Getting in Bowhunting Shape

© By Othmar Vohringer

Last year has been very busy and I didn’t plan on bowhunting so I never took the time to shoot my bow. This year is different. We finally have moved to our new house and most of my seminar engagement dates are finalized. Time to sit back and think about the upcoming bowhunting season. With the season opening date set for the 1st. September it was time to visit the archery range and practice.

On Saturday evening I drove the short distance to the Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club, wondering how my first bow shooting session in a year would turn out. Will I have the strength to pull that string back on the bow? Do I still know how to shoot a bow?

I stepped up to the 20-yard target, set an arrow on the string, pulled back, aimed and released. Swiiiish –Thud it went. Would you look at that!! I heard myself saying. The arrow stuck perfectly in the center of the target. That is easy. I thought as I nocked the second arrow and two seconds later it joined the first arrow less than an inch from the first arrow. After five rounds I was confident that – surprisingly to me –it seemed I hadn’t lost my ability to shoot my bow. Although, a faint muscle pain in my back and shoulder reminded me that I need a lot more bow shooting to get the muscles back into shape too.

Encouraged I moved to the 30 yard target, the maximum distance I will shot at a live animal. Again the first group of three arrows hit the target smack in the middle, but not as close as I am used to it. A three-inch group might still be acceptable for hunting but it isn’t to me. While I was pleasantly surprised to get the arrows that close together out to 30 yards after one year without practise I am also fully aware that I need to spend a lot more time at the range to get to point where I can confidently take a shot at a deer.

While I am not a target archer – I consider myself a bowhunter - aiming for points or stacking arrows on top of each other, I still want each and every single arrow to hit exactly where I am aiming at. This type of accuracy gives me the confidence I need in the field.

It is for that same reason that I do all my shooting under a variety of simulated hunting conditions that I may encounter. For the same reason I always shoot wearing my normal hunting garments, plus binoculars and game calls around the neck. My goal is to leave nothing to chance when that big buck stands under my treestand. I do not want to worry about at that precise moment that perhaps bulky clothing, binoculars and the position of the deer could interfere with my shooting accuracy.

In conversations with other bowhunters I have learned that the main reason for missing a deer mostly boiled down to one of the following reasons:

• The hunter was not prepared to take the shot.
• The arrow went astray because something, mostly clothing, interfered with the bowstring.
• The hunter did not expect the situation he was presented with.

To avoid such ugly surprises I have to practice exactly the same way as I hunt. Getting familiar to shoot a bow under different conditions and situations gives a hunter confidence when the moment of the truth arrives. Confidence in ones abilities will bring success.

Since, despite the first promising result, I am still not feeling confident enough in my shooting abilities I’ll head back to the archery range for the next few weeks. I will spend every single day shooting my bow until it becomes second nature again. So when that buck comes I can say, "That's easy, I can do that." For that to happen I have to get in bowhunting shape.

Bowhunting, Archery, Bowhunting Season, bows, Arrows, Target Shooting

New York Governor Signs Junior Hunting Bill

© By Othmar Vohringer

Lowering the age restriction for young hunters has been a battle many hunters in New York have fought very hard over the past several years. My good blogging friend Marc Alberto at the NYbowhunter.com blog has reported regularly on that struggle and kept hunters abreast of what is happening.

Moving to our new house and other commitments left me little to no time to keep up with the development of the initiative to lower the age for young hunters in New York. So when I got an email yesterday from another good friend, Richard Worden, member of the National Board of Director of Hunters Helping Kids and chapter President of HHK Northern New York, telling me that the governor of New York has signed the youth hunter bill into effect I was very pleased over this victory.

Like Richard, and I am sure many New York hunters too, I expected that the bill would lower the age to 12 ore even lower instead of 14 years of age. However this is a step in the right direction that will give hunters a base to work from to get the age lowered. Let’s just hope it will not take another half decade to make politicians see commonsense.

While I try to understand the motivation of governments to put age restriction on hunting I am a firm believer that ultimately the power to make the decision should be with the parents. It would serve us all much better if the government makes flexible age restrictions like between the ages of six and ten.

The reason I say "that ultimately it should be the parents that decide at what age their child is ready to hunt" is in the fact that only a parent knows a childs mental and physical ability and what it is able to do or not to do. I am aware that child huggers and politicians think parents are not capable of making decisions concerning their own children! But they are.

