Let me apologize again for not posting a buck last Friday. If you saw Wednesday’s post you know why. In any case, here is the next buck in our competition—a fine-looking 8-pointer taken last November during Vermont’s Youth Deer Hunting weekend by F&S Contributing Editor Lawrence Pyne’s 10-year-old son Jake, who made a one-shot kill with a cut-down Ruger 77/44 in .44 Mag.
Here’s one from the archives, written by Greg Staggs. For what it’s worth, ever since Greg wrote this piece for me a couple years ago, I have tied my own D-loops exactly as he describes below—and I do think it makes a difference. –Dave Hurteau
The Scoop On Your D-Loop With the current wild popularity of short axle-to-axle bows, more and more archers are adding a D-loop to the string to shoot with a caliper-style release. This is smart on the one hand. Because of the very sharp angle created when you draw a short bow, the added loop makes for less torque, less nock pinch, and less serving wear compared with shooting directly off the string.
Who says you can’t get something for nothing? Okay, a lot of people say that and are pretty much always right. But other than shipping and handling, you can get a brand new Carbon Express F-15 fixed-blade or expandable broadhead to check out for zip, zero, nada.
So I’ve been thinking about how I can get you guys to do more of my work. Deeter and Romano at FlyTalk have you writing captions a couple times a month. Wild Chef Colin Kearns has you forking over secret family turkey recipes. And over at Man’s Best Friend, DiBenedetto has you writing captions, submitting photos, and filling out forms for crying out loud. You’re going to be in charge of Pritch’s poop chart soon—and the damndest thing is that you’re going to like it.
I have a buddy who might have lost a great hunting spot. He thinks he made a big mistake last fall when he showed a big buck he arrowed to the landowner. The farmer took a photo and started waving it in front of his buddies. Before long, word spread and another hunter showed up at the farmer’s door, waving a checkbook.
“I should have just snuck that buck out of there and been on my way,” my friend lamented. “I’d probably still be hunting there.”
This week Boone and Crockett Big-Game Records Assistant Director Justin Spring (who is mysteriously still friendly to Scott and I despite our constantly badgering him to do unpaid research for F&S) sent us the photos below and a note, reading:
I am a huge fan of the scoring contest you guys have going on the blog. I thought I would forward a pic for your consideration. Here’s a smallish whitetail I took on public land in Montana during my only day of deer hunting last fall (elk kept me busy). The fun part is that I found a moose shed while hiking up to retrieve the deer. Maybe the score of the shed could be included for an added twist.