dougmccoy.us Blog

Well here I am again…
Once I had somewhat mastered the art of using a longbow I figured it was time to see exactly what they could do. So off I went on a hog hunt. Now I had never hunted hogs before in my life – I did know a bit about them from working on my grandads’ farm.

So anyway here I am hunting hogs! I had tucked myself in a stand of cottonwoods and was watching the side of the hill when all of a sudden – there were 2 small boars and a large sow come barreling down toward me. The boars ran right up to the mud hole in front of me and started wallowing around. The sow had stopped short and was looking back when all of a sudden there were about a dozen little piglets running everywhere. I watched them in the wallow for about 15 minutes before they finally decided to take off back up the hill.

I climbed out of my hiding spot feeling pretty good and then I noticed several large boars running across the hill. I decided on a large black bristle backed boar. I moved around to get myself into a good ambush spot. I waited for what felt like hours (maybe 15-18 minutes in reality) they finally showed up – man they were about 20 yards just down a small hill from me. They had not seen me nor even winded me. I drew slowly, came to anchor and released my cedar arrow tipped with my Howard Hill broadhead. The arrow disappeared just behind the crease of his shoulder and stuck in the dirt beyond him. The hog took 3 steps to the right and turned and one back and fell over dead. Man these bows were great…. Anyhow that hog weighed in a 265 lbs. and I was sold forever on the effectiveness of the longbow and devastation it could cause.

On one of my many “Moose Hunts” I had been invited to join my uncle, brother and some of my uncles’ regular hunting buddies in a week long search for moose. I left my rifle at home and took my trusty longbow. When I got to the campsite, they asked me why I wanted to trade my rifle for “That thing” as they put it. Now my uncle himself really didn’t care as he was there to get away from work and enjoy the outdoors more than actually killing something. He is one of those guys that enjoys being outside and with good friends.

Well we had all hunted extremely hard for 4 days – I had seen several bulls and a cow with a calf but, they were too far away for me to get a shot. This aggravated several of the gun hunters as they commented after dinner (and a few drinks) that I should hang that dang (Worse language but I am trying to keep this clean) thing at home cause it wasn’t any good for anything but a wall decoration.

I let it go cause I really don’t care what others think! One of the guys got more and more vocal the drunker he got – now this guy really started to get under my skin – but, I held my temper. Anyhow – he got his…. He kept on drinking and was falling down drunk. The campfire started to burn down and he wanted to build it back up. Well he grabs the chainsaw. We all yelled at him to put it down cause he was gonna hurt himself. He yelled back that he had been doing this all his life and he never had a cut or any other accident yet with one. So, we let him continue. He walked up to a huge pine tree and started the saw. We were yelling and screaming at this guy to get his attention – all to no avail. He proceeded to cut this tree and finally he got through it enough that it started to topple over. We watched in horror – actually more like amusement as it fell over and cut his brand new 28 foot mobile trailer almost in half. It was a classic comic book entry. He was so drunk he looked at it and threw the chainsaw at the trailer.

Needless to say – he slept the rest of the week in his truck. I would not want to be him when it came time to tell his wife what happened – I knew her and man she could be mean!

Anyhow back to the meat of this story! (Pun intended)

Next morning we got up about 4:00 AM and had a quick breakfast and headed out. I immediately went to this mountain side where I had seen a bull the previous day out by this huge beaver pond. I was walking about half way up this mountain climbing up and down all these dips and valleys as I traversed the terrain. Had not seen a thing until I climbed up a rather steep ravine. When I got to the top of the rise I saw a bull moose across the other side – almost directly across from me. He was big – he heard me or at least he heard something and jumped up… he had been tucked under a rock ledge and was sunning himself. When he got up he took a step forward – this put his head behind a huge red pine. He was around 65 yards – nothing in the way between us, as all the vegetation was going down the hillside away from both of us.

I looked at him- assessed the situation and thought what the heck. I had practiced almost every day out to 80 yards and was feeling good about my chances of a good hit. I drew my 65# longbow and released! Watched what seemed like slow motion as the arrow hit him but as soon as it hit him I saw sparks fly just above his shoulder. I knew I had hit him but what caused the sparks? He immediately plowed his way down the mountainside. I watched him till he disappeared below in the heavy undergrowth.

