Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Bowhunter

Decorated in Mossy Oak ®  Break-Up Country® , the TenPoint Turbo GT w/ACUdraw 50 crossbow ($899) is lighter, faster, and shorter than its very popular predecessors. How light and fast you ask? How does 6.5 lbs. and capable of speeds up to 360 fps grab you? That’s pretty impressive to say the least! The adjustable Fusion 5™ stock and super-compact 13.5" XLT bow assembly combine to give you an ultra-accurate crossbow that’s easy to handle and highly maneuverable, which makes it a good choice for both treestand and ground-blind hunters. Other highlights worth noting include a 12.6" power stroke, 175-lb. draw weight, and the ACUdraw 50 cocking mechanism, which is integrated into the Turbo GT ’s stock and neatly stores the ropes inside the unit’s housing. Contact: TenPoint Crossbows ,…

SOME HUNTS JUST go down in my memory bank as super special. Oftentimes it’s just a small thing that elevates a hunt’s status to super special. More often than not, that “super” addition has nothing to do with the harvesting of an animal. It may be a random occurrence, like a hummingbird trying to feed off my pink fletchings because it was convinced it was a flower. It may be something like the amazingly bright falling star I saw while looking at the sky one morning. I saw it while anxiously waiting for the sky to lighten up so I could actually see the bull in the meadow that was bugling every few minutes. I know that long, bright flash could have been a meteor, or it could have been…

IT ALL STARTED in the first grade — 65 years ago — probably first with the rubber-band fights in Don’s bedroom, followed by BB-gun wars on English sparrows. Those weren’t unusual for young boys, but what was unusual was Don’s approach. Don turned everything into an epic adventure. He was relentless and just would not quit until we were either out of ammo, out of daylight, or out of our parents’ patience. At that young age I was timid and would have quit much sooner, but Don wouldn’t let me. He made me go farther, harder, and longer. That continued into high school as we got driver’s licenses and started hunting ducks and deer on our own. Among our group of friends, nobody hunted like Don. He was always the…

Letters From Readers OCTOBER ISSUE IS INSPIRING & BINDING Dear Bowhunter , I have read every issue of Bowhunter Magazine cover to cover since the very first one was published in 1971. I have never honestly felt the need to write to you until I just finished reading Randy Ulmer’s article, “Bowhunting: Passion, Obsession Or Addiction?” in your October 2016 issue. What a beautiful piece of writing genius! Randy has told the story of an aging bowhunter in such a way that actually brought a tear to my eye. I could relate to Randy’s thoughts as I am entering my 51st year of hunting with a bow and arrow, and I often find myself wondering why I love this sport so much. I believe Randy explained it superbly. The actual…

“YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY,” bush pilot Van Hartley growled as Roger Iveson and I unloaded the last of our gear and then started doing cartwheels in the mud — as best as two guys in raingear and chest waders can in a driving rain and six inches of mud. But we couldn’t help ourselves. We were overjoyed. We’d been on the river for two weeks, and had each killed a caribou. Van had met us at a predetermined point nearly 100 miles downstream to pick up the caribou. After we’d loaded the meat into the plane and climbed in, Van said, “What do you guys want to do now? Head back to town?” Even though rain had fallen hard for 10 days straight, the river had risen three feet, and…

IT’S AN OFT-PREACHED, little-practiced whitetail strategy. Yet, winter scouting might be the single best way to understand the comings and goings of fall whitetails. I’ll admit that for quite a few years I didn’t fully grasp the benefit of spending time in the immediate postseason, trying to divine the secrets of the past season’s bucks. It wasn’t until I felt like I had a shot at an absolute giant public-land buck that I started to walk my hunting grounds in the months sandwiched between deer and turkey season. What I learned that year was that the buck I was after staged on a certain ridge on the property, as was evidenced when I found one of his shed antlers. The buck also spent part of the winter on that public…

“Is social media an appropriate place to share your hunting experiences and, if so, how can it be done correctly?” Bowhunter Magazine has joined with Nelson Outfitters (Dave Nelson, 307/751-2262, huntwyoming.com) and a topnotch group of bowhunting equipment manufacturers to sponsor our 2017 Youth Hunter Essay Contest (see the list of sponsoring manufacturers below). This is our 21st annual essay contest, and we hope youth participants will make it another memorable one! Last year’s 1st Grand Prize Winner, Chloe Wolf, and her dad, Greg, from Sawyer, Kan sas, spent three days chasing longbeards in South Dakota, and Chloe killed her first-ever turkey with a bow. Congratulations to young Chloe, as well as to the rest of the prizewinners from last year’s contest who we are confident are putting…

My first camo was a solid-colored sweatshirt, on which I drew shapes with a permanent marker. Back then, personal computers didn’t exist and cameras used film. We’ve come a long way since then, and in addition to making our lives much easier, advancements in computers, digital photography, and graphics are also being used to make being invisible in the woods much easier. “At Mossy Oak, we make our living by bringing you the most effective camouflage patterns ever made,” says Ben Maki, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Their patterns are developed through extensive in-field design and testing, and then created using the latest graphics technology. A prime example is Break-Up Infinity, which Maki describes as a quantum leap in pattern development. First, Mossy Oak selected elements like leaves,…

I’M A STICKLER for archery detail, and one area I’ve spent a great deal of time in is analyzing the effects of a poorly balanced hunting bow. Like nearly all bowhunters, I began my hunting career with a quiver fastened to my bow. Fortunately, I was led to a good model from the get-go. When I say good, I mean a quiver that was meant to stay fixed to the bow while shooting, and not a quick-removal model. Quick-detach quivers are outstanding for treestand and ground-blind hunting, as they are designed to be detached once the hunter is in his perch or ground hide, although many new models are absolutely solid and engineered to stay fastened to the bow while shooting without rattling, or causing excessive noise. But back in…

IN THE 1970s, I taught my university wildlife students about the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” so they would understand that selling federal public land was bad for wildlife and for society. The “Sagebrush Rebellion” was a movement where Western states wanted more control over federal lands, so they could increase economic growth. At first blush that sounds understandable, because the Feds owned and controlled huge acreages in some states (Nevada 85%, Utah 65%, Idaho 62%, Alaska 61%, Oregon 53%, Wyoming 48%, California 46%, Colorado 36%, New Mexico 35%, Montana 29%, and Washington 28%). In fact, the federal government controls 640 million acres of land in the United States, with most managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. Although the…

QUESTION I love late-season bowhunting, but I hate the cold. Do you have any advice for how to stay warm on stand during the last days of the season? T. Burkey, via e-mail ANSWER As a lifelong resident of Minnesota, I can safely say that I’ve spent quite a bit of time working on this problem myself. Most of the focus when it comes to staying warm involves base and outer layers. While it’s true that you need quality core layers, as well as an outer shell that will trap heat and block the wind, there’s more to it than that. Anyone who has spent a single morning or evening on stand when a north wind is blowing and the temperatures are flirting with zero knows that the first body…