Bowhunter brings you expert advice from legendary Bowhunters! Each issue is filled with updates from major bowhunting organizations, coverage of bowhunting locations across North America, complete coverage of the sport and much more.
IT WAS 1996. The place was Qikitaluk Island, Repulse Bay, Nunavut, smack dab on the Arctic Circle. Hunting buddy, Kendall Bauer, and I were standing slack-jawed, staring at a world-class central barren ground caribou standing on the horizon. I’d already arrowed a bull that still ranks Number 22 in the Pope and Young Record Book, so it was Kendall’s turn to stalk this bull, which was so big it didn’t even look real standing next to the young bull by his side. The tundra was featureless. All we could do was hunker down and hope to make a move when they dropped over the horizon. I laid face down on the lichen-covered ground 20 yards behind Kendall and waited. The young bull must have caught our movement and started down…
SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL recently held its 50th Convention in Las Vegas, and it is being considered a huge success. The annual fund-raising event broke a record for donations and auction sales, funds that will fuel SCI’s mission of protecting hunting and hunters worldwide. Hunters, outfitters, and taxidermists gathered to support this mission, which is becoming even more important in today’s political, and pandemic, climate. With all these challenges, hunters in North America and across the globe would be justified in feeling a bit like the leopard in the photo above (on display in Las Vegas) as it works to remove porcupine quills. Assaults on hunting are coming from every direction and SCI is there to represent hunters and meet those threats. Don’t let the word “Safari” lead you into thinking…
AS THE Bowhunter Magazine & TV team heads into its 18th season of video field production, it’s the perfect time to look back and count our many blessings when it comes to our sponsors, partners, and friends — the folks who have made it possible for us to enjoy success in the field. Without a doubt, our bowsight sponsor, Spot Hogg, from Harrisburg, Oregon, has been a rock-solid contributor to countless great days afield, whether during preparation and practice, or on hunts across this great country, or even far-flung international adventures. As any hunting archer can attest, there’s no better feeling than arriving at a hunt destination, pulling the bow out of the case, giving everything the once-over, and then sending an arrow downrange, spot on. A bowhunter with confidence…
Hunt #1 I WAS HALFWAY DOWN the long ridge when a bugle erupted to my right. Far below, a 300-inch 6x6 was chasing cows in a timber-dotted draw. I craned my neck to locate the new bull in the dim predawn light. What I saw sent a shiver down my spine. A wide, massive rack floated above a ridge 400 yards to the south — a rack I thought I would never see again. Days earlier, I had dogged that very bull from dawn till dusk as he pushed three-dozen cows and calves across deep canyons and near-vertical slopes. When the sun finally sank, the large Wyoming six-point was still beyond bow range, surrounded by his harem and posing on a rugged point of rock. He bugled, grunted, and plunged…
AN ANIMAL HIT SOLIDLY in the paunch with a sharp broadhead requires patience. It will always expire, but you must wait at least six to eight hours before beginning the search...preferably more if daylight allows. If it is pushed or smells you, it might travel much farther than the normal 400 to 800 yards. After waiting, you should look for blood, body fluid, and tracks. Try to predict the most likely travel routes, and remember that gut-shot animals sometimes move uphill. Proceed slowly with eyes peeled, in case you need to take a finishing shot. Beyond 24 hours, you should grid-search terrain, preferably with the help of friends. It is your responsibility to recover the animal, even if you lose the meat. Keep looking — it’s the ethical thing to…
IHAVEN’T ALWAYS been superstitious, but the deeper into my bowhunting career I get, the more I can’t help but notice how strange coincidences seem to repeat themselves. For instance, many of my most successful hunts seem to begin with something bad happening. Take the best turkey hunt I’ve ever been on, for example. It occurred about 10 years ago. Hoyt’s Marketing Director, Jeremy Eldredge, and I have sons that are roughly the same age, and for several years he and I had been taking them to Nebraska each spring to hunt turkeys. That particular year, the two of us were packed in with four of our young boys, driving through the middle of nowhere in Eastern Colorado, when my shiny new SUV broke down on us. We barely made it…
