Table of contents for March 2018 in Bowhunter

BOWHUNTING IS a gear-intensive pursuit. We need lots of stuff to be properly equipped to pursue big game with a bow and arrow. That gear, as it is with any hobby or sport, can be expensive. And it takes years to accumulate all the things we think we need. For some, collecting and putting to use all that gear is part of the fun, and it all adds up to a significant investment in your passion for bow-hunting. So, why would you confine the use of all the gear and effort to only the fall months of the year? We all have busy lives, and finding time to bowhunt is hard enough in the fall. But there are ways to spread your bowhunting adventures across the calendar, if you’re committed.…

BOWTECH® Realm™ The Realm ($1,099), Bowtech’s newest SmartBow, takes performance and precision to a whole new world with innovations that deliver unmatched accuracy, control, and stability. The Overdrive Binary Cam System provides 100% control and easy tuning. Powershift Technology allows archers to customize the draw cycle to fit their needs with the simple flip of a disc. Plus, the all-new CP Dual Lock system creates expert precision, stability, and accuracy by locking the solid-core limbs to the pocket, and the pocket to the riser. The new Orbit Dampener can be strategically placed to offset the additional weight of accessories, while also reducing unwanted vibration. The introduction of the modular Clutch Performance Grip provides anti-torque and comfort. The 30¾" Realm has a 7 1/8" brace height and is capable of reaching…

MY CAREER as a bowhunting writer, photographer, and editor has come full circle. I started as a dreamer, made a 360 around the hunting world, and have ended up as a dreamer. As I have written many times, my hunting dream really started at age five or six when I first learned how to read. I pored over my dad’s Field & Stream magazines, and then subscribed to Sports Afield magazine for myself and read every word of every issue. That was the seed for my hunting and writing dream. To solidify that dream, at age nine I shot my first duck, a mallard hen I scratched down with the 74th shot from my single-shot .410. Then, at age 14, I tagged my first deer, a three-point mule deer, with…

IF YOU SPEND any time lurking on bowhunting forums, you’ll see a few equipment-related topics rehashed almost weekly. Broadhead choice is a fiery one that always produces a debate that is never destined to result in a general consensus. Whether a new bow is necessary is another subject that comes up all the time, and definitely doesn’t conclude with a definitive answer. I’ve seen a lot of keyboard cowboys going back and forth on whether high-end camo duds are worth the expense lately as well. Those are a few popular gear-related topics among many, but what is conspicuously absent from all of those digital sparring matches is anything related to release aids. It seems as if most of us head to the local pro shop or big box store, buy…

Brian Fortenbaugh Assistant Editor 1 BOWTECH® REALM™ X •Precision accuracy & stability •Two custom performance settings •Generates speeds up to 345 fps Take your accuracy up a notch with the Bowtech Realm X ($1,199). At 33¼", this bow offers unmatched stability and control. The Realm X is driven by the OverDrive Binary Cam System® , which controls vertical and horizontal nock travel simultaneously. In addition, the new CP Dual Lock System® locks the limbs to the pocket and the pocket to the riser to create repeatable accuracy. Shooters will love the Clutch Performance Grip® , which Bowtech touts as the most comfortable on the market. Lastly, you can customize your shooting experience from performance (more speed) to comfort (smooth-drawing) with a shift of the FlipDisc® . Brace height is 6½".…

FAMOUS HUNT-BOOKING AGENT Jack Atcheson once said that his home state of Montana offered the very best chance of bagging a nice 5x5 mule deer. Atcheson admitted that a few other states like Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming offered better potential for a HUGE mule deer, but the number of NICE muleys in Montana was impossible to beat. I was mulling over Jack’s assessment last October as I bowhunted mule deer in the Big Sky State. There were more than a dozen branch-antlered bucks on the sagebrush flat below me as the sun rose and glittered off their polished racks. Four were decent 5x5s with spreads of 22 to 25 inches, moderately massive beams, and fairly deep forks. No 200-inch monarchs here, but the kind of 145 to 160-inch deer…

THERE ARE SOME THINGS in life where mere seconds can seemingly amount to everything. And, in this moment, success or failure hinges on one thing — your ability to perform. A great example of this is found in bull riding. You’ve got eight seconds to pack your year’s worth of work into a fraction of time. You don’t know what the circumstances will bring in terms of how the bull will come out of the chute, but one thing you do know is that confidence and skill will be your only saving graces when the clock stands still. In bowhunting, the environment is all too similar. You can’t count on perfect shooting conditions, but you can count on your ability to deliver a smooth, consistent shot, even under the most…

THIS PAST AUGUST, British Columbia’s provincial government announced the end of all grizzly bear hunting, beginning in November 2017. Although meat hunting will still be allowed, for all intents and purposes nonresident grizzly hunting is over, and it will never come back. The history leading up to this decision is a bit complicated, but in order to understand what happened, let’s go back a few years. The end to grizzly hunting started in what is called the Great Bear Rainforest. This is a huge area of B.C.’s central and northern coast where environmentalists fought to stop logging for the past 30 years. Logging brought attention to this area, but Coastal First Nations (a group of First Nations whose traditional territories overlap the Great Bear Rainforest) brought the grizzly into the…

