2020 Cold Bow Challenge Question/Comment Thread

[robby denning]

You think it's hard to follow him?


Imagine being in his shoes and exposing yourself on the internet like this. Granted the guy can shoot under pressure, but I doubt I'd be doing it if I were him. Good on Randy.

I'd invited Randy back in February and he jumped right on the invitation, but that was pre-covid lockdown so when everyone got stuck home, me and staff decided to start early to give everyone an outlet but Randy missed my text that we were starting 4 weeks early.

By the time I clarified with him, he only had a week to get ready! He hadn't shot in a few months but wanted to support the cause. Kudos to him as no complaints and just made it happen. And of course he's in the 10 ring on day one.

 

[BRTreedogs]

If I do make it, I may just grab the still dirty arrow with mechanical that went thru a deer last yr and go straight cold bore haven't even drew my bow in 2020.
Well see

 

[robby denning]

If I do make it, I may just grab the still dirty arrow with mechanical that went thru a deer last yr and go straight cold bore haven't even drew my bow in 2020.
Well see

Do it!!! ahahahahahah

 

[robby denning]

Somebody just asked a good question: "Robby, do I need to leave the arrow in my target or can I pull it? I looked in the Q and A thread and didn't see anything that mentioned it."

You can pull it, some guys like to leave all 5 in the target, but many of us don't have that many practice broadheads!

 

[Howard Mee]

I can't wait to get back home and get started. Kinda already have my nerves up.

I NEVER work day shifts. I’m almost 100% night shift.
Spent today riding a bobcat making our yard.
I work DAYS tomorrow...
I might have to take my bow and target to work tomorrow and shoot at the airport
I agree with you. I can’t wait.
Also, wasn’t nervous about any of this until I saw Randy Ulmer was watching


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[Howard Mee]

I saw Randy post and thought, "well there's no way in hell I'm following him, I'll give it a few minutes."

I totally agree!!


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[Travis Bertrand]

Reminder, post a pic or it doesn't count! your post WILL BE DELETED. You are not allowed to hold a spot and shoot tomorrow.

 

[Fatcamp]

