Carrie's Blog

Another year come and gone, 2009 flew by like a Full Metal Jacket shot with a 90 pound Elite GT500.  What a whirlwind year.   How many of us got involved with BowCast in 2009, whether its staff, sponsors, and of course the all important BowCast nation?  How many new friends did we make, and how much have we all learned?

New techniques, new contacts, new friends, new places to hunt, new species, new events....

I thought I'd take this opportunity to highlight a few of my favorite things from 2009...

1) My First Bow - Parker Wildfire XP

A single-cam, 31" axle to axle, 300 fps, 80% let-off, 27" draw length fine piece of machinery!  The package included the Hostage arrow rest, Montana Black Gold fiber-optic pin sight, Parker one-piece quiver, a braided sling, angled peep sight, and the Sims String Leeches.  I was in heaven!

2) BowCast at the Bird

The most amazing outdoor related 3 days!  Mountains, mule deer, moose, and spas.  Dixon & Roney, Cima & Amaro, Burrows & Hoag, Jason & Launch Monsen, Thelissa, Jacqueline and Emily, and about 100 other BowCasters I had the pleasure of meeting!  Don't forget Curt Wells, South Cox and Charlie Owens...

And the gear...oh the gear....Elite bows, Easton arrows, Rhinehart targets, Nikon optics, Montana Decoys, Realtree and Addiction tee shirts...a girl could spend an awful lot of money in one afternoon up on SnowBird mountain!

10, 40, 90, 120 yard shots, uphill, downhill, over a creek, under some logs, through the brush and where the heck are the little orange markers?

3) Firsts - My first 3D shoot, Opening day of deer archery season and my first blind - a big oops and a lesson learned, I have since purchase a larger blind!

4) 5 of my Favorite Blog Entries!

• Team BowCast - 2009 Kansas Turkey Hunt  by Aneal Roney -May 23, 2009
• Matt-Replacing fiber optic by Matthew Burrows - April 20, 2009
• The BEST Hunt Deal on the PLANET!!!!!  by Aneal Roney - May 13, 2009
• Kemp Youth Club 3-D by Jason Amaro - May 25, 2009
• It Doesn't Come Easy.... by Devin Krinke Nov 9, 2009

5) Top 10 Forum Posts:

• BowCast - 100th Episode by aroney
• Danger to all Hunters! Funny as hell by DeRyderM
• Bowcast Addiction by stackemUP
• What does bowhunting...(mean to you) by Twes
• Bowcast Nation Enjoying Summer! by DeRyderM
• Bowcast Community Competition............... by bckcntrybuck
• I'm an idiot... and other randomness... by dbowhunter
• How Many Bows? by bigpoppa
• Badlands Packs and back country equipment!  by G2G Extreme
• Joe Cima is a Maniac!!! by bckcntrybuck

6) Top 5 Favorite Podcast Episodes.

• 1) Episode #87 4/25/09 - Spot and Stalk for Turkeys Hands down my favorite show ever, all the Indian food references crack me up no matter how many times I listen to it.
• 2) Episode #80 2/28/09 - Pheasants are NOT Forever Since I love pheasant hunting this lit a fire in me like no other episode!
• 3) Episode #97 8/16/09 - BATB Debrief and Antelope Checklist Just listening to them go over everything at the Bird made me want to run right out and book the tickets for the next year's event.
• 4) Episode #99 9/6/09 - Shot Placement! Nothing says "hardcore" like the words "Texas Heartshot"!
• 5) Episode #105 11/01/2009 - Pronghorn Camp in Eastern Montana! Sounds like a great time!

Even thought I didn't kill anything with my bow in 2009, I figured a lot of stuff out and learned a ton, here's to being confident next year is just as good if not better, and of course, meeting the rest of you at BATB 2010.

So tell me...what were your favorite BowCast experiences of 2009?