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.
THIS PAST SEPTEMBER, I met two “new” bowhunters in elk camp in New Mexico. John and Andy were from Florida and had started shooting a bow just three months earlier. This was their first bowhunt. So, in the interest of helping them be successful, I started giving them some advice on shot placement. I talked about the position of the scapula and the humerus, the plural sacs around the lungs, and the suprasternal notch location should they be faced with a frontal shot at close range. They were taking it all in, when Andy looked at his buddy and said, “It’s crazy how he’s using all these biological terms.” I laughed with them, but it struck me that my language seemed odd to them. Over the years, I’ve tried to…
OCCASIONALLY, there’s a technological leap that changes everything. That’s the way it was back in 1992, when Matt McPherson introduced his first single-cam bow. Years earlier, a young Matt McPherson had shared his concept for a compound bow built on recurve limbs in a “Between Bowhunters” letter to Bowhunter Founder/Publisher M.R. James. The genius young bowmaker already was looking at archery equipment with a mind for innovation. Much later, his idea for a “Dual Feed Single Cam Compound Bow” would prove to be a true gamechanger. But it wasn’t until selling his interest in McPherson Archery back in the mid-‘80s that Matt was able to go his own way. Determined to start a new and different kind of bow company at home in the Upper Midwest, Matt first set up…
FROM THE ROAD, the canyon’s entrance is hidden by thick timber. Tourists drive by it daily, seldom realizing the canyon is even there. Penetrate the tangle, and you’ll find a broken trail that is all but gone in some spots — long since covered by deadfall and undergrowth. The broken trail is unmarked and relatively unknown, but it’s manageable once discovered, and it provides access up a narrow drainage that’s flanked on both sides by towering rims of rocky spires. My son had drawn a limited-entry elk tag, which I helped him fill earlier in the season. Then, my much-anticipated Greenland muskox hunt consumed the second-half of the elk season. I’m not complaining, mind you, because September had proven kind to both my boy and me. But elk are my…
WHEN I WAS A KID, I remember my dad telling me how rare it is to find a four-leaf clover. If I remember Dad’s words correctly, I think he said the odds of finding one is somewhere in the ballpark of one in 10,000. That’s why finding one is good luck. I’m not sure how that equates to bows and arrows, but I swear I have some that are luckier than others. I will also admit to being a little superstitious, but I think that stems from having a mom who was raised in the foothills of North Carolina. If a black cat starts to cross my path, I’ll try to get in front of that kitty to keep it from walking in front of me. I also avoid cutting…
I HAD BEEN CLIMBING for about a half-hour when the bull strolled over a ridge. His antlers looked huge against the evening sky, even from a half-mile away. But silhouettes can be deceiving. I dropped my pack, grabbed my spotting scope, and adjusted the tripod. A dozen cow elk were milling around the bull like leaves in a whirlwind, but his extra-large body and tan sides stood out in the crowd. I turned the focus ring, and the animal snapped into crystal clarity. This was the 11th day of my 2022 Wyoming elk hunt. I had seen quite a few bulls, but nothing like this one. His rack was massive, the tines long and even, the back Y’s genuine “whale tails” guaranteed to excite any serious elk hunter. The bull…
The off-season is a great time to tune your rig — no matter its age. I’ll be the first to admit that my time is valuable, and it’s often easier for me to just spend some coin at my local pro shop for them to do the “dirty work” for me as a result. However, the satisfaction I feel when making the tweaks myself is hard to beat. A good example of my efforts at the bow press was on a memorable antelope hunt in my home state of Colorado. I’d spent hours that season tuning and tweaking my rig and dropped countless arrows in the target developing my accuracy. With only hours left in the hunt, I saw a lonely goat bedded in a large cholla cactus patch across…
