BowCast Blog

Sorry for the long delay guys, I have been a road warrior for the last few months.  Everything is great but I really haven’t had a chance to get to some of my cameras.  I tried a few weeks ago and I just ended up burying the Duramax in a huge snow drift…

All I have to say is that there are a ton of nice mulies on this flat… DANG… There are about 16 does cruising the area so I am sure they are just checking out the ladies…

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.

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.  

Once you have decided on the type of country you want to hunt, the search for such an area that holds the quality and quantity of animals you are looking for can begin.  Such a search can seem daunting at first, but if you break your sources down into groups, it’ll make your research process much more organized.  I’ve got a file drawer that I’ve got files for each state.   As I’m reading hunting magazines throughout the year, I’ll cut out relevant information and drop it in the file for that specific state.  The internet has become an invaluable tool for digging up information and using it to research a hunting area gets you 24/7 access to information.  I’ve gleaned a lot of valuable tips out of the online forums.  Viewing them post-season will give you some insight to what kind of quality other hunters have been taking.  Some openly reveal what unit they have taken an animal in, others may be willing to help out with a private mail inquiry.  A lot of general information can be found about specific mountain ranges or wilderness areas as you begin to narrow down your search.  Ask about deer numbers, recent winter kill and how many other hunters a person ran into while on their hunt.  Use this information as just one piece of the puzzle.  If you get a good lead, you’ll want to follow up on it with some of the phone contacts you’ll be making later in the process.   Print out information that you deem valuable and add it to your growing file.