BowCast Blog

Hey Everybody....

If you guys have been keeping tabs on my blog you know that I love to post about first time hunters.  It doesn't matter if it is a kid or an adult, there is something awesome about a first bowkill.

Shannon killed her first doe this year and she is hooked.  She sent me the story and pictures below.

GREAT JOB Shannon!!!!

J-

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I did not grow up in a hunting household like most huntresses. I grew up in San Diego and spent my time showing horses and hanging out at the beach. I always wanted to learn how to hunt but I did not have anyone to show me or take me. I did express interest to my father, and he taught me how to shoot and take care of firearms, which drove my passion to learn more. I attended Oregon State University where I majored in Public Relations. For elective classes I took forest management, animal sciences and other agricultural classes. My passion to learn more about hunting and game management grew. After college I was blessed to land a job in the hunting industry. I was recently invited to hunt with Vicki Cinaciarulo and her Posse members for an episode of Archer’s Choice TV.

One of the reason Bowcast was started was to give honest and comprehensive products reviews.  If you pickup any magazine or watch any tv show you will see so called reviews.  The only problem is that many of the people reviewing the products are sponsored by the company.  When I see this I always question the review. 

I have been down the sponsorship or pro-staff road a few times and luckily I have been able to to stay independent.  This affords me the freedom to call it like I see it.  I don't have to help sell a product.

As many of you know I have been reviewing a BLACKHAWK! Blacktimber pack for a few months.  My goal was to really give it a workout.  I didn't want to do one of those reviews that you see in the magazine that just list the specs.  I wanted to be able to say that I really tested a pack and want to feel comfortable with the review that the pack EARNED.

Talk about RAIN!!! It has been a long time since I have seen this much rain this late in the year. In fact, we had TORNADO warnings for the first two days of our Antelope season. I was praying that the area that I was hunting was relatively dry and that I might be able to sit a tank until I was forced to do a little spot and stalk.

Because of birthdays and family visiting I wasn't able to make the first two days of the hunt, usually two days isn't that big of a deal but our Antelope season is only 7 days long so you have to take advantage of everyday. So I rolled out of Silver City Monday morning around 5:00 am trying to make it to my hunting spot before noon. I was able to get to my camping spot around 10:00 am. So I quickly setup camp and headed to the mountain. I say mountain but in reality the area I was hunting was pretty flat. The good thing about this area is that I could see and glass a long way but the problem was that the antelope would see me coming.

Hey Everybody...

Just when I was about to get totally discourage, I had a pretty decent scouting trip. As many of you know my deer season doesn't start until Janurary so alot of the work I am doing now is trying to learn new country and hopefully find a new honey hole. As always, my goals are to find sheds and hopefully find animals. Unfortunately, this year I hadn't really found anything noteable until my recent trip. I headed into some country that I suspected held a pocket of Coues and Mule Deer but I need to get in there and really take a look.  The funny thing about this area is that a lot of people that draw this tag often drive right past this little section of huntable land.

As promissed here is the update... 

Well, I got the new cam and mod in the mail in a very timely manner.  They also sent a new string and cable.    So I went down to my local bowshop called the Backwoodsman just to shoot the breeze and to replace everything.  I must admit it wasn't too bad but it did take some work.  I was not able to use the mod that they sent me because it just didn't fit.   So on the bow I have the new cam with the old mod.  Hopefully, this will cure the string biting issue.  

I hope everybody had a safe 4th of July.

Taking the next step is what Bowcast is all about. Taking the next step, from the average archer to the complete archer is what we are trying to facilitate. For many archers the next step involves becoming your own bow mechanic. If you really want to understand how a bow works you need to start maintaining and fiddling with your own bow.

Hey Everybody...

