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BowAmerica April 2012

Outdoors Together

I publish an online magazine for bowhunters each month called BowAmerica.  For February’s issue, I had a couple of male bowhunters explain how they felt about their wives joining them in the outdoors.  Both stories, coming from two different people from two different states, Wisconsin and Colorado, were remarkably similar.

The outdoors not only has a way of linking generations within a family together, but it helps build the bond between husband and wife.  It has a way of breaking barriers, opening conversations, and adding trust.  While the stories were biased toward bowhunting, it is the same whether it means hiking and camping together, fly fishing, or even bird watching and star gazing.

It allows the two to share interest in a common outlet.  Where one may daydream about his next hunt, he now includes his spouse in the reel playing in his mind.  She pictures herself with her husband laughing with excitement and joy as the two splash each other in a cool, clear mountain stream while hiking toward the pinnacle to view the world below.

The couple plans their trips together, each adding segments that they believe would increase the others enthusiasm and overall enjoyment of the quest.  They sit at the table or beside each other on the couch discussing and plotting the coming weekend expedition.

While in the woods, water or field each learns about the other in much the same way a soldier learns about his comrades.  The eyes are opened to what the other’s hopes and intentions are, and realize those hopes and intentions are usually dedicated to fulfilling their mate’s goals more than their own.

Both stories told of how much more the man appreciated the woman after hunting together.  I have spoken with the women and their sentiments are the same.  The love of the outdoors can lead to love in the outdoors.  Share your passion with the one you are passionate about.  It could be life changing and relationship strengthening.  And remember, Cupid is a bowhunter.

Swamp Rats

This is an excerpt from my article in BowAmerica e-Magazine.  You can subscribe for free at BowAmerica.com or http://issuu.com/bowamerica/docs/bowamerica_february_2012.

NUTRIA

     I headed out to the duck blind early.  It was about 6am, another 45 minutes before shooting time.  I spotted some a commotion deeper in the swamp.  I adjusted my LED Lenser headlamp from wide angle light to a spotlight.  I saw a bunched up brushy area ahead.  It was likely a beaver hut.  I scanned the water and could see ripples, but I could not find the source.

     Shooting light came and after a 20 minute span of high flying wood ducks and ringnecks I knew the hunt was likely over except for just a few stragglers and maybe some Canadian geese.

     Down near the beaver hut I saw some more ripples.  I figured it could be a grebe, merganser, or maybe a woodie swimming from deeper in the swamp.

     Nope.  Dead wrong.  I caught the furry head.  Trailing was a motion filled ‘S’.  Not a beaver.  But it was huge.

     Nutria usually make their homes in holes they build on the shoreline.  Often, their digging will tear and expose roots.  This particular one had