I made my way down and back up the ravine to the spot were I hit him (I thought-hoped) Well when I got up to the rock ledge I saw bright red foamy blood splattered all up the rock face. The arrow had punched through him and struck the rock on the opposite side of him. I now knew why he bolted so quickly – the arrow smacking into the rock put him to flight.

I started down the hill following his tracks – super easy to follow but, he was heading straight back down to the beaver pond. I tracked him to the edge of the pond and saw his track lead into the water. I don’t know how deep this water was but, I do know every moose I had seen crossing it swam it. I thought Man – now way I am going to lose this guy. I walked down to the dam and crossed – I walked back up to where I thought he would come out. Could not find it… not right away anyway. I kept looking and looking – finally I got down on my hands and knees and started scouring for sign. Remember this is in October and the temperature at night hits around 15-20 so the water was very cold and this worried me. I kept thinking that maybe the hit was not as good as I had thought. After about 20 minutes I finally picked him back up – he had only traveled maybe 200 yards so far, but his direction was heading across a small funnel toward another beaver pond maybe 1/4 mile away. The tracking continued!

I tracked him and I was right, he headed straight over to the other pond. I saw his print in the mud about 2 feet into the pond… maybe he swam across this one as well. I was walking to get aroung this pond when I noticed more footprints and mud stirred up in the direction I was heading. He walked just inside the water and was not going out into it -I took this as a great sign.. he was getting too weak to swim. Gone about 800 yards now. Man this guy is tough!

Kept walking the shoreline and heard a loud splash just ahead of me. I hoped it was him falling over and not another moose that I had spooked. When I got around this little heavily treed peninsula I saw him – he was in about 4 feet of water. He was down for the count. I made my way to him – I knew I had no hope of getting him to shore and out myself. I managed to get a rope on his antlers and dragged him in as close as I could. I needed help to get him out so I could field dress him. I headed back to camp to get some help.
When I got there now one was there as they had not made it back for lunch yet. I had to sit there all by my lonesome and wait – couldn’t even tell anyone about it till they got back. Just about killed me to wait. I was worried another hunter would come across him and claim him for themselves. Finally my buddy and brother came back – I told them and they hooted and hollered and off we went. Well we got the moose out – field dressed and then my buddy headed off to find this logger guy we had met on the way in. He had told us if we got something that he would haul it out for us for $50.00. He got there and loaded the moose onto the skidder and off he headed to camp. By the time he got to camp all the others had made it back for lunch. You should have seen the looks in their eyes when I came in with a moose and they hadn’t even take a shot. It was priceless.. congrats were extended by all except the extreme drunk guy – he just glared. One of me best moments – cause this was probably the easiest and most effective way to teach this guy a lesson. I really have to say that hunting with some hunters that doubt your effectiveness with your choice of weapon will and can make you hunt much harder than them just to prove yourself to them. This is exactly what had transpired for me. I hunted harder and longer – saw more moose and had taken one, all with a longbow. What more could you ask for?

Wait there’s more……………………..

Next morning I got up and decided to just go out and shoot rabbits. I head way back to this big beaver meadow and thought I would work it. I was tromping around for quite a while and had not jumped even one, when I heard some talking coming my way. Finally 2 guys popped out into the edge of the meadow – it was my uncle and this same guy. They walked over to me and asked if I had seen any moose – to which I had to replied – no, and not even a rabbit to whack. This guy was being a jerk and made a comment to me about how lucky I had been to get a moose. My uncle was laughing and making fun of him, which started to get this guy very upset. There was a small creek just behind him and we had seen several ducks coming in and flying off. My uncle saw 2 ducks coming in from a long distance away and asked me if I thought I could hit a duck. I told him I thought I could. The other guy told me their was no way in he_ _, that I could do it. The ducks were now closer and were starting to descend. I waited and when they got about 12 feet off the ground I loosed an arrow. I pinned the duck to the bank. Whew… was that lucky or what???? This got my uncle going on this guy- the other guy just walked away , didn’t say a word. There was no way I was going to tell anyone, not even my uncle that I had made a lucky shot!