In order to get a child interested in hunting we have to start with them at a very young age. Studies have shown that most children have made their minds up what they like at age 14 to 16. Getting a child that late into hunting is difficult at best. Sure we can take children along on scouting trips and teach them all there is to know it. But ultimately what gets children hooked on hunting or fishing is when they can show off success in form of their first harvested game.

You can read the new bill here.

Now I am off over the weekend to shoot my bow at our outdoor archery range. It’s only five weeks to hunting season and I haven’t shot my bow this year. High time to get some much needed practice done. I’ll let you all know how it went next week.

Tags: Legislation, Youth Hunting, New York, Hunters Helping Kids, NYbowhunter.com

News and Updates.

© By Othmar Vohringer.

Quite a bit has happened around here recently.

First I would like to congratulate Tom Sorenson from the Base Camp Legends blog to his debut on My Outdoor TV where he now hosts his own Base Camp Legends video show. I had a sneak preview and can tell you that I like very much what I have seen. Having been involved in TV and video production for many years, and soon will be again, I can fully appreciate the hard work and long hours Tom and his father but into the production of their videos. It’s definitely right up there with what we expect to see in a hunting show.

Brian Warner of Heirloom Turkey Calls has been hard at work for months, producing a few new calls in additions to the quality turkey calls. The new additions to the impressive product lineup are deer, elk, coyote and a variety of small game calls. Hunters that have already experienced the high workmanship and sound quality of the outstanding turkey calls know the quality they can expect from the new calls.

In an email Brian tells me that he works hard just to keep up with the demand for the new game calls. You can read a full product review on my Whitetail Deer Passion blog. I know what calls I will be carrying with me this coming deer hunting season. How about you?

Tom Sorenson from the Base Camp Legends blog was the first one to detect my newest writing outlet before I could tell you about it here. Tom wrote in his comment to my article West Virginia adds Hunter Safety Course to School Curriculum. “…By the way, Othmar - I just read your blog on HuntOnly - good stuff!”.

Thanks Tom I appreciate your kind words. The editor of HuntOnly.com has asked me if I would like to contribute some articles to their website. Usually I decline to write without getting paid, unless it is for a large reputable website. In these cases I will occasionally make an exception to the rule and provide articles from my archive. For me this is the best and least costly way to get advertised. The first three articles can be read here, here and here.

Note; do not be alarmed if you see a strange picture at the top of my articles. That is not my mug. I don’t know what happen there but I have been told that it will be exchanged a.s.a.p. with the picture of my handsome self that I supplied.

And last but not least I have added a new blog to the blogroll. Easy Hunting Tips is written by Jerry. The blog provides a large variety of hunting tips and tricks that surely will help many hunters to improve his or her success. Judging by the amount of posts Jerry puts on the blog I can almost forgive him that he has as of this writing “forgotten” to exchange the favor and put my link on his blog.

Tags: Hunting Video, Base Camp Legends, Heirloom Game Calls, Whitetail deer Passion, HuntOnly.com, Easy Hunting Tips

West Virginia adds Hunter Safety Course to School Curriculum

© By Othmar Vohringer

In a time when hunters look to the future with some justified concern about the continually declining overall hunter numbers we hear refreshing news from West Virginia.

On Aril 1st, 2008 Governor Joe Manchin (picture) signed Senate Bill 9 into effect. The bill introduces an elective hunter education program into the public school curriculum. West Virginia’s school students will have to wait to to sign up until next semester. The classes are offered over a two-week period during the school year in the 6th through 12th grades.

The legislation was passed late in the school year and school administrators still have to figure out how to implement the courses. Taking other legislation into consideration, such as the ban of any weapons from school properties.

The bill stipulates that the classes will be conducted by an instructor certified by the state Division of Natural Resources or who has other training necessary to conduct the program as determined by the state board.

The school boards and students welcome the new legislation that enables schools to teach hunter safety classes. This is nothing new, West Virginia used to have hunter education classes in the public school system many years ago. Veteran hunters still can remember when they took firearm safety courses during their high school years and are pleased to see this opportunity back in the schools again.

Tags: West Virginia, Hunter Education Courses, Governor Joe Manchin, Pro Hunting Legislation

Answer and Question Time.

