neverlaideyesonhimagain.I never
foundhimdead,or heardof anyoneelse
fi ndinghimor killinghimintherif le
season.He vanished.
Toaddinsulttoinjury,I feel likeI
mademultiplerookiemistakes.First,
withthestrongwinds,I shouldhave
coveredanother10,if not20 yardsfora
cl osershot.Second,I shouldhavetaken
the timeto rangehimandknowtheex-
actyardage.I hadallday,andhe would
have stoodagain.Lastly,aftertheshot,
I shouldhavemovedimmediatelysoI
couldseeintothewoodeddrainage,or
whereI couldat leastseeif thebuckes-
caped.Typically,if youkeepyoureyeson
a woundedmuledeer,he willbeddown
andgiveyoua secondopportunity.In-
stead,I layin theCRPgrass,relivingthe
shot.Neverspottingthedeeragain,nev-
erfindingmyarrow,nevergettingany
cl osureto this“ugly”scenario.I learned
manylessonsfromthishuntthatI hope
toneverreliveagain.
I willquicklysummarizetherestof
myfallandtheresultsof thetagsI listed
inthebeginningof thisstory.I squan-
dereda greatopportunitytotaga buck
inColoradobybeingpassive.ThenI
misseda greatopportunityat a mature
whitetailonthelastdayof theseasonin
Kansas.I won’tgo intoall thedetails,but
itwasaslam-dunk,andlackof prepa-
rationand experiencehunting froma
groundblindresultedinmy struggling
toseemy sightpin,whichcostme dearly.
I endedmy dreamseasoninNewMex-
icoafterthefirstof theyear.The hunt
wasprettyuneventful,as mostof bucks
wefoundwereonprivateland.Buton
thelastdayof my hunt,I hadtwovery
closeencounterswitha solidbuck.I was
withinrangebothtimes,butI wasnever
ableto geta shotthroughthebrush.
Asgoodas myfallstartedwithmy
elkandpronghornsuccess,it fadedinto
oblivion.AllI canfocusonis thebad,
andespeciallytheugly.Bowhunting
doesn’talwaysgoas planned,soI have
toregroup,moveon,andlearnfrommy
mistakes.Whenredemptionhappens,
andI promiseit will,it willbe thatmuch
sweeter!
Theauthoris a regularContributorwholivesin
Gr ainfield,Kansas,withhis wifeandchildren.
AUTHOR’SNOTE:
Inthe 2018 season,I usedHoytHyperForceand
CarbonRX-1bows,GoldTipPiercePlatinumarrows,
RageTrypanbroadheads,SpotHoggsights,Lumenok
lightednocks,TightSpotquiver,Zeiss 1 0x42HTbinocu-
larsandVictoryDiaScope 2 0x60-85FLspottingscope,
andSitkaGearclothing.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
My Kansas pronghorn hunt went from lackluster to blockbluster when this buck decided to ac-
cept my “challenge” and run into bow range.
IF YOU’RE A RUN-AND-GUN,
PUBLIC-LAND-TREKKING, HUNT-AS-
YOU-GO HANG-AND-BANGER , THEN
YOU’RE ONE OF US! WE ACCEPT
THE CHALLENGE TO OUTSMART
THE PREY. WE HAVE A SYSTEM.
IT’S A NO-BULL, LIGHT, FAST, AND
SIMPLE SYSTEM AS ADAPTABLE
TO CHANGE AS WE ARE. CHOOSE
SIMPLE. CHOOSE WILD EDGE.
WILDEDGEINC.COM
ThePerch
The SteppLadder
YOUR LEADER IN
MOBILE HUNTING
