Hunting and Fishing News Blog Articles

Grounded! Down to earth! Certainly two of the greatest compliments a person can bestow upon another, identifying the integrity, reliability and righteousness of an individual. When it gets right down to it, both those terms are quite literal in their origin, celebrating a person’s honest, earthly touch and connection, as in farming, ranching, hunting, fishing, trapping and overall down-and-dirty terra firma hands-on lifestyles.

Here’s a huge Nuge SALUTE to all those loving, giving, generous, caring volunteers across the land that are having such a powerfully positive impact on young Americans. I hear from groups in all 50 states that have created such positive youth-oriented sporting activities, and I know firsthand the life-enhancing, and actual lifesaving benefits of such volunteerism.

Having spent a lifetime learning from trial and error, I just might very well be as good a guy as there is to offer introductory archery advice to best equip the newcomer to avoid the mistakes that every new archer/bowhunter will face. The general question on how to get started is a doozy, but keeping it real and simple is always the best initial guidance.

I understand the fascination and exploding interest in the amazingly advanced crossbow technology, and salute, support and congratulate all hunters no matter their personal choice in weapon. But I am addicted to the pure archery excitement and thrill that comes from the supreme challenge of getting to full draw at spine-tingling close range to the wary beasts.

Nothing screams such American independence and rugged individualism quite like the hunting lifestyle, and it could very well end up being upon us to make the precarious quality of life upgrade in these trying times.

What’s the healthiest venison? Well, that’s kind of a trick question, because all venison is extremely healthy. In fact, it’s the healthiest red meat on the planet! But there’s lots of different kinds of venison. In fact, that’s a topic in and of itself. Venison, by its very definition, is any type of wild game. […]

The world could use a huge dose of soul-cleansing simplicity right about now, and we who know it and live it hold the answer to all that ails our fellow man. The simple things remain the most important things. Let us strive to keep it that way.

Understand the three broadhead designs to pick the best broadhead for your crossbow.

Balance is only accomplished through sound science, sustain yield, annual surplus harvest. Share it loud and proud from every mountaintop. Teach the world to thank a hunter for clean air, soil and water, and our amazing thriving wildlife in North America.

You don’t have to be an old-school arrow flinger to appreciate this walk down memory lane. It all started last Tuesday during a random texting conversation between me and my longtime friend, who happens to be an archery fanatic from way back. He’s 73, and he remembers hunting with stick and string during those glory […]

Critical tips to beat a whitetail’s nose

Although it would probably be good to begin this piece with a description of the critical roles a whitetail’s nose plays in their survival, then transition into a ridiculously futile attempt at comparing their sense of smell to humans. Then, wrap-up with the importance of hunting the wind before finally getting to odor control. I’m going to assume that the vast majority of you have already heard all this before. Because of that, I’m going to cut right to the bone with as detailed a description of the human odor-controlling techniques I use as I can.

I must preface one thing first. You may have already noticed that I refer to this as odor control, not as scent elimination or being scent-free. I do not believe that it is ever possible to completely eliminate all human odor. The human body is a finely tuned odor-producing machine and to think we can halt its assembly line-like production of odor is a fantasy. However, the techniques I developed have made it so I no longer cringe when I spot the buck of a lifetime approaching from a downwind position. When the wind suddenly shifts and is blowing my scent directly to the bedding area, I stay in my stand with the confidence that I will go undetected. Although I still take wind direction seriously, I am now able to hunt locations that I would have never dared to go before.

Equipment

Let’s begin with treating our equipment. This is an area commonly overlooked by many hunters. It really doesn’t matter how serious you take personal hygiene if you throw your portable in the back of the truck on top of those oily rags that are laying next to the leaky gas can. Simply put, a whitetail really doesn’t care if the offending odors it smells are coming from you or your equipment. All it cares about is ‘something ain’t right here and I’m not sticking around to find out what it is’. Obviously then, it is as important to treat our equipment as it is our clothes and ourselves.

Each and everything we bring with us needs to be treated with respect. Before I bring stands, tree steps, climbing sticks, safety harnesses, bow, release, arm guard, ect. into the woods, I wash them in a mixture of water and ‘Scent Killer’ liquid soap from Wildlife Research Center. After allowing them to sufficiently air out in the yard, I transport them to the desired location. While in transport, I either seal them in a plastic bag or, for items that are not practical to store in a bag, I lay them on the bags. Once I arrive at the location, I give them a liberal dousing of ‘Scent Killer’ Spray to offset any odors they may have picked up in transit. Now they are ready to enter the woods.

