Saved a lost Gobbler Yesterday

So I pull up in my parking spot a yesterday and I noticed a gobbler standing near the fence. Others were watching him run into the fence and getting tangled in the hedges.  I get out and one says Dave you hunt right? He gestured as said theres any easy kill for you. I reply yea but it would be illegal to kill him; he's outa season.
By now you can tell the birds is totally disorientated, stressed out and exhausted.
So I just trudge through the snow over to where he was and kinda herd him to a corner. Picked him up like a football and placed him in the open. He ran to a large bush and hung out for a few. Then hauled ass through the snow to a large oak; where he jumped up in.

Everyone was amazed that I just walked up a grabbed him. I said someone had to do something its close to roosting time and he might have died if we just left him there.

Who said hunters are mindless killers..there's a lesson for yea

Bowtech Destroyer 350

I just had a chance to shoot the Destroyer 350 a few hours ago. Its pretty sweet; I better get my butt in gear with these reviews.

Stay tuned

Dave

Quest and Elite bow line...

Review coming soon and I think you'll be surprised...stay tuned

Mountain Mike's Replica Skulls

I just worked with one of these kits to mount my Ohio bucks antlers. Man are these kits sweet...I"ll get a full review up shortly. I gota goto bed; I've been fighting off a cold for about a week.

Ok I have some time to write about Mountain Mikes "Skull Master"  kit now. Back in January of 09 I had seen Mikes stuff at the ATA show and was interested in his product.
So after shooting a decent buck in ohio this year. I decided to buy one of Mountain Mikes kits and give it a go. I had my doubts on how realistic it would look, but I figured what the hell.
I ordered the "Skull Master" kit this time around because my deer wasn't P&Y caliber(which would require the "Record Keeper" kit) and wasn't worry about changes in dimensions (even though the change is only slight).
The entire process only took about a half and hour and was very simple even with basic tools. First impressions of the the kit skull were less then impressive. I thought it wasn't gonna look realistic in the least. I was quit surprised once I was finished at how well it really looked.
I imagine if you really sat down and thought about thing you could really get this kits to look awesome. All in all i am more then satisfied with Mikes product. The ease and affordability it takes to produce a nice mount using these kits really pleased me. I highly recommend these to anyone looking to spice up a set of antlers they have lying around or a buck that they you want to mount ...but just don't have the cash for a shoulder mount.

2010 Mathews Z7

Let me start this by stating that I am not a Mathews fan. I agree that they build some nice bow and for years I owned many of them. But stopped shooting them do to an incident I had with them.

On that note the Z7 is the first Mathews bow in about 9 or 10 years that I am considering buying for this year.I was really impressed with the z7 while shooting it. The bow has a smooth draw cycle and is pretty much vibration and shock free.

I really liked that Mathews finally changed there grip on their bows. Instead of the fat block of wood that was used on their bows in the past. The z7 feature a slimmer more comfortable and torque free wooden grip. Its still very stylish and eye appealing; its fits the hand alot better this year.

The new riser and roller guard design are pretty slick. Looking at it I  thought the new riser would make the bow alot lighter. But that wasn't the case. Although the z7 isn't extremely heavy, can noticed it has some weight to it.

More to come later ....

Back From Ohio

On November 5th, I headed off to Ohio for our annual bowhunting trip. The hunting was tough due to unseasonable warm weather that rolled in. Deer sign and rut activity was low, but there were a few days of some good hunting.

After missing a very nice buck on Wednesday the 11th. I killed this decent 8 pointer on Thursday the 12th. He wasn't the giant i originally set out for, but I hunt for myself and saw him as a good buck. Sometimes folks get too caught up in numbers or size to justify success.  At times I let the pressure of trying to shoot a buck that would make the books get to me and sorta ruin my hunting.

So just say the hell with it hunt for you and I bet you"ll get more outa your hunting. I hope that makes sense?  Go enjoy your hunting

Dave

Tinks Scent Bombs...giving them a go today

The Tink’s #69 Doe-in-Rut Hot Bomb is a heated lure dispenser containing a pre-loaded scent pad which is warmed by an air-activated heat pouch. The scent pad is permeated with Tink’s #69 Doe-in-Rut Formula which simulates a doe in her estrous period. Tink’s Hot Bomb lasts up to 4 hours. This package contains 2 individually wrapped Hot Bombs, one for the morning hunt and one for the afternoon hunt.

