Innholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2022 i Petersen's Bowhunting

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…

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…

IT’S THE BEGINNING of a new era at Prime — an era of centricity, alignment and accuracy achieved through a single-body cam. With the introduction of Prime’s new Inline flagship bow series, we see a bold move forward with a new power system designed to achieve all the benefits of the company’s Parallel Cams and beyond. The series includes three models — the 1, 3 and 5 — with those numbers correlating to the axle-to-axle length past 30 inches (31, 33 and 35 inches). Now, let’s take a closer look at the Inline 3. New Cam System Prime made a decision to add a new platform design to its popular bow lineup with the intent of not only maintaining, but also improving on the performance found in its Parallel Cam…

Manufacturer: TenPoint Crossbow Technologies, 330-628-9245; tenpointcrossbows.com Model: Nitro 505 Safety Features: Dry-Fire-Inhibitor, auto trigger safety, safety wings Riser: Center-mounted, machined aluminum, black anodized Cam System: RX-8, Dual, Spiral Groove Axle-to-Axle Width: 12.375 inches (at rest); 6.5 inches (cocked) String: BCY X99, 33.75 inches Cables (x4): BCY X99, 12.75 inches Limbs: Dual Flex, Split, Gordon Composites Draw Weight: 300 pounds Power Stroke: 17 inches Grip: Pistol grip, with built-in rangefinder button Stock/Forearm: Tech-X Stock, injection molded polypropylene Finish: Veil Alpine Camo or Moss Green Advertised Speed: 505 fps with a 400-grain bolt MSRP: Starting at $2,999.99 Comments: Extreme power, top quality, incredible cocking mechanism.…

FIRST-EVER THERMAL RANGEFINDER $2,499.99 Covert Optics; feradyne.com/covert-optics Billed as the world’s first thermal rangefinder, Covert Optics' ThermX TRF detects anything with a heat signature out to 1,600 yards and can be operated as a handheld unit or mounted to a bow/crossbow to serve as a thermal sight (where legal). Powered by a Lepton 3.5 micro core sensor with 160x120 resolution, with a 9Hz frame rate, the ThermX TRF quickly displays images and offers a wide range of functionality, reticle options and palette and brightness choices to accommodate different lighting and temperature situations. Imagery and aim points are viewed via the 1.5-inch color OLED display. Other highlights include an easy-to-use control system for navigating features and options, integrated visual laser to help with windage and elevation adjustments for precision zeroing, and…

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…

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…

Manufacturer: Prime Archery, 810-392-8431; G5prime.com Model: Inline 3 Riser: 82X aluminum, Reflex, Swerve Grip: Nano Grip with Aerogel Limbs: Split, Gordon Composites Draw Weights: 40, 50, 60, 65, 70 and 80 pounds peak Cam System: Inline, rotating module Letoff: 85 percent (advertised); 88.33 percent (as tested) Draw Lengths: 26-30.5 inches, in half-inch increments; rotating module String: Prime Made, BCY 452X material, 59.25 inches Cables (x2): Prime Made, BCY 452X material, 38.40 inches Brace Height: 6.5 inches Axle-to-Axle Length: 33 inches Weight: 4.4 pounds (advertised); 4.6 pounds (as tested) Finish: Realtree Edge, plus many other camo and solid patterns Advertised IBO Speed: 337 fps MSRP: $1,099 Comments: Well balanced and a pleasure to shoot.…

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…

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…

THERE’S A SPEED race underway in the crossbow realm, and TenPoint is currently leading the pack with its new-for-2022 Nitro 505. With an advertised speed rating of 505 fps (with a 400-grain bolt), this insanely fast rig is available in three models, depending on the type of scope shipped with the bow. In this test, we focus on the base model that includes TenPoint’s EVO-X Marksman Elite Scope. Upgraded laser-rangefinding scope options include the Garmin Xero X1i and Burris Oracle X. The Nitro 505 also features Gordon Composites Dual Flex limbs that combine with the RX-8 cams, Reverse Draw technology, X99 string/cables and a 17-inch power stroke to generate eye-popping speeds. Meanwhile, Ten-Point’s ACUslide cocking/de-cocking mechanism is on a level all its own and is built into the two-piece Tech-X…

ALTHOUGH IT MAY have been hard to imagine even just five or six years ago, a number of crossbows today now launch bolts well over 400 fps. In fact, two horizontal bow manufacturers — Ravin Crossbows and Ten-Point Crossbow Technologies — actually make models that send bolts flying more than 500 fps, a speed that was once unthinkable. As bow and especially crossbow technology and speeds have advanced, so has the need for high-quality practice targets capable of withstanding repeated assault from ultra-fast, hard-hitting arrows and bolts. Backyard targets that were once capable of handling shots from any compound or crossbow may no longer be up to the task, especially when they’re stacked against a high-end horizontal bow. That’s why Morrell Targets’ Yellow Jacket Kinetic 1.0 caught my eye. New…

PEG AND I had only been married a little over a year. She’d never harvested a deer with a bow in all of her hunting lifetime, and the previous autumn — our first together — had been no exception. Thus, as we began our second season together, I was determined to “help” her overcome her misfortunes; you know, Captain Claypool to the rescue! I’d drawn a Kansas either-sex whitetail tag, and since Peg wasn’t really ready to tackle the thought of a large-antlered buck, we’d simply purchased her an over-the-counter whitetail doe tag. With the passing of the month of October, our efforts at securing her a doe had gone unrewarded. There’d been a couple close encounters for Blondie, but the excitement had gotten the best of her. Buck fever…