Archery Tips

Accessories That Work

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2020

The number of after market parts available for bowhunters today is endless and with so many choices out there it’s hard to decide on what products you really do need. I usually spend way too much money trying all the latest and greatest in archery gear, but when it comes down to it, there are really only a few accessories you need to dampen any vibration and noise your bow will make.

Once you have your set up complete and you are satisfied, do yourself a favor and stop changing things, just keep it the way it is and practice. I used to have a tendency to change my set up right before deer season because it “wasn’t good enough” but now I’ve learned, it is good enough and it only gets better with more practice. So once you get your bow set up this spring, practice until deer season without changing a thing and you’ll notice improvements in accuracy.

A stabilizer is one accessory that is a must. What a stabilizer does for you more than anything is dampen a lot of the vibrations moving through the bow’s riser. Choosing the right stabilizer is a tough choice since your possibilities are endless. I would choose a stabilizer that has some sort of shock absorbing properties, like the ones made by LimbSaver, Doinker, and FUSE. My personal preference is the FUSE Axium Sidekick. This stabilizer hangs off to the left of your riser (right if your left handed) and balances out the weight of your sight, arrow rest, and quiver on the opposite side of the bow. This helps prevent the bow from being heavily weighted to one side and reduces torque caused by an unbalanced bow.

A second piece of equipment that is a must for me, and several bowhunters who know that a second shot is possible and sometimes necessary, is a two piece non detachable quiver. I personally use the FUSE Posi-Light two piece quiver with an adjustable hood. The two piece quiver has two distinct advantages over a one piece quiver. First, it keeps the quiver and arrows closer to the riser which has less of a twisting effect on the bow which means tighter groups. Second, the two piece quiver holds the arrows close to each end which eliminates unwanted vibration from shots taken with the bow or from simply rubbing an arrow knock against something while its in the quiver. To me this is a must have accessory. I always reload my bow after the first shot no matter what and have taken a second shot at game that I missed but did not spook more than a few yards.

Another accessory that is often overlooked is a quality peep sight. The G5 Meta Peep is a high quality peep made out of super lightweight magnesium to keep your bow shooting at maximum speed. A tubeless peep sight is the way to go. The large plastic housings of a rubber tube peep add much unnecessary weight to your bow string and the rubber tube creates excessive noise and “string slap” that is not needed. Did you ever think what could happen if you drew your bow back on the buck of a lifetime and the rubber tubing snapped making a loud noise and shattering your dreams of putting a tag on that trophy? I don’t need to worry about this with my tubeless peep. But what about string rotation? I’m sure many of you have had experiences with a tubeless peep rotating, myself included. There is a simple answer for this – the peep was not properly installed and most likely you are using a poor quality string that stretched on you. A tubeless peep should be installed on a high quality string such as those made by Winners Choice. These strings are pre-stretched so they do not creep on you after every 100 shots you take with your bow. Once you locate the spot on the string where the peep is to be installed you must use a bow press to install the peep. If the peep rotates slightly at full draw then you may need to add a twist to the string to ensure that the peep comes square with your eye at full draw. It is also very important to make sure that your peep sight and string loop are in line with one another. If your string loop is off to the side then the peep sight will never be square with you at full draw. A quality bow shop will be able to set you up the right way.

With these accessories in place you’ll be on your way to silencing your bow, reducing the vibration made by your bow, and shooting tighter groups. Next time I’ll talk about high quality strings and why you need one on your hunting rig.

Archery Tips

Keep Your Bowhunting Skills Sharp with 3D Shooting

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2020

NYBowhunter

Over the last few weekends we’ve been headed over to Blue Mountain Sportsman Center to shoot 3D. The course has been a lot of fun to shoot. There’s several targets to shoot at including deer, turkey, bear, and fox. The terrain makes it very realistic practice for hunting with shots at inclines and declines to simulate actual hunting scenarios.

One thing I like to do is shoot from the furthest stakes and guess the yardage. Then after we all shoot we range the target to see how close we were to guessing the distance. This really helps me to learn how to judge distance in the field and is a valuable tool for when an animal catches you off guard in the field. Shooting from the furthest stakes also make the closer shots seem easier.

If you haven’t been out shooting 3D this summer then you better hurry up and get out there because hunting season will be here before you know it. Blue Mountain Sportsman Center is open Thursday – Sunday and holidays. Shooting a round of 3D costs $12 with a county park pass and is $15 without a park pass.

Archery Tips

Indoor Archery Leagues at Extreme Archery

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2020

NYBowhunter

Team NYB will be joining the Hunter League at Extreme Archery set to begin on September 3rd. The Hunter League will be held on Fridays for 6 weeks and feature various animal targets.

We’re looking forward to participating in the league and sharpening our skills for the upcoming season. The indoor league is a great way to meet fellow archers and practice shooting under a little bit of pressure!

Here are the details on the Indoor Archery Leagues at Extreme Archery:

Kids League ($70, 8 weeks)
– begins Saturday, September 4th @ 10:00am

300 Target League ($90, 7 weeks)
– begins Wednesday, September 1st @ 6:30pm

Hunter League ($90, 6 weeks)
– begins Friday, September 3rd @ 6:30pm

Traditional League (TBD)
– call to find out more

To sign up for any of the Indoor Archery Leagues call Extreme Archery at 914-777-7500.

Extreme Archery is located at 801 East Boston Post Rd, Mamaroneck, NY 10543.

Archery Tips

How to Set the Perfect Treestand

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2020

NYBowhunter

This is something new I’m adding to my arsenal of tricks this season to help me set the perfect stand (works for trail cams too)! It’s called the Photographer’s Ephemeris, a tool designed to help landscape photographers take the perfect picture at sunrise or sunset.

The tool allows you to pick a location, date and time to see exactly where the sun and moon will be. This allows you to follow the path of the sun and moon on any given date and at any given time.

So how does this help the hunter? Simple. It allows the hunter to find a stand location on the map and then see how the sun will rise and set during the hunting season so that the sun is never in the hunter’s eyes.

I entered the location of our lease in the program and changed the date to opening day. Where we have our stands situated is in the perfect spot with the sun rising to our right and circling behind us before setting to our left. That means if the deer are out in the hunting plot where we hope to shoot them we will have the sun behind us which will make it much harder for the deer to pick us out of the tree.

This is a great tool I will be playing around with more and more this season as I hang some tree stands over the next few weeks. Below is a video on how it works: