Table of contents for February/Winter 2021 Special in Bowhunter

Judging Trophy Game The best way to judge trophy game is closely studying P&Y score sheets for various species. You can print these at home or office by searching “Pope and Young Score Sheets” on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Once you learn how each type of animal is scored, you can often size up critters through binoculars or spotting scope in a systematic manner. For example, a typical mule deer usually has 10 measurements per side — five for tine length, four for beam circumference, and one for inside spread of main beams. A buck with deep, double forks per side, decent brow tines, and a nice spread will score well. One with short, “crabby” front forks, no brow tines, or pencil-thin antlers will fare less, unless huge in…

IT HAD BEEN a waiting game as I sat perched over the well-used northeast Washington trail the past five days, and I was hopeful my December all-day vigils were going to pay off. Although temperatures barely broke the low 20s most days and snow piled up by the inches nearly every day, there had been no shortage of deer. In fact, I was covered up by whitetails every day; however, it was the heavy-horned variety that were elusive. After over 40 hours strapped to a frozen evergreen tree, my 5x5 prize finally materialized. When his wide and heavy mahogany rack came into view, I knew instantly he was the one I had been waiting for… I enjoy late-season bowhunts. Although the game is generally spooky, if you put the time…

A DENSE FOG BLANKETED THE TEXAS MESQUITE . Heavy air pulled sweat from my pores and sent beads of moisture trickling down my brow. In the distance, axis deer roared. The sun, now in full bloom, melted the fog. The heat intensified. Perfect! The roaring was maddening, and the sound of hooves on shale snapped my head around to the left. It was a herd of axis does and lesser bucks. No shooters, but still an exquisite sight. The mob walked up and over the pond dyke, and then straight to the water. My body trembled. Brown hides mixed with splashes of orange, and vibrant white dots mingled 35 yards away. Two of the bucks were in velvet; the other was hard-horned. Suddenly, something in the distance got their attention,…

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. 2. Eligibility. Bowhunter’s 2021 Youth Hunter Essay Contest is open to teenagers who are between the ages of 12 and 17 as of the contest deadline of March 1, 2021, and who are legal residents of the fifty (50) states of the United States and the District of Columbia (excluding territories), and Canada (excluding Quebec), and who have an adult sponsor. Each entrant must include a photocopy showing the certificate of having completed Bowhunting Education and safety training, or Hunter Education, and be proficient with using a bow and arrow for hunting. Employees of Bowhunter, Outdoor Sportsman Group, and Nelson Outfitters (“The Sponsors”), and their subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies and their family members and/or those…

I shudder to think about life as a public-land bowhunter before the creation of onX (onxmaps.com). Not only is this app the perfect choice for finding ground, digging in with satellite imagery, and keeping track of stand sites, but it’s also a huge asset for the winter scouter. Drop waypoints on the best sign or use them to label potential stand trees and access routes, and you’ll be much better off by the time summer dulls your memory and the next deer season is quickly approaching. Of course, you won’t mark too many potential hotspots without putting on some miles, which are always made better by lacing up quality footwear like the Stalker boots from Rocky (rockyboots.com). Three insulation options are available, and all are ideal not only for burning…

ONE MOMENT I was peacefully hiking across the alpine slope; the next, I was sucking air and running with my pack on, all while fumbling for an arrow. A nice muley buck had suddenly popped up out of nowhere. He was moving cross-slope to some unknown bedding area. It was late in the hunt, and I knew this was most likely the last opportunity I was going to get. I charged ahead, hoping for a shot. Just as I peered my eyeballs above a rise, I could see the deer’s rack bobbing and glistening in the Nevada sun. I jammed the rangefinder to my eye — 45 yards. As I did this, he caught my movement and froze. I swung my bow up to draw, but as I did so,…

AS I WRITE this column (mid-September), there is no visible end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The worldwide lockdown means that many borders are closed, most international travel is at a standstill, and hunting outfitters in foreign countries are without much business for 2020. Hopefully most will survive, but some won’t. We don’t have to look any further than Canada to see the problem. The Canadian border closed on March 21, and as I write this column, the new opening date may be October 21. But with the virus not slowing in America, the border may not open at all in 2020. When the border closed, all fishing and hunting lodges, and all fishing and hunting outfitters, lost most or all of their spring and summer business. It appears they’ll lose…

