By Will Brantley

Some of my favorite deer rifles are inaccurate, at least by modern standards. But their handling, aesthetics, and sentimental value make up for their loose groups. It’s different with a bow. A bow may be pretty, it may point well, and it may be fast; but if the arrows it launches don’t fly straight and true every time, everything else is wasted. The good news is that when a bow doesn’t initially shoot well, it can usually be tweaked and tuned to do so. Some adjustments you can make yourself, others require the help of a good bow-shop pro. The shop I use is Hinton Archery in Murray, Ky., which is owned by Danny Hinton. Locals call him The Barrel-Chested Irishman. He’s a gruff, no B.S. guy who knows how to tune a bow. I sat down with him recently to nail down a concrete, easy-to-follow system for getting perfect arrow flight. Here it is, in 15 steps.

[1] Evaluate the String and Cables: When you break out your bow for the new season, the first thing to do is have your bow-shop pro check the strings and cables, which deteriorate and stretch over time. This can result in rotated cams, shifted nocking points, de-flexed limbs, and even a potentially dangerous shooting situation. Ever seen a bow blow up when the string breaks? I have. It’s not pretty. Strings and cables will show some wear from hard use on the outside, but they actually deteriorate fastest from the inside out. Most new strings will last three to four years. If you need a new one, you can either order from the factory or have your pro make a custom one. “Some factory strings are better than others. In my experience, Bowtech and Mathews have good strings right out of the factory, while Hoyt and PSE strings tend to stretch a little faster,” Hinton says.
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By Chad Love

In an interesting twist on the traditional top 10 list, Gore-Tex maker W.L. Gore Associates conducted a survey to find the nation's top hunting destination...with the worst weather. And the top pick? Think really, really big bears and really, really wet conditions. Yep, Kodiak Island, Alaska.

From this story on flatheadbeacon.com:

“Serious hunter athletes know that the most exciting and rewarding hunts often involve battling the elements,” said David Dillon, hunting category leader for W.L. Gore & Associates. “Gore is committed to making sure hunters don’t miss any experience, or pass up any great hunting destination because of wind, rain, sleet, freezing temperatures or other challenging weather. We gear them up so they can stay out longer in any conditions and experience more. We hope this ‘Best Hunt / Worst Conditions’ list inspires some epic hunts for hard core hunters.
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By Brandon Ray

The days we deer hunters wait for all year are now upon us. On September 29, Texas’ archery-only season opens. Oklahoma’s archery season opens a couple of days later, on October 1. The big question now is, “Are you ready?”

A friend in Oklahoma is ready. He’s been scouting for more than a month. He’s got a big typical 10-point coming by his ladder stand virtually every day, along with half a dozen other nice bucks. He’s skipping work the first week of October to make the most of his early season chance. Past history tells him that bucks in that area stay in that patch of cover until mid-October, then they disperse like cottonwood seeds on the wind across the prairie country. I’ll be hunting up there as soon as time allows. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Voters in the Cornhusker State will go to the polls this November to decide if the right to hunt and fish should be a part of their state constitution.

From this story on kearnethub.com: 
Nebraskans have hunted, fished and trapped since frontier territorial days. Hunting and fishing are part of the state's legacy of conservation and stewardship of the natural heritage. And they are big business. Hunters and anglers spent $709.1 million on trips, equipment and other related expenditures in Nebraska last year. Now voters will be asked on Election Day whether to enshrine a right “to hunt, to fish and to harvest wildlife'' in the Nebraska Constitution. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau

Okay, I’m done with the sixth-sense topic, but I need to reference it once more to make an entirely different point. Searching on Google before my last post to make sure Bestul’s “Sixth Sense” column had not previously run on the site, I came across a discussion on a popular whitetail forum in which one reader slams the article for mentioning the HECS StealthScreen suit, designed to insulate a human’s electromagnetic field, and the next reader then says, “Yes, I read that article…but kind of blew it off as a marketing piece….”

This brings up what I think is an unfortunate trend: a growing distrust of the outdoor media, which is not exactly unfounded in general, but I want to speak to F&S specifically.

Unlike the reader above, I know all of you have enough feel for nuance to realize that Bestul’s mention of the HECS suit was tongue-in-cheek, bordering on derisive. But I think it is worth pointing out that we do not do “marketing pieces” and try to pass them off as columns, reports, or gear reviews. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

A looming worldwide water shortage may force us all to become vegetarians by 2050, according to a new study.

From this story in the (UK) Guardian:
Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world's population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages. Humans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according to research by some of the world's leading water scientists. "There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations," the report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said. [ Read Full Post ]