Time to Tune Your Bow for Bowhunting Season

© 2010 Albert A Rasch™ and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
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It's Time to Tune Up your Bow

In some places, deer season is about a month away! For most though, there are still another couple of months or so to go. Usually that's the time of year when I see most folks starting to rifle through their closets and garages looking for their bowhunting gear. Labor Day weekend: Boating and fishing gear go up, bows and camouflage come down. End of bow season, bows go up and rifles come out. Lots of people I know do it just like that every year.

I sometimes wonder how they connect with their deer...

For those of you that tend to procrastinate and don't pull that bow down until your friends remind you that deer season starts in a couple of weeks, I have a few tuning tips I picked up over the years.

Since most everybody uses a compound bow, let's start with them and then look over the traditional bows.

First take a good look at the bow. Depending on how and were you store your bow, it could affect many points on your bow. A garage with high heat in the summer can cause the cables or the strings to stretch, or bolts and screws to loosen, thereby changing many of the parameters of your bow. Look for anything that may be loose, including the screws on your bow's accessories. Check your stabilizer and make sure it is secure. Look over your sights, are the pins locked down? Check for nicks or splinters in your bow limbs, they may need to be touched up. Double check the arrow rest, anything loose or out of line?

Next we check the bowstring and cables. If you have a bow square, now would be a good time to check your string's nocking point. If it has moved, the cable and string may have stretched.

I would definitely look at your bow string carefully. Do you replace it regularly? I read that a bow string should be replaced every three years. I have one on a bow that's got to be at least a dozen or so years old... Check the string carefully. Is it frayed? How about wear at the nocking point? Is the serving still intact? Are there any loose or frayed strands. You have to be thorough! If you find any of these conditions, it is time to get a new string on your bow! If you don't have a bow press... (umm, does anyone actually have one at home?) you might be better off stopping by your local bow shop and having them replace it for you. Since you're there already, have them give your bow a once over. A fresh set of eyes might see something you missed!

With today's bows, you can actually lower the weight of the bow substantially. Probably a good idea if you are going to stow it away for an extended period of time. I don't know, but it seems like a good idea. My Browning Compound Cobra is about thirty years old, and I never let it relax. Don't even know how! But it has lost six or so pounds of draw weight in that time. Maybe if there had been a way to release the tension it wouldn't have lost that weight.

Traditional bows are always unstrung at the end of the shooting session or hunting day, so limb fatigue is different. But none the less, storage can have a deleterious effect on your bow. Traditional bows should be stowed flat on two wooden pegs in a horizontal position. All the other caveats like checking your string, nocking point, and the condition of your bow still apply.

Once your bow is back in tip top shape, it's time to start practicing!

I know it takes me about a month of regular shooting, before my muscles are conditioned sufficiently, and my form is proper again. Take it easy the first couple of weeks! You don't want to get hurt. That's why it is important to get started now. Put your bow up for the session while you are doing well, and before you are tired.

Practicing now will asure you that when the shot presents itself, you'll be ready!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member:Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert was actually a student of biology. Really. But after a stint as a lab tech performing repetitious and mind-numbing processes that a trained capuchin monkey could do better, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information, reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com.

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The Range Reviews: American Whitetail King Broadhead Target

© 2009 Albert A Rasch and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles™
$g&m f9bd 45kd q!?5.

The King Broadhead Target

As part of my reeducation in archery in general and bowhunting in specific, I decided I needed a new target to shoot at. A cardboard box full of newspaper and more cardboard just wasn't going to cut it any more; it's too easy to ruin expensive shafts that way, and I'm trying to run a professional operation here anyway. It was high time I got something appropriate for the job at hand.
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There are many types of targets available, from styrene blocks with plastic wrap that are barely adequate for kids' bows with target points, to very expensive and realistic game targets that will help refine your technique and eye; they even have one that looks like a velociraptor.

But for those of us stuck in an urban or suburban environment, a big square target is far more practical, and stores easier. What I wanted was the toughest and longest lasting broadhead target on the market. Practicing with what you are going to use is the key to success, and I intend to bring it to the hogs down here. And for that I needed to bend some bow limbs and shoot some arrows.

Make that a lot of arrows.

First date... She's built...

The beauty of Al Gore's Internet is that almost everything is on it. You want to know something, it is probably on the Net. Bowhunting targets are no different. After doing my research, I narrowed in on the King Broadhead Target by Whitetail Deer Inc. I needed something that could withstand repeated strikes with a broadhead and not disintegrate. It needs to absorb all the shooting I intend to do until such time as I get back in shooting shape.

"I will not trade a penny of profit for a customer's satisfaction. Our broadhead targets will out perform any open layer target when shot with broadheads...period."

