“You need a bow press?” He adds.

“Well, I’ll take a look” I respond.  We head over to the repair shop room of the building where a couple presses stood, along with a nearly complete bow repair shop. He quotes me a price and I spot some other tools and parts I could use.  Again, he quotes a price.  All of which are very good. I make mental notes and calculations of what this may cost me when he blurts out,

“How ‘bout the whole room for $500?” My heart’s pace begins to pick up.  I know it’s worth it. I start to think about how to quickly gather some cash.  In the meantime, we walk around the rest of the building.  The realtor continues to point at various archery related items scattered about and quote prices.  Again, all of which are good.  After a few more minutes of this, he looks at me and asks,

“How ‘bout the entire contents of the building for $1500?”  Now my heart is racing.  Said contents are well worth the asking price. And I think I can get the money.  And whether I want the stuff or not, I can make back the investment with plenty to spare.  The problem now would lie in the logistics of removal and storage of said contents.  A few quick phone calls, about a hundred cell phone photographs, and a hand written bill of sale later, I became the owner of a bow repair shop, indoor archery range accoutrements, barware and furniture of all sorts, and so much more that I don’t even know about yet.  But it’s more than just dollars and cents.  My basement bow shop is now nearly complete, and far better than I ever imagined.  And I will be able to purchase any additional needs with the sales of all remaining items.

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog for the last few weeks. But I think I have a pretty good excuse. Christmas, kids birthday parties, and buying arrows on Craigslist will do that to a guy.

Feel free to peruse my blog at www.blazingmyowntrails.wordpress.com and definitely peruse Concept Archery bows at www.conceptarchery.com

It really has been a great fall so far.  I was out in the woods more than any season in the past.  I saw more deer this season than ever before.  And I was successful in harvesting some deer.  To top it off, I introduced a new hunter to a tradition of bowhunting.  And being that hunter is my brother, I can count on a long time hunting buddy.  Even if I don’t get out to the woods any more this year, I can end the season happy.

But I want more.  This has been an incredible year of setting goals and achieving them.  I’ve tried things I never thought I could do.  I started doing things I’ve always wanted to do and should have started long ago.  Each achievement opened a door to a new opportunity to set a new goal.  I started a blog and have a growing following from numerous outdoor blog sites and journals.  I didn’t just attend sporting trade shows and expos, but attended as an exhibitor.  Some of the contacts made at those events led me to get involved in a Christian hunting ministry.   And through it all, I developed a network of trusted friends and contacts in the sporting community locally and throughout the state and the country.  And that network continues to grow.  So with the year coming to an end, I have a lot to look back on and be proud of.  But like I said, I want more. Earlier in the season, I “declared” to my sweet, understanding wife that this was my year to break my drought and arrow a trophy buck.  That desire has a way of being exacerbated by countless trophy buck photos emailed from my friends. Nevertheless, the year may be ending, but die-hard deer season has just begun and I’m hungry.  I’m just not hungry enough to settle for a bowl of tag soup.

Come in from the cold and warm up with www.blazingmyowntrails.wordpress.com to learn more about Shawn and his adventures.

Read ‘em if ya got ‘em. Visit www.blazingmyowntrails.wordpress.com

After spending a lot of time hunting from a climbing stand during the Concept Archery 2nd Annual Hunt, I decided that I should make a climbing stand part of my regular arsenal.  I had casually used them over the years. I own one that is less than convenient to use.  So I casually window shopped for a decent stand over the next week after the hunt.  Then, just a few days ago, I took a stroll back through the landscape nursery with my buddy Mike.  We were just going to check out the remaining stands and see if any more damage was done.  We didn’t find any more damage, but we did find some fantastic and fresh buck sign!  I immediately started to put two and two together.  While we scouted around for sign, I also scouted for nice, straight, climb-able trees in key spots.  And the trees were there.  These encouraging developments caused me to call my brother and strategize our next few outings together.  It’s the end of October and now is the time to be out in the woods all the time.  I am not going to let these vandals, thieves, and otherwise unsavory characters ruin a good hunting spot for me.  When the damage and theft started occurring, I initially wanted some sort of revenge.  Fight fire with fire.  Of course that never happened because it is really not in my character…well, and probably because I haven’t gotten my hands on the perpetrators. But with my new routine, I will definitely fight fire with a climber.

