Sheyk-doun; verb A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to last for [...]
Sometimes we find the lifestyle and sometimes the lifestyle finds us. A brief survey of our contributors (and our readership) would confirm just that. Fortunate is the archer born into a bowhunting family who most likely tightened their toddler fist around a kids’ bow before age two. Others find an introduction to bows [...]
The small skiff motored ahead through an increasingly stiffening headwind as the archers strained to see through the choppy surface and murky depths. Suddenly, one of the bowmen shouted “RAY” and pointed starboard with his arrow. Almost drawing simultaneously as the skiff turned sharply toward the ray, two arrows cut the water just as [...]
I was working at my desk in mid-June when I got a call from my friend Virgil Vosse, who owns North Archery, from France. He said that he was one of four Parisian artisans who were being interviewed for a documentary to be aired on France’s largest television station. The kicker was he [...]
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 [...]
Reprinted from the Spring 1990 issue. Many lessons are taught while scouting the woods of the whitetail deer. The real lesson comes when the shed antlers of a mature buck are found when scouting. An array of facts will unfold as the situation is investigated further. Facts, such as area genetic potential, physical [...]
As dawn broke slowly over the Maui Channel, Doug Borland and I faced a dilemma. Cooped up by torrential rain for the previous two days, we really needed to get into the hills and go hunting. The weather was beautiful now, but the downpour had left the ranch road we planned to travel [...]
As big game seasons wind down for another year, many bowhunters begin hanging up their equipment. For some, the cold winter months’ short days and snow covered earth dampen the archery enthusiasm that burned so brightly with the autumn colors. But for diehards, winter is the time to have fun, get some exercise, [...]
Like most of you reading this, I grew up in a traditional bowhunting household. As a kid, my dad would hang deer in the tree to cool as my friends and I would gather around to investigate. Every broken arrow of his would be long enough for me to reuse, and then eventually [...]
When Kim Young found the envelopes from Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the mailbox, she casually took them inside to open them and endorse the $2,064 refund checks for unsuccessful nonresident moose applications. She and her husband Craig had both applied for the first time, holding virtually no hope of drawing one. But [...]
