Blog Entries tagged 'podcast'

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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Contest - Are you Committed to Change?

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:49:20 +0100

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 ?

One of the things that I think these hunters do is that they are always self -evaluating and pushing themselves to be better hunters. Not only during the month leading up to there hunts but they are doing it all year. They are committed.

Bowhunters are like everybody else, we don't like change. We get stuck in ruts and we stay there. We go out and shoot our 25 arrows three times a week because that is what we have done for years. We sit in the same old non-productive tree stands year after year because we haven't done our homework and we haven't found a better spot.

I am guilty of it, this year I sat a spring that had a lot of deer activity during the summer but it shut down during the hunting season. Why did I sit so long? I am not sure, maybe I thought the deer would show up for me or maybe I felt that I had invested a ton of time in the area and I became too committed to the stand. I was having a rough hunt until I was "forced" to admit that I needed to make something happen and change stands. Once I changed locations I was covered up by deer and I was able to kill a nice buck.

Being Committed to Change:

Humans don't like change and we will often take the path of least resistance but this never leads to us overcoming our faults or inadequacies. People need to have a "Come to Jesus Moment"; that is the moment where you understand the problem and realize that you need to change your behaviors to make things better.

There is a saying, "The Hog and the Chicken both contribute to making breakfast; the chicken is just involved but the Hog is committed". i.e. the chicken donated an egg but the hog gave his ass.

Are you committed to change or are you just involved?

So where is all this leading? I know that we have talked about "Goals and Goals Setting" on the forums but we have never talked about our weaknesses and what we plan to do to strengthen them. We are going to solve that with a contest.

THE CONTEST

What I would like you to do is list your biggest weakness then come up with a plan on how you are going to improve it. It can be anything from being a poor shot, to not scouting enough, to not finding a quality area to hunt. All I ask is that we be honest with ourselves. I have started a thread in the forums called "Contest - Being Committed to Change". Post what you consider to be your biggest weakness, then in the same entry post a small plan to improve that weakness. Aneal and I will look at the responses and select a winner. The goal of this contest is get us to identify what we are doing wrong and to come up with a plan to strengthen our weakness.

THE PRIZE

We will be giving away a two FMP DVDs, 360 and the Ride, to the winner.... If you already have the videos don't worry I am sure that we can work something out. I can't find my DVDs and I have a ton of NIP crap in my home bowshop that we trade. :)

I know that this is going to be hard but change is NEVER easy.

Good Luck....

J-

An example of what we are looking for:

My weaknesses:

My biggest weakness is my fitness level, I often find areas either on a map or from glassing that I would love to check out but I am concerned that if I were to knock something down in that area I would have a very difficult time getting it out. My hunting buddy, Tommy says, "don't worry about it until you get something on the ground" but I guess it is just my nature to worry about things like that. I also think that when it comes to elk and turkey hunting half of the game is covering country and finding an animal to work.

My Solution:

Well, this is the hard part and it is okay to ask for help to bust thru your weakness. In my case, I reached out to several people to help me develop a plan to increase my overall fitness level. I will admit that it is really easy to do this on paper but it really takes commitment to follow thru with the plan. For me, my basic plan( I will get more detailed in later blogs) is to work on my core or functional strength on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work on my cardio on M-W-F.

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My 2007 Goat Hunt - Some Like it HOT!!!

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:01:56 +0100

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.

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Let me first say that I was very grateful and lucky to have the opportunity to hunt. My dad had been in the hospital with an infection and so I needed to be around just in case things got little more serious but my dad said I wasn't a doctor so I should go and chase some goats. Tommy, my hunting buddy from Gila Wilderness Hunting had an elk hunting client in the same unit a fews years earlier and he had seen some good goats so we had a good idea where to star. I was going to be hunting alone and this was this first tag I had ever drawn, so this was going to be a learning experience.

The plan was to try and spot and stalk in the morning while I was working my way to a tank. Once I got to the tank I would setup my blind and wait one out. On ther way to my hunting area there were goats all over the place. After setting up camp I went straight to bed. As usual the morning came WAY too early, and I hate mornings.

When I got to my general area I started seeing goats right away. I glassed this group of goats from about a mile and I my stalk was ON. I got to within 90 yards before they busted me. I was using a decoy and a call to try to get them to come in but the timing was just wrong, they didn't give me the time of day.

