Petersen's Bowhunting July 2017

The media landscape has changed dramatically during my nearly nine years as BOWHUNTING editor. And if you look back a bit further to the early days of this publication, the changes are nothing short of mind-boggling. Back when BOWHUNTING made its newsstand debut in 1988, outdoor television was in its infancy, and I’m not sure Al Gore had yet “invented” the Internet. Nearly three decades later, we all know the world is a far different place, with multiple television networks dedicated to outdoor programming and hundreds of digital outlets delivering a seemingly endless supply of hunting-related media on demand. Not surprisingly, all these changes have had a profound impact on the way we serve our BOWHUNTING audience. Although the magazine is still our core product, we think of “The Modern…

Michigan Mismanagement There are several irritating issues that do not please me about Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources. First, the DNR recently approved a request by Ann Arbor to use questionable birth control methods to reduce the burgeoning deer herd in that city. In other cases, the DNR allowed the use of paid sharpshooters to reduce deer numbers rather than permitting Michigan’s licensed deer hunters to participate and control the deer population. The DNR also keeps adding more early deer seasons for various special interest groups (youth, veterans, handicapped, etc.). The seasons are usually short, and most sportsmen have no problem with the DNR’s goal. However, it seems wrong to allow children to shoot bucks, often trophy bucks, when they could be shooting does, especially when many areas are overpopulated…

NOVICE TO PROFICIENT My wife Ashley entered the archery world in March of 2016 after some coercion from me and my family. A trip to our local archery shop with a friend got her squared up with a Diamond Edge. She started off pulling 20 pounds and learning the fundamentals of archery. Over the summer, week by week, she honed her skills and increased her draw weight. When opening day of archery season arrived, she was ready. Her time came sitting alone in an Ameristep blind when she harvested her first whitetail on my family’s ranch. All the hard work and dedication to learning the fundamentals of archery paid off. It might not be the biggest 9-pointer, but I am very proud of her accomplishment and excited to share my…

Everyone has had that one setup that was money — that one bow they shot better than any other. The problem is once you replace the strings, cables or limbs, it’s never the same. You can go to the same model, poundage and draw length, but it still doesn’t feel right. If only you had taken notes on everything. There are some key things you always should write down once you have that dream setup you are in love with. First, write down all the measurements on the bow. Then, take notes on how your arrows are built. Lastly, take notes on other things in your shot more along the lines of feel and execution. When we have the best setup of our lives, we need to realize that bows…

Is whitetail outfitting dead in North America? Was it ever as good as we see on popular TV shows, or are those properties outliers in the whitetail world? Is it feasible for the average bowhunter to earmark a few thousand dollars and drop it all on a whitetail bowhunt? And when he or she makes the big investment, what are the reasonable odds of harvesting a Pope and Young-caliber buck? I’ve booked hunts across North America over the last 11 years, from Mexico to British Columbia. After my dream Dall sheep/mountain caribou hunt in the Northwest Territories in 2015, I realized my true passion is chasing whitetails with a bow. This resulted in my decision to book only high-quality whitetail hunts in the coming years. Knowing what I now know,…

The number one question I am asked relates to disappearing bucks. A hunter has kept his eye on a nice buck all summer. He is excited to start hunting it in the fall, but then it just disappears in September — never to show up all season. I have run into these disappearing bucks a number of times, and it can be very frustrating if you don’t understand what is happening and know how to adapt. Some bucks have a different fall range from their summer range, and the two ranges don’t always overlap. Nothing you can plant and no amount of reduced human interaction will change things. Some bucks just leave for whatever reason. Not every buck you find this month will still be there in October. The Great…