Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Bowhunter

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You can set your back-tension release so it’s heavy or hot—the latter basically means for a quick pivot of the handle. Initially, it’s important to adjust the release so it’s not too hot. You want the shot to take you by complete surprise. If you find that the bow takes too long to fire and it’s disrupting your natural shooting rhythm too much, then begin to shorten the pivot time until you find the right balance between pulling and when the shot fires. I seem to adjust my releases so that the shot breaks in about five to seven seconds, but every person will have a personal sweet spot, so be sure to experiment. The key isn’t to twist the handle...it’s to engage your rhomboid muscles and continually pinch them…

I RECENTLY SPOKE at the Pope and Young Club’s 30th Biennial Convention, and there was so much positive feedback that I’ve decided to present a shortened version here. That speech was about the beginnings of modern bowhunting. There is seldom a clear-cut start to anything, but a good case can be made that our sport began in northern California’s rough, steep, and brushy Deer Creek Canyon. In 1911, a starving and very lonely native American called Ishi left this rugged drainage where he had lived in hiding for most of his 50-plus years. His Yahi tribe, numbering about 400 only 70 years before, had been annihilated by disease and repeated massacres by white settlers. Ishi wandered some 20 miles south, and was arrested at a slaughterhouse in the small town…

CREATING IDEAL wildlife habitat for deer rarely happens by itself. Prime deer habitat management can take time, and many landowners are not willing to undertake the effort or costs. So what can a small landowner who lacks farm machinery do to create deer habitat that holds and produces some really good bucks? Yes, food plots are nice, but why not first try to improve your existing habitat? I’ve found many hunters believe that it takes thousands of acres to make significant habitat improvements to their property. Although increased acreage is always nice, small acreages can and will hold bucks. The purpose of this column is to help the average hunter understand what it takes to create honey-holes for deer on very small pieces of property. Harvesting a deer in the…

QUESTION I’m preparing for my first DIY elk hunt, and these extreme fitness bowhunters on the web scare me. I’m no spring chicken. How do I get physically ready for my hunt without killing myself? Richard Anderson, via e-mail ANSWER Over the years, multiple guides have told me stories of young clients who were fitness fanatics, marathoners, and weight lifters, who could not keep up in the mountains. Some were animals but others weren’t “mountain fit” and they lacked mental strength, a very important factor. Here are some steps to consider. Physical conditioning is undeniably critical. Honestly assess your own health and fitness, and get approval from your doctor before undertaking a conditioning program. Start early, and start slow. Get started today, but ease into any exercise program with lots…

IN MY LAST COLUMN I wrote about an issue with my shoulder. Fortunately it is continuing to heal, and I have developed a newfound appreciation for lightweight bows and the performance you can get out of them with a properly matched and tuned arrow. I have been doing some experimenting with my new Hoyt Satori, and I’ve learned a lot. For example, when I changed from a 21-inch riser to a 19-inch riser with the same set of 35-pound limbs, I gained 10 feet per second with the shorter riser. I knew if I was going to hunt with a really lightweight recurve I’d need perfect arrow flight. Thanks to adjustments for tiller, poundage and centershot, I tuned the light bow perfectly. Two whitetails fell to my Satori but I…

As some readers know, I was born in the center of a triangle where Ishi, Art Young, and Saxton Pope lived in the early 1900’s. Deer Creek Canyon and the surrounding area is called Ishi Country, and can provide a fascinating outdoor experience for anyone who wishes to visit northern California. Ishi Country sweeps 40 miles downward from 10,463-foot Mount Lassen to low foothills where Ishi’s tribe spent their winter months. Eighty percent of this half-million-acre area is public land accessible to anyone with a strong set of lungs and a good pair of hiking boots. The centerpiece of Ishi Country is the 41,000-acre Ishi Wilderness Area, set aside by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 as a roadless place the general public can enjoy. Ishi Country provides the most difficult…

“Hi, Adam. It’s Mark Keach from Alaska. I have a couple dates available if your group wants to hunt this fall.” I was ecstatic to hear from Mark, who is an Alaskan transporter, offering me the available dates for our August 2016 caribou hunt. Soon after getting off the phone with Mark, I called my three hunting buddies — twin brothers Keith and Steve Miller from Montana, and Ted McClendon from Alabama — and we excitedly began planning our 11-day hunt. We chose the dates that would give us the most time in the bush, as we are all bowhunters. Planning our DIY drop-camp caribou hunt was half the fun. We read articles, watched YouTube videos, and meticulously chose our food and gear. Our adventure was to start on August…

