Shoot To Learn Or “Learn To Shoot” By Jeff Wade
Hunting Season is upon us once again and the members of Team Outdoorsmen Adventures wishes you the best season of all!
North Carolina Archery Season has begun with many other states opening soon. A bow hunter is someone who gets to know his prey up close and personal. He is of the land and knows the patterns and movements of the game he intends to harvest.
This is what makes a great hunter out in the woods. “Make No Mistake About It!” That is exactly the key element in a bow hunters mindset he must be mentally ready and prepared for the shot.
The hunt starts before season when he picks his bow up each year. It makes sense to not take the shot if you have not completed your homework.
The first task to cover is to inspect our bow for damages. Inspect it anyway, even if it has been locked in your case for the past year. If your string looks worn, it’s time to replace it. I like to replace my bowstring every two years regardless of the wear and tear on it. Strings will stretch over time. Inspect your arrows and anything else on the bow. Look for cracks, a bent arrow, torn or bad fletching or anything than could cause an arrow to fly incorrectly.
Make sure you oil movable parts of your bow with scentless oil. Wax your string each time you practice. Proper care of all bow hunting equipment is essential to success in the field.
Once all this has been accomplished you are ready to shoot again. Practice everyday no less than a month before season. I feel if you’ve put in shooting time every night till the opener you’ll be prepared physically and mentally for you shot at a game animal.
By this time your shot should become a repetition of steps that you do automatically without thinking.
Even at this point, here in North Carolina with a longbow season practice should be performed periodically during season to ensure your form and shot have not went south.
When the game animal is in front of you the less thinking you do the better. This brings me to a point on the many sights that are on the market.… Continue reading
Manitoba Archery Black Bear
Outdoorsmen Adventures producer/host Gary Howey and cameraman Scott Bonertz will head up north to Manitoba Canada to film an archery bear hunt with the folks at Mountain Oak Outfitters.
On this spring hunt Gary will have several bears around his stand, including a large brown phase and a 282 # black bear that should make Pope & Young… Continue reading
The Game Cleaning System From Hunter’s Specialties® Helps Ensure Proper Field Care
The new Game Cleaning System from Hunter’s Specialties® helps hunters quickly field dress deer, antelope, bear, hogs, and other similar sized game.
The Game Cleaning System contains a set of field dressing gloves which protect your hands and arms from blood and bodily fluids all the way to your shoulders.
The kit also contains the new Butt Out® 2 big game field dressing tool which quickly and easily removes the alimentary canal of the animal being field dressed, making the entire process safer and easier.
An economy deer field dressing bag is included to place the animal in after skinning to keep off dirt and pests.
A pack of Scent-A-Way Field Wipes is also included for quick and easy clean up.
Proper game care… Continue reading
Huntin’ Toms along the Little Sioux By Larry Myhre
Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal
There is always a tom turkey somewhere willing to respond to a well-tuned call.
If there’s a hen decoy, they’ll usually strut right in and with the release of an arrow or tripping of a trigger, your tag will be filled.
That happened rather quickly for Jim McDonnell, the guy we call the Fishing Professor, from Royal, Iowa.
The tom hung up about 30 yards out, way too far for a sure kill with a bow, but Jim gave out a quick “gobble” call and that sealed the deal.
The tom came right in and offered Jim and easy 15 yard shot through the legs.
“Shoot them through the legs and they are not going to get up and run away,” Jim said.
“I don’t even like to write about using a gobble call,” Jim said. “Chances are, if another hunter hears it, he will sneak right in and hunt you. But, if you are on private land and sure there are no other hunters around, it will often bring in a reluctant tom.
“It sealed the deal this time,” he smiled.
We were hunting on 370 acres of prime whitetail and turkey habitat owned by Paul and Sheila Thomsen, operators of the Inn Spiration Bed and Breakfast.
There are 220 acres of timber, 75 acres of CRP/WRP and 75 acres of corn, soybeans and food plots on the land. Paul also leases other nearby land for fall hunters.
We were guests at the B & B for three days and hunted turkeys hard. Jim, holding an archery tag, is allowed to take two toms anytime during the four seasons. I was holding a third season shotgun tag.
Morning of the opening of the third season, I set up at the edge of the timber looking out over a narrow strip of CRP with last year’s corn ground in the background. To my left was a well-used trail which came across the dam of a small pond, which held a pair of nesting Canada geese. The trail ducked under a single strand of barbed wire and led right to where I was sitting.
Paul said he has seen turkeys crossing here often.
But, not this day. I heard one gobble right at dawn far away to the southwest and not on our property.… Continue reading