I ADMIT IT. I’m a black bear fanatic, and for years I’ve chased bears in the spring. It all started because of my busy wildlife professor teaching and research schedule that made out-of-state fall bowhunts difficult to schedule. However, the spring semester ended the first week of May, and that meant a Canadian bear hunt was doable. After a few spring hunts I was hooked, and the trek north became an annual event. Fifty years later, I’m still going there. Over that time, I’ve hunted from all kinds of camps and done all kinds of bear hunts. But for a true adventure, a wilderness boat hunt is unequaled. Whether from a lodge or a tent camp, the usual bear hunt involves trucks to the general hunting area, followed by ATV…

The average-sized hog is not so difficult to kill with a bow. The typical deer-hunting rig — a 400-grain arrow and fixed or mechanical broadhead — will work if the arrow is well-placed. However, draw back on a jumbo-sized boar, and you had better be prepared with the right tackle. Several years ago, I killed a big boar that had a broken, five-inch piece of carbon arrow and a three-blade broadhead stuck high in his back. The big boar showed no ill effects from the injury, but obviously the bowhunter who shot him got very shallow penetration and lost the hog. Big boars have thick, matted hair crusted with dried mud, a tough hide, and fat two inches thick or more. You need well-made, solid broadheads to punch through such…

WINTER SCOUTING HOW OFTEN have you sat in a stand watching the majority of the deer activity at the other end of the field, or near a ridge or draw in the distance? You’ve always wondered what it is that makes that specific location attractive to deer. Well, now is your chance to figure it out. Typically, there’s a logical reason deer consistently gravitate to a particular spot. It may be a confluence of ridges, a funnel, or narrowing of the woods. Maybe it’s simply an easy path around a steep creek bank. Sometimes, there is no obvious reason why deer use that area so much. It could be subtle terrain features, or just habitual movement passed on to each generation as fawns follow does. The key is, you don’t…

Rangefinding Improvements It seems there is always a better, faster way to do anything in bowhunting as technology progresses. For many years I carried 10X binoculars, a belt-attached laser rangefinder, and a handheld inclinometer (angle meter). Using all three on an animal was often effective, but the three optical instruments required too much time in fast-moving situations. With quality rangefinding binoculars now available, I have discovered how to speed up the ranging and angle-computing process. My chosen unit weighs about six ounces more than standard 10X binoculars, but features an easy right-click button for instant one-hand distance calculation, and a second right-click button that gives the precise shooting angle in degrees. This unit has increased my shooting speed at least 10 or 15 seconds over my old system. In 2017,…

MY WIFE, MICHELE, has always made it a point to thank our boys, or anyone in our family, for supplying the meat for our dinner table. For example, a few weeks ago we had frog legs for dinner and she said, “Thanks for the good shooting, boys. These are the legs from the frogs you shot.” I have always been a big proponent of this practice, as it always makes the kids proud whenever they provide our meal. In keeping with this tradition, she would also commonly call me out for supplying the roasts or steaks from some animal I’d taken, and I would also feel proud when the rest of the family would thank me for providing the meal. My wife will also proudly announce if our meal came…

THE COMPOUND BOW hit the market during the early 1970s. Many older hunters may recall the division it caused between traditional bowhunters and those in favor of the new “pulley” bows. I can still recall a hand-painted sign at our archery range that read, “NO compounds allowed.” Back then, as a 16-year-old boy, I remember making a vow to take my first deer with traditional equipment before moving on to those newfangled compound bows. Back in 1970, nationwide bowhunter numbers were estimated at 760,000. Last year, an estimated 3.4 million bowhunters hunted throughout North America. Obviously, the sheer number of bow-hunters has changed the way we hunt, and the way every state/provincial wildlife department manages their deer herd. Even though bowhunter numbers were still relatively low in 1991, Bow-hunter Conservation…

WIN A 3-DAY SPRING TURKEY HUNT IN WYOMING, MAY 4–8, 2018! Bowhunter Magazine has once again joined with Nelson Outfitters (Dave Nelson, 307/751-2262,nelsonoutfitters.com) and a topnotch group of bowhunting equipment manufacturers to sponsor our 2018 Youth Hunter Essay Contest (see the list of sponsoring manufacturers below). This is our 22nd annual essay contest, and we hope youth participants will make it another memorable one! Last year’s 1st Grand Prize Winner, Alex Young, and his adult sponsor, Nate Corley, from Puyallup, Washington, spent three days chasing longbeards in Wyoming, and Alex killed a beautiful turkey with his bow on the last day of the hunt. Congratulations to Alex, as well as to the rest of the prizewinners from last year’s contest who we’re confident are putting their new gear courtesy of…

FRED BEAR, PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS bowhunter ever, gained fame through two achievements: perfecting the mass production of bows, and hunting big game around the world on numerous expeditions to Alaska, Yukon, Africa, South America, Asia, and other far-flung regions. Interestingly, Fred Bear killed nothing but whitetail deer until age 43, and he gained most of his fame after the age of 50. In 1979, Dr. Bob Speegle received the Weatherby Award, a prestigious honor celebrating a hunter’s contributions to conservation and hunting. With rifle in hand, Bob had taken the 30 species of North American big game and 285 species of big game worldwide. In response to this achievement, Bob’s wife, Linda, said, “Now that you’ve reached your goal and won’t be hunting anymore, what are you going to…