In the countless hours I spend at my local Sportsman's Warehouse and other local archery pro-shops, I decided early on this year that I was going to change out my release aid. Prior to 2008, I have used the T.R.U. Ball Loop Master. I have nothing but good things to say about the T.R.U. Ball release aids, however, I was after more than simply changing brands. I had been hearing bout the merits of "Back tension" and "Thumb Trigger" style releases. Anthony and I have, on countless occassions, talked about looking to professional paper and 3D shooters for the equipment that could make you more accurate in the field. Overwhelmingly, professional shooters use "Back Tension" style releases. Why? What do these types of release feature that makes you more accurate?  Are they practical in the field?

So my journey began. I first tried some of the new wrist strap style (index finger trigger) releases to start with. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything with some of the new models. In all honesty, other than a little comfort and "feel" most wrist style release felt and worked pretty much the same. I felt like I was equally accurate with most of the major brands, and they all seemed to work relatively well.

But again, I wanted to find out what all the "back tension" and "thumb trigger" hub hub was about. The first back tension style release I tried was the Carter Evolution- and I won't lie - I punched myself right in the face and had no idea where my arrow went (it was in the target 10 yards away, but I didn't know it until I actually looked after the shot - and stopped seeing stars). The Carter Evolution is a back tension release, however, it does have a thumb safety.  You place your thumb over a release while you draw back, then after you remove your thumb, the release gives as you apply back tension.  No trigger.  This did not at all feel comfortable for me, and I worried about how this could possibly work when I was drawing on an animal in the field.  So the first question I had to answer for myself was why do pro shooters use back tension?

Most of us have a trigger on our release aid. Just like a trigger on a gun, pressure is applied to the trigger which ulitmately leads to the "release" of the string. Pretty straight forward, right? Well consider that applying pressure with your index finger to a release aid is another element (or variable) of body movement that is affecting your overall arrow flight and accuracy. "Punching" the trigger will cause your bow to move in your hand, often sideways affecting your shot. Even with a well practiced "squeeze" of the trigger, there is a certain mental and physical relationship that is hard to control. Thinking about when to squeeze the trigger and actually doing it takes energy away from focusing on your target. This fact ultimately left me with curiosity in trying out back tension style releases.

With all this being said, I do believe that using a back tension style release in the field is a pretty dramatic jump. In hunting situations (as opposed to tournament archery situations) I am not convinced that back tension style releases are the best way to go....so I decided to try a thumb trigger "style" release, that still had a trigger, but would minimize the variable of "punching" the trigger. So, I settled on using the Carter Chocolate Addiction release this year.

So what can I say about the Carter Chocolate? The first thing has nothing to do with the brand of release, but rather the type of release. Moving from a wrist style index finger style to a thumb trigger release is a large jump. My first solid week of shooting with the Carter Chocolate had me questioning whether or not I just wasted $169! I was releasing when I wasn't intending too, my groups were all over the place, and I couldn't see any "accuracy" light at the end of the tunnel.

But alas, what a difference pushing through a couple of weeks made. Once I settled in, the benefits of this style release were tenfold. One of the nice things about the Carter Chocolate Addiction is that is adjustable in many different ways. You can adjust the amount of tension needed to cause the aid to release, you can adjust the position of the thumb trigger arm, as well as the position of the thumb trigger itself. Since I have relatively short and stubby hands, it took much "trial and error" to find the right combination of adjustments that helped the release feel right in my hand. Another thing to get used to was the position of my hand on my anchor. Instead of my 4 knuckles aligned away from my jaw bone, this style of release forces your knuckles to align right down the side of your cheek. Definitely a different feel coming from a wrist style release.

I can honestly say that will all the adjustments the Chocolate provides for, once I got the "feel" right, I have never adjusted it again. It is customized to me....and that is how just about every piece of archery equipment should be.

