Scott Bestul - The Total Bowhunting Manual: 261 Essential Skills

THE TOTAL
BOWHUNTING
MANUAL

Scott Bestul & Dave Hurteau
and the editors of
Field & Stream

Theres more fun in hunting with the handicap of the bow than there is in hunting with the sureness of the gun. FRED BEAR

Ancient as the bow and arrow are, bowhunting for sport wasnt commonplace until just a few decades ago, when iconic figures like Fred Bear introduced it to the masses. Bear was a talented archer and an excellent hunter, but just as important, he was a gifted communicator. As he traveled the world in pursuit of big game with his trusty recurve, Bear had the forethought to capture his hunts on film. Through those videos, sportsmen and women learned that not only was the bow and arrow still an effective hunting tool for even the largest game, but that bowhunting itself was an experience unlike any other.

A similar tradition of teaching through expert experienceand some great storytellinghas been the Field & Stream way since 1895. And since Fred Bears day, Field & Stream has been on the forefront of bowhunting coverage.

Of course, much about bowhunting has changed since Bears dayand even within the past decade. Bows have become quieter, faster, and more efficient. Arrows have become straighter, more durable, and more consistent. Todays best crossbows combine startling power with the precision to hit a nickel at 50 yards.

On one hand, the best archery equipment that was available even five years ago is hopelessly outclassed by the gear we have today. On the other, plenty of bowhunters still manage to fill their freezers each year hunting with traditional bows and wooden arrows that are no different than the ones Fred Bear used decades agoand not much different than the equipment carried by Stone Age hunters.

At its heart, bowhunting requires the same fundamentals of todays participants that it did of ancient hunters: a deep understanding of and careful attention to your equipmentbe it a new reverse-draw crossbow or an antique longbowand the ability to get close enough to gamebe it a squirrel or bull elkto make a lethal hit with an arrow and broadhead.

The two authors of this book understand those fundamentals perfectly. Field & Stream s Whitetails Editor Scott Bestul and Deputy Editor Dave Hurteau are two of the most knowledgeable and experienced bowhunting writers in America. These guys have done as much objective archery-equipment testing as anyone in this business. They are not swayed by brand loyalty or equipment sponsorships. To them, all that matters is whats proven to work.

Hurteau and Bestul are both avid, lifelong hunters, and while they still each tote a gun to the woods on occasion, I think if pressed, they would each agree with Fred Bear. Theres more fun in hunting with the handicap of a bow.

ANTHONY LICATA

Editor-in-Chief, Field & Stream

I got my first bow about 35 years ago, a hand-me-down fiberglass longbow I had to share with my brother Greg. With it, we scared the snot out of a lot of chipmunks and starlings in the little farm town where we grew up. We soon bought compounds and shot those nonstop, too. But my first big-game bowhunt, for whitetail deer, was only about a dozen years ago, and courtesy of my co-author.

Scott put me in a field-edge treestand, 20 feet up a red oak, and staked a decoy in the open, 15 yards away. Just before dusk, an 8-point buck stepped from the opposite woodline, his white rack and sleek body gleaming in long rays of sunlight reaching across the meadow. I watched him slowly close the distance, circle the fake, lower his antlers, and freight-train that plastic buck. He crashed right through it and then spun on a heel. At 17 yards, he stood there broadside, staring at two antlers, two ears, four legs, and a torso strewn in pieces over the ground. My arrow hit him just behind the shoulder. How do you not become a bowhunting fanatic after that?

Since then, as an editor with Field & Stream magazine, Ive been lucky enough to archery hunt for a host of critters throughout much of the country, shoot and test scores of bows and crossbows, and pick the brains of the best bowhunters, the top shooters, and the engineers pushing archerys cutting edge. If youre not a bowhunting fanatic yet, we hope this book will help make you one. If you are, we want to take your skills and knowledge to the next level.

I never feel like Ive been shooting bows all that long until I think back to when I was 10 years old and my dad and his cousin took me to the indoor range. When Cousin Howard uncased his Allen compound bow, the joint came to a literal standstill. That bow was one of the first compounds sold in the state of Wisconsin, and the first that any of those club members had seen.

By todays standards, that Allen was a mess of cables, pulleys, and metal. But in just a few years its basic design transformed an entire sport. Not many 10 year olds, I dont guess, get to witness the start of a revolution. But I did.

Archery, I believe, is addictive because its so intimate. I love shooting guns, but when I make a good shot, the only credit I take is in not preventing the gun from doing its job. But when an arrow flies true, I sense a piece of myself arcing through the air and landing in the target. You have to do so many thingslarge and smallcorrectly in order to shoot a bow well.

To get within bow range of an animal demands some combination of knowledge, stealth, discipline, time, and often, a whole lot of luck. Roll that all together and you get the amazing experience of bowhunting. I love it.