My first project has proven far bigger and more in depth than I ever expected. In the interest of brevity, these first few articles are what I want to impart upon my readers as foundational elements. When in doubt I feel like I can fall back on these pieces of the puzzle and produce results in the west consistently.
Regardless of where you hunt, these elements play into hunting in general, many of these facets will work North, South, East or West- when employed at their elemental levels. These elements are as follows: Location, Stalking, and Shooting.
While each element can be described in a single word, they are very broad categories and each will turn into a full-length article.
Location covers finding country, accessing that country, finding game, different methods of finding game and the mentalities that tie into them.
Stalking has wo categories or phases, pre-stalk routine, which lays the foundations of success of a stalk. Second is the actual stalk, the use of wind, cover, sun, and where you will shoot from. This article will segue into shooting, as there are two categories of stalking, to game stalking – which is more common with archery hunts and to the shot stalking, where the shooter is merely sneaking into position for a shot. Different situations dictate a different method, so I feel every hunter should at the very least understand both, because there will eventually be one circumstance that dictates going all the way to the target with a rifle, or stalking in to an ambush with a bow.
Shooting with bows and rifles are two entirely different methods, accordingly, these two techniques wil be split from one another. The first will be rifle shooting, and in it I will cover the techniques that have worked for me and my friends over the years- both set ups and mechanics. I will touch on distance shooting and appropriate adjustments to compensates for long shots as well as angled shooting, both come into play in the west.
With bows, The mechanics of a good shot are entirely different than with a rifle and while the physics of that shot and it’s appropriate execution are different than what most of us are accustomed to, shooting a bow well is very doable given the proper expertise. I will cover the fundamentals of a good shot as well as provide some critical links that will be real assets to your long term archery success. IN addition to the basics of how to shoot a bow I will also cover some additional tidbits that will help tie everything together when the critical sot comes to pass.
The first article, location will follow this piece almost immediately, then stalking, then shooting. If you have any questions on the topics I am discussing here, please post or email, because I feel that these key techniques have a significant effect on your long term hunting successes.
