Successful Hunting

In this new age of technology even old school tradtionalists like hunters shop online. There seems to be a better chance of finding a deal online then going to the local hunting shop. Dont get me wrong I love the friendly service, expertise, and specialized knowledge you get from the local Mom and Pop hunting shops but sometimes their prices are not very competetive. If you know exactly what you want and do not need advice then I suggest finding it online. If you are unsure of what you want and need help deciding I definately would recommend your local shop.

I have used National Archery Supply on a few different occasions to buy arrows and other archery related equipment and I find that in Canada they have the best prices. In some instances their prices are even better than what the local hunting stores buy their stock for.

Check out National Archery Supply

On Saturday April 10th, and 11th the Abbotsford Fish and Game Club will be hosting the Chad Davis Memorial 3d Archery shoot. It is a 2 day event with food and prizes. It is always a good time with good people and a great way to tune up for your spring bear hunts.

The animal targets on the 3-D course have two scoring rings. The inner ring scores 10 points while the outer ring scores 8 points. An arrow hitting anywhere else on the animal scores 5 points. This is if you hit the animal on your first arrow. If you require a second shoot the scoring becomes; 5 for the inner ring, 4 for the outer ring and 2 anywhere else on the target. The 3-D targets are shot at from shooting the shooting stake that corresponds with their class. There are stakes for compound shooters, long bow and recurve shooters, cubs {children 7-12}, and pee wee {children 6 and under}.

I took my bow out yesterday to put on my new G5 Optix LE sight that G5 outdoors sent me as I was having problems with breaking screws on my prior Optix LE 5 pin sight. The new one seems to have improved with beefed up screws. In no time I was sighted in. The sight was basically adjusted for my bow exactly out of the box. I just had to move the whole sight box up and right.

well, I took my recurve bow to the Chad Davis Memorial 3D shoot at the Abby Fish and Game Club this weekend. It was my first 3D archery shoot with traditional gear so it was a challenge, I did good on the first 20 targets, but when I started up the mountain doing the steep up and down shots I ran into trouble. I ended up bending 4 of my Easton aluminum arrows but I still finished the shoot with a lucky slightly bent arrow. Out of a possible 400 points I scored 193. 10 points are given for the center of the vital shot, 8 for the vitals, and 5 just to hit the target, with 0 points for missing the 3D animal target completely.

Even though it was challenging it was part of the process of learning to hunt with traditional archery gear. In doing the shoot, I learnt that I am still not ready to hunt with the recurve bow. Hopefully with a bit of practice, I will get there soon.

I just had a question sent to me that I thought would help others looking to get into archery for the first time:

Question: "looking 4 a bow…complete beginner ..should i go new or used? If you know of any could you let me know.

thanks"

My Answer: "I would start off with a used bow, and then once you do your research and find out what you want after you are used to shooting, spring for a good quality bow. You should get your drawlength measured and start with a 50-60 lb bow. I dont know of any for sale, but keep an eye on craigslist, ebay, and the buysell. you could also call wayne at big game archery to give you a hand getting measured and setup, he might have a bow on consignment you can try out.
604-859-2086"

It made me think of other people starting their ranks in the archery world, dont just go out and spend bunch of money until you have fine tuned your craft and know what you are looking for. Please dont start out with a heavy drawlength or it will deter you from learning proper technique and cause problems like taget panick,plucking, early release etc. A 40lb or 50lbs is more than enough to kill deer and appropriate for beginers. If you are a youth shooter start with even lower poundages!