Throughout my childhood, my Dad would tell me old hunting stories from before I was around. At the time, I hadn’t really experienced much of the hunting life, so these stories sunk deep in my mind. One of those stories was of an archery deer hunt in upstate New York. It was just him and his bow. No rangefinder to speak of.
My Dad was sitting up in a tree and a lone buck came in beneath. He pulled his bow back, aimed, and let it loose thinking that deer steaks wouldn’t be far away. What really happened was he watched the arrow fly right over the buck’s back, followed by said buck running out of his life. “Should have aimed lower” my Dad said. It was my first lesson on shooting up or downhill with a bow.
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.
Each turn of the calendar I have grown to look forward to a few certain times of year. One of those times that has stolen a piece of my heart is early season high country mule deer hunting with a bow. The views are nothing short of breathtaking, as is the country beneath my feet. It steals my breath in more ways than one. And the sight of big velvet bucks feeding in what resembles a golf course and bedding in what resembles Mordor is addictive beyond measure. This past August I found myself on a solo backcountry bowhunting trip to Utah in search of such things. Along with what I’ve mentioned, I found something else. Something that will hold its weight throughout my days. Perspective.
I just returned from Utah not that long ago. It was a wicked backcountry hunt with just me and my bow that truly threw all of the highs and lows of bowhunting my way. I return to the very area that sparked my love for high country mule deer hunting and this time, the mountains rewarded me in more ways than one. So, naturally I’ve got another film in the works. It’s called “Absolute.” The teaser for this film is down below. Stay tuned in the near future for the full film release.
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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.
New year, new bow! I just recently picked up the brand new for 2022 PSE EVO XF 33 and man, it’s a shooter. Each year that goes by, I am always curious how companies progress and how they can make what’s better even more better. Last year I shot the PSE Xpedite NXT and said more than once that it was my favorite bow. After spending the last few weeks with the new XF though, that statement might change to “one of my favorite bows.”
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.
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