BowCast Blog

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.

I have everything I will ever need; I have everything I will ever want.

So for my birthday I have just a few wishes:

Most hunters, conservationists, biologists and pretty much any non-anti-hunter kind of a person understands the need for herd control and herd management. 

When I first arrived at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, it was the middle of the night.  We had rented a car from the airport and drove up this crazy winding road, Snowbird came out of nowhere and took my breath away, even at night.

The staff members in the Cliff Lodge lobby were quick and efficient and we were up in our room on the 5^th floor in no time.

I am a multi-tasker, but there are things that can be a challenge to combine!

Recently, I've been playing with an idea and combining the two may not work simply due to safety issues.

I have two all time favorite activities:

I love target shooting my bow, I love riding my horse.

A few weeks ago, I went to a big box retail store to look at some of the bows there, the guy behind the counter was pretty nice, but he kept pushing a "youth/women's" bow. 

When I would ask about another type he would just shake his head and say things like "let's just stick to what's suitable for you".

#2 - Intimidation. 

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...

We all know Mr. Monsen shoots big animals.  I think we have boiled it down that he is dedicated to his sport, but in all reality, doesn't do much different than all of us hardcores in BowCast land.  He puts in his time, and it pays off.  Anthony will even tell you, the MFer is just plain lucky.

The trip for me started by meeting Matt Hogue at his house in Denver.  Matt had already picked Shawn "Launch" Monsen up from Denver International Airport, and his equipment was sitting in the driveway.  I had my camper attached, and Shawn and I were going to get going on the journey to Kansas in time to setup camp in the dark, get 2 hours of sleep, and have the blind setup somewhere in the morning.  John North and Matt were going to be about 2 hours behind and join us late that evening at camp.

BowCasters!  Hope everyone is getting ready for turkey season. 

Do you know how to tie on your own string loop? It's relatively easy, and can be a hunt saver if you rip off your D-Loop in the field. Check out the short video below. Matt Hogue illustrates how to tie on a string loop in an exaggerated format so that you can get the knots down. Enjoy!

This blog is a continuation on the steps you can use to tune your bow in your own home bow shop.  If you don't have a paper tuner then check out my blog, Paper Tuning Part 1, which shows how to build one. 

Part 1-Making a Paper Tuner

I am still working on building my home bow shop like I'm sure many of you are.  There is a great PodCast, episode #53, on what tools and supplies you will need to start your own home bow shop.  One of the items missing from my shop was a paper tuner.  I have tried many times to quickly tune my bow shooting a piece of paper taped to my ladder rungs.  NOT a good idea and one I would NOT recommend as I put a few holes in the wall of my basement and was out a few arrows.  This blog entry will show you how you can make your own paper tuner by simply going to your local hardware and grocery store and spending around $30.

Living the Essence; Hardcore Bowhunting

Peers ask me all the time, “Why do you like bowhunting so much? All it is, is shooting animals.” I just have to smirk the comment off, because I know that bowhunting is something that is kindled deep in the heart of a person who wants a challenge; to be responsible, respectful and rejuvenated by all that nature has to offer. Some people say that “If you haven’t already done it, you never will.” I tend to disagree; however, if you really want to be a hardcore bowhunter, all it takes is for someone to plant the seed. From that point on, bowhunting is one of those things that people will either grow apart from, whereas the true hardcore bowhunter will find themselves obsessed by mystique of the bow and arrow. I am of the later.

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.

Many of you know that I live in a pretty remote area of Southwestern New Mexico, this is great for hunting but not so great when it comes to hitting the 3-D circuit. We used to have 3 maybe 4, 2-day shoots in the area, basically, all the people from the desert would come play in the Gila National Forest for the weekend. It was alot of fun because these shoots brought in archers from all over the Southwest. Unfortunately Fire Restrictions, Fuel Prices and a new NM Archery Tour has caused several of the local clubs to relocate there big shoots to a more central area of the state. Well, those are the reasons that are stated, personally I think alot of those clubs got tired of having there butts handed to them by the Silver City Crew :).

While I don't know if I would call Silver City a hot bed of archery I would say that there are alot of really good shooters from the area. In fact, there is shoot along the NM and AZ border that pulls about 2500 shooters every year and there is usually a few side bets going on between the NM and AZ shooters. While, I don't know the exact record I do know that the NM teams usually bring home a PILE of cash. Let me just say it, when it comes to busting foam there are A TON of better archers in my area than me, I would consider myself more of a student of the game, and my 12-ringing buddies would back me on that one.

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