Innehållsförteckning för October 2019 från Bowhunter

Extra Meat Care For Extra-Large Game Big-bodied animals like caribou, elk, moose, and bison require extra steps to ensure rapid meat cooling in the field. Unless you can transport the whole carcass immediately, it is best to remove and hang up the backstraps and tenderloins, and then quarter the animal so heat can dissipate from deep inside the body. Once the critter is quartered, you should hang the parts from a tree, or lay them above ground on a bed of logs or limbs. De-boning a really large animal will cool meat even faster, but surfaces will usually get grimy and fouled with bits of animal hair. At the very least, a really big animal should be immediately cut in three deep-muscle places that typically spoil first — along the…

IF YOU SPEND TIME around accomplished 3-D shooters or tournament archers, it doesn’t take long to understand that they consider every aspect of their bow setups. Nothing ends up on their rigs by accident or happenstance, and they take their accessories seriously. Bowhunters fall into a different category, and rightfully so. We won’t win thousands of dollars for making a good double-lung shot, or miss out on lucrative endorsement deals if we fail. That doesn’t mean our shots aren’t without consequence — far from it. We hold in our hands a tool that can result in death in mere seconds and that is as close to euthanasia as you’ll find in the wild, or something that can deliver a much-less desirable death. Or a result even less desirable. The difference…

“There’s not much here,” I told my friend and hunting partner Scott Sanderford. “It’s 80 acres of wheat and triticale. There’s a handful of trees along the west fenceline, but I’m not even sure we can get a stand in there. I don’t think there’s an effective way to hunt it.” With those words, my binos detected a pair of Oklahoma does slipping into the field’s northwest corner. “Big buck,” Scott said, just as I lowered my binos. Scott’s 15x56 optics were glued to his eyes. “There are two more behind him moving through the CRP.” Popping my optics back into position, I quickly spied the three bucks. All of them were Sooner State shooters. The largest of the trio would push the tape well over the 150-inch mark. The…

ARCHERS WHO HUNT out west know that executing shots under windy conditions is more the rule than the exception. I once took a shot at a Wyoming pronghorn in a stiff, 30-mph crosswind. The shot seemed true, yet I missed my target by a full 14 inches! I also remember a follow-up shot on a mule deer at 55 yards when the wind was whipping with intermittent gusts. I had to aim about two feet off-center to send the arrow through the buck’s chest. When the wind blows that hard, a well-gauged aim is critical, but so is your use of specialized tackle to help counter the wind’s forcing your arrow off course. Unfortunately, being a precise shooter and knowing how to aim in the wind is more art than…

VERY FEW HUNTERS would argue about whether harvesting a deer in the big woods is a challenge. Unlike many areas in farm country that possess countless edges and funnels, finding nondescript honey holes in a continuous acreage of woods is always challenging. Harvesting a mature buck in the big woods can take years of accumulated So many times, hunters leave the woods disappointed because they’re not seeing any deer. The purpose of this column is to help hunters understand the role of acorns, and how to focus this knowledge into stand selection while hunting oaks. Back in college, my dendrology professor told us the oak family could be broken down into two groups: white and red oaks. If you’re not good at identifying trees, each species of oak can be…

What makes our little 80-acre locale so good is the mix of green food and water. Without these two deer magnets, the parcel wouldn’t be worth leasing. In addition to the food and water, it’s surrounded by timber and CRP. The deer funnel out of these areas into the wheat. Does use the food source year-round, making it an effective location during the early and late season, as well as during the rut. The property, though not conducive to bowhunting at first glance, had a lot going for it. All we had to do was invest some time figuring out how to hunt it. Don’t turn your nose up at a property before you do your homework. Finding ground to hunt is getting harder and harder. If you’re looking to…

A BIG-GAME BOWHUNT is not over until all edible meat is cut, wrapped, and in the freezer. It always surprises me how many skillful archers seem confused about what to do when their critters hit the ground in less than perfect situations. In a PERFECT situation, meat salvage is easy. Autumn weather is cool, and your buck drops fast. You gut the animal, drive your ATV or pickup to the kill site, and rush the trophy to a meat-processing facility a short drive away. The butcher hangs and skins, cuts, packages, and freezes the edible portions, and then calls to say your meat is ready. No muss, no fuss. But there are seldom perfect situations in the real bowhunting world. Your animal might run a ways before it drops, and…

