Blog Entries tagged 'hybrid athlete'

Jason - A matched set of Sheds

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Hey Guys....

�� I am still burning the boot leather scouting out new areas for Coues deer.� I have been hanging cameras in different types of areas like creek bottoms and areas where I have seen scrapes in the past.� Unfortunately, my success has been pretty limited as far as trail cam pictures have gone but I feel good about my effort because at least I know where the deer aren't. :)� Last year I hung camera's at water sources at I was able to find deer but once the rut kicked everything changes and I was left chasing scrapes.� This year my goal was to stay off the water sources and learn new areas.� As far as my physical scouting goes it has been pretty good.� I have found several really nice sheds and I have glassed up or jumped several Coues deer does.� I have found a pocket of deer that I am going to key in on.� The big challege now is to wait until a few weeks before the hunt and cover some country looking for scrapes.� Once I find a scrape I need to hang a trail cam on it and see what happens.

On one of my last scouting trips I found this matched set.� They go about 75 inches which doesn't sound that great but remember P&Y for Coues deer is 65 inches..

�

Take Care

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When it rains it pours - My 2008 Antelope

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:00:00 +0100

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.

A picture of some of the country

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So my hunt really started about 11:00 am on Monday. The plan was to drive to the little tank that I killed my buck last year and sit it. Hopefully, the rains that were hitting most of the state missed this little area of NM. I will admit that it was a lot drier than I thought it would be. The only problem that I had is that antelope will drink out of a little puddle made by a cow hoof print. Speaking of cows, when I got to my little tank it was surrounded by cattle... ARRRGHH!!! I mean surrounded. I understand that the rancher in the area has the right to have his cattle in the pasture but dang. It was a mess and I was pretty discouraged. Hoping for the best I stuck in out until sunset. Unfortunately, It was NBC or Nothing But Cows.

So I headed to the trailer for the evening to regroup and come up with a plan. There was no way that sitting water with that many cows around it, was going to work.

I think that the best hunters spend 75% of there time scouting and 25% of the time hunting. With Mother Nature throwing me a curve this year, I needed to do some serious speed-scouting. I needed to find one of two things; a tank that was being hit by goats that didn't have cattle around it or find some habitat that was more conducive to stalking.

Tuesday morning I covered a ton of ground with my Duramax and with my Swaro 15x's. I eliminated some unproductive ground and I found one little area that held some good goats. I saw them the previous day and if was lucky they might hold in the area during the hunt. If worse came to worse I could setup in the rocks and try to wait them out.

This is a picture of the area.
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I was starting to feel a little better about my chances but I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as last year. So my game planned changed from sitting water to spotting and stalking or hunting travel corridors.

Before I headed back to camp I did put the stalk on a nice buck with big cutters but I just wasn't able to get any closer than 125 yards before the sky's opened up. It was pretty dicey getting back to camp but I made it without any drama.

Before the roads got bad

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I know the picture above isn't the best but let me say that it was slick as owl crap.

That night I went to sleep with raining falling on the trailer, usually that is a soothing sound but I had some hunting to do so it was a little unnerving.

Before I new it my Treo was going off and it was time to hit the hills. I think that when you are spotting and stalking it is all about numbers. The more times you the try, the better your odds get. So I promised myself that I was going to put the stalk on every legal animal that I could glass up(if they were in a stalkable place of course). As I left camp it was obvious that I was in for another rainy day so my decision to spot and stalk was a wise one.

I put two stalks on in the morning and I pretty much blew both of them. I just ran out of terrain to hide behind but my third stalk had some real promise. You can't see it in the picture below but there are two bucks bedded on the top of the ridge. They were looking down and seemed to be nodding out. They were about 3/4 of a mile away and it seemed that they were going to stick around for a little while.

Ridge with bucks on it.