On a previous trip, I had found a hidden tank that had some sign around it so I was hoping that something was feeding or watering around it. So I parked my rig and "stalked the tank". When I peeked over the dam this little guy was feeding about 30 yards way. He was well within my range but I decided to pass. It was too early in the hunt to let my Silver Flame eat.

With temperatures well above 95 degrees, It was starting to become obvious that the only way I was going to get one of these suckers on the ground was to either get one to come to me or wait one out. So I made a beeline for a tank that I wanted to sit. While working my way to my tank I came across a ton of elk. I was able to get these pictures but there was probably about 75 in the herd. It was pretty neat to see these guys in such open country.

My sit in the blind started started at noon, it had to be an honest 100 degrees plus in there. Let me say that I don't strip down for anybody, not even my wife but DAMN it was just crazy hot. I completely stripped down to my AC/DC Boxers and my Danner boots. Sitting in my blind I must have looked like the white filling in a Little Debbie Cup Cake. If I saw a buck coming in I would quickly put on my black T-shirt so the antelope wouldn't see me.

At 3:30, a buck came in downwind of my setup and busted me. The funny things is he just ran around my blind until he got out of my scent stream then came in to the tank. It looked that after only 3.5 hours in my pressure cooker that I was going to get a shot. I wish I had a great story about why I missed but I just blew it. When I setup my blind I range the area before I setup my blind. I didn't to take the time get a second reading from my rangefinder after I settled in. I miss judged the distance by 10 yards. I held for 40 yards and he was at 54 yards.

Sitting alone in a blind gives you a lot of time to think and the only thing I could think about was that I had a chance and I blew it. I was just hoping and praying that I would have another chance.

YEEEEE HAAAW!!!!!!!!! ANTELOPE DOWN!!!! Well it happened, with about 30 minutes left of shooting light I had a buck come to the tank. His body language was much different than the earlier buck and it was obvious that he was committed to water. It was just up to me to make the shot. He seemed to be watering forever, but once he stopped he turned broadside and my arrow was on the way. All I have to say is the combination of my Hoyt bow, FMJ's and Silver Flame broadheads is scary. At 53 yards my arrow blew right thru his shoulders and pinned him to the ground. He was down and out but I just wanted to make sure that I got another arrow into him, the second arrow cut his spine in half. GAME OVER. Below is a picture of my setup and if you look to the left of the blind about 4 feet above the water you can see my buck.

With the temperatures ranging around 95 degrees I needed to get this goat gutted and processed asap. Tommy always gives me a hard time about not taking good photos but pictures are the least of my worries when I harvest an animal. SOOO I was not able to get any field photos other than with my phone but I did take some photos at the taxidermist (to bleach the skull). He is a pretty good buck he is 14 inches.

Take Care

J-

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Turkey Hunting - Calling all Birds

amaro_jason@hotmail.com — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:57:40 +0100

In my past life I was a fly fishing guide at a pretty high-end fishing lodge in Northern New Mexico. We used to have a saying, “There are flies that catch fish and then there are flies that catch fishermen”. The call industry is very similar. Last night while digging thru my favorite mail order catalog I counted 267 different turkey calls but they all pretty much worked and perform the same way. You either rubbed two things together, you blow thru a reed or you flapped it to get a sound. So why so many calls? Well the real answer is because at one time or another they all work. When I am on the hunt, I carry at least 10 different calls with me, most are different kinds of diaphragm calls with different reed designs but unless I find the lucky one, I use them all. I can’t explain it but it always happens, I can be in a spot that I know holds turkeys but I can’t get them to gobble , then I switch calls and all hell breaks loose. For some reason some calls just seem to work better at certain times. I wish I could give you a formula but if you are not getting any action switch calls and see what happens, you might strike that magic note.

When I am trying to get a shock gobble I have had my best luck with a box call. I really like the fact that they are loud and are easy to use. Each manufacture will say there calls are “tuned” and give a reason why there calls are better and you will notice that each call might sound different but when it comes right down to it I don’t really think it matters what brand you choose; the turkeys will either like it or they won’t. The key is to make sure that your call is properly maintained. Make sure you clean the bottom of the lid and the rail and chalk them periodically. Regular black board chalk usually works best.

BOX CALL

If you are going to consistently kill birds you need to learn how to use a mouth call. Obviously, the main advantage of using a diaphragm call is that they are hands free. It is hard to draw a bow when you are striking a box call. Diaphragm calls are basically a metal U-shaped frame that holds some sort of latex read. They are pretty straight forward, different sounds are generated by using different numbers of reeds and putting silts or cuts in the ends of the read/reads.

