Since the age of six, Bob Swinehart had been daydreaming about bowhunting in Africa. By the time he’d reached adulthood and could make good on that childhood fantasy, he had become personal friends with a mentor who had plenty of experience hunting there—a man named Howard Hill. “As a youngster,” Swinehart writes, “I [...]
I am fortunate enough to live not far away from a knife maker. Ed’s not just a knife maker, but a world-class one whose work has been featured in glitzy high-end knife magazines. He also has a waiting list of at least a year. I like to visit with him and hear about some [...]
Saxton Pope and Arthur Young’s hunting adventures in the early part of the last century are well documented. In Pope’s book Hunting with the Bow & Arrow, published in 1923, the author devotes many pages to descriptions of days spent in the rugged California hills stalking deer, bear, and mountain lion. Pope tells [...]
Just about any kind of game is easily spooked by motion. Even so much as a flick of an eyelid can send an edgy whitetail to the nearest exit in high gear, and anything but ultra slow motion will alert that elk you are stalking. This is why I cringe whenever I see [...]
You won’t read about him in any “Who’s Who in Archery” books. He’d be far down on any official list of bowhunter luminaries, but nonetheless he’s notable in that he was among the small group of pioneers who were there when our sport was in its infancy. In many ways he is representative [...]
Bowfishing has become an increasingly popular sport. Some of us indulge in it during the off-season to keep hands and eyes tuned for big game hunting in the fall, while others see it not as a means to an end but a sport unto itself. Whichever way bowfishing appeals to today’s archer though, [...]
In 1955, Roy Hoff, the editor of Archery Magazine, took a trip to the Alaska tundra. It was the kind of expedition every bowhunter dreams of—pursuing big game in Alaska, a place which he describes as “that fabulous wonderland where wildlife is so plentiful that to bag a few nice trophies is as [...]
Ask any bowhunter what activity puts them at maximum risk for a heart attack and you may get answers like shoveling snow, pushing a stuck car, or taking part in a triathlon. While these are all certainly stressful, the activity near or at the top for causing a potential heart attack is dragging [...]
Back in the early days of bowhunting, ground blinds were the norm and it was considered unsportsman-like to shoot an animal from a tree. That’s all changed since the 1970’s, though, as bowhunters discovered the advantages of being elevated and manufacturers started producing climbing stands. The big advantage to tree hunting is that [...]
The mid-January sun shone brightly, but there wasn’t much warmth in its deceiving rays. There was a good covering of snow on the ground and my hunting buddy and I were out for a winter’s hike, making the most of a break in the weather before the temperatures plunged again. Winter brings unique [...]
