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.

I have spent a lot of time in the woods, just wandering around and watching how animals interact.  I have always been a firm believer in learning by observation.

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.  

BowCasters!  Hope everyone is getting ready for turkey season. 

BowCasters!

OK, so there were some specific questions about the equipment I personally used on my recent Montana hunt. I will go through these in the order they were commented on in my last blog entry.

Holy smokes... DeRyderM asked about moon phase and deer movement, so I thought I would put together a quick overview and call it good. ...little did I know just how MUCH this issue has been debated in the last couple of months. So...here is the best answer I can give you, based on what I know and my opinions...

Is deer movement influenced by moon phase? I think the better question is, CAN it be...and I think yes, it can.

As we discussed in the last blog entry, photoperiod is really the driving force behind animals coming into their reproductive cycle – i.e. the amount of daylight vs. darkness each day. Recently, a lot of scientific data has come forth that shows that deer fawn conception dates (i.e. when a doe is actually bred) for specific areas are generally +/- 3 or 4 days around the same date each year, regardless the year, and regardless of the moon phase. For some, research into deer conception dates has been “the end all be all proof” that moon phase doesn’t influence the deer rut. However, while these data are easily quantifiable, and were collected over several to MANY years, some have pointed out that there are limitations to how they were gathered, and whether or not secondary influences like deer density, age, feed, their captivity, etc. affected how the does cycled. Similarly, in the last few years, several well-known “moon phase rut models” have been “shown” to be inaccurate, or only applicable to certain areas, by a variety of hunters posting their observations on various chat rooms and talk forums. So what’s true? What’s really accurate? Unfortunately, probably all of the above...

Without going into all the science, research, data, etc... I’ll give you MY thoughts on the subject, and how I would be hunting if I could be hunting whitetails this year. First, two points..