Patience with his First TRAD kill!

B.O.D. · March 03, 2007, 03:43:00 PM

I was invited up to Nick's place to chase some big snowshoes ON snowshoes...first time in alot of years that I pulled out the ash and rawhide; man my hips are a bit tight now!
We got into tracks right away, and after about 15 min. I was looking into a big cedar tree and spotted a slight movement.
A big old buck snowshoe was holed up in there.
I told Nick that I would shoot to try to get him to move, there was now way that I could have squeaked an arrow in there.
I shot and to my surprise it whacked the tree an inch from his head!
He squirted out the other side to the next big tree. The snow is almost hip deep in there so the low branches of the cedar form a barrier for the bunnies.
Nick told me that he had a shot , I went to the backside of the tree in case the bunny came my way. Nick shot, the rabbit squealed and I was elated!!! Nick had whacked his first.
He was trying to crawl away out the backside of the tree, a tapered ash tipped with a 160 gr hex blunt changed his mind..

It hit him somewhere and slowed him up, another hex through the back of his neck and he was done.
Nick's arrow was the killer shot though, and it was his first trad kill!!
BD

vermonster13 · March 03, 2007, 03:45:00 PM

Congratulations!

B.O.D. · March 03, 2007, 03:49:00 PM

Nick ( patience) and I heading out, you can't see it, but we are strapped with ash and rawhide snowshoes..

buck-tamer00 · March 03, 2007, 03:51:00 PM

that is the biggest snowshoe i've ever seen!!!!!!!!!

B.O.D. · March 03, 2007, 03:58:00 PM

We hunted real hard, saw lots of tracks and spooked up some more snowshoes, no more shots would come from it though.
I was real happy to be with Nick to celebrate his first Trad kill, it made my day!

He hung the rabbit in the tree while we hunted on; when we came back I saw a lot of bunny fur everywhere... :( ...Seems some ravens had found it, pulled it down and and had pecked a small hole in his butt..we saved almost all of the rabbit though!
Here is Nick doing the dirty part of the job with his trusy old schrade.

BD

B.O.D. · March 03, 2007, 03:59:00 PM

Yeah, he was a big old buck for sure, real stinky too...

BD

Tradesmen4 · March 03, 2007, 04:07:00 PM

Hey Nick what make recurve is that.

buck-tamer00 · March 03, 2007, 04:13:00 PM

of all places the ravens picked it butt!?!???

woodchucker · March 03, 2007, 04:39:00 PM

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

ishiwannabe · March 03, 2007, 04:49:00 PM

Thats cool.I have always wanted to hunt the snowshoe...on snowshoes seems real cool. Nice shooting guys.

Stone Knife · March 03, 2007, 04:49:00 PM

That's a jumbo bunny! I wish we had those around here, How do they taste? Not like chicken i hope

Luke Vander Vennen · March 03, 2007, 09:58:00 PM

Alright Nick!! I bet he's still smiling :D

Izzy · March 03, 2007, 10:34:00 PM

HooRah!Nice looks like you guys had some real fun.Awsome to share it with a good friend.

B.O.D. · March 04, 2007, 07:06:00 AM

Trademen4, that would be an AIM Impala, they sell them in 3Rivers for under 200 bucks.
BD

Tradesmen4 · March 04, 2007, 07:10:00 AM

Thanks it look like a Patriot I have. Congrats on the bunny.

houseman · March 04, 2007, 07:14:00 AM

Nice job!! It's good to get that first one out of the way, and a bunny to. WOW!!!

northern fisher · March 04, 2007, 07:38:00 AM

way to go Nick
Get good at hitting those"little bunnies" and a big old dumb deer sould be easy,right????

recurver · March 04, 2007, 07:45:00 AM

Yeah This time of year they are stinky. Them bucks are traveling mating season. I think they smell worse than a rutting whitetail. Stone Knife keep looking they are starting to make a come back in NY. I have more of them than cotton tails. Nick congrats on a really nice hare.

Bryan

Seeza · March 04, 2007, 08:03:00 AM

Congrats Nick
Awesome Bigfoot.
Seeza

Patience · March 04, 2007, 11:15:00 AM

Thanks all, not what I was expecting for my first trad harvest but hey take what we are given. Cary, sent the hare around the cedar and it just sat there. Not a big target when they are sitting face on. I had about an eight inch hole to shoot through and I focused on his black nose. It was only about a 10 yard shot, it's trying to squeeze your arrow through the branches that makes it hard. I put the arrow through the front left shoulder all the way to the back hip. Cary and I were both surprised to see this guy run away with an arrow sticking out both ends. I don't how he got off the arrow, but he made a b-line to the next cedars. He was a tough old hare. I forgot how much fun chasing bunnies was. To be honest this snowshoe felt the same as the first one I ever harvested. I hadn't hunted them in about 5 years and back then it was with a shotgun. Yes it stunk pretty good. Someone asked about the eating, they all taste good you just need to cook accordingly. This one (what's left)will be going in the slow cooker;-). The only downside to the day was that we didn't get more. The tracks were everywhere.