When we got back to camp the guy had unhitched his truck from the smashed trailer and was gone. We thought maybe he had driven in to town to replenish his supply of alcohol. He never came back – as a matter of fact he quit hunting with this group of guys altogether. Payback can be sweet! My uncle commented that this was the best thing that could happen cause all the other guys in camp had decided that he was out for good cause of his antics and drunkenness… Life is great for those that persevere.

Back like the proverbial Plague…..

Back when I was younger I was at a shoot in Michigan. This was may have been their second or third year holding this shoot… yes it’s the Michigan Longbow Assoc. shoot. Back then it was one of my major trips every year. Back on track..
I had been shooting at this shoot and was fairing extremely well. Well, I was at the practice butts getting in a little extra shooting practice before the long day of serious stuff started. I had been dropping my shots in about a 3 inch circle at 25 yards consistently for maybe 20-30 shots when I heard someone behind me say- ‘You are shooting wrong”. Let me say that I took this as a serious slam against my great (what I thought was great) shooting. I spun and found myself almost nose to nose with Mr. John Schultz. He had been watching me shoot and in I don’t know maybe a dozen shots had analyzed me and found problems in my shooting form.
He then proceeded to tell me to square myself out to my target a little. I had a bad habit of hitting my arm very hard but it did not interfere with my accuracy – at least I didn’t think so. I didn’t quite understand what he meant so he proceeded to kick my back foot. I am a right hand shooter so that was my right foot and brought it closer to squaring of my shoulders – Right foot came forward. He explained this would get the string away from my arm and also shorten my draw length. Well I was mortified and somewhat embarrased but I thought if this man is taking time out of his shooting time to help me, then I am going to try it. Well here we go. First shot almost dead center of the ten ring… next shot – hit my previous arrow. to make a longer story a bit shorter this continued until I had emptied my quiver. What a difference in my shooting and no slapping of my arm. His advice given to me in less than 5 minutes improved my shooting by what I think may have been 3 hard years. For this I can only thank him as it was at this point I became a better shot – `in spite of myself.

Well here is another of my long winded tales!

It began on one very cold spring day many, many years ago. (Can’t tell you how long cause I can’t remember exactly – Ol’ Timers I guess)

My buddy, brother and his young son decided it was time for a bear hunt. So we loaded up my 4X4 and off we went. We had decided to go to an area that I had guided in a few years before. It was only about a 4 hour drive so we headed out and grabbed some breakfast on the way. We got in about 4:00 PM and we all decided to have a drink before we set up camp. Well let me tell you when it’s cold out one drink leads to another and another. Before we knew it was getting dark and we had not even started to get our tent up. So half drunk and working in the dark we proceeded to set up our tent. We got it up by using flashlights and the light of our fire. At least we were smart enough to start a fire first thing. We had decided to get up at 4:00 AM to get our gear ready for our hunt the next day. It was time to get to sleep.

We all crawled in to our sleeping bags and hunkered down for the night! Around 1:45 Am I got up to perform a normal drinking ritual (too much beer) – so I crawled out of my sleeping bag and stumbled over my buddy to get to the tent door. I unzipped the door and went out.. stepped into about 3 inches of snow! When we had gone to sleep it was clear and no snow – cold but no snow! Dang it! Wet and cold feet now. I finished and climbed back in to the tent.

Well it came time for us to get our butts out of the sack! I woke up first and nudged my brother. When I looked at my buddy I started to laugh… My brother wondered what I was laughing at and looked over and he started. My buddy had wiggled his way down in his sleeping bag and I guess wiggled so far that his feet were out the door about up to his knees and covered with about an inch of snow. Guess I didn’t close the tent door all the way when I came back in. We both started to poke my buddy to wake him up. He looked at us and what he said to us made us laugh even harder. He said ”Man was it ever cold out last night, I was freezing all night long.” When we broke out in hysterics he looked down and he called us both A__holes! This was the start of a good hunt.. always good when you can get a laugh at someone else’s expense.

Welcome to my blog… this is an area were I am writing and keeping a log of my many years using and hunting with the longbow. I hope that you enjoy my stories and will keep coming back to enjoy them.