Overcoming the intimidation of bowhunting

Go ahead and take that leap

When I first got into deer hunting, I only had experience hunting with guns. I had always found bowhunting intriguing though. However, the thoughts of bowhunting were so intimidating and challenging to me, I never thought I would be able to do it.

I would see these female hunters on social media or television using a compound bow, and I always thought it would be amazing to have that ability. For years, I wanted to learn archery and bowhunting, but I was too intimidated by all the different aspects you must learn when first getting into archery and hunting with a compound bow. Talking about archery used to sound like a foreign language to me. All the parts of a bow, the specifications of arrows, broadheads, etc. I was clueless. But, I finally mustered up the courage to go to a local archery shop, and boy, I’m glad I did.

Getting started

The guys at the archery shop took my measurements and got me fit for a bow. I just bought a “beginner’s bow,” because I was still intimidated, and I doubted myself big time, if I’m being honest. I didn’t want to drop thousands of dollars into it. Not just yet.

I decided to purchase a $400 set up from Diamond Archery by Bowtech. They gave me some tips and advice at the archery shop, and I began to practice every day for hours. Within a little less than a month, I got my first Robinhood. I was beyond excited! I never thought I would be decent within 3 or 4 weeks, much less getting my first Robinhood.

Plenty of practice

Don’t get me wrong, I practiced for hours every single day. It was hard, frustrating, and challenging, but it was well worth it. To this day, more than 6 years later, I still don’t regret picking up a bow and finding my love and passion for archery. One main reason is because that eventually led to my love for bowhunting. Archery hunting is challenging, and can be extremely humbling at times. But it’s the challenge that drives me to continue.

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows though. I have been humbled more times than I can count. I’ve made too many mistakes to count, things both in my control and out of my control.

Between the deer outsmarting me (it gets difficult when the deer are 15 to 30 yards from you), choosing the wrong broadheads, tracking deer, or misjudging the shot and completely missing the deer, I have learned so much from my many mistakes. But that’s the beauty of bowhunting, it’s frustrating and challenging, but you learn so much from every mistake and every success.

Staying grounded

On top of learning to bowhunt, I started hunting strictly from ground blinds. That was really challenging. I was used to hunting deer that were 100 to 200 yards away while in tree stands or elevated blinds, and then I went to hunting deer 15 to 30 yards in front of me while I sat in a ground blind. From the very first time, and even now, it is a whole different level of adrenaline having a deer come that close to you, especially a target buck, or for me even a doe, that I am choosing to shoot.

That was probably one of the most challenging experiences, because you can’t practice how the adrenaline is going to impact your body and your shot when that big buck or doe steps in front of you at 40 yards or less while bowhunting. That is something you start to learn from firsthand experience.

All of these things combined have taught me to have a lot of patience, ambition, determination, and overcoming the challenges. Even now, I am still learning new things, and overcoming adversity, on almost every hunt.

Give it a shot

This will be my sixth season archery hunting come Sept. 15 in South Carolina’s Game Zone 2, and I am itching to get out there again.

I’ve been blessed enough to harvest several bucks and does over the past several years with my bows. I know a lot of people who have zero interest in bowhunting or archery, several people in my family are like that, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with hunting with rifles, crossbows, etc. But being that young lady that was interested in bowhunting, but too scared to take that leap, I decided to share my story as an encouragement with everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a young child, an adult, female, or male – if you have possibly had an interest in archery or bowhunting, I strongly encourage you to take that leap.

I won’t sugarcoat it because it can be, and at times it will be, challenging and humbling. However, at the same time, bowhunting and archery can be rewarding, fun, and it will help make unforgettable memories. ■