Petersen's Bowhunting July 2018

It’s easy to take bowhunting for granted. After all, humans have been using bows and arrows to put food on the table for at least 10,000 years, and probably a lot longer than that. However, the history of “modern bowhunting” dates back fewer than 100 years. It wasn’t until 1934 that Wisconsin held the first recognized archery-hunting season in the United States, followed by Michigan in 1937. Back in those days, every bow-hunter headed afield with a longbow or recurve, since it would be another 40 years or so before compound bows were invented! Sitting here in 2018, it is amazing to think that in only eight decades, bowhunting has gone from a sport that was literally non-existent to one with roughly 3.6 million participants nationwide who support an entire…

Lessons Learned Today was an amazing day for me in the woods. I left my phone at home, and it was one of the best things I’ve done in three years. I had time to reflect on my own thoughts and not everyone else’s. After sitting in my blind about two hours, I stood up to stretch my legs and the sun hit my face just right. In that moment, I realized why I was really out there. The past three years, I have dedicated so much time and effort to the sport of hunting that I lost my way on the real reason I was out there. I’m not blaming the industry, because I do know the difference in everyone’s hunting territories. I don’t pursue monster bucks simply because…

Prime Archery has taken a holistic approach to meeting customer needs. Rather than focus on a single performance variable, they focus on the entire package and how it will impact the shooting experience. Their Project Centergy is designed to create bows that draw smoothly, anchor at a solid back wall and remain steady on target for longer with minimal pin float — all followed by a pleasant release and good overall experience. For 2018, Prime adds the short axle-to-axle Logic to the Centergy series. Set Apart Prime is truly set apart from the rest of the pack by its unique Parallel Cam system. When you see a double cam on the same side of the bow — it’s a Prime! This system creates a wide-stance platform that stabilizes and laterally…

Manufacturer: Prime Archery, 810-392-8431; www.g5prime.com Model: Logic Riser: Center Grip Design, reflex Grip: 2-piece side-panel Ghost Grip Limbs: Split, parallel, composite glass Draw Weights: 40, 50, 60, 65, 70 and 80 pounds peak Cam System: TRM Parallel Cam Letoff: 80 percent (advertised); 80.34 percent (as tested) Draw Lengths: 24 1/2-30 inches, in half-inch increments; cam specific String: BCY 452X, 24.450 inches, plus yokes Cables (x2): BCY 452X, 37.40 inches Brace Height: 7 inches Axle-To-Axle Length: 31 inches Mass Weight: 4.3 pounds (advertised and tested) Finish: Optifade Open Country and many more Advertised IBO Speed: 330 fps Suggested Retail Price: $1,199 Comments: A compact, high-performance bow with low shock and virtually no vibration.…

For years, I would have bows that aimed well and bows that didn’t. Some people might have thought that’s just the way it was and in some rare cases, they would be right. Most of the time, however, there were some things I could do to improve how well a bow aimed. Examples include adding more weight tension to the top limb of a single cam bow, putting my nock in the dead center of the string on a two cam bow and playing with cam timing on a dual-cam bow. I shot single-cam bows for most of my life and loved them. I won more tournaments with a Mathews Apex than any other bow, and it’s still one of the best-aiming bows ever made. However, there was one thing…

Last month, we discussed what’s really in a bag of food-plot seed and how to make sense of that without getting caught up in the marketing. If you read that column, hopefully you are now wise enough to ignore the fancy graphics on the front of the bag (think 200-inch bucks) and instead flip the bag over to read the label. This month, I’ll take a similar approach to the topic of minerals. As any bowhunter knows, the same aisle stocked with food-plot seed also has a plethora of mineral supplements GUARANTEED to grow massive racks almost instantly. Lots of hunters use minerals, and if you are one of them, have you ever wondered if you are throwing your hard-earned cash in the dirt along with the pixie dust? And…