When it comes to diaphragm calls the biggest mistake hunters make is that we don’t take the time to customize them. I like to do two things to mine; bend the frame so it fit’s the roof of my mouth better and I trim some of the tape around the metal fram. I can probably work up another blog on customizing these calls, just let me know if you want to see it.

As far as maintaining these calls; after you use them dry them out and don’t place them in the sun. You might also dip them in some mouthwash every now and then. For long-term storage I suggest putting a toothpick between the reeds. Some people also like to freeze there calls.

DIAPHRAM CALLS

Slate or Friction calls are probably my least favorite because they must be kept dry and free of any oils from your hands to work properly. If they aren’t maintained they can make some really strange sounds. You basically have a flat surface and you run a striker across it. These surfaces are made of slate, aluminum, glass and other hard materials. The strikers are made of wood, plastic and metal. As a general rule, the harder the surface the higher pitched sound you can generate. When you have a properly maintained Aluminum friction call you can really cut into the wind and make a gobbler go off. One tip is to interchange strikers and surfaces to get different pitches and sounds.

So how do you know when you need to maintain them and how do you maintain them? If the striker slips across the surface without making any sounds you need to clean both the surface of the friction call and the striker. It is pretty simple, use a Scotch-Brite type pad to scuff both the call surface and striker surface. You can also you a find grit sand paper like a 220 or 240 grit. You don’t need to dig into the materials, experiment a little to see how much you need to scuff the surface to get it sounding correctly.

Below are three examples of Friction Calls; the one on the far left is a pure slate call, the one in the middle is combo call that is made of aluminum, two types of slate and Plexiglas The one on the far right is aluminum. There are also three types of strikers in this picture; wood with a plastic hollow handle, a wood one with a wooden handle and a plastic one with a plastic hollow handle.

FRICTION CALLS

When I am really desperate and I am forced to dig deep into my bag of tricks I sometimes use a Gobbler Shaker Call. It basically sounds like a Gobbler gobbling, the only thing I have ever called in or got to gobble was another hunter, but at least I could say that I herd a gobble. To bad it was me making the sound. For me this call falls in the group that was design to catch hunters, I don’t know if I would recommend using it, you will need to make that decision. Just be aware that plenty of hunters have been stalked when using this call.

SHAKER CALL

Locator calls are probably the easiest group of calls to use because there really isn’t a wrong call or a wrong sound. Aneal and Chris Row covered this topic in episode #39 and they are spot on. My favorite call is the Owl Hooter and the Crow Call. In the picture below, the Crow call is on the left and the Owl Hooter is on the right. Some people like to use Hawk Calls or Coyote Calls but I personally think these might put the birds on edge and that is the last thing I want to do. Maintenance is very minimal and in some cases nonexistent, just keep you calls clean and dry.

SHOCK CALLS

That is the basic run down of calls; there are a few other calls like Turkey Bone Calls, Fly Down Wings and Tube Calls but I don’t use them and I think they are better at catching hunters than calling in birds. Like I said, all these calls will work at one time or another; it is just finding the right call at the right time. One thing that I will stress is that when you are running thru your sequence and you make a call that just doesn’t sound right don’t worry about it the birds don’t care. Also, try to add some inflection to your diaphragm calls.

So get out there and have some fun.

J-

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Issues with BowCast episodes ending abrubptly - Resolved

aroney@bowcast.com — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:11:30 +0100

Hello out there,

A number of you have been digging up episodes from the archives, and have reported old episodes ending about half way through instead of playing in their entirety. This was affecting anyone who was listening to old episodes (new postings since about episode #18 were not affected).

The problem has been resolved and you can now listen to episodes from the archives in their entirety. This issue was related to when the new BowCast site was put up back in October. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Aneal and Anthony

Shoot Straight

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BowCast.com back on iTunes!

aroney@bowcast.com — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:24:33 +0100

Folks,

We have solved "The iTunes debacle"!

We are completely working again on iTunes. In a previous blog entry I posted the direct link to get the BowCast.com RSS feed plugged into iTunes. In addition, if you go back to "searching" in iTunes, the correct BowCast.com RSS feed comes up (NOTE: The old one is still out there. I am not sure why iTunes will not remove it. If you search on "BowCast" in the iTunes store, you want to click on the "BowCast.com" link - it has the new BowCast.com logo as the album art.)

If you are still having any issues on iTunes, please don't hesitate to drop us a line at info@bowcast.com.

Aneal

"Shoot Straight "

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