DIY Taxidermy Begins With Careful and Accurate Skinning

Whether you’re doing your own taxidermy, or paying a professional, skinning of the animal is the first priority. This requires special attention to detail. An poor skin job could mess up the finished work and in certain cases can make Read more

An introduction to hunting elk

Elk are one of the largest species of deer in North America and Asia. Male elk, called bulls, are much larger than the female elk which are called cows. Bulls can weigh between 700 and 1300 pounds, while the average female elk weighs around 500 pounds.

The male elk begins to grow its antlers in the spring. Unlike many other deer, elk shed their antlers each winter. Weighing nearly 40 pounds, and being as large as 4 feet, elk possess some of the largest racks among the deer family.

Elk antlers grow from a specialized bone in the top of the skull. It has been noted that some elk grow their antlers at a rate of 1 inch per day during the mating season. This rapid antler growth has been attributed to the high levels of testosterone that are present in the bull elk during mating season. After mating season, the testosterone level drops, and thus, the antlers slow their growth rate.

During active growing season, the elks antlers are covered with a fine fur that is called velvet. As winter approaches, and the testosterone level continues to drop, the male elk will completely lose its antlers.

Elk are somewhat social animals content to stay in separate groups of male and females until breeding season. As mating season approaches, the males began to mingle with the female groups looking for potential mates. Dominant males form harems and aggressively defend them. Bulls will warn rival males by bellowing and bugling. If this is not successful, male elk will fight with locked antlers, attempting to push the competing male out of their territory.

Most elk hunting does not take place from a deer stand. Elk are very vigorous and can go for miles without resting. Taking this into account, it is important that you be in good physical condition before attempting an elk hunt. Elk are on the move all the time. So you must stalk them over a long distance before taking a shot. Before setting out on an elk hunt, make sure you have proper protective clothing, food, and water, to last for a whole day. Also, a good pair of binoculars is a must, you will be hunting the elk from long distance.

hoyt tuning made easy (z3,c2,vector,zepher,and spiral cams)

Here is  VERY simple time tested method that I use for tuning most of the newer cam systems that Hoyt has introduced over the last few years. This method will also work with the popular cam 1/2 and cam 1/2+ systems as well as other hybrid cams (except binaries) with just the possiblility of a little more work than outlined here.

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Has the Solocam reached its limit?

recently i have been hearing a lot of bow bashing, brand A is better than brand B because of this and because of that. Typical things you know, but then i heard one At’er refer specifically to mathews solocam design.  This Poster elaborated that mathews was fast becoming obsolete to bowtech.  Now i am definatly not a mathews expert, but one i have shot both brand bows and personally i feel mathews to have the more advaned technology, and two i’m pretty sure mathews sales are through the roof. 

This poster also explained how mathews has not had a good selling bow since the switchback which they hardly sell anymore.  1 the switchback is still one of the hottest selling bows and 2 what is the drenalin? chopped liver! His only suggestion was that mathews drop the solocam design and start working on a new cam.  While this may be something mathews should do i believe that the solocam is still a top choice amonge many shooters.

Photo of a Lifetime

Each January, I always finding myself having bittersweet feelings about the end of archery deer season.  On the negative side, I never seem to have hunted enough, taken the biggest buck in the woods or harvested as many does as I had planned on.  Read more

An Old Archers Challenge

back when i was first younger and i wanted to get my first bow, I wanted to get a really nice compound i had seen in the local archery shop.  Man i went in there every other day and looked at that bow, waiting for the day grandpa was gonna bring it home for me. Now when the time came and my grandfather came package in hand i can honestly say i was more than a little disappointed to see not the fast compound bow i wanted, but his old bear recurve bow. Now i loved my grandpa to death, and I’m sure he must have noticed my disappointment because he said to me, I know you wanted that bow, hanging at toms but when you can show me you are gonna stay with it and shoot, we’ll see.  You need to learn to shoot the right way he told me, back when he was shooting there were no sights or cams or compound bows, just recurves and longbows.  So everyday i went out and shot my recurve, no sight, just a couple of mismatch carbon arrows and a shooting glove. Christmas rolled around and i remember being more than a little anxious at whether grandpa thought i was ready to shoot the compound bow yet.  All the presents came thru, but no bow.  What i did get was a dozen new carbon arrows all my own.  I was so excited I went downstairs and shot all thru christmas vacation.  By the time I finally got the bow, i had become so attached to the recurve I was unsure what i was really going to do.  Then i saw it brand new, shining, with a pin sight and an actual arrow rest, and a release!  Grandpa gave me the bow and let me shoot but the very first thing i noticed was how easy it was to aim!  Now that i was older grandpa explained to me how shooting instinctively had made it easier for me to hold steady because i was hitting x’s looking at nothing, and now i had something to look at, things just came easy. I still have my old recurve even though i haven’t shot it since but I have never shot as good with any bow as i did with that bow. Maybe one of these days I’ll get into the instinctive shooting like my grandpa started me in, I just don’t know if i could hack it anymore. I just know the challenge my grandpa gave me when i first started is what gave me the push i needed, to get where i am today.

Give Pheasant Hunting A Try

Pheasant hunting is an important upland game bird hunting activity and each year thousands of hunters enjoy this recreational opportunity. Pheasant hunting is largely relegated to private lands with harvest on public lands considered a bonus to the quail bag. Read more

Tolerance for all hunters

  It seems lately I’ve noticed a widening divide over the choices we make as hunters. Debates over such choices as: On stand or not,to bait or not,private property vs. public lands,guided vs. unguided,all quickly sour. One that causes a big stink is private game management(high fence) vs.free range. “Hot topic” is definitely an understatement! Another is bow vs. gun or crossbow. And how about this one? Brand A bow is better then brand B. Read more

Written by heybert00 · Filed Under Hunting 

Field Photos - Preserve the Moment Forever

March 31, 2008

In the heat of the moment when we are hunting sometimes we forget to document our successes with a field photo or two.  Nothing brings back the memory of a hunt like a well taken photo.   Alot of photos end up being taken in the back of the truck or on the garage floor.  Read more

Written by Garrett McCord · Filed Under Hunting 

Five Days Hunting The Ghost

March 31, 2008

I put in my time that is for sure.  I had applied for an X zone tag in Northern California for 6 straight years.  Each year looking at maps and planning a trip that would be unique when compared to other hunt trips.  Not that I would be farther out in the wilderness or physically challenged more so than in other years.  But a trip that would put my bow hunting skills to an ultimate challenge, a spot and stalk hunt in the Northern California Wilderness.  Read more

Written by Garrett McCord · Filed Under Hunting 

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