With 80 lb limbs (I am pulling 76 lbs), I also initially was a little uncomfortable when drawing my bow with this release. I never realized how much I was leveraging my wrist strap to do a lot of the "pulling back" of my bow string. When it is up to 3 fingers wrapped around a thumb trigger style release, you immediately feel these smaller muscles doing a lot more work. While I was still able to draw my bow back, my fingers became pretty sore after a long session of shooting. I finally minimized this with two techniques - 1) I put a small piece of foam sticker on the inside of the release to "cushion" my fingers between the hard metal release and 2) I learned to "lock" my index finger and thumb to gain more leverage when I was pulling the string back. With these 2 techniques and a little practice, I now feel comfortable that I am drawing the bow back in the same fashion and level of comfort I had when I was using a wrist style release.

Some other considerations with this style of release include how it will be used and carried in the field. No longer is my release always attached to my wrist (which was a good thing because I tend to lose a lot of equipment in the woods!). I wear the Chocolate on a lanyard around my neck. The bad news there is it can get tangled in bino harnesses or calls I am wearing around my neck. I have found that a camo shirt with a front left pocket makes for a good place to "stuff" my release while it is hanging on my neck. Also, there is a little weight to the Carter Chocolate, so that was something else I had to get used to wearing it around my neck.

And here is the big bottom line - I have never felt more comfortable in "surprising" myself with a shot as I now do with this Carter Chocolate release. My groups are tighter, and basically that overshadows any of the nuances of moving into this style release. Through my practice, I have gotten into a routine of getting into my anchor, and just slightly tensing up my shoulder muscles causing just enough pressure on my thumb to allow the release aid to do its job (without me thinking about or punching the trigger). At $169, the release is not on the cheaper end, but the accuracy both on the range and in the field is well worth it.

I'd love to hear any other questions about this release that I may not have addressed as well as hear from anyone else out there in BowCast land that has used the Carter Chocolate Addiction, and what your take is on it.

Happy Shooting!

Aneal

With big game seasons underway here in Colorado and the West, I have spent the last 9+ months preparing for this time of year. In many of my blog entries, I have hinted at some of the new equipment I have upgraded to this year in the attempt to be a better shot, a more successful hunter, and overall "dope in" or "pimp out" my archery setup.

Since I am actively out in the field using my new equipment, I thought I would share with you my experiences with some of the equipment I have chosen to use and test in 2008. I am writing this entry as an introduction to a multi-part blog series I will be conducting dedicated to the equipment I have been using in 2008, and an honest review of the equipment from my perspective.

Below is a list of the pieces of equipment I have "upgraded" to this year, and that I have been shooting for many months. I will kick this "Product Review" series off in the following order:

1) Carter Chocolate Addiction Release Aid

2) Game Plan Gear "Spot N Stalk" Realtree Roadtrips Pack

3) G5 Quest 33 Bow

4) Sure-Loc Sportsman's Special single pin adjustable sight

5) Badlands 4500 Pack

6) Nikon Rifle Hunter Range Finder

7) Broadheads - G5 Tekan 2008 and G5 Striker Magnums

8) Badlands "Super Day" day pack

9) G5 Expert II Rest

10) Sure-Loc 3rd Axis Levelling tool

So - 10 products that were brand new to me about 9 months ago, and that I have become intricately familiar with in 2008. Stay tuned to hear my review of each piece of equipment. If you have a specific question on one of these items, please post that question in the comment section of this blog entry. I will do my best to address your question when we get to that product in this blog series.

That's all for now - later.

Aneal

I know you are all waiting for my personal success photos - but you are just going to have to wait a little longer :-(.

But, I am proud to share some of the success from the other BowCast team members. I have already included the Colorado Bull Elk that Mark Hogue took this past week. Here are a couple more success pics from the team:

In an ongoing lifelong quest to make things as hard as possible on himself (snicker) South Cox connected on this gorgeous Colorado Mule Deer - the kicker? TRADITIONAL EQUIPMENT! Congrats South, your smile says it all!