Last week I was getting big time cabin fever, so Stella and I went out to hang a trail camera. I found a tank on one map that wasn't listed on the more recent maps so I loaded the coordinates on my GPS and we went for a little hike. At the time I was just hoping that the tank would still be around and it might be a little honey hole. I was hoping to find a pocket of Coues Deer but I found something better. I found a place to hopefully stick a bear. I am going to hang some some scaffolding for a treestand later in the year. Yes scaffolding, I am a big boy and I don't like little tree steps. :) Okay, maybe not scaffolding but I am definately going to use a treestand with a ladder.  This is one of the videos that I got of the bear. He isn't huge but he will do just fine.

It is often said that 10% of the people take 90% of the game. While I don't know if that statistic is correct, I do know that some hunters are consistently successful. So it leads us to the question, what are they doing differently than the rest of us? Do they go to church more often? Did they sell there soul to the devil? What do they have in common that leads them to be more successful ?

Hey Everybody... All this talk about Antelope hunting really has me ready to get chasing some speed goats. Below is the story of my 2007 NM Antelope hunt. I wish I would have taken better pictures but when I dropped him it was AFRICA hot and I wanted to get him cooled down ASAP.

As many of you know I have been in the process of setting up my Blackhawk Bow from Parker.  Rather than stumbling thru the process I decided I would tune first then shoot.  Always looking for the latest and greatest I setout to find some tools that would help me in thru the process.  Other than the usual tools,  I found a neat little product called the BowPlane² by Double Take Archery.

In NM we have had two cases in the last week where a wild animal has either attacked and dragged a child away or has eaten someones little FOO-FOO. Could it have been one of these? What is the name of this little animal? The person who comments first with the proper answer will get the other Nocked and Loaded DVD and window sticker. See Aneal's blog for details... This video came from one of my trail cams.

This year I will be reviewing the Blackhawk bow from Parker, but before I get too much into the bow I want to give you some of my background. Traditionally, I have always shot some of the longer ATA Hoyts. Not because I have been sponsored or any of that stuff but because I know they make solid bows. I also think that it is the “Indian not the Arrow." If you ever doubt that just take a look at some of the Professional Hunters on T.V., those guys switch bows more often than I change the fuel filter on my Diesel. Also, other than the Drop-Away rests I personally don’t think that there have been any really HUGE advances in archery technology. Some people say that the Cam and a Half design was a big jump but it has been around since the 70’s when Darton came out with the Darton CPS design and the Single Cam was something that Mathews “borrowed” (from Jennings and Martin). It has been and always be about marketing.

Last year I drew a really good tag and I knew I had to the opportunity to take a really nice Coues deer. Knowing this I really pulled out all the stops on my yearly scouting.

Hello Little Lady

Hey Everybody

As many of you might remember we ran a poll a few weeks ago regarding what type of content they would like to see in the podcast and in the blogs. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was pretty obvious that everybody wanted honest product reviews.

I have always said , "If you kill one turkey you found a dumb bird, if you kill two birds you are lucky but if you kill more than three birds you know what you are doing," Jason Z from Fargo, ND has turkey hunting down to a science. Below is his story, Great Job! - Jason

Recently, in the fourms we had some discussion about Bare Shaft Tuning and I was asked to explain it a little more.... So here it goes.

The idea behind Bare Shaft Tuning is that you are trying to see if you arrows are correctly spined for your setup.

As many of you know I am always looking to highlight our listeners hunts. Well, 12 point droptine sent me this picture and a story of his recent hunt. WOW, now that is a Mulie. Great Job and thanks for sending me the story - Jason

The term "Stump Shooting" is a little misleading, DON'T SHOOT STUMPS you will destroy your arrows. The first time I went stump shooting I quickly learned that you really needed to pick your targets carefully. I went thru 4 arrows in about 30 minutes, it wasn't pretty.

Before you go out and start shooting things, you need to replace your fields points with something like the G5 S.G.H, a rubber blunt or add a adder point behind your field tip. You basically need something that will not penetrate too deeply into your target and that will
“kick-up” and not dig into the dirt.

Stefen's Dad, Chris Gomes sent me this story. I it great to hear about a kid take his first animal. The best part is that Stefen really worked at it; he practiced, he put the time in and he made the shot. Stefen great job and thank your dad for taking you hunting. - Take Care Jason