ONE OF THE BEST TIMES I have as a father is when I’m hunting with my boys. I think that is because hunting with my father was and still is a special event. As a father who has raised 2 1/2 boys (one is still under 18), I have found that I did a lot of things right when it came to getting the kids involved in hunting with traditional equipment. But, I also did a lot of things wrong. I hope my experiences will help you avoid making some of the mistakes I made. My wife, Michele’s, father (their grandfather) not only was a traditional bowhunter, but also designed the Muzzy broadhead to be used with traditional equipment. My father was and still is a traditional bowhunter, so our…

WILL THERE FINALLY be Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania? Maybe, and sort of. After years of listening to archaic declarations from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau lobby, SB 147 passed the Senate by a 36-14 vote and is now (as I write this on July 3) going to the House for a vote. Even if it passes, it doesn’t give Pennsylvania’s hunters what most hunters in the country already have, and that is full Sunday hunting. SB 147 just legalizes hunting on three Sundays. I understand that’s not much, and it’s a bit hard to understand. Just as is the Farm Bureau’s opposition, when in fact a Sunday hunting bill doesn’t grant hunters the automatic right to hunt anywhere. Farmers have to give permission to individuals for that right. And the fear…

It may seem that the Stalker Decoy system would only work in open terrain, but that simply isn’t the case. Even if you never plan to specifically go after whitetails on the ground, having one of these decoys in your pack enables you to capitalize on previously missed opportunities. How many times have you watched a buck dogging a hot doe out in front of your treestand before bedding her down out in some CRP or a field’s-edge weed patch? Most times you throw the book at him with calls and rattling antlers, only to be ignored. The fact is, if you have a lightweight Stalker Decoy in your pack, you’re in the game. As long as you can get out of your stand without being spotted, you can make…

1 THIESSENS® V1 WHITETAIL™ MIDWEIGHT JACKET & PANTS •Wind Defense™ technology •Quiet, durable stretch fabric •Anti-odor treatment Thiessens is a new clothing company making an extensive line of performance hunting apparel at ridiculously affordable prices. Part of their line is the V1 Whitetail Mid-weight Jacket ($79.99) and Pants ($69.99). Made from stretch fabric with fully articulated construction, both feature Wind Defense technology, which knocks down the wind while remaining breathable. The fabric also has a water-resistant treatment to shed light moisture. The grid fleece lining wicks moisture and has an anti-odor treatment. The jacket’s hood is removable, the pants have an internal gripper waistband. and both have plenty of pockets for your gear. They are offered in Realtree® EDGE™ camo. Make sure to also check out Thiessens’ V1 Whitetail Midweight…

QUESTION I’m wondering what your strategy is when it comes to trimming shooting lanes, especially when the trees have leaves in early October but start to get bare when primetime arrives? B. Fletcher, Huntington, West Virginia ANSWER Bowhunters tend to develop their own philosophies on this, but I like ample shooting lanes. I simply cannot tolerate a lone branch, or even small twig, in my shooting lane. It will inevitably cause a problem, and when I finally get a buck within bow range, I must have the clearance to make the shot. My shooting-lane strategy actually starts with tree selection. I look for a large tree, or better yet a double or triple-trunked tree, that I can get lost in from a silhouette perspective. The background is as important as…

I’M OLD ENOUGH now to realize how short our time on Earth is. Looking back, the memories that mean the most to me are divided into two disparate categories connected by the commonality of nature. Because of my affinity for the bow and for hunting, these favorite times often surround bowhunting and archery: The experiences most significant to me are those spent with good friends and family in the outdoors, and also, paradoxically, those moments spent in complete solitude in nature. When fully content with the people I’m with, I realize just how unlikely and rare it is to be with this unique group. I contemplate how these meaningful encounters have been sprinkled throughout my life. I mourn those potential experiences missed as a result of my decisions and ambitions.…