BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – From the wilds of Alaska, to the swamps of Florida, even all the way to the African plains, Bowhunting World’s special Xtreme 2012 issue is chock-full of action and adventure. Readers will find advice and inspiration for matching wits against a wide variety of species from celebrity experts and everyday Joes alike. Open the issue and find…
You can’t talk extreme without talking about Africa, and Tom Miranda does, taking on Africa’s Big Three By Bow. Any three of the continent’s nastiest animals—Cape buffalo, elephant, or hippo—will reverse the hunter/prey roles in a split second and gore or stomp you into the Happy Hunting Grounds In The Sky. But, when it comes to bowhunting, the challenge is second to none.
When a challenging hunting situation goes extreme, what gear and common sense will help you most? Extreme bowhunter Paul D. Atkins shares tales and tips for equipment (like a satellite phone or GPS) he considers essential for Bowhunting On The Edge of Disaster. “…[The] right gear is the key to surviving tough conditions, having a good time, and making any bowhunt enjoyable—no matter where you hunt,” he says.
“…[This] type of excitement is not what would be described as exhilaration; it is not a warm feeling but cold like the claws of death, a raw, jagged horror you can feel rip through you like a serrated tusk,” says Mike Strandlund of facing a frenzied boar. Anyone who’s faced mortality face-to-face with one of Nature’s creatures in a battle to the death will relate when Death Comes A-Oinkin’. It’s even funnier than it sounds.
Understanding The Big Boys and their specific traits, behavior, home range, and core areas are key to arrowing them. Did you know that a dominant bucks’ home range is smaller than that of a subordinate one, which has to travel farther to find breeding opportunities? Deer expert Steve Bartylla details what separates subordinate bucks from the true monarchs of the forest.
Mike Hanback interviews Luke Strommen. Though just 34, he’s one of the best traditional bowhunters out there. Luke’s longbow 10-point buck from a treestand, which aired on The Buck Stops Here in 2009, was perhaps the best trad kill ever aired on TV. In Milk River Trad Man, Strommen shares the challenges and romance of traditional archery, plus tips for getting into this intriguing game.
When roads are scarce, brush is thick, and you need boats to access remote bait sites, you know you’re in prime Northwest Territories bear country. Mark Kayser shares Bows, Boats And Bears, an adventure worth the long trip north.
Although the southeastern Alaskan billy’s horns did not quite meet the magical 10-inch mark, Bob Robb reminisces in his Back Country column that he made the right choice anyway. The weather was perfect, a superb billy was within shooting distance, and so it was time to earn My First Bow Mountain Goat.
Gators dash out of ponds to seize pets and, in an average year, take one or two unlucky children or inattentive adults in Florida, says Rick Sapp. And so the people of the Sunshine State welcome bowhunters like Jim Morrow. Here is how Morrow and other adventurers take out these swamp wolves in Jim Morrow And The Swamp Monsters.
More aggressive tactics will also produce elk, according to Mark Kayser. He says you can Hunt Bulls Like Birds if you use the jump-shooting tactic often used in waterfowl hunting. It does not require dozens of decoys or hours of patience. Instead, you roam until you find the elk in less-pressured or secondary locations, then sneak into range for a jump-shot opportunity.
The Ontario moose hunt was planned and paid for. Then cancer and chemo treatments threw a wrench into the hunt. However, this was a dream hunt for Kristy Parsons. Cancer or not, she was going bowhunting for moose. How did a young woman with cancer beat the measly 4 percent success rate on a Pope & Young bull? Darron McDougal relates the tale of The Miracle Moose.
When Darrell Johnson set his sights on The Buck that summer, he knew he had months of tenacious observation and a battle of wits ahead. And that was only the beginning…
The true test is how we deal with the anxiety of uncertainty, misjudgment, or the crushing defeat of an unrecovered animal. What we do next and learn is what matters. Jeff Stonehouse observes how blunders can transform us into better hunters by teaching us The Toughest Lesson.
All this and much, much more is in Bowhunting World’s Xtreme issue. Check it out! On newsstands July 10th or visit www.bowhuntingworld.com for more details.
