Hunters Extravaganza and New Bow

The big Texas Trophy Hunters show was this past weekend in Ft Worth. I ended up attending it all 3 days. There really was not anything new this year, just the same ol stuff, feeders, blinds, hunting vehicles, etc... I guess the reason that I like to go to this show is because it really gets me in the mood to hunt. It has been so hot here lately, and I have focused most of my free time on shooting sporting clays, so hunting has sort of taken a back seat to everything else. After this past weekend I can now say that I am ready for hunting season to get here. In fact I spent all Sunday evening watching the outdoor channel (my wife loves it when I do that).

I am going to get a new bow this year and I thought that I might pick one up at the show, but they did not have the one that I am interested in. I am either going to buy the Bowtech Guardian or the Bowtech General. I have been shooting a Bowtech Defender for the last 3 years and I love it. That bow would serve me just fine to keep shooting it for a couple of more years, but I am a manufacturer/ retailers dream, change up a few things, make the bow look different and I am sold. Everyone that I have talked to says that these two bows are the smoothest bow they have ever shot. I am going to go to All Star Archery on Wednesday with one of my hunting buddys Robert Sterrett. I am going to shoot both of them and decide which one I want. Then I will have to decide on all of the accessories to rig it out.

I already know the rest that I am going to get, it is made by Vital Gear. This is a great rest, I put one on my bow last year when my Trophy Ridge rest broke. The Vital Gear rest is a drop away rest that features a really cool and useful clamping system that holds the arrow firmly in place so that it does not fall off of the rest when you pick up or move your bow. Unlike the Whisker Biscuit, this rest releases the arrow from the clamp when you are at full draw so that there is only a small portion of the rest in contact with the arrow, and when you release the string for the shot the rest drops away. Therefore there is no added friction on the arrow which allows for better more accurate flight.

In my next post I will let you know what other accessories I decided on such as sight, quiver, and stabilizer.

On Saturday I went to the show with the two guys that I am going to Kansas with, Robert Sterrett and Shane Howell. We found a pretty good deal on a well built ladder stand. We are thinking about buying 2 or 3 of them to use up in Kansas. They are made by Direct Outdoor Products located in Euless, Texas. The particular stand that we are interested in is their Premium Ladder Stand . Our biggest problem is trying to find time to make a trip to Kanas to set up the stands, or trying to find someone that is already in Kansas to set up the stands.

We also talked to a few outfitters about the hunts that they offered. There was one very interesting Canada hunt that I would like to pursue. I do not have the information in front of me, but I will post a link as soon as I can. Basically this was a hunt in Alberta, right next to Saskatchewan. The outfitter said that the way the hunt works in bow season is you only hunt whitetails on stand in the afternoon. In the morning you do spot and stalk hunts for mule deer. I have recently become interested in spot and stalk mule deer hunting from a podcast that I have been listening to lately, check these guys out, they are pretty extreme bow hunters and put out an interesting podcast. Bowcast

On Sunday my wife and daughter went to the show with me. My daughter had alot of fun looking at the live rattle snake exhibit, she even pet a few!!! That kind of creaped me out. She goes to the deer lease with me quite a bit, so we are trying to make her understand that she can not touch them if she sees one down there.

I am thinking about going to the deer lease in Brady this weekend with my cousin Tyler to set up a few new stands, fill feeders and put out game cameras. If that happens I will let you in on the details and post pictures next week.

Until next time......