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So off I went. The stalk was going pretty well but about 400 yards from where I thought the bucks were bedded it started raining and lightening really hard. Crap, I had a few options; Call off the stalk like a wuss, put my noisy rain gear on and hope that the bucks wouldn't hear me or suck it up and hunt. All I could think of is a saying my buddy Dan Staton (fitness god) says, "Suck it up, Buttercup".

THE HUNT WAS ON... Something was going to hit the mud; a buck or a Jason.

I was using a little bush as a marker to guide me to where the bucks were bedded. I was able to get to that bush without a problem but now I needed to relocate the bucks. I knew that they had to be close. Danger Close. After about 10 minutes I was able to glass up some little tips sticking thru the sage about 80 yards away. Yes, I mean little but I was committed and given the conditions any buck would be great. The best part is that he was still looking downhill.

I have been practicing all summer and 80 yards would be a doable shot but I wanted to close the distance to about 40 yards. So I decide to push my luck and try to close the distance. Luckily, it was still raining so I had some background noise and I ground would be really soft.

It took me about 30 minutes to cover those last 40 yards but it seem like eternity.

So, I was close enough and I had a decent angle on his vitals but he was bedded and I didn't want to take that shot. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't want to shoot the buck when he was bedded but I just didn't. The wait was on.

To make this a successful stalk I had to do three things; Wait for him to stand, make the shot and don't get hit my lightening.

Taking a hint from the bucks I bedded down next to a sage bush and got comfortable.

After about 10 minutes he started to get fidgety and I knew he was about to stand. So I started to get ready for my opportunity. Almost in unison we both came to our knees. The only difference is that as I rose I also drew my bow back. I let my 40 yard pin on settle on his heart, whispered to myself "Confidence is Deadly" and let the arrow fly.

WHAAACK!!!!!

At first he don't know what happened but when he looked up the hill he saw me and he knew he was busted. He started running uphill to my right but I also ran than way hoping that he would see me and run downhill towards the truck. Guess what? He headed right to the truck but stopped to get a feel for the situation. I quickly ranged him again at 78 yards, I moved my sight and hit him again behind the last rib angling forward towards his front leg.

What a rush! I had just made the best stalk of my life. Is he a monster? No, but that really doesn't matter. I had everything against me and I had every reason to quit but I didn't. I sucked it up and I made the shot.

Nice Shot!

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How about a hero shot?

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A few things that I learned or could have done better on the hunt?

--- I recently switched from a Badlands 2800 pack to a BLACKHAWK! Blacktimber and that was a great move. I think that carrying a little bit smaller but very functionally pack made it easier to stalk my buck. IMO we often we try to get the highest capacity pack but that is always the best decision. Stick to a pack size that fits the situation.

--- I need to find another place in this unit that has more stalkable terrain. Flat is great when hunting water but not so great when spotting and stalking.

--- I really like my new Sure-loc sight. It is a basic 3-pin but it has a slider so I can adjust it on the fly. I had my pins set at 20-30-40 but my sight tape went out to 85 yards. I just moved my slider and I was dead-on out to 85 yards.

--- The new Tekan II's do fly like field points.

This is one of my favorite pictures

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A Bloody Bumper - That means you had a successful hunt and the animal is loaded.

So that was my 2008 Antelope hunt... WOW.... What a hunt...

I hope you liked the story...
Take Care

Jason

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Is it Bear season yet?

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

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.

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I must admit that we were in some pretty rough country and I usually don't take Stella on these "Death Marches" but she did really well. The crappy part is that after going "bush whacking" fjor about a mile we found a really nice trail that just about lead to the tank.

Take Care....

J-

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Goal Setting!

dan@sportsmansfitness.com — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:24:45 +0100

Redefine your goals...Redefine you!

The Off-Season is among us friends. This is that time of year to make arrangements for the fall, plan your dream trip(s), test out new gear, fine tune your bow, and hopefully fine tune your body! The first topic we're going to dive into is GOAL SETTING which means getting your goals down on paper.

; Whether you're the most hardcore backcountry [[bowhunter ]]who can pound 15 miles a day with a fridge on your back or you're just a weekend warrior who hunts a ½ mile off the road, your fitness levels will always be a factor in your success!

If you're not quite convinced that [[fitness]] is our backbone then answer this...can your body combat unforgiving vertical, numerous miles, and uneven terrain? Are you able to recover from a 10-mile day hike with just one night's sleep only to do it all over again? Lastly, do you feel your knees, hips and lower back are resistant to injury? These are hard questions to answer honestly...DO IT ANYWAY! I do not expect you to workout 6 days a week like myself and some of the hardcore crowd, but then again you probably don't have the luxury of working at a sports training complex five days a week. In fact, you're probably lucky to squeeze in 45 minutes for a workout and there's no question not without some type of sacrifice (sleep, family time or other weekly events). 2008 is a new year! 2008 has to be different. Read the rest and get pick up a pen! A new year is a chance to renew your hopes, renew your dreams and reestablish your goals. For most of us, this means a much needed lifestyle change. Remember, we don't form habits; habits form us! Successful Goal Setting is required to know where you're going. A lot of us have goals, but do often have no plan on how to achieve them. Here's how your 2008 is going to be maximized:

You Need a Firm Goal And a Flexible Plan! What sort of people write down their goals and plan how to achieve them? The Successful Ones! Writing down your goals is the essence of true goal setting! It doesn't matter if your goals are personal, bowhunting related, fitness based, or perhaps financial related. Goal setting works for individuals, families and companies. Remember - Fail to Plan and You Plan to Fail. It will take you a little time to write your short term and long term goals, but follow these guidelines to insure you set realistic and attainable goals. Make sure to include fitness goals for 2008! IE run a marathon, run a half marathon, 50 push-ups consecutively, 30 weeks of consistent workouts, etc

S.M.A.R.T.

What is SMART? It is a valuable guide to help you with your goal setting. You will find references to Smart in almost all books on goal setting.

¨ Specific - goals must be specific in their detail

¨ Measurable - goals must measurable in quantity, time, cost

¨ Attainable - goals must be achievable within a timescale

¨ Realistic - goals must be relevant

¨ Time - goals must have a timescale or deadline otherwise they will never be finished

Common Reasons for Failing to Meet Goals

Failure to meet goals can often be traced to one or more of the following:

¨ Insufficient time and too many goals

¨ There are conflicts between business goals and personal goals

¨ The achievement of one goal interferes with the achieving of another

¨ Goals have been shared with pessimistic people who have ridiculed your dream. Only share your goals with those you trust - Don't share with anyone negative.

In closing, I would like to thank you for making time to set your 2008 up for maximum success. My next entry I'm going to cover Proper [[Warm-up]] so in the meantime following this progression based on your current fitness level.

ROOKIE: Try walking on a [[treadmill]] 2-3x a week with an incline of 5% at 3.0 mph (hands free)

VARSITY: Try jogging on a [[treadmill]] 3x a week with an incline of 5% at 7.0 mph

PRO: Try jogging 4 miles under 30 minutes on a [[treadmill]] with an incline of 5% 2x week

Here are a few of my fitness related goals for 2008.

Cater the BOWCAST.COM Fitness Blog to folks that are serious about their bowhunting heritage, their sport, and their passion. Convince those that don't train to start training, and for those that already train, inspire them to another level.Participate in 2 duathlons (Brundage, ID and The Dirty Duo, OR)1 adventure race (North Idaho College, ID)2 trail runs (Mt. Hood Scramble, OR and Spokane River Run, WA)1 powerlifting competition (TBA)Compete in the 2008 Crossfit Games (Santa Cruz, CA)

Here are some PICS:

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Dan Evans of Trophy Taker and myself posing off at the ATA. I got to train Dan in 2007 Off-Season and he ended up dropping 30lbs and is now a fitness freak! {multithumb}{multithumb}
Fall 2008 is COMING SOON...start preparing now! Dandan@sportsmansfitness.com

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