For those of you who still hunt, do you still hunt with an arrow nocked? Do you carry one in your hand? At what point do YOU nock an arrow on your string?
Just curious. I've kept them all in a quiver for safety sake and have only seen does thus far so it hasn't mattered. But I keep wondering what if one were a buck. Could I get an arrow ready quietly if one of those does had been a buck? So I'm curious what some of you do while still hunting.
I leave one in the quiver until I see something. I do most of my stillhunting when it snows, and you never know for sure what ice covered log or branch is right there waiting to trip you. I'd rather be extracting an arrow from a deer than my leg.
Nocked
I tend to have an arrow out. But I'm extra cautious about where I put my feet. My dad put a broadhead through his hand once. I've seen just how vicious they can be. I like to think it slows me down just a touch, which can help in being quieter.
You do what you feel is safe, if you have commen sense use it. Remember your the one that will pay if anything goes wrong.
Solo stalker
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Nocked in high odds areas. In areas with low probability or difficult terrain I keep them in the quiver. I use a back quiver but sling it across the front with the fletching on my right side (right handed). Worked for me this year when i killed a hog. Was able to easily draw the arrow and nock it.
solo stalker as well!
Nocked, for the same reason there is a chambered round in my .45
My humble opinion is safety first. So I keep them in the quiver until a shot is eminent. But that's me.
Bow quiver is where I keep mine, I've fallen enough times in the mountains to know that's the only actually safe way. If you use a back quiver, might be harder to get one out quiet enough to keep from alerting the deer and you might want to think about getting a single arrow stalking quiver for your bow.
Mature does, harder then those boys!
In the quiver. I've fallen too many times to be walking around with a nocked arrow.
Bow quiver until game is spotted or if I feel a shot may be immanent.
I have a custom side quiver of my own design that allows a very stealthy arrow extraction. When I am moving the arrows stay in the quiver. If I stop to call (elk) or for any length of time to observe I'll nock an arrow. I don't fall often but it does happen and the thought of a sharp broadhead waving around when I do gives me the whillies.
In the quiver, safety first.
In the quiver.
However, that sort of cost me a dandy buck last Thursday evening. I say "sort of" because I probably couldn't have maneuvered through the brush with one nocked. I eased up on him as he was raking a tree. 15 yards broadside. He seen me as I was extracting an arrow from my quiver. He was a toad!
I do as others have said, nock one when I stop.
When moving I have a one arrow bow quiver. I don't move with an exposed broadhead unless the deer is in sight. The other four broadheads I carry are in my Jack Bower's side-stalker (plus a blunt). When I pause for a while (or from a stand) I nock one from out of the side quiver and keep the single on the bow as a back-up.
I used to just use a Selway Piggy-backer slit in half and tied on the lower limb fade-out and a Solo-Stalker broadhead sheath on the upper. Now I'm using an Alaska Archery clip and sheath (St. Jude's Auction). Fancier but similar function.
It also quiets the bow a bit (Browning Wasp) when the single arrow & sheath is attached.
QuoteOriginally posted by frank bullitt:
Mature does, harder then those boys!
That's what I hear. And it gives me some confidence, for sure. Meat is meat to me -- I don't care either way. But such is the way it is out here. I'll get my chance at a doe hunt on the coast after Thanksgiving.
QuoteOriginally posted by The Whittler:
You do what you feel is safe, if you have commen sense use it. Remember your the one that will pay if anything goes wrong.
Indeed! I'm the only one with my own "skin in the game" when it come to how I handle my equipment.
I have a single arrow quiver mounted on my bow. It stays there until I see a deer, or if I sit for a while I will nock one from my side quiver.
Usually in bowquiver, although it cost me a not being able to get an arrow on the string fast enough. That if I hunt with recurve. Lately it's been my LB and side quiver especially here with such ankle busting terrain.
If you stumble and fall on the wrong area you can bleed out in 30 seconds. So, it is each hunters own personal decision. Some may not get a second chance. Not worth the risk until shot is immanent. Solo stalker or another quiver that allows arrow retrieval quickly, quietly and with little sideways movement.
Still Hunting,..... How fast ya going?
Depends on the situation, but when the arrow is on the bow string, it is pointing away. If you slip, it can be tossed. If the arrow is in your hand, in many situations, it is easier to fall on. On steep slopes and difficult cover, the quiver is the best place for the arrow. But really, it is not that difficult to safely walk and chew gum many times.
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
Depends on the situation, but when the arrow is on the bow string, it is pointing away. If you slip, it can be tossed. If the arrow is in your hand, in many situations, it is easier to fall on. On steep slopes and difficult cover, the quiver is the best place for the arrow. But really, it is not that difficult to safely walk and chew gum many times.
I'd also add, if you are slipping and stumbling, you are probably moving WAY to fast for still hunting. Otherwise, what Pavan said!
QuoteOriginally posted by frank bullitt:
Still Hunting,..... How fast ya going?
