Bowhunter September 2020

I DESPISE THE WORD “harvest” as it pertains to the taking of a big-game animal. We don’t harvest deer, elk, or any other animal. We kill them, shoot them, take them, or whatever. But harvest? No. It’s simply a politically correct “dodge” for the truth about what we do. Occasionally that word will slip through onto these pages, but for the most part we edit it out. However, the word harvest does apply with respect to the way you can collect information from this publication. Put simply, you can harvest knowledge that has been grown and cultivated through the experience of your fellow bowhunters. We learn most of what we know from others, but some of those “others,” and many of you, are self-taught; learning by making mistakes, experimenting, analyzing,…

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE Dear Bowhunter , I recently read Technical Editor Joe Bell’s response to a reader’s question about bino systems in Ask Bowhunter (July 2020 issue) and I enjoyed it immensely. I have followed Mr. Bell’s career for years — in fact, Joe bought a story from me about a Kodiak Island hunt I did years ago when he was working for another publication. I’m glad to see he landed in a good spot with Bowhunter Magazine… I went with the Alaska Guide Classic bino system, because it seemed to be the best fit for my gear. I modified the AGC though, which may interest you. I went to a saddle shop and had them sew leather on the back yoke to make it somewhat stiff. It’s now…

EACH SUMMER, as deer and elk season approaches, I begin thinking about my ability to perform when the shot is on the line. Am I as ready as I can be? That’s the question I ask myself over and over again. I recall the years I entered an important season, with a quality deer or elk tag in my pocket, feeling pretty arrogant and well prepared. But, in all reality, I found out by season’s end that I was lacking due to overall confidence, or because my equipment wasn’t quite up to snuff. In the end, it cost me a filled tag. In other words, there is no such thing as overpreparing for crunch time. You simply want to ready yourself for any situation in order to come out on…

THE 7X8 BULL WAS less than 30 yards away when he jumped the fence. The thing that saved him was a half-dead pine tree with too many low-growing snags to let me shoot through. I watched the elk turn broadside — still 30 yards away — and let go a deep, three-note bugle. Now he was in the wide open, but completely safe. I did not have permission to bowhunt beyond the five strands of barbed wire, and I tried to calm down as the unsuspecting bull wandered over a ridge. As usual, I was hunting elk on a checkerboard of public and private ground. I found state, BLM, and U.S. Forest Service tracts after careful research. More research gave me contact info for several landowners between the scattered public…

Shot Strategies On Elk To make quick-killing hits on elk, you should never aim too high or too far forward. A mature bull has a chest cavity about 16 inches from top to bottom, with about three inches of nonlethal brisket below and nine inches of nonlethal spine, muscle, and hide above. The vital chest extends well behind the front leg, giving you a large, lethal target if you know where to aim. Animals usually appear farther away than they really are in heavy cover, and elk are sometimes shot in the dense woods. This might explain some high hits. Excitement during the shot is always a factor, too, because these are big and thrilling animals. But you can precisely hit elk if you have a plan. Remember that an…

ONE OF MY HOBBIES is looking for artifacts from hunters who were here long before I hit the scene. Early man and Native Americans have always fascinated me, especially by what they were able to kill animals with. Early weapons like spears, atlatls, and bows, and the men who built them and hunted with those weapons, are a part of our hunting heritage — and I feel a kinship with them. Finding the intricately knapped points that were used with their different weapons is always a treat. After a hard rain, I will often walk a long way looking for artifacts that make me think of what things must have been like years ago. (Rules on picking these up, even on private land, vary from state to state, so make…