I've been pretty bummed since I killed "OOPS". It doesn't help that he wasn't as large-antlered as I thought, but I would have felt the same if he had been a 150.
So today I got a package from Three Rivers. Had some arrows and such in there. Got me back in the right frame of mind, so I went out in the shop and grabbed my Dad's old recurve. My mother gave it to him 52 years ago this Christmas. I've missed a couple of deer with it, and Dad did too, but it has never killed one. Over the last couple of years I've half-heartedly tried to fill a tag with it. Well, after shooting it today, and now that I have NO buck tag, I suddenly cannot wait to get out in the woods with this thing! It's a fairly short one, 58", Ted Williams series bow. M.R. James did some checking for me a couple years ago and found out through Joe St. Charles (Glenn St Charles' son) that they were manufactured by Bear Archery for sale through Montgomery Ward and Sears with the Ted Williams brand on them. It's actually a Bear Grizzly by design, but the name is not on it. When I first showed it to Hoot, he knew exactly what it was
. So anyway, my fire just got re-lit! It didn't take long to get myself shooting pretty well with that old bow again. Took a pic of a 20 yard group... Pretty darn consistent with it, and it's a joy to shoot at only 50#, quiet too. I think I'm gonna try to get one with it on the ground over at the Ross Co farm where I killed my doe. Gonna be fun, this season aint over!