Part 2

At this point I knew I should back out. There was no chance to get closer and the sun was about to set. Still, I just couldn't stop looking at them. All I had was my eyes above the berm looking through grass but they knew something was up and after a few minutes went up and over the cliff behind them. Seeing them top out over that cliff backlit by the sun was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my time out of doors. As soon as they were out of sight I boogied for their bed and followed them over the cliff. My hope was that I could somehow cut the distance but the mesa on top was bare and I really knew at that point I was in their bedroom and screwing up big time. As I turned around to loop back to my backpack I saw another 4X4 feeding at about 100 yards. He was upwind and had no idea I was there, a perfect opportunity for a stalk. I had a small bluff in between us that allowed me to get to 60 yards or so and crawled to 45 using the time when he had his head down feeding to move. He wasn't the deer I had jumped out of the grass earlier, but he was a dang nice 4X4 in full velvet at 45 yards slightly uphill from me on my knees with a nocked arrow and camo from head to toe.
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So just to back up a bit. I started shooting the 1 arrow MER challenge when it began. The 2019 session I settled on 45 yards off my knees as my MER and made that shot hundreds if not thousands of times. Very confident in my ability at that distance off my knees at any angle. I just knew I had this. Not a doubt in my mind. Ya, well......
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Here is where the fun begins. At some point in my stalk of the two big bucks I had pressed the settings button on my Vortex rangefinder and somehow turned of the angle compensation. Not a good design in my opinion. That problem allowed a tiny bit of doubt to enter my mind. As the next minute played out a few things came into play. 1. That angle thing messed with my head.
2. I hadn't ever even drawn on a deer before with a bow.
3. That 45 yard shot required me to gap pins under pressure and honestly I kind of forgot all about it.
From this point forward I cannot say for sure exactly where I went wrong. I think this is what happened. When I drew on that deer my mind was focused on the angle thing and just did not follow my pin gap for a 45 yard shot. I'm pretty sure I settled my 40 yard pin which with the uphill shot shouldn't have mattered, but what did matter is where I placed that pin. I never shot at deer targets with the vital zone outlined. A couple times with a paper target but they got shredded and I just went back to a circle. I am pretty sure I put my pin on the center of his ribcage. I was very calm. Draw, anchor, level, settle my pin, squeeze, watch the arrow. It all went as it should. I heard the hit, he donkey kicked, and ran off. I honestly thought he was dead. This beautiful deer I had put so much effort into was about to grace the pages of my favorite forum and hang on my wall to remember the memory forever. So I thought. I ran to a small bluff and watched him run off. In hindsight when he stopped at 80 yards I should have arrowed him again. I know I could have gotten one into him and should have right then. He was stunned and not moving so I figured he was about to tip over. Then he started to move off. Ugh. I knew that was bad. I hustled back to my pack at got as high as I could to watch him. By this point it was getting dim and I could see better with my eyes than my binoculars. I watched him until it was dark and then took the walk of shame back to camp. He never bed while I had eyes on him.
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After a long night and countless replays my wife and I headed back. I knew where I had last seen him and checked for blood but could not find a trail. I went back and found my arrow which showed a pass through with no stomach contents, just blood from broadhead to vanes. After meeting back with my wife we headed downhill towards a set of low hills to the south. This field of grass was huge and waist high. The odds of finding this deer were slim but I was committed to it. We made it to the hills and started slowly walking and glassing along the ridge, it seemed like my only chance to find him. And it worked. I actually found that deer a mile away bedded in the grass at the bottom of a hill. I was looking down into all the little nooks and crannies and he was just laying there. As my eyes came over that top though he looked right up at me, and he was magnificent. Way better than I had realized the night before. So for mistake #87 I realize in hindsight I should have shot that deer from right there. When he looked at me though I was afraid that if I tried to range him and then get in position to shoot he would bolt. At this point he still had no idea a person was involved in what had happened to him. He didn't know what was going on, but had no idea I had put an arrow in him. The obvious solution in hindsight is to just sit down and wait for a bit until it seemed appropriate to get a range and a shot off from where I was. For me at the time though it made more sense to loop around and come in from downwind and just shoot him again. At that point he was 45 yards away but I wouldn't know that until it was all over.
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I made the loop and kept closing in until I was waaay too close. Once on his level all I could see were his antlers. I closed to 12 yards and still couldn't see anything but his antlers and the back of his head. Ugh. I felt stuck. he either heard or sensed something and rotated his head all the way around and looked me in the eye. And then this deer that I thought was fatally wounded leaped out of his bed and tore off across the prairie. He stopped once and looked over his shoulder while facing away at 80 yards and then bounced off out of my life forever. Could not believe it. Just could not believe I had screwed this up so many times on so many levels. It wore me out. I replayed the whole scenario out in my mind uncountable times. The one good thing about it is I honestly think he lived. I think I hit him low and back and ran my arrow through his brisket. He was sore, but the blood in his bed was dry and he was moving just fine.
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I had to get home. School was calling and now he knew he was being hunted. The soonest I could be back was 2 weeks and I was on edge the whole time. When I got back I got as high as I could and glassed for hours looking for any sign that he had been eaten by coyotes. I found nothing and as I felt he lived continued to hunt for the day and a half I had left. I stalked a fork horn to 17 yards, another to 35, and a big old bedded 3X4 to 45 who never gave me a shot. Then it was over. I was entering the final months of school and really could not give this any more time. It's been awhile now. I am still bothered by it but the lessons I learned were tough those days and will stick with me forever. I know I'm on the right track. I wouldn't be getting as close to these deer as I am if I wasn't. Still looking to get my first archery kill under my belt, though.
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So there it is. I have replayed this thing countless times and beat myself up pretty good over it. Most of it I just chalk up to experience. My big game experience has all been either solo or with my wife and only for a few years, all of which involve us being in school and transitioning to a new marriage for both of us. We have done well and get better every day we are in the field. Thankfully I have plenty of friends who have similar stories, and I have read many here so I know that I am not alone in this situation, but still, this one was mine, and it stung, deeply.

