Petersen's Bowhunting June 2018

Being the editor of Petersen’s BOWHUNTING comes with some cool perks, such as occasional opportunities to hunt with incredible outfitters across the nation. For example, last September I traveled to Whitetail Heaven Outfitters in Kentucky, where I killed a giant, non-typical velvet buck that grossed more than 180 inches. Tagging such an amazing trophy was likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and you can read all about it in my feature, Heaven Sent , on p. 34. Yet as much as I enjoy outfitted hunts and the people who make them possible, it’s still hard to beat the thrill of hunting whitetails back home in Pennsylvania. Part of that, I suppose, is familiarity. After all, Pennsylvania is where my bowhunting roots are planted, and there’s something special about returning to favorite hunting…

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS In the April/May issue, we asked what you see as the biggest threat to the future of bowhunting. Here’s what you had to say: Access Issues What I see as the biggest threat to bowhunting’s future is hunter access — in other words, a good place to hunt. I have hunted for over 40 years, and finding good places to bowhunt is harder than ever! Leasing hunting land has become quite expensive, and the quality of free hunting has dwindled. Also, increasing are private land owners that either allow no hunting or they allow too many people to hunt. If we are to keep bowhunting alive, we must have quality hunting ground, or nothing else matters. Who wants to hunt where a deer sighting averages one out…

If you’ve shot a bow for any length of time, you have heard about follow through. In this column, I am going to take a closer look at follow-through, specifically as it relates to your release hand/arm. In short, proper follow-through involves your release hand and arm falling away from the anchored position as the shot fires. A lot of people misunderstand what follow-through actually is. Most will say, “You really need to work on your follow through,” or “Make sure you remember to follow through,” or something along those lines. In reality, follow through isn’t something you should be working on to have a great shot. Rather, it’s the result of a great shot. The goal in execution is a surprise release, where you aren’t anticipating the timing of…

In my previous column, we discussed why you should be shooting small-diameter arrow shafts. I listed the many reasons skinny arrows are better than fat arrows: they penetrate better, they drift less in the wind, they require less fletching and they maintain downrange velocity better. I also want to convince you to add weight to the front of your arrows, regardless of diameter. Almost all the things that are improved by using a skinny shaft can be further improved by using a heavier point and/or insert. Weighing the Benefits Within reason, the more weight you add to the front end of an arrow, the better that arrow will perform. Think of grabbing one end of a loose piece of string and throwing it like you would a baseball. The string…

The spell marketing geniuses cast over consumers flabbergasts me. Admittedly, I am not immune to marketing campaigns that subliminally make me believe claims that defy common sense. For example, I recently searched the kitchen cabinets for what I considered the best attempt to convince people something is healthy even though we know it isn’t. Finally, I found it: a jumbo bag of gummy worms my kids had to have during a recent flight home. “Made with real fruit juice!” the shiny bag claims. A quick look at the nutrition facts and all I see is corn syrup, sugar and food dye. “Only 140 calories per serving!” claims the brightly colored packaging. But a serving is only a quarter-cup, and no one sits down with a bag of gummy worms and…

To help make sense of the many food-plot seed products on the market, let’s take a closer look at the information from an actual seed label. This information is taken directly from a 25-pound bag of clover/chicory mix. The bag claims the contents will plant three acres, and to an uninformed consumer, that makes it look like a very good value for the price. However, I know from experience the best seeding rate for clover/chicory mixes is closer to 10 pounds per acre, rather than the eight pounds provided in the bag. Unfortunately, underreporting coverage rates by food-plot companies is not uncommon, allowing weeds to more easily gain a foothold in these plots. In examining the seed label more closely, the first surprise for most consumers is that the 25-pound…