I’M NOT A ONE-BUCK HUNTER. This is due in part to how I’m wired, and partially due to the fact that the places I hunt aren’t conducive to bucks living through multiple seasons and allowing me to get infatuated with a specific deer. That stated, three years ago I watched an impressive 10-pointer feed with six of his buddies in August. His frame was more like a mule deer than a whitetail, and he caught my attention. At that point, I also happened to have a pair of two-year-old twin daughters at home, so the odds of devoting enough time to the buck were pretty slim. I did get him on camera quite a few times, but ended up filling my tag on a different buck. The following year, I…

AT ONE TIME I served on the board of directors for an organization, and one duty of board members was to count contributions. When we counted, we had to be accurate to the penny. If we were even one cent off, we had to count again, and again, until we got it right. That almost seemed senseless. With thousands of dollars at stake, what difference did a cent or two make? Not much. Regardless, the count had to be exact — to the penny. That story might seem pretty far afield for a bowhunting column, but it perfectly fits the theme of my recent Wild Side columns — traits that have contributed to my success in bowhunting and writing, and that will contribute to anyone’s success in any pursuit. The…

Stalking In Close Early last December, my uncle and I packed our gear in the truck for our annual DIY hunt for public-ground mule deer in South Dakota. In years prior, this trip happened in mid-October, where we would pursue pre-rut muleys in the sagebrush and brown prairie grass that lined the drainages of the state’s two largest rivers. Our plan was to target deer in their late-season feeding areas that lined drainages we had traversed on previous October hunts. Peering through our binos, our initial few overlooks provided no signs of deer. As time passed, we finally spotted a young buck and his does nestled in an opening of evergreens on an east-facing slope. After finding these deer, we focused our efforts on similar landscapes, and boy did we…

THE OFF-SEASON IS THE PERFECT TIME TO ADDRESS SHOOTING-CONTROL ISSUES AND TO STRIVE FOR SHOOTING MASTERY. IN MY EARLY DAYS of archery, I had this idea that the more I shot, the better I’d become. So I did this, and that’s when I began to deal with “freezing” below the spot and target panic. Consequently, I figured out that the opposite was the best tactic for becoming a better archer — shooting less and making sure each shot attempt was consistent and high in quality. One tool that has helped reinforce this process for me is the back-tension release. I usually shoot a standard index-finger release with an exceptionally crisp trigger, but I find that shooting the back-tension release strengthens that calm, waiting-for-the-shot-to-just-happen cycle. In my opinion, this keeps my…

EACH YEAR, I average about 30 days in tents between turkey season and big-game hunting. Spending one month annually living and hunting out of a tent gives you plenty of time to figure out what you like, and what you don’t. And what I don’t like these days is discomfort. If I have the ability to drive up right next to where I’ll be setting up my tent, there isn’t much need to suffer unnecessarily. This isn’t the style of hunting where ounces matter and you’re carrying the makings of a week in a backpack up the side of a mountain. Compared to that, the living is pretty easy on these hunts. That said, it still gets cold, it still rains, the wind still blows, and occasionally the mercury climbs…

IT SEEMS THAT at least once a year I devote some column space to chronic wasting disease, and the reason is that it is the most important negative factor that our hunting future has ever faced. Yes, the negative potential of CWD is that bad. of deer and four were positive, plus another during the fall hunting season. Others were found up to 2014, and all within two adjacent Northeast Missouri counties. However, in the 2014 fall hunting season, a huge buck from a central-Missouri county tested positive. This prompted the game agency to eliminate antler restrictions in the 29 counties around infected counties. Why would they do that when hunters really supported antler restrictions? The answer is simple: A large majority of yearling bucks disperse up to 12 miles…

HUNTING PUBLIC-LAND ELK ON YOUR OWN WILL SEEM SLIGHTLY LESS INTIMIDATING IF YOU STICK TO THESE RULES. EVERY BOWHUNTER EAST OF THE ROCKIES DREAMS OF COMING WEST TO HUNT ELK BEFORE THEY GET TOO OLD TO CLIMB THE HILLS. IT’S NO SECRET THAT CHASING RUTTING, BUGLING BULLS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY IS ONE OF THE MOST MAGICAL AND ADDICTIVE HUNTING CHALLENGES IN THE WORLD. BUT IT CAN ALSO BE ONE OF THE MOST FRUSTRATING TESTS FOR A DO-IT-YOURSELF NEWCOMER. ELK OCCUPY HUGE TERRITORIES, OFTEN COVERING SEVERAL MILES AND A THOUSAND FEET OF ELEVATION DURING THEIR NORMAL DAILY TRAVELS. FOR A NEW ELK BOWHUNTER, THE LEARNING CURVE CAN BE AS MONSTROUS AND INTIMIDATING AS THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THESE MAGNIFICENT CREATURES LIVE. Many inexperienced hunters on a summer scouting trip find…