 

[jfs82]

Didnt know we started early this year! Im assuming its maxed out, but Ill be doing it alongside (won't post to limit confusion sake), loved this practice last year.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

Didnt know we started early this year! Im assuming its maxed out, but Ill be doing it alongside (won't post to limit confusion sake), loved this practice last year.

Click the link in post 1. It is not maxed out as it just opened.


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[robby denning]

@Bill V from Ironwill just put up a 3-pack of the new Wide Series Broadheads

 

[bjfoxhoven]

Thanks for setting this all up @robby denning! And thanks for all the sponsors for helping to make it happen and offering up some awesome prizes. Everyone will come out a better archer though and be better prepared for this fall. Never would have guessed Randy Ulmer was going to be a part of this.

 

[robby denning]

Thanks for setting this all up @robby denning! And thanks for all the sponsors for helping to make it happen and offering up some awesome prizes. Everyone will come out a better archer though and be better prepared for this fall. Never would have guessed Randy Ulmer was going to be a part of this.

Well you’re welcome. And thanks for being a part of it. Randy believes in the cause. He was one of the people to put the original concept out there years ago through articles and interviews. We are super thankful for his support


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[bjfoxhoven]

Well you’re welcome. And thanks for being a part of it. Randy believes in the cause.


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Well I’ve been trying to practice with broadheads a lot more lately, but this really steps up the difficulty adding the single, somewhat pressure filled shot. And on another note, I would love to hear some conversations between you and randy... definitely two of the greats to hunt mule deer.

Have a great weekend.
Brady

 

[robby denning]

Well I’ve been trying to practice with broadheads a lot more lately, but this really steps up the difficulty adding the single, somewhat pressure filled shot. And on another note, I would love to hear some conversations between you and randy... definitely two of the greats to hunt mule deer.

Have a great weekend.
Brady

thank you and me too.


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[cody21peterson]

Robby I was thinking it would be cool to post a video for my 5th shoot. I think I’ve seen that before in some past challenges. Would that be allowed or photos only?


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[skyler_2010]

Robby I was thinking it would be cool to post a video for my 5th shoot. I think I’ve seen that before in some past challenges. Would that be allowed or photos only?


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I think that's how Robby does his shots

 

[TX_Diver]

Ugh. I cut my serving off to re-serve this morning and then came up to find the challenge open. At that point I'd already taken a few shots to re-check everything!!!

I assume that means I'm out for today? Really hope spot #200 is still open tomorrow!

 

[Fatcamp]

Ugh. I cut my serving off to re-serve this morning and then came up to find the challenge open. At that point I'd already taken a few shots to re-check everything!!!

I assume that means I'm out for today? Really hope spot #200 is still open tomorrow!

Join the club. My rest malfunctioned this morning and I spent an hour just now getting that figured out and putting a new broadhead on my challenge arrow after finding a big chunk of it gone.

The kid and I had a gobbler under 100 yards this am. A first for him. Never came in though.

 

[TX_Diver]

Join the club. My rest malfunctioned this morning and I spent an hour just now getting that figured out and putting a new broadhead on my challenge arrow after finding a big chunk of it gone.

The kid and I had a gobbler under 100 yards this am. A first for him. Never came in though.

View attachment 169700

Guess we'll be racing to shoot in the morning :lol:

Youth turkey season opened up here in WI but my tag isn't valid for just over a month!!! Been seeing turkeys every few days behind the house too!! I'm sure they'll be gone by my season.

Good luck with the gobblers!