Michigan: November 15-30
Illinois: November 20-22, December 3-6
Ohio: November 30-December 6, December 19-20
Missouri: November 14-24
Indiana: November 14-29
Pennsylvania: November 30-December 12
Minnesota: November 7-November 15 or 22, November 21-29
Wisconsin: November 21-29
Iowa: December 5-9, December 12-20
Kansas: December 3-December 14
New York: October 24-Dec 6 (Northern Zone),  November 21-Dec 13 (Southern Zone)
Texas: November 7-Jan 31 (depending on your county)

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.

The recent comments from Bob Barker in relation to the supposed danger of hunting near residential areas really set me off the other day. But now a Virginia court has ruled in favor of hunter’s rights to be in these areas.  This ruling really sets an important precedent regarding the legitimacy and safety of allowing urban bow hunts. I’m particularly excited about this because I myself bow hunt hunt inside a semi-urban area and I’m glad that there is now a court ruling in favor of my right to do just that.  You can read the full story on this court ruling at The Rub Line.

As Fred Bear said, “If you are not working to protect hunting, then you are working to destroy it.”  With strong support from the hunting community, we can continue to protect our rights to hunt and ensure that we’ll be able to pass this great tradition on to the next generation.