Petersen's Bowhunting April/May 2022

BACK IN THE SUMMER of 1992, U.S. unemployment stood at 8 percent and the economy was on the verge of slipping into recession. The timing couldn’t have been worse for then-President George H.W. Bush, who that November lost his re-election bid to a young, energetic Democratic governor from Arkansas named Bill Clinton. During the runup to Election Day, Clinton strategist James Carville coined a phrase that has become one of the most repeated political axioms of the past 30 years. That’s because the truth of Carville’s observation — “It’s the economy, stupid!” — simply can’t be denied. No matter what other issues may be debated on the campaign trail, people will always vote with their pocketbooks. Generally speaking, that means electoral victory for incumbent Presidents who preside over financial prosperity…

WE ALL CRAVE the limited time we get in our favorite deer stands each fall. For passionate deer hunters, that time is precious. In fact, it’s a shame our go-to pastime is squeezed down into just a few pages on the calendar. And once we reach those months, it can also feel like we need a miracle for everything to align. By the time a bowhunter juggles his or her work schedule, home life and the weather, quality hunting days can be few and far between. Well, if you’re truly eaten up with deer hunting, there are many things you can do at other times of year to improve your experiences on those rare and valuable days in the fall. When deer season closes, I can see hanging up your…

IF YOU ARE reading this magazine, you are a deer manager! Your harvest decisions have a lasting impact, for better or for worse, on deer-herd dynamics and habitat quality. While this may sound complicated, it really isn’t. In recent years, social media has fueled the popularity of many sexy — but unproven and unnecessarily complex — ideas about enhancing whitetail habitat. It’s human nature to complicate and overanalyze concepts that are relatively simple in an effort to sell products or services; think fad diets and you’ll understand what I mean. While visiting client properties around the country, I am often reminded of how little we focus on the basic components of quality whitetail habitat. We have extensive evidence Native Americans managed the land with intentional fire and other vegetation-management practices…

MY CHARTER for this column is to crystallize as many life lessons as I can. I think the conversation with Editor Christian Berg, when he assigned this new format, went something like this: “Surely, after all these years you have learned something!” As relates to land management, I definitely did learn something, and it is dynamite in a small package. I can offer one very useful tip that surpasses almost all other hunting strategies I have learned over the years. With this tip alone, you can shoot multiple Pope and Young-class bucks every season. Your hair will thicken, your biceps will get bigger and you will become noticeably taller. Well, maybe I exaggerate just a tiny bit. But I will say that once I learned this, it completely transformed my…

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY of this column, I have focused on the many things we as bowhunters can control, picking them apart and dissecting them to eliminate any and all variables. One thing, however, is beyond our control — animal movement at the shot — often called "jumping the string." We can do little about this movement, yet it has a direct impact on our ability to deliver a lethal arrow. We can’t ignore this part of our hunting accuracy simply because it is not easily managed. It is important that we recognize the uncontrollable factors involved in shooting at game, analyze the challenges they pose and do everything in our power to mitigate them. No. 1 Reason for Missing Over the last 25 years, I have been hyper-focused on hunting…

THE POPULARITY of crossbow hunting exploded over the past two decades as more and more states legalized them for archery seasons. Twenty years ago, only three states allowed horizontal bows in archery seasons. Today, almost all states allow crossbows in archery seasons or provide other opportunities for their use. As a result, crossbows are more accepted than ever — not only as a great hunting tool for personal enjoyment but also for the management of wildlife resources. Let’s start out by taking a big-picture look at the state of deer hunting in America. The National Deer Association (NDA) recently reported that U.S. deer hunters took an estimated 6.3 million whitetails during the 2020-21 seasons. That is the highest total since 2011, and while both antlered and antlerless harvests were up…