Ask any bowhunter to list the three things that he likes most about bowhunting and I would bet that one of the three would be sharing the experience with friends.  The problem with bowhunting is that staying invisible to the game’s eyes and ears is paramount to success and it’s just not that easy to hide you and all your buddies in a tree.  For this reason the comradery shared is mostly back at camp or home.

In comes turkey hunting out of ground blinds.  This is one of the few unique situations that with a little ground blind work you can take your friends and family and be successful.  I was fortunate enough to harvest a beautiful Kansas Tom with my brother sitting two feet to my left and my good friend Michael Hunsucker sitting directly behind me.  Sharing that hunt with them will be burned into my bowhunting hard drive forever!  My next goal will be to harvest a Tom with my two year old daughter in the blind with me.  If that isn’t a challenge, I don’t know what is.  That will be an unusual sight to see, Thomas the Train books sitting next to a scratch call.  One thing is for sure though. Whether we harvest a bird or not, the time spent with my daughter will be priceless to her father.  Hopefully soon I can tell the Wired To Hunt Nation all about the adventure.  Later guys and don’t be afraid to get your friends and family out in the turkey blinds with you!

Matt White – avid bowhunter and member of Heartland Bowhunter

I just ran across an awesome story over on Bowhunting.com about a 14 year and his brothers’ three year long hunt for a buck they deemed “Freak Daddy”.  After collecting trail cam photos and multiple sightings of this massive non-typical over the course of several years, brother Luke finally dropped this brute with his shotgun during the Ohio regular gun season. Check out this great story of persistence and great hunting by a couple young hunters. It’s an awesome example of the next generation of hunters working hard to shoot big bucks and then getting it done. Congrats to Luke on an awesome buck!

Check out  the epic tale of “A 3 Year Journey With a Legendary Whitetail Buck Named Freak Daddy“.

The ever-flowing fountain of bowhunting knowledge we call  Bill Winke recently had an article published in Petersen’s Bowhunting that really struck a cord with me. His article discusses two easy changes you can make to improve the way you release your arrow. It all comes down to being able to effectively achieve a “suprise release” (learn more about the surprise release here). To best pull this off  you need to be able to almost effortlessly squeeze the trigger until the arrow, much to your surprise, is launched towards your target. In this article Bill emphasizes that small technical tweaks to your release aid can greatly effect your success in the field.

Winke’s Two Release Tweaks

• Shorten your release aid length…“Rather than using the first articulation of your index finger to pull the trigger — from the first joint to the tip — use the second articulation. This puts the trigger on the pad of flesh between the second joint and the first joint. To do this, you merely have to shorten your release aid and extend your finger a little farther forward when reaching for the trigger.”
• Adjust the trigger tension…“Trigger tension or trigger pull is a somewhat personal thing, but for most archers, a light trigger works better than a heavy trigger. A light trigger permits the bow to fire within the first few seconds of starting the squeeze, and that is important. Beyond the obvious reasons of needing to get a shot off quickly when hunting, most archers become impatient after about three or four seconds of aiming; the longer they aim, the more mentally distraught they become.”

These are two quick, yet super effective tweaks I plan to make on my release aid to improve my “surprise release” technique and in turn my hunting success.

Make sure to read Bill’s full article to pick up on all the details and explanation surrounding these two ideas.

Release Tweaks For Hunting – Bill Winke .

How many of you have gotten turned around when trying to walk to your stand real early in the morning? Well it has certainly happened to me and thats why the Gorilla Eye Treestand Light really caught my eye recently. You essentially fasten the Gorilla to your treestand and then you can remotely control this light as you walk towards your stand. Once you are within a hundred yards of your stand you can use a remote to turn your beacon on to a flashing mode to help guide you to your set up.  When you finally arrive to your location you can then turn a solid red beam on to light up the area beneath your stand and your ladder. I can also see this type of tool being really useful when marking a downed deer, that way when you come back with your friends you can turn the strobe on and walk right back to your buck.  It seems like a very useful and intuitive product, something I very well might have to go pick up. Best thing about it is that it is only $30. That seems reasonable to me.

You can pick one up from Cabelas here.

Notice how well he placed the shot in the lower vitals as the deer quartered away. Remember to practice shooting at different angles to make sure you can place the arrow correctly when the deer inevitably shifts positions. And don’t take a quartering towards you shot, it’s much too likely that you’ll hit the shoulder and potentially wound the deer. Be patient and responsible, wait for that good broadside or quartering away shot and send the arrow straight to the vitals.

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?

What are your thoughts on using a drop away rest? I would love to hear about any of your experiences or opinions about these rests before I go out and buy one of my own.

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.