“IDIOT-PROOF
YOUR BOWHUNTING”
Have a Clean Release
EDITOR’S NOTE: "Yes!" I exclaimed as
the arrow I released from my bow hit the bull's-eye
30 yards from my backyard deck. Well, I still seemed
to possess my bowhunting magic from the previous year's
season. Later, feeling confident after a week's worth
of practice in my backyard, I packed all my equipment
into my bow case and left my house in a last-minute
frenzy for a bowhunting trip to Montana. When I arrived
at the famous Milk River in Montana near the Canadian
border, I took a few practice arrows out of my bow case
and started shooting. Although my arrows did hit the
target, they wouldn't consistently fly straight. I asked
Ralph Cianciarulo, an archery pro from Lanark, Illinois,
to check out my equipment and my shooting form. I wanted
to know what changes he thought I should
make in my bowhunting tackle. I realized that when you
hunted with a master hunter, you needed to learn all
you could from him to idiot-proof your bowhunting. He'll
enable you to hunt better, shoot straighter and take
game more efficiently.
Cianciarulo also taught me to carry a small can of
WD-40 or some other type of lightweight oil with me
to lubricate my wheels and/or cams when needed. If you
squirt a small amount of oil in the cam and axle and
draw the bow back several times, you'll see the oil
actually work the dirt and dust out of your cam or your
wheel. "Dirt builds up constantly in your cams
and your wheels," Cianciarulo emphasized. "If
you don't clean this area of your bow before you hunt,
your draw will be rougher, and your shooting won't be
as accurate."
As
I sighted in my bow before the hunt, Cianciarulo noticed
that my mechanical release didn't click onto the string
of the bow as easily as it should before I drew back
the bow. "Archers often forget that dust and dirt
build up inside the mechanical release," Cianciarulo
reported. "If that release isn't cleaned before
the hunt, it can malfunction at the moment of truth."
After spraying the release with WD-40, Cianciarulo tapped
the release on a piece of paper. To my amazement, the
oil washed out dust, dirt, grime and sediment from my
release. "If you'll work the trigger of your release
back and forth and oil the release as the dirt and grime
come out of it, in a very short time, the release will
work as smoothly as it did the first day you bought
it," Cianciarulo assured me. We noticed that the
dirt and grime tended to have a brown, rusty look as
it came out of the release. "Most archers never
think about their releases rusting," Cianciarulo
observed. "However, because most releases are metal,
and there's not enough lubricant between the metal parts,
rusting can occur." When you shoot a release that
has dirt and rust in it, that release may not perform
properly when you face that buck of a lifetime.
To learn more about bowhunting, order John E. Phillips’
book “The Masters’ Secrets of Bowhunting”
for $13.50, which includes shipping and handling, and
his “Jim Crumley’s Bowhunting Secrets”
(Crumley is a longtime, avid bowhunter who created Trebark
camouflage) for $15.50, which includes shipping and
handling, by sending a check or money order to Night
Hawk Publications, 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham,
AL 35243, or using PayPal, account – john7185@bellsouth.net
. You can see more information at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm
To order both bowhunting books, pay only $25, which
includes shipping and handling.
TOMORROW: INSPECT THE EDGE
AND THE WIND CHECKER
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