If you have any success please let us know!

You can check out more videos and podcasts from Bowcast by following this link… http://www.bowcast.com/index.php

Bowcast: Doping In/Buying A New Bow

You can listen to the rest of the episodes at their website www.BowCast.com. I will definitely be following their podcasts in the future as I gear up for the October archery season.

Do you guys agree with this analysis of the three most common arrow rests?

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies

With the 2008 Summer Olympics starting today, the world is buzzing with anticipation and excitement. As exciting as the Olympics are, it might seem like a pretty irrelevant event to outdoorsman, but the Olympics aren’t just for gymnasts and swimmers. The Summer Olympics bring together some of the best shooting and archery experts to compete on the international stage every four years. Although not all of these athletes actually hunt, their tremendous skills and mastery of this sport are impressive none the less. Possibly the very most important aspect of any deer hunt is the moment when you take your shot, and being confident in your ability to make an accurate shot is incredibly important. Take the chance over the next three weeks to check out some of our fellow American’s competing in the firearm and archery shooting competitions, and maybe you’ll be able to learn a thing or two that can be applied to your deer hunting this fall.

You can watch live streaming video of shooting and archery events at the Summer Olympics here, at the NBC Olympics page.

Also, NBC has compiled some pretty cool video interviews with a number of athletes on the archery and shooting teams discussing their sport, tips and their own stories.

Check out Team USA Archery member Jennifer Nichols as she discusses Olympic Archery, her training regimen and some tips for good form in this video.

Here’s a look at Team USA Shooting member Matt Emmons discussing his beginnings in a hunting family and how he ended up getting into Olympic Shooting.

Last, I think it’s important to put a special emphasis on safety when it comes to archery and firearm shooting, and especially for beginner hunters. Here’s a quick video put together by the USA Olympic Shooting team outlining a variety of important safety tips. Check out this helpful shooting safety video or pass it on to any young hunters you might know.

First thing you notice is that they set up a standing buck decoy. This can be a great tactic to use to draw a territorial rutting buck into shooting distance. One thing to consider when setting up a decoy is the distance you place it from your stand, and the direction you point it. You should always set up your decoy at about 15 yards from your stand to draw a buck into a manageable shooting distance, even if it is circling or standing off aways from the decoy. If you are using a buck decoy, face it in the direction you want the deer to come in from, as bucks will approach each other face to face. But if you are using a doe decoy, angle the decoys rear end in the direction you hope the buck will coming from. A bucks first point of business when checking out a doe is to give her a good sniff from behind and this will result in a good clean broadside or quartering away shot as the buck checks out your decoy.

Next Michael uses a typical buck grunt, then a snort wheeze, followed by a short rattling sequence. All of these calling techniques can be useful to draw in a buck. Although they can be used succesfully independently, using them in a sequence makes this scenario seem even more realistic to a curious buck, as he hears all the tell tale sounds of another buck invading his territory.

As the buck comes into shooting range, notice that when Michael draws back on his bow he doesn’t need to arch his bow up or make any unneccesary movements. Many times hunters put too much emphasis on having a heavy draw weight on their bows, and this can result in making awakward and attention grabbing movements when pulling back, as well as hurting your chances of an accurate shot. It is much better to set your draw at a point where you can comfortably and smoothly pull back your bow and hold it. The key to a killing shot with a bow is much more about placement than power.

Last you’ll notice that when the buck starts to move away, Michael uses a short self-made mouth bleat to stop the buck in his tracks. This is a great tactic to stop a deer and provides you with a better shot opportunity, without scaring the deer. I actually used this same trick  to stop the buck I shot last fall at 20 yards from my stand.

Although there is obviously a tremendous amount more to understand when hunting the elusive whitetail deer, this short clip does a great job of highlighting a number of important key concepts and tricks to make you a more succesful deer hunter. Any other key learnings or tips that you pulled from this clip? Let us know.