Important tips for bowhunting beginners

If you hunt deer long enough, you will eventually become curious about hunting with bows. This is a natural progression because of the silence and stealth that a bow and arrow provide. Just as there are a set of fundamental keys that every rifle hunter must always keep in mind, bowhunting comes with its own set of fundamentals that need to be at the forefront of the hunter’s mind.

1. Always Keep Your Hunting Licenses with You

There is no one-size-fits-all option for this one. Each state has its own laws in regards to hunting licensure. There will undoubtedly be some form of license required by the state. The game warden usually takes care of hunting and fishing licenses.

2. Finding the Right Bow

Selecting the right bow is critical to having a successful bowhunt. Your bow must be fit for your body type, and the game you will be hunting. The draw length and draw height of the bow will be a matter of choice. The longer your arms, the longer you will want your draw lengths. Your equipment specialist will be able to help you with this.

Everybody knows how delicious pork chops, bacon and ham are. But how do you make certain you butcher your wild hog so you get the right results; tasty pork chops, pork loin, bacon and ham. Click on Reed Nolan’s video below learn the correct way to skin and butcher a wild hog.

 

Make the proper arrow placement for a quick, clean kill when bowhunting wild turkey!

Whether you’re a new turkey bowhunter or you’ve been slinging arrows at gobblers for years, it’s always good to go over proper arrow placement before your next turkey hunt.

This video is incredibly helpful for proper arrow placement on a wild turkey. The video producer goes over wild turkey anatomy, as well as, different shot scenarios, and arrow shot placements.

There are many different arrow placements you can make on a wild turkey:

1. Side shot arrow placement
2. Back shot arrow placement
3. Front shot arrow placement
4. Head shot arrow placement

These are all lethal shots on a wild turkey, as long as you hit the turkey in the correct spot. Watch now and learn about proper arrow shot placement for bowhunting wild turkey!

Another Wild Turkey season is off and running this morning.

Collin Cottrell came down last night and this morning went to the Condo area to bowhunt wild turkeys.

I waited in the woods west of my house. There is a nearby pond tucked into the tall trees on my neighbor’s property. I can’t hunt on his place but I have called the pond gobblers over to my place. After daylight  they gobbled. I yelped away and soon I heard them move across the area to the north.

Half an hour later Collin texted me a picture he took at the Condo (see the featured image above).

I waited excitedly to find out what had happened. Then I received this picture.

The first gobbler of the 2021 season was tagged and ready for the soon to be breaded and put in the hot oil in the frying pan.

President Donald J. Trump is a friend to Sportsmen and Women of our Country!

Howdy and welcome back to the “Straight Shot Blog”. I’ve enjoyed writing for Bowhunting.Net for a few decades now and it’s always great to be a part of archery history. Robert Hoague, the founder, was a true visionary and had the very first archery-only website on the world wide web – clear back in 1996. He is an archery pioneer and was the first to see the potential of this new medium. I told him that he had single-handedly invented an “electronic” campfire that was going 24/7 all over the world where bowhunters could gather and share stories, photos, successes, and failures in the field, and anecdotes. It has allowed me a place to share my adventures on the road performing instinctive archery exhibitions and share the places I go and folks I meet along the way. It’s also been a place where we have documented the stories of some of archery’s greatest living legends in their own words with the “Celebrity Interviews.”

Due to the Covid virus, I have been unable to perform my shows since March, which means I have missed walking out on stage and doing what I do. However, I have been fortunate to have been invited onto the National Board for Sportsmen for Trump.

I joined about 30 folks from across the United States to speak out on behalf of President Donald J. Trump and how he has been a friend to the Sportsmen and women of this country. I would add he’s also been a firm supporter of the Second Amendment. If you notice, the President puts the spotlight on the criminal and not the gun.

Back Up, You’re Ripping My Head Off!

After bucks shed their velvet they want to engage with other area bucks … and show them how tough they are. There are several ways for them to do this, but my personal favorite is when they spar with other bucks. Sparring is practice fighting. And there are times when that fighting practice heats up and the fight gets serious.

A few years ago on opening day of bow season, two nearby bucks locked horns and it got rough. The older buck pushed his foe off balance and, using his thicker antlers, yanked the other buck right off his feet and slammed him on the ground, back down, with his white belly straight up … and promptly gored him brutally.

The bucks have been mixing it up this year, too. This morning, before daylight, several deer shadows took shape where I was watching from a ground blind. After daylight, a buck humped his back up and stiff-legged toward another buck.

He lowered his antlers down to where the other bucks antlers were and began pushing on his antlers as well as his body. As much as anything, that stiff-legged buck wanted to take over the exact place the other buck was standing. Then they locked horns very briefly and pushed and twisted.