I decided to give these Tink's scent bombs a whirl today. The rut is really gearing up here in NJ, so I figured why not.  I like the simplicity of them; they come in a nice little package and there's no mess. One down side that I can see happening, is someone will forget to gather up their used scent bomb and leave it in the woods. Setting them up is super easy and fast; you can either hang them off a branch (via the built in hook) or lay them on the ground.
Now I can't say if they work or not just yet. This mornings hunt didn't really go according to plan. The wind was supposed to have been out of the North West, but in the early part of the morning it was out of the east. And of coarse a buck has to come through on the up wind side of the scent bomb.
I'll be heading out this evening for another sit and to test out another set up with the Tink's Scent bomb.


More to come tonight...


Dave


Well its 7:23pm EST I'm back from this evening hunt. Still nothing solid as far as if these things work or not. But I did witness a deer...a button buck pretty much totally ignore the scent bomb, with it only about a foot from his face. I also noticed that the bomb itself really doesn't have much scent to it, even after its activated.
Maybe I had a faulty pack, I don't know? But my first impression of the Tink's scent bomb is not too favorable.

A quick rant...Barnett Crossbows

Lemme just rant for a second about how much these crossbows suck. I am so tired of fixing these crossbows its not even funny. Not just the older bows, even the 09 models that are supposed to better quality then there past models. The quality and craftsmanship of this companies products is simply a joke.
So in short if your gonna buy a crossbow do yourself a favor a choose something other then Barnett

dbowers

Shot all the 2010 PSE's

We had our PSE rep come in today and he brought all the new 2010 bows with him. When I first saw them a few weeks ago in their catalog I was less then impressed. I was basically like " o boy a bunch of new X-Forces". Well I pretty much ate my words today because all the bows we really nice shooters. Now yes they are are X-Forces, but different series/models. In the Axe series, there is the Axe 6 and Axe 7. The difference is just the brace heights of each bow and speeds.
Here's the specs of each:

Axe 7

Axle-to-Axle: 32-1/2"

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Brace Height: 7"

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IBO Speed: 335-327 fps

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Let-Off: 75%

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Mass Weight: 4.0 lbs

Axe 6

Axle-to-Axle: 32-1/2"

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Brace Height: 6"

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IBO Speed: 345-337 fps

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Let-Off: 75%

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Mass Weight: 4.0 lbs

Both of these bows use the AXE Cam. Which i like very much; it is one of the smoothest drawing cam systems that I have felt. And I really liked the adjustability of the Axe cams. The have a floating module for easy draw length adjustment. You basically just loosen two screws and rotate it to it proper position. I enjoyed shooting both Axe models; they were fine shooters with very little vibration in the the shot.  For as fast as the bows were shooting the were surprisingly quiet.


The Vendetta series were sweet also. Theses bows both use the L6 cam; which is a strange cams system. Looking at it you think its a dual cam. But all adjustments in draw length are made just on the bottom cam. Along with timing the cam; you just make sure the cam rotation is set right and your good like a single cam. Its seems kinda odd, but Lance the rep said they (PSE) considers it a hybrid cam system.
Both of the Vendettas are nice shooters also. Very quite and by all means not slow.
Heres the specs of the Vendettas:


Vendetta XL

Axle-to-Axle: 35"

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Brace Height: 7-1/4"

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IBO Speed: 328-320 fps

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Let-Off: 75%

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Mass Weight: 4.1 lbs

Vendetta XS

Axle-to-Axle: 29-1/2"

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Brace Height: 6-1/2"

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IBO Speed: 330-322 fps

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Let-Off: 75%

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Mass Weight: 3.8 lbs

Like I said above bow the Vendetta and the Axe bows are really nice shooters But i think the Axe series are a bit smoother and quieter.My top pick was the Axe 6, I just like the performance and shot of this bow the best.

PS I'll get some pics up soon, until then you cans check them out here: 2010 PSE Bows

It lives!!!

I came up with this idea last night after talking to with some friends about shutting down my archery website. After running the website (Full Draw Archery) for roughly 7-8 years I had to shut it down due to financial reasons. So my friends recommended setting up a blog. This way I can still speak with my friends and get info out to folks about archery products.
So here we are the launch of "Archery Critic" !!! I plan on writing about archery and bowhunting equipment and give honest reviews on the products. And I also be posting about my personal life in the archery industry and hunting.

So come by, check things out and tell your friends

Dave