It was just after Christmas. A new bow rested in my lap and I had a nice buck located in the desert that morning. He was in a lust crazed stare at a few does beneath him. All I had to do was make a small loop and my first archery deer would lay at my feet. Once I reached the base of the hill I needed to climb that would put me in shooting range, I dropped my boots and pack. Long story short, I ended up going way farther than I thought looking for the deer. I also stepped on a jumping cactus in my socks. These two instances made me question if this whole “dropping your boots” thing was really necessary for successful spot and stalk bowhunting. More experience in the coming years would tell me it wasn’t.
Index style release aids are without a doubt the most popular release aids in bowhunting. That’s for good reason. They are incredibly practical for the field and easy to use. A seamless transition from shooting a gun and one that you won’t have to worry about losing on a hunt, due to the wrist strap.
That seamless transition though is exactly where many run into problems though. I know I did. The running string of events is similar across the board. Someone grabs an index, says this looks easy to use, hooks it on the d-loop, and pulls the trigger. In the grand scheme of things, that’s all we’re really doing, and if that works for you, that’s awesome. Personally, I ran into issues, because there is a bit more to it than that.
So far I’ve got my new bow for 2022 set up, paper tuned, and sighted in. The next part in my process of getting this new rig ready for hunting season is bareshaft tuning. When I say bareshaft, I’m referring to knocking off the vanes of your arrow so there is no steering aid in the back. If I can get this arrow with no training wheels grouping with a fletched arrow, the result is fantastic arrow flight. This is the most precise way that I’ve found to get my fixed blade broadheads flying with my field points. So, I’m gonna break it down for you here.
With every new bow setup there is a process. One of the most important parts of that process is getting the new bow sighted in. I recently snagged the new EVO XF 33 from PSE and have been going through the motions of getting it all ready for the 2022 hunting season. In light of that, here is yet another step in my personal process. I’m going to walk you through how I sight in a bow. This is going to be applicable to multi-pin sights. There are many ways to skin a cat, this way has always worked for me though.
I’m a big fan of the euro mount, especially for deer/elk. They’ve got a rustic look and I just love the color contrast between skull and antler. Early on, I would go through the whole process of creating these on my own. Boil, pressure washer, boil, pressure washer, etc. I enjoyed the process, but man it always took me forever to finish. With the time crunch that is now my reality going through that process is something I haven’t been able to revisit. Well, not entirely at least. After getting a hot tip from a buddy, the lazy man’s euro mount sounded like it was a perfect alternative. Now, a few years later, I’m happy to say it was.
Year in and year out life is filled with lessons. If you’re like me and always striving to be better than yesterday, you pay attention to those lessons. This past 2021 hunting season provided me with more than its fair share of takeaways, just like it should be. Here, I’m going to lay out my biggest lessons learned from the 2021 hunting season. I walked away from it with new perspective, and with any hope, you’ll walk away from this article with the same.
A good sleeping pad can either make your trip or break it. I’ve been on both ends of that, and the break part isn’t fun. Especially, when it’s 10 degrees at night. Picture someone running in place while in their sleeping bag, just trying to conjure up any bit of heat. That was me. Since that particular hunt, I vowed to always have a quality sleeping pad underneath me and ditch the old school foam roll up kind. Almost 10 years later, I’ll say this. Inflatable sleeping pads are the only way to go.
We were young. For the entirety of our friendship, my buddy John and I have shared the wild hills and waters of Arizona together. In our early 20’s John was suddenly captivated by bowhunting and soon after I caught the bug as well. When we first started trying our hands at archery hunting during our OTC deer hunts here, we swore off hunting coues whitetail deer. They were too hard, too jumpy, and way out of our reach given our limited bowhunting skills. Fast forward to present day and I have become obsessed with them. From their cagey nature to their beautiful coats, unique antlers, and second to none tasting meat. Hunting coues deer with a bow and arrow is the ultimate test for a bowhunter. While they are arguably the hardest animal to spot and stalk with a bow in North America, they are not impossible. Here’s a few proven tidbits of info I’ve gathered bowhunting the gray ghost through the years.
A few years back, I started experiencing some pretty bad bouts of target panic in my archery game. It was so bad that I’d flinch and completely miss my target. The dents on my brick wall in the backyard are proof. Target panic has a few different forms, but for me it chaotically rested in my anticipation of the shot. I’d anticipate when the shot was going to go off and react to that before it would actually go off. A very similar situation to when one is behind a rifle and either forgets to take the safety off or forgets to rack another round in the chamber and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens with the gun, but the shooter, in many cases, tends to flinch in anticipation of the explosion that didn’t actually happen. After coaching and countless hours behind the bow, the only solution I could come up with was to change the process entirely. This is what lead me to bowhunting with a thumb button release aid in the first place.
Backcountry shelters always bring up great conversation. Everyone has their own do’s and don’ts surrounding the topic. These are really a reflection of that hunter’s personal style, where they hunt, and what they’re willing to deal with. Some are minimalists and some want more comfort and livability. No matter where you might fall in the equation, backcountry shelters is what we’re going to be chatting about today!
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