Are you considering bow hunting but aren’t sure if you can afford all of the equipment that everyone says you “need”? I’m here to tell you that you can get started bow hunting for far less money than most people will tell you. Before we get started, there is one piece of equipment that I will say is an absolute must. As I am a certified Bow Hunter Safety instructor, it would be wrong of me not to stress how important a good quality safety harness and life line are. Don’t leave the ground until … Read More
Foul Weather Gobblers Can Be A Challenge
Walking into the Cass City DNR Field Office at 4:30 am just prior to going turkey hunting is always a delight for me, because ladies all clad in camouflage, will be having donuts and coffee while excitedly anticipating heading out with their mentors during the annual 2-day Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Turkey Hunting Workshop. I greeted the 2 ladies who I was going to mentor, Anna Bucholtz, and her 10-year-old daughter, Delilah and we were soon headed out in my Jeep to some private property I had permission to take them hunting on and … Read More
Gearing Up For Spring Gobblers
There is no other atmosphere which can compare to spring turkey hunting in our beautiful state, and Michigan offers an abundant bounty of opportunities. It ranks as being one of the top turkey hunting states in the nation, something I truly appreciate, and sure do enjoy! The fact that spring turkey licenses can now be purchased over the counter certainly works for me. A real nice offering for southern Michigan turkey hunters is the ZZ Unit which runs for the entire April 20 – May 31 season this year on private lands only and is … Read More
Location Preparation Tools – John Eberhart Shares His Expertise
Proper location preparation can make the difference in whether or not you have success stories to tell. While your on-foot scouting only required the use of maps and or a notebook, location preparation requires specific tools and a great amount of physical labor. I finished drywall for 14 years and like any trade job, the more prepared you are concerning tools, more thorough and expedient the job will be done. The ideal scenario is to be able to pack in and carry the necessary tools to totally prepare a location yet be mobile enough to … Read More
Reality Of Bowhunting
Pre-Season Scouting/Speed Touring Mature whitetails are creatures of habit and once deer season is over it doesn’t take them long before calming down and reverting back to set routines which include more daytime movements. Their routines will take on slight alterations throughout the year primarily due to changes in weather conditions, preferred food sources and during spring fawning there will be alterations as does break with wintering social groups, force their previous spring’s fawns away, and birth their new ones. Bedding to feeding area routines by mature bucks also remains constant throughout the summer until … Read More
Scout NOW For Next Fall & Why! (Part II)
In order of importance, once on foot focus your attention on the following sign for stand locations: primary scrape areas, fruit and mast trees, within bedding areas, funnels between bedding areas and terrain feature funnels, areas offering security cover that protrude out into crop or weed fields, scrape lined runways, narrow draws offering transition security cover that protrude into crop or weed fields, funnels between bedding and feeding areas, clusters of rubs and rub lines, convergence points of several runways, and water in areas with minimal water sources. Primary scrape areas A primary scrape area … Read More
Scout Now For Next Fall…and why! (part I)
For each of the three instructional whitetail bowhunting books my son Chris and I wrote, my 4 instructional DVD’s, as well as for hunting articles, from 1998 to date we’ve; researched many whitetail studies, tracked bowhunting license sales for each state, found the absolute land mass for each state in square miles, and researched specific data from Pope & Young statistical summary books to compile factual statistics and there was one very important piece of kill data that remained consistent throughout the years. While Pope & Young entries per licensed hunters vary dramatically from state … Read More
Why You Should Support The Hearing Protection Act
Originally introduced by Representative Matt Salmon (R-AZ) all the way back in October 2015, H.R. 3799, better known as the Hearing Protection Act of 2015, was a bill that could completely revolutionize life for hunters and shooters in the United States. What Is The Hearing Protection Act? You can read the full text of the bill here, but put simply, the Hearing Protection Act would remove suppressors from regulation under the National Firearms Act of 1934 and would treat suppressors just like rifles and shotguns. Specifically, this bill would allow people to purchase a suppressor after simply … Read More
Silencer Central Banish Backcountry Review: Read Before Buying!
Note: Originally published on The Big Game Hunting Blog by John McAdams and used with permission here… By: John McAdams I think the Banish Backcountry suppressor is a fantastic silencer for those who want a compact and lightweight hunting suppressor that still does a good job of reducing the report of a rifle. I explain why I feel that way in this Banish Backcountry review. Many hunters and shooters likely fall into one of two categories when it comes to suppressors. Those in the first category likely view suppressors as exotic shooting accessories only used in movies or … Read More