LAST UPDATED: May 1st, 2015
There are some days when you actually have a moment to sit, take a breath, drink a cup of coffee and look back over the past year and think about what exciting hunts this New Year has to offer.
I look back and think about the first turkey I was able to shoot with my bow while hunting in South Carolina. It was an amazing hunt. My husband and I watched these gobblers for 4 days, out of the blind, strutting at the opposite end of the field. We moved our blind in the afternoon and the gobblers mocked us by moving to where the blind was in the morning. The 4th afternoon, we lucked up and got close enough that I could get one with my Mathews Jewel. My first shot at 23 yards and Mr. Gobbler went down. I found harvesting a turkey with a bow to be more satisfying than with a shotgun. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t turn down a turkey with my shotgun. However, taking the time to aim with my bow and seeing the arrow make contact with that gobbler provided me with a sense of accomplishment that I have not experienced before when shooting one with a shotgun.
My first gobbler with a bow taken in SC from the blind in April 2013
Later in the year, in September, when we traveled to Wyoming to hunt elk with Table Mountain Outfitters, I was prepared for a long, hard elk hunt, along with a container of Dramamine. In 2012, I tagged along with my husband for his elk hunt with TMO and it was a long, hard, and heart-pounding, in your face; push you to the limit 6 days of stalking elk. In addition to that, I was lucky enough to experience altitude sickness on the third day of his hunt. Which luckily, guide Dustin Decroo was nice enough to allow me to suffer in silence in the back seat of his truck while him and my husband stalked elk.
Amazing, majestic elk taken with bow with Table Mountain Outfitters in September 2013
The first morning of my elk hunt was the first day in over 7 days that it was not raining. I stated that I was just a ray of sunshine bringing the Florida sun with me. The camera man, also being from the south, said he was grateful I had arrived and finally brought that Florida sunshine with us! Within the first hour of arriving at the ranch we spotted a herd of elk walking 100 yards from the truck. We got out and within 45 minutes of pulling into the spot, I had shot my first elk at 23 yards. What a beautiful and majestic animal the elk is. I never realized how truly large they are but they are even bigger in person.
Sunrise of a new day – What does 2014 hold?
I don’t know what 2014 has in store for me however I know that with a turkey and elk taken in 2013 with my bow, it can only get better. So what hunts and harvests do you value most from 2013 and what do you look forward to hunting in 2014?