© By Othmar Vohringer

Today I would like to share a selection of interesting questions that arrive almost daily by email or that somebody has asked me on my hunting seminars and clinics and my answers with you’re here.

Q: What’s your favorite camouflage and why?

A: For many years I wear exclusively ASAT® and PREDATOR® camouflage. These two patterns are to my knowledge the only ones designed using animal vision science. Most other camouflage is designed using consumer appeal science.

Animals see things very differently than we humans do. Animal vision orientates on light and shadow, not on details like branches, bark and leaves. ASAT® and PREDATOR® with their open designs perfectly mimic light and shadow while the light base tan color works as a “chameleon”. Tan color absorbs surrounding colors, in the snow tan looks white and under a green forest canopy it looks green.

Fashion camouflage, as I call it, is generally too dark, making the human stand out as a dark blob in the distance rather then blending in with the surrounding. Besides, I have never seen a tree, cattail or bush walk, and neither have deer. When we look at camouflage and how effective it is we need to look at nature. Animals that rely on good camouflage use white, brown and tan colors. Take a deer for example. A deer can stand a few yards away from a hunter and yet completely vanish from sight. Now that is what I call camouflage and that is what an open pattern like ASAT® and PREDATOR® will do for a hunter too.
Read more about camouflage here.

Q: What do you think contributes to your success over the next guy? I guess what I really would like to know is what would I have to do to become as successful as you are?

A: First let me state that I am absolutely convinced that there are many hunters that are just, or more successful than I am. But to answer your question, my advantage is that I have studied animal behavior as a profession for over 30+ years. This definitely has given me an edge over some others. When all else is said and done hunting success boils down to one single factor and that is knowing the habits and behavior of the animals we pursue. You can wear the best camouflage and use the most expensive bow or rife and be the best marksman in the world, it all counts for nothing if you do not study the animals and their habitat.

In addition I hunt for over 40 years and always have been open minded. Meaning, I never adhered to rigid old fashion thinking and practices. I am open to try new ideas and mix tactics. To my mind the only thing constituting insanity is to do the same thing over and over but expecting different results. And finally, I am passionate about hunting and spend as much time in the outdoors as humanly possible watching, observing and learning.

Q: What is your opinion on including crossbows in the archery season?

A: My opinion is that a crossbow is archery equipment and thus is perfectly suited in the archery season. In fact a crossbow is very much like a modern compound bow, with the only difference being that the crossbow is mounted onto a rifle like stock and yhe string is held mechanically. This fact alone does not make the crossbow a “gun”. I have shot crossbows and found that they are, with that one difference, exactly the same as compound bows what accuracy, efficiency and effective shooting range is concerned.

Unfortunately, over the span of many years hunters have been told a lot of misinformation, outright lies and totally unfounded hype about crossbows. Over all these years many hunters have come to take this lies as the truth. But no matter how many times lies are repeated it always will be a lie. I am pleased that in recent years more hunters and wildlife agencies see through the smoke screen and accept the crossbow for what it really is, a perfectly suitable weapon to include in the archery season.
Read more about crossbows here

Q: I have used deer attractant scent in the past but have had no success with it. In fact on several occasion it seemed to have scared deer away.

A: The mistake some hunters make is to think of scent as a strategy. This mistake is often followed by several other mistakes, such as using a particular scent at the wrong time of the season or too much of it and at the wrong location.

Attractant scent is only one small part of a well planed hunting strategy and if used correctly it can attract or hold deer in an area for a short time. Just spreading scent around the stand location and then expecting deer to come running from everywhere is something the advertising would like you to believe but in reality it does not happen. No deer will go out of its way to investigate a scent, regardless of how appealing it smells to them. Scent only works when placed in close proximity of active deer trails.

