BowCast Blog

For me a successful hunt is if I could have killed something with a rifle. J-

Day 5

It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent delight in man-a relic of an instinctive passion. - Charles Darwin

Wow what a great quote…  I pulled it from my Runners World.  Hunters love the Chase.

Perspective -

• The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance: tried to keep my perspective throughout the crisis.

If you guys have been tracking some of the events that have been going on in my life over on Facebook you will have noticed that I haven’t really had a chance to hunt like I would like to, but in the in grand scheme of life it is no big deal.  I am just glad my mom is doing better and that she is going in the right direction.

If you guys have been tracking my blog will have probably noticed that for me the best part of Coues deer hunting isn’t the killing of the deer but the  process of trying to get close to North America’s toughest animal to kill with a bow.  This year I spent over 60 days running around the mountains and my GPS tells me that I have covered over 300 miles on foot.  If you want to be a successful Coues deer hunter those miles are all part of the process.  I have often said that bow hunting has saved my life, it has given me a reason to be able to get off the couch, on my feet and out the door.  I know and old man that we call, “The White Rat”, that has probably killed more Elk in Northern New Mexico than anybody else.  I once asked him how he was always able to find animals, he would always laugh and say that the “They are where they are”.  As a young fly fishing guide I never really knew what he meant but as a get older it all starts to make since.  What he was trying to say is that when we scour maps, we spend hours climbing mountains and try to find the best habitat but when it comes right down to it animals don’t really care about that stuff.  As along as their needs are met they have no need to move.  If you want to be a successful hunter you need to figure out where the animals are during the season.  Last year I made  mistake by scouting like a mad man during the summer and the fall but once the “whitetail lull” and the rut kicked in I lost all of the big deer that I was tracking.  It was a real eye-opener, I was two steps behind the deer.  The last day of the hunt I picked up, headed into the high-country and I found deer.  I passed on 3 smaller deer.

This year I spent a lot of time learning new country but I knew that it was just fun and games because the real scouting would start a week before the hunt.   So what happened?  Well, I found a spot early in the summer that I was really looking forward to hunting but there is way too much snow back there, to get in there safely.  I might take the 4 wheeler in one of these days during the hunt just to see what is going on.  Who knows it just might be worth it.  To get to the area it is about a 45 min drive from the house, then a 45 4 wheeler drive and then a 30 min hike.  It is a lot of work to get in there but I am sure that there are a pocket of deer in there that die of old age.  So before the season a good buddy suggested that I look at a spot that he had seen deer before and that he felt might have a good pocket of deer.  Given the chance to learn a new spot I was all over it…  Like usual, I downloaded every map I could find and I started downloading waypoints to my GPS. The race was on.

Well Everybody

It is that time of the year again. Time to unveil my choice in bows.  This year was different because I got a chance to shoot all the bows side-by-side at ATA.  I was able to shoot everything from Hoyts to Bears.  Personally, it was a great experience.  As many of you know I am always saying, "it is the Indian not the Arrow.".  I really believe that.  If you picked the top ten bows they are more accurate and consistent than any human can be.  If there is a difference it will be in quality control and ease of tuning.  Last year I shot and reviewed a single cam bow.  It was a nice little bow but I had some issues with the cams "biting" into the serving and the limbsaver kept flying off the limbs.  I know that is pretty rare to ever read anything negative about a bow but I have no  problem calling it like I see it.  So stay tuned for an honest review.

Hey Everybody...

  How about some trail cam pictures???  This is that little spot I found where a rancher tossed a salt block for his cattle.  He pulled the cattle out of the area but my deer are still around.  I suspect that the deer are going to really start hitting the area once our summer rains start.  This spot is on the edge feeding and bedding area.  It is about a 1/3 of a mile for a pretty significant water source so I think the deer are going to stay in the area.  The only issue I have is that I KNOW that there are much bigger deer in the general area but I can't figure out where they are bedding or where they are watering.  During the rut this area was TORE up with scrapes but I didn't get a chance to hunt it.  The crummy part is that I might not even get to hunt this unit because it is a tough draw.  So this weekend I planing on scouting my 2nd draw choice.

 One think you might notice is that  my Coues Deer are holding onto there antlers well into April.  For deer in the Southwest that is pretty common. 

 Again I am using Covert Trail Cams that I picked up from Amanda at www.coueswhitetail.com

How about this Buck?  He has nice mass and a great frame but he need longer and more points...

Hey Guys..

 I hope everybody is still scouting hard... This is the time of year where we see what animals made it thru the hunts...  In NM, the deer started dropping their antlers about two weeks ago...  BUT alot of them are still packing, last week I saw several 1/2 rack mulies. 

BUT I did find some older sheds.  

Hey Guys...

   Here is a quick little reciepe that  I got from Shawn Monsen's wife Melissa...   They are a great little pick me up when you need one on the mountain. They don't require any special storage.  It doesn't matter if they get mashed.  The are not that bad for you and best of all they taste great and are less filling...  

But it is approximately:

• 3 cups powdered milk
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup ground wheat germ
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1-1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1-1 1/2 cups honey

Hey Guys...

  If you have been reading my blog long you might remember that I found a place that doesn't get hunted very hard but that I always find scrapes in the area.  So once our season finished I hung a Covert Camera in the area to see if I could pick up any deer in the area.  The good news is that I found a ton of deer.  The bad news is that most of them are Mulies.  I also found a nice herd of Javelina's.  

Hey Guys...

   As many of you know one of our sayings at Bowcast is "It is the Indian not the Arrow", in other words don't be caught up with big names and overlook products that are quality just because they don't have a huge marketing campaign behind them.  ANYWAY a few months ago I found these cameras being sold over on www.coueswhitetail.com and they really caught my interest.  I have used about 5 different brands of cameras and I have had mixed results with all of them.  I had some good luck with the Leaf Rivers and Cuddebacks but I am always looking for something better.  

  Sooo... Why did I give the Covert a look?  Well, it does everything that the big name cameras do but in a much smaller package.   That and I really like the following features:

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.

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 ?