Petersen's Bowhunting

Petersen's Bowhunting is the source for the tactics, tools, and techniques necessary for successful bowhunting. Get practical shooting tips and useful information on archery, equipment tests, clothing, and product evaluations.

LIVING ON THE EDGE • BACK WHEN I was a kid, there wasn’t much I enjoyed more than a good monster truck show. I can still remember the TV commercials they’d run during Saturday morning cartoons to hype the events.

Petersen's Bowhunting

TIMING THE RUT • WITH FOOTBALL and hunting seasons upon us and the whitetail rut just around the corner, this is a great time to kick off a series of columns on “the seasons of the whitetail,” highlighting many of the amazing things deer do throughout the year. Of course, we’ll start by discussing the impressive behavioral changes taking place right now around your favorite deer stands. As our favorite time to bowhunt draws near, let’s talk about the primary environmental factor that drives a buck’s burning need to breed!

BUCKS GONE WILD! • TO BE MOST successful hunting whitetails, you need to save your best stands for the best days of the season; I mentioned that as one of the tips in the feature article I wrote for this issue. Of course, that begs the obvious question: which days are the best? To answer that for myself, I’ve relied on my own personal observations from 35 years of buck activity, as well as what I have learned from a many other very successful bowhunters.

PART 1 FOLLOW-THROUGH • AS IN ANY SPORT, good follow-through is important in archery. Starting with this column, and continuing with my upcoming columns, I will explain what good follow-through is, how to achieve it and what your follow-through tells you about the form and any shooting problems you may have.

ADAPT TO CHANGE • A BACKPACK, quiver full of bolts and an extra jacket were tucked into the corner of the blind, and my chair was carefully positioned to provide a view out of the corner windows. Scouting and trail cameras had provided the intel for me to set up early and expect a nice buck with five even points on each antler to travel down the game trail 20 yards to the west.

WICKED RIDGE RAMPAGE XS • WICKED RIDGE CROSSBOWS are made right here in the USA by none other than a preeminent member of the crossbow industry — TenPoint Crossbow Technologies.

TREMENDOUS TROPHIES • THE SENSATIONAL STORIES BEHIND 4 OF LAST SEASON’S BIGGEST, BOW-KILLED BUCKS

BRINGING ORDER TO CHAOS • 10 TIME-TESTED TIPS FOR RUT-HUNTING SUCCESS

COUNTING BLESSINGS IN COUES COUNTRY • BIG BUCK Encounters Highlight Annual Arizona Bowhunting Excursion

SCOUT MORE. HUNT LESS. • Tread Lightly to Score a Late-Season Buck

THIRD TIME’S A Charm • E-Scouting Leads to Kansas Bowhunting Success on a Third Try

From TRAPLINE To TREESTAND • Bowhunters Gain Invaluable Knowledge from Off-Season Pursuits like Trapping

HOYT Z1S • SOME BOWHUNTERS JUST HAVE the need for speed, and Hoyt is ready to serve them with the new Z1S — a bow that offers a 350 fps speed rating in tandem with a host of high-tech features from tip to toe.

CUSTOM FOC MADE EASY • SERIOUS BOWHUNTERS are seldom satisfied. Rather than resting on past success, they never stop learning or looking for ways to improve themselves and the equipment they carry afield.

EFFICIENT, EASY-TO-USE CELL SCOUTER • AS SUMMER transitions into fall, I really get excited about the process of placing my trail cameras out on the various properties I bowhunt.

NEW GEAR

A HAIR’S BREADTH • I’D ARRIVED in the Gila country of southwestern New Mexico a day earlier. The year was 1998, and I was strong, virile and passionate about bowhunting elk. There were big bulls in this country, and I intended to wrap my tag around a big set of antlers sometime within the...