Using a doe in estrus scent, as some hunters do, in the early season will definitely scare every deer in the area. Deer communicate by leaving scent marks for other deer to “read”; therefore we can assume that deer know at what time of the year they can expect to smell a particular scent. Therefore, we also can safely assume that if a deer smells a doe in estrus scent before the breeding season started it will become very suspicious because it is unnatural. The same is true for food scents. Deer know their habitat like you know your house. Placing apple scent in an area that does not have an apple tree for miles around would alert deer that there is something fishy going on. The conclusion of this is to use the appropriate scent at the time and place where that scent naturally occurs. Last but not least, read the label on the scent container carefully, if the instructions say. “Use two tropes of scent” do as recommended. As I said deer know what they smell like at any time of the season and they also know how strong the smell has to be. If you empty a bottle of scent on a scent wick you’re telling the deer that there is another deer as large as an elephant in the area, its unnatural. By the same token, apples do not grow the size of watermelons. Always read the label and stick to the instructions. It also is unatural for deer scent to be placed high on a tree or bush, deer can't climb trees.

The short answer is. Attractant scent works if used in conjunction with a sound strategy and in moderation at the right time and place.
Read more about deer scent here.

Q: What is the maximum distance a deer can be shot at with a compound bow?

A: I cannot answer you what distance that is for you. Only you can answer that. The proficient distance at which a bowhunter can take an ethical shot is for everybody different. Some hunters are proficient to shot at 40 yards and others at 20 yards. You can learn your shooting distance at the archery range. Your maximum shooting distance is the one where you can keep consistently 10 out of 10 arrows in the bulls eye. The distance where you cannot do that any longer is not your maximum distance. Once you established that distance take the bow in the field and shoot it under conditions you would likely encounter in a hunting situation. You will find that that distance is reduced by about a third.

At the archery range I can confidently get the arrows consistently smack in the middle of the target out to 35 yards. In the field, under hunting conditions, my distance where I achieve that same consistency is 25 yards and that is my maximum distance at which I shoot at a live animal. But I prefer to have them much closer to me, in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 yards.

Tags: Hunting Questions and Answers, Bowhunting, Archery, ASAT Camouflage, Predator Camouflage, Deer Scent, Crossbow

Hunters helping Kids Inc. Offers Free Guided Youth Hunt

© By Othmar Vohringer

Once again the fine folks of Hunters Helping Kinds Inc – Northern New York Chapter offer guided youth weekend duck, pheasant and goose hunts.

The exact dates of these hunts will be revealed in a few weeks. The young hunters, 12 to 15 years of age, must be in possession of a valid hunting license and accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

The winners of this drawing will be notified by phone including the date of the hunt.

Besides a valid hunting license and parent or legal guardian the young hunter is asked to bring his or her own lunch and drink. Hunters will hunt in groups at different locations in Oswego County, Jefferson County and other near by Counties.

For more information on the draw visit the HHK-Northern New York website “events” or download the entry form.

These are great events for young hunters to gain more experience under the tutorship and guidance of dedicated veteran hunters. Hunters Helping Kids Inc is a wonderful organization founded by dedicated hunters with one mission, getting young people involved and ensuring the continuance of our great hunting heritage. If you wish to become a member of this fine organization or would like to contribute as a sponsor please do so. For more information on how you can get involved visit the Hunters Helping Kids Inc. national website.

Tags: Youth Hunt, Hunters Helping Kids, Pheasant Hunt, Duck Hunt, Goose Hunt

Finally Back

© By Othmar Vohringer

I probably should have written this post before I posted “Blade Culture in London”. It has been over a month since I posted “We’re moving” and a lot happened in this time. But first I would like to thank all the fellow bloggers and my blog readers that send me emails inquiring about the rason my absence. Rather than writing everybody the same story I do it here for all to read.

The good news is that both, my wife and I, are in excellent health and are very happy. The move to our new house went very smooth, thanks to the exceptional organizational skills of my wife, everything went as planed. Merritt is a very beautiful small town surrounded by wilderness and cattle ranches. We just made it in time to witness Merritt’s biggest annual event the “Mountain Music Festival”. It is this event that gave Merritt the moniker “Canada’s Country Music Capital”.

Here are two pictures Heidi took to show you all what a beautiful place it is that we proudly call our home.
The first panorama is from the east looking to the west over the town, the second panorama is from the west looking east. The guy in both pictures is me with our dog Gazu. If I look like a drunk in the first picture it is because I had to lean against the walking stick or else risk been blown away by the heavy wind. Heidi had a hell of a time keeping the camera steady to take the 20 plus pictures needed that would make up the panorama.