Thursday afternoon in camp, I noticed a beautifully crested C.A.S.  (Cliff Touroo)  http://www.cascustomarrows.com/ custom Gold Tip XT Hunter arrow just laying around camp. Just a single one. I knew it was Jons because I always admired that set of arrows he had. So I said “Here you go Jon, this was laying around”. He informed me that particular arrow had been misfired in his basement, cracked on a concrete wall and cut down an inch or so. He just brought it along to have in the “extra arrows” stash. I measured it against my arrows and it was exactly the same length. It was also the same make, model, and spine of my arrows. Jon said “Merry Christmas”. So I screwed in a broadhead and placed it in my quiver for that evenings hunt. I climbed the tree that afternoon in a new spot that I had scouted via Google Earth and other various satellite methods. Many times, these spots don’t turn out as good as they look from outer space. Hmm, go figure. But this one looked just as I imagined. It was a spot between a food plot and two draws that came to a point. I was situated right in between just 15 yards off an obvious game trail. I was starting to get desperate as I had seen next to no game so far that week. But I was encouraged by this spot. I checked the wind, picked my tree, and climbed on up. Not 5 minutes after settling down, I noticed this 6 pointer moseying along the edge of the food plot just browsing the daylight away. I was watching him for a while and was about to text Yooper to ask him if I should shoot it or not if the opportunity presented itself. Before I got the chance, the buck turned and walked right into the woods on the game trail. I love it when a plan comes together! But just as he entered the woods, he made a beeline for,…ME! I was situated on a down slope with the plot being the high side. As he turned towards me, he was only a couple of feet below me, eye level to eye level. I was prepared for that however. I was already standing, bow up and ready, with my release clipped on. I was dead still as he strolled casually to my tree, sniffed my pull-up rope and stopped. I looked cautiously over the guard rail of the Summit climber. I thought I was busted. I must have left some sort of stink on that rope. He didn’t seem to care even if I did leave a stink. He turned and headed back towards the game trail. Here was my chance. Fueled by adrenaline, I curled back the 70# Concept Believer limbs swiftly and silently. As he reached about 10 yards away, I let out a stopping grunt which sounded more like a sheep bleating. Oh well, it did the job. The buck turned to his left enough to give me a nice quartering away exposure and the arrow was away. I watched him blaze off and crash through the woods straight away from me. My phone was low on juice so I made a quick call to my wife and then texted the guys to inform them the buck was arrowed. I was careful not to say the buck was down because I hadn’t recovered it yet.  After I calmed down a bit.  I climbed down to look for my beautiful new blue crested arrow,…hopefully coated with a nice shade of bright red. No such luck.  I saw some blood, but no arrow.  How could that not have passed through? Oh well, the fun begins. The problem was here’s where I made a mistake. I lost track of time between when I shot and the start of my tracking effort. But I was on the trail nonetheless. And what’s done is done. The blood trail was just OK for the first 30 yards. All of a sudden the trail picked up,…like crazy! I went from crouching and searching for blood specks, to walking comfortably upright on a massive blood trail. I was about 50 yards from the shot when my fears were confirmed. About 15 yards to my left, a deer burst out of the brush and sped away. I new I rushed it. I turned a quick track job into a long, drawn out chore that it didn’t need to be. I pulled out my GPS, marked my spot, and left the woods. I hiked back to the truck disgusted with myself. I sat near where Kurt was going to meet up with me at dark and waited for almost two hours. When darkness fell, I met with Kurt and told him the story. He didn’t get word that I shot, because cell signal at his blind location was poor.  After discussing my options, we decided to go looking for my deer. After all, it now had about 2 and half hours. After getting back to my blood trail, Kurt carefully examined the blood for bubbles and his findings were inconclusive. When we reached the spot where the blood picked up, the bubbles appeared. He was confident that with bubbles and a trail as strong as this was, we would find the deer shortly. And guess what? The deer I spooked was not my deer. And not 20 yards further from that spot I marked, was my buck. Dead as a doornail. Kurt guessed he was dead for a couple hours.  Go figures, I guess you don’t have to worry about it when you shoot through the boiler room.  A quick gut and drag and we were back in the truck heading for camp.
It was a satisfying end to a hunt, but there was something missing.  Call me sentimental, but I wanted that arrow back. I couldn’t figure out where it went. So the next afternoon I went back to the spot and carefully looked near the impact area. After a few minutes of head scratching, I saw my broadhead buried in the root flare of a tree. It was buried so deep I couldn’t get it loose. So the arrow DID pass through. But the arrow was still missing. It started to click in my head what happened. Remember the scarce blood trail that suddenly got massive? Well I figured that the arrow separated from the insert and traveled with the buck, slowly working its way out. All the while ‘plugging’ the hole allowing only a little blood to flow. When the arrow finally fell free, the blood flowed freely. I retraced the blood trail and found the arrow exactly where the blood trail picked up. Now the hunt was complete. Well maybe not. I took the arrow home with me and glued in a new insert and that beautiful arrow is ready to fly again.