Me? Not fast at all. Even calling it slow would be an exaggeration of speed. Never really clocked it. A couple of weeks ago, while on the coast, I took about 3 hours to go about a quarter mile on flat ground following paths in the sage brush. The little health app on my iphone doesn't even register that I'm moving. As I understand still hunting, the idea is to mostly be still, taking only a few, slow, careful steps at a time and then spending several minutes looking around.
It seems the technique of many bowhunters around Iowa use is the charge in, jump on every possible branch and log to see if it will snap, bend fence wires until they are screaming in agony, clank on this, hack out that, check the cell phone message that just rang, clatter up a tree, bang on stuff to make sure it is secure then, it's STATUE TIME, shh, don't move, don't turn your head, don't blink, a deer may see you. There is a time for stealth and a time for travel and a time for stealthy travel.
In the quiver ... a bowhunter in WA was killed a few years back when his hunting partner stuck him in the ass with a nocked arrow. I'll nock an arrow on the final stock and NEVER when someone is near me.
Can't let this go past without comment despite only just signing up.
Had a moment a month or so ago where I was sitting watching a mob of goats just out of bow range on a steep rocky/brushy slope. Had an arrow nocked ready to go if they drifted into range and put my bow down to grab a photo. The bow was facing downhill and somehow the arrow flicked round over the string some 180deg uphill and the broadhead whacked me on the nose.
(https://i.imgur.com/JdhLr3X.jpg)
Lucky for me it was a fairly light cut and didn't need anything more than a band aid for a day or two, but an inch either way and it would have taken my eye out, or a couple lower and I would have been eating soup through a straw with a split lip or blowing my nose sideways.
From now on I'll be only having a nocked arrow when I'm ready to shoot with two hands on the bow!
Steve
I used to, but I pretty much gave up the spot and stalk approach to hunting. Now I hunt almost exclusively from stands, so I carry all my arrows in the quiver. Yes, I stuck myself once in the old days when carrying arrows in a Qwikee-Quiver without a cover. That one does NOT fall under the classification of common sense.
Looks like a pretty good example from Steve on the unexpected.
Missing a chance at a deer is a small thing really. Coming home safe is the best reward.
When you're close enough to shoot you have to be pretty still, a nocked arrow should (note the should) be safe enough.
Always, have the highest respect of sharp objects!
QuoteOriginally posted by flyonline:
Can't let this go past without comment despite only just signing up.
Had a moment a month or so ago where I was sitting watching a mob of goats just out of bow range on a steep rocky/brushy slope. Had an arrow nocked ready to go if they drifted into range and put my bow down to grab a photo. The bow was facing downhill and somehow the arrow flicked round over the string some 180deg uphill and the broadhead whacked me on the nose.
(https://i.imgur.com/JdhLr3X.jpg)
Lucky for me it was a fairly light cut and didn't need anything more than a band aid for a day or two, but an inch either way and it would have taken my eye out, or a couple lower and I would have been eating soup through a straw with a split lip or blowing my nose sideways.
From now on I'll be only having a nocked arrow when I'm ready to shoot with two hands on the bow!
Steve
Jesus. Murphy's Law hey.
Nocked, unless I'm working through heavy brush or difficult terrain.
Sharp objects are dangerous. Keeping your broad heads covered isn't as foolproof as it seems. I've had broad head arrows fall out of my bow quivers after successive shots. A branch can catch on an arrow and pull it off the holder and out of the foam. You take a tumble down a hill with a back quiver full of broad heads, chances are pretty good at least one will come out.
Your best assurance for safety if your concerned would be hunting the way you want, knowing personal first aid, and carrying quick clot, bandages and a tourniquet.
What can go wrong, will.
I think it was either Howard Hill or John Schultz's that said, "If you don't have an arrow on the string you're not hunting you're just going for a walk"
Some years ago I was walking back to my truck after sitting in a stand most of the morning. I had an arrow on the string of my longbow as I was walking across a field of knee high grass. Two bucks jumped up in front of me, one going straight away, the other went to my left bounding over the grass. I drew the bow as I swung up following the buck and the arrow was on it's way taking the buck through the heart. It happened fast without thought. If I hadn't had the arrow nocked and ready I never would have had time to make the shot.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQByna3Dlq9E2h2c2Lt2zUSyzF_iEgA3FG0tWwGZMSkiP7VvW1u)
One day hunting with Toad Smith in a corn field, He was going to work the west half and i was going to work the east half. I heard a deer and carefully moved across to the next row. Toad heard a deer and carefully advance to the next row. Then we both heard a deer and stepped into the next row with our bows half drawn, we were stalking each other. To bad we cannot hunt deer with HTMs it would be way safer.
I hold the arrow in my bow hand with the broadhead in a "solo stalker" I have tied to the upper limb.
In the quiver. While it is isn't certain because there were no witnesses, a fellow was found dead near St. Louis about 20 years ago of an arrow wound...his own arrow. Folks surmised that he fell on it.
I usually keep one nocked. Then again I also ride a motorcycle, drink too much, and consume a steady diet of red meat.