Click image for larger view
(Pictures courtesy of Heidi Koehler, Artemis Graphics and Design)

We have settled into our new home and made already friends with the neighbors. Making friends in a small town were everybody knows everybody is very important. While small town live can be very nice it also has its downsides. One of them is that if you have a problem with the computer it will take a long time for parts to arrive. A fan on my computer gave up and needed replacing so off we went to the small computer-coffee shop-all rolled into one store to order the fan we needed. After three weeks of waiting Heidi got finally tired of it and we drove to the next big city some 100 miles away were she found the part needed hanging on the store wall. The fan is installed and the computer runs as smooth as ever and I am back on the Internet.

Staying away from the Internet was not all bad because it forced me to get out and do things, like taking Heidi on her first fishing trip, exploring the towns surrounding areas and making contact with ranchers in the hope to gain permission to hunt their ranches in the future. The garden on the front and back of the house needs major work. Heidi wants it completely re designed and so we have been shoveling tons of earth, planting bushes and building garden sheds. But we’re still far from done, in fact it still looks like a huge building site. Where is Matt with his landscaping skills? We plan to build a huge covered balcony the length of the house, complete with outdoor kitchen. The focal point of the garden will be a miniature mountain with waterfall, creek and pond surrounded by a wildflower meadow resembling the beautiful scenery around Merritt.

Inside the house everything is finish other than my office, which still needs a lot of work to get it the way I wanted it to look. When it is finish it will look beautiful in the style of a log cabin. The office will serve dual purposes, its large enough to be the classroom in which I hold hunting courses and be a studio were the SHS videos will be edited in the near future and also will serve as indoor studio for interviews and other indoor segments of SHS videos. In short my new office is truly the SHS headquarters were every thing will happen what’s to come in the near future. More about this plans will be revealed right here as they become reality.

In the meantime I am glad to be back on my blogs and would like to thank all the readers for their loyalty. Usually visitor numbers drop sharply on blogs the moment no new posts are made. This was not the case with my blogs, the visitor numbers remained constant and on two blogs even increased. As deer hunting season approaches fast – how time flies by – the Whitetail Deer Passion blog will be updated again almost daily with the latest information on hunting tactics, news and product reviews.

Tgas: Merritt, Blog Update, Moving, Deer Hunting

Blade Culture in London

© By Othmar Vohringer

Yesterday’s news showed a segment on violent crime in London, England. According to the newscaster knives are the number one choice for violent criminals in England to intimidate, hurt and kill their victims. Remember England is a country that like Australia totally outlawed the private ownership of firearms. There as here the anti gun lobby promised that the banning of firearms will make for a safer society.

Surprise, Surprise – not really - turns out criminal elements can’t be stopped by a mere ban and instead just chose a different type of weapon. The report said that alone in the last month there were four fatal stabbings in London alone in one week. People are scared more than ever before.

One ought to think that the authorities learned that banning weapons of any sort does not make for a safer society. As expected politicians, police and so called experts look for solutions to tackle the problem. There is, of course, talk of banning knives, but also of a zero tolerance policy – like criminals care about such things.

Operation “blunt” was introduced and sounds very expensive for the taxpayers. Operation “blunt” puts more police officers on the road, predominantly on bus stations and underground stations. The introduction of a special law made it possible that police officers now can physically search people without due cause, just on a hunch, for “offensive weapons”. Whatever an offensive weapon might be is not revealed, for all I know it could be handbag, a knife or a long key chain. One thing I do know, laws like this bring us dangerously close to a police state and the loss of freedom for law abiding people without any effect whatsoever on the criminal behavior of a few.

Interestingly enough in all this hoopla about knives as the number one choice of lowlifes absolutely nobody mentions tougher sentences for the criminals committing violent crimes. The closest I could find on information about the criminals is that the police want a law that makes it mandatory for a violent criminal to talk to a stabbing victim. What nonsense is that? Do they really think that this would make any difference?

It seems that instead of learning from past mistakes by taking the guns away from law abiding people, the same mistake is made all over again by banning knives and harassing the people on the street. I bet any amount of money, if knives are outlawed crooks will turn to something else to intimidate, hurt and kill their victims. When will authorities learn, I wonder, that until they address the problem by punishing criminals nothing will change. If it where not that serious I could laugh out loud about that much government stupidity. First they take away the guns from the hunters now they are after the hunting knives too.

Tags: Knife Violence, Knife Ban, London, News