There are about six others hunters that have permission to hunt the landscape nursery that I hunt.  We are always in communication with each other about when, where, how each other will be hunting the property.  It works out well.  But all of a sudden, our equipment has suffered vandalism or outright theft.  Every one of us has experienced it.  Our tally is up to one ground blind, a set of climbing sticks, one hang-on stand, one trail camera, and various ratchet straps.  We thought after some criminal activity last season, that we had figured out the M.O. of the thieves.  They seemed to keep to the western property line.  So we made sure to either lock our stands or keep away from that property line.  Well as of the last few weeks, the criminal activity has spread into the property and even on locked equipment.  Needless to say, it is very frustrating.  It’s even worse that over the seasons, we have narrowed down deer patterns to the point of being very successful at hunting there.  I always get excited to go out hunting because I am going to my happy place.  And not only do we get enjoyment and venison out of it, the nursery manager appreciates our “services”.  It’s seeming like less of a win-win than it used to be.  And it’s certainly not as happy.  Grrr.

So back to this morning.  One of these type of article caught my eye.  It was detailing the best setup for hunting a crop field edge.  The amazing thing was, it matched one of my stands exactly!  The only inconsistency was my setup was better and I knew it!  The field corner layout, the prevailing wind, the “main course” crop food with a “dessert” source within bow range.  I had all that.  But what I also had that the article did not mention, was a water source.  And it was one of the few in the area.  I am confident my choices in stand setup is getting good enough that I could actually start writing my own articles about them.  Let’s start with the one mentioned above.  Well, maybe not.  My description wouldn’t match your setup anyway and you’d just zip past it.

Don’t zip past www.blazingmyowntrails.wordpress.com!  Check it out!

I hosted my brother and nephew for a weekend of camping and archery a while back this summer.  My nephew really seemed to enjoy shooting a bow.  All the while my brother sat and watched and plinked with a pellet gun.  At some point between then and now, the subject of the Concept Archery second annual hunt came up.  As much as it is a bow hunt, the organizers do not want to discourage non-Concept bow shooters or even non-bow shooters either.  There is a feral hog problem in Arkansas where we are hunting, so a small game license will allow the hunting of hogs with a firearm.  I was looking for someone to come with me and my brother’s interest picked up.  He never bowhunted, but was proficient with a firearm.  Voila! He was in!

We ran into a planning hiccup when the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission thoroughly confused us regarding what licenses covered what animals and when.  We were concerned that those who wanted to hunt hogs with firearms may be out of season and out of luck.  So while we were sorting out the details, I brought along a demo bow for my brother to try before a rifle sighting session.  He was amazed at how easy, accurate, and fun shooting a compound bow was in contrast to memories of cheap fiberglass recurves in High School gym class.  (Notice I said ‘memories’.  Good recurves will always be way cool!).  It wasn’t so much a foot in the archery door for him.  The door was blown wide open and he went barreling through.  Soon after, my brother purchased that very bow and has outfitted himself with the necessary gear to bowhunt.  I have received texts with photos of his groups attached.  We get together as often as possible to shoot and prep for the Wisconsin and Arkansas bow seasons.  We’ll be hunting together here in Wisconsin and he’ll be ready to hunt with the big boys for the big game when we go on our hunt this fall.  And that gets me stoked.  I have a new hunting partner and he has another worthwhile activity that he can not just oversee, but share with his kids.  I don’t know about him, but I feel pretty good about that.

Shoot on over to www.blazingmyowntrails.wordpress.com for more info on Shawn

Bow season is coming. Time to pay dues. “Daddy Horsey”, “King of the Daddy”, “Daddy Climber”.  Not sure which game this was. Also note that this game was prior to the game, “Hair Stylist” when many of those barrettes and hair ties made their way into my hair.  Sorry, that photo was censored out. In reality, this is an almost daily occurrence.  But I like to make sure I’m covered when the time comes.