You've see our videos of Matt and I shooting John North's "Sick Ass" 3D Course. Well, John's year round practice paid off on this absolutely amazing Colorado Black Bear (BTW - Baiting and Dogs are completely illegal in CO). John took this bruin the old fashion way....spot and....er shoot.

Congrats to both of you! I hope my pics will be landing at a BowCast blog near you all soon :-).

Later,

Aneal

It's been said a ton of times that you will never forget where you were when the worst terrorist attack on US soil occurred. In remembering the tradgedy of 6 years ago, I thought I would share where I was.

I am originally from NY - Long Beach, Long Island to be exact. This is where I lived until I was about 12 years old at which time I moved to the Poconos area of Pennsylvania. My Dad lived on Long Island until I was out of college and moved to Colorado. My youngest sister was still living on Long Island back in 2002 and as I have mentioned on BowCast episodes, Long Island is where I walked into a pro shop and bought my first "new" bow - a Reflex.

I am sure there are similar stories from 9/11/2001 for those of us who live out West. Of course, September is the heart of the archery deer and elk season here in Colorodo.....that fact made for a pretty surreal experience for me.

I had been up in the high country for 8 days from September 5 through September 13th. I had come back down into a ski resort town to grab a shower and call one of my sisters to wish her a happy birthday on September 10th. I headed back up into the hills with nothing else on my mind except where to find my next elk to setup on.

Fast forwarding, I headed out of camp and back down to Denver on September 13th. I had a couple of other guys in camp with me during that trip, and I distinctly remember the comment one night before climbing into my spike tent - "There seems to be a lot less planes flying at night compared to years past." I didn't even give that brief comment another thought.

As I was driving on I-70 East back down to Denver, I tuned into my favorite "Rock and Roll" station here in Denver. After a few minutes I found it strange that I kept hearing DJ blurbs similar to, "We are finally getting back to playing music after the events of the last few days." What did that mean?

As I continued my long drive home, the confusion for me began to grow. I was starting to get other "News" blurbs that were saying things like, "All US Airports are now back in operation with limited service and schedules." Now why in the world would all US airports have been closed?

You see, on September 13th, what was surreal is that the radio media had already made the assumption that EVERYONE on the planet knew what happened on September 11th. I, however, had no idea - and the radio DJ's and news blurbs were not helping me much with the assumption that I had an inkling of what they were talking about. I knew something bad happened by this point, but was frantically trying to tune to AM stations and piece together the story.

I remember that it wasn't until I was 20 minutes outside of Denver (The end of a 3.5 hour drive) that I started to piece together that something tragic happened in NY. Of course, I became a little frantic at this point. I heard about Pittsburgh (most of my family leaves in Easter Pennsylvania - only about 1 hour outside of NYC) and my youngest sister should have been in school on Long Island.

It was somewhat of a blur from there - getting home, turning on the TV, getting visuals, making calls back to my family in the Northeast. It took a couple of hours, but everyone was accounted for and was doing fine. We all spent some time on the phone talking about how devasting this event was.

Today, I hope we all take a moment to think about the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world. Take a minute to give your kids and spouse and extra hug (or two), and remember in life - anything can happen. I encourage us all to smile ear to ear when we think of our family, friends, and the opportunities we all have to get out and do what we love in the outdoors - hunt with a bow and arrow. Let's remember those that were lost in this tradgedy, and resolve that although tragic, we are a better country today due to the events on 9/11/2008.

I do, however, suggest that while you are in the mountains, woods, or a tree stand this fall that you forget for a short time some of the day to day realities that await you back at your home. You'll piece together the events you missed while you were away hunting when you get back home. For now, enjoy chasing your quarry.

Where were you when you heard the news of 9/11/2001? Post a comment to this blog entry and let us know....I am sure there are some other stories/perspectives from the BowCast community.

Cheers,

Aneal