QUESTION I have two sons, ages four and six, who are excited about becoming bowhunters. From an equipment perspective, what tips do you have for getting them started? H. Kingsley via e-mail ANSWER I’ve brought up two sons and three grandsons (still working on the two youngest) as bowhunters, so I understand the task before you. Here are some points to consider. -In the early stages, when youngsters have very little strength to draw a bow, start off with the cheap, entry-level bows, even fiberglass versions, and let them shoot lots of arrows at fun stuff like 3-D targets or balloons pinned to a target. Make it fun. Don’t worry about form or accuracy. Have them shoot with fingers and use a containment rest like a Whisker Biscuit, so that…

“WE BUILD TO THE HIGHEST QUALITY STANDARDS, PRODUCTS THAT OUR CUSTOMERS DEMAND AND USE TO FULFILL LIFE-LONG DREAMS ON THE RANGE OR IN THE FIELD.” — LARRY GRIFFITH, PRESIDENT/CEO THROUGHOUT the formation of our uniquely American archery/bowhunting industry, few times have been more pivotal than the WWII years, and few places hotter beds of technical innovation than Michigan’s communities surrounding the auto industry. So, it was in 1946 that longtime auto industry chemist Rollin Bohning, who also happened to be an avid archer, saw the opportunity to apply his knowledge in the chemistry of plastics to develop a glue for fastening steel arrow points to cedar shafts. “We were working with high-strength cements [epoxy] used in the war work. I saw where these cements might be used for putting on…

THE HEAVY-HORNED mule deer finally fed from behind a sage bush beside a stock pond. I was already at full draw, tracking the buck’s fuzzy outline as he nibbled grass near the water’s edge. The chest cavity came into full view, and I released in an instant. The result was spectacular. My Easton arrow smashed behind the shoulder, driving the Striker V2 broadhead through both lungs and into the pond beyond. The deer streaked 100 yards and flipped upside-down. I’ve never seen a quicker, more satisfying kill. “That’s 198,” I told myself, as I trotted toward the animal. “Two more to go!” It was September 10, 2020, and I was on a mission. Weeks before, I had consulted the Pope & Young Club’s online database to make sure I was…

NO, THIS ISN’T an article about how to miss. We’ve all done that. This is about what I’ve done, and what we all can do, to avoid missing. It’s so much easier to miss what we are aiming at than it is to hit it. When I think back on my misses and break them down, almost all could have been avoided. I have also watched both friends and clients miss — and had the same takeaway. Most could easily have been avoided, or could have actually been turned into good shots. When I started to analyze my misses, friends’ misses, and my clients’ misses, most fit into the following categories: equipment, excitement, eye contact, extending range, and missing body language clues. Here is my breakdown of what causes the…

The aoudad ram approached my ground blind up wind, accompanied by seven ewes and a lamb I peeked out a crack in the window and saw the hooked tips on his massive horns, indicating he was a mature ram. When I finally got a full view of him, I saw the scar in front of his left front shoulder and recognized him as one of the two trophy rams seen several days earlier, two canyons to the east. These free range aoudads can really cover some country, and they are not very predictable. The herd was edgy, especially the lead ewe. I was doing some controlled breathing to calm myself down, as the size of the ram’s horns really got to me It was dead silent, and I was concerned…

LONG BEFORE it became fashionable to strap on a backpack and head into the unknown, my brother Rusty and I were doing just that. Using WWII Army surplus equipment, we explored vast stretches of the Arizona Outback. The fishing was great; the hunting even better. We discovered great spots for both, and we had them all to ourselves. No one ventured too far off the road back then, unless they were on horseback. For the most part, we were alone. Because we saw no one else, we tended to think of the better hunting spots as “ours.” On the rare occasion we did come across another hunter, we felt a little violated. How could they have the audacity to trespass into our honey hole? As much as I hate to…