Ralph @ American Whitetail Inc

That's the kind of thing I like to see. Performance and customer satisfaction before profits.

The King series is designed around a "Multi Layer Density" system. The target is built up from different density layers of foam to create a variable ratio of friction through the target.

The first layer consists of a layer of low density foam on the front. The soft foam is chosen for superior healing properties. The second layer is a medium density layer chosen for its ability to soak up energy and slow the rate of the arrows travel. Both of those layers back up to a layer of high density foam. As the broadhead penetrates and drives through the low and medium density foam, the arrow's energy is absorbed, resulting in far less penetration of the high density foam which ultimately stops the arrow. This results in a very durable target and easier arrow removal.

Whitetail Deer Inc wanted to"build a target that would stop any broadhead shot out of any bow, have unbelievable durability and smooth, easy broadhead arrow removal." I think they have done an exemplary job in putting together a target for bowhunters that performs exceptionally well at a very reasonable price. The King Broadhead Target is less than $40.00 at any of the venues I found; how's that for a bargain!

I used both the Browning Cobra which draws 45# and my new SiegeWorks Creations American Longbow that draws #50 on the King. I'm using my new Muzzy Phantom MX broadheads which, by the way, I'll be reporting on in the near future.

I found that, as expected, field points where substantially more difficult to remove. Broadheads came out with considerably less effort. Having only shot about sixty arrows in a half dozen days at the target, I haven't had an opportunity to see how the long term effects of shooting broadheads at the target will be, but I am keeping a log for future comments.

Pulling field points with care!

If you plan on shooting field points, then you will have to get an arrow lube like PSE Scorpion Venom Arrow Release Fluid. It is formulated to allow the easy removal of arrows from targets. I have not tried it, but the commentaries I have read are positive. I think it was originally developed for 3D targets. Think about it; that arrow shaft must be building up quite a bit of heat as it slows down in the target material. The lube helps defeat the grip of the material on the arrow.

Overall, the target performed as I had hoped it would. It stopped the arrows and something some folks might think very important, it doesn't leave a mess as you draw the arrows out. Some targets leave bits and pieces of themselves every time you pull an arrow. I've pounded the middle left aiming point now, and I have yet to have anything come out.



I only had one thing go wrong, and that was the fabric handle. This is not an important issue for the target. I was lugging the target from point a to b, and the nylon strap let the screw head work its way through. Later on the other side let loose too. Easy fix, two small washers or even a couple of pennies. Back the screw out, lay the strap back down drive the screw through the penny and that is the end of the problem. That will have to wait until I get back home. Again it's my fault it tore out, I sure don't baby anything I own.

I can fix that lickety split.

Register for the
American Whitetail
FREE target give away!

There is one more thing. The good folks at American Whitetail Inc. have a weekly drawing for one of their targets, all you have to do is register.

That's right! Every week, American Whitetail Targets will give away a broadhead target. The give away is open to all US residents. To register, simply fill out the form at their website (Here) with your information. (In the notes section you could put down that you saw it here at The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles...)

So enter, it's free, and give it a shot!

King Broadhead Target
MSRP: $36.95

American Whitetail Inc.
Box 299
Ferdinand, Indiana
47532
Ph. 1-888-233-1976
Fax 1-812-937-4157
Email: Tammy@archerytargets.com


There is a pretty good video on YouTube on the King Broadhead Target

As you can see, the King Target takes a licking and keeps on stopping arrows.

"I can wholeheartedly recommend the Whitetail Inc King Broadhead Target without reservation. It is a well made target, made of quality materials, here in the USA, by bowhunters, for bowhunters. The price is very reasonable and it works as advertised. That my friends, is a good American deal!"

Albert A Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles

The Perfect Shot by Todd Hill

The Perfect Shot

We threaded our way silently through the jungle, following the way of least resistance, around vines and tree trunks, pushing softly through bushes. Every so often Parara (our Amazonian guide) would stop to listen. We stopped too, listening for the sounds of potential game.

As we walked my senses drank in my surroundings. Each plant was familiar, each sound, even the earthy, loamy smells. I felt alive there in the jungle.

Suddenly we sensed activity up ahead. Parara grew very alert. We stepped forward quietly and then froze. In a blur of motion, Parara raised his bow, nocked an arrow, and let it fly into the jungle ahead of us.

We followed our friend forward about 25 yards where we saw his heavy metal-pointed arrow pinning an agouti to the ground at the very entrance to its hole. One half second later and it would have been safe. The arrow had cut an inch wide hole through its lungs, killing the animal almost instantly.

My brother and I exchanged admiring looks, marveling at the incredible performance we had just witnessed.

Todd Hill

Primitive Point