

I only missed one deer that afternoon. Probably about an hour into the hunt. It was about twenty yards right in front of me. She was completely broadside to me. The only problem was that she was behind a few trees. There was a gap between two trees that exposed her vitals, right behind her front shoulder. Perfect. All I had to do was shoot between the two trees.

The gap was about eight inches wide. That should be an easy shot. I drew my bow and twang/thud. My arrow was stuck into the tree on the left. She was gone of course, and not letting me have a second chance. I was unable to remove the broadhead from the tree, but I use screw in tips so I recovered the arrow.

About a half hour later, guess who hopped out right in front of me? Yeah, Peter Cottontail. I zinged him and put him in my pouch pocket. I remember smiling and shaking my head. I mean, this is getting ridiculous. How can I hit the rabbit every time and can’t hit one measly deer? The answer remains unclear to this day.

It was now sundown and time to head back. As soon as I returned to the clearing which led to the truck, there was another one. No, not a deer but another rabbit. It just kept sitting there right in front of me. I raised my bow, drew my string, and let fly. Again, and as before, pinned to the ground. Three rabbits in one day, with my bow. Then I remembered, three deer in one day, missed with my bow.

Old what’s his name did his best to downplay my feat at supper for missing all those deer. (As he feasted on my rabbits.) It didn’t work. I was feeling pretty special and proud of myself. Not everyone is known for harvesting (Killing) rabbits with a bow and arrow. “This must be how Fred Bear feels all the time,” I thought to myself.

Yeah, me and ol’ Fred, we are kinda like spiritual buddies. I even remember thinking that Ted Nugent would be proud of me. But of course, my earthly buddies only want to focus on the negative and label me as a poor shot with a bow.

Hey, I don’t even argue that point. I know I have missed many more deer than I have killed with my bow. Big hooie! I had fun trying.

The facts are the facts: Terry, the notorious rabbit slayer.

 

Scroll back to the first picture. What do you think the M on the hat stands for?

a) Master Hunter

b) McHenry Creek

c) Martindale

d) McLunker Man

e) All the Above

 

Thanks for your time. Your next thought should be like and share. (A comment would be nice.)

Also, I’ve had some good feedback about my third book, The 99 Truths of Life.

You can find it on my website. Click on it and Amazon let’s you read the intro and a couple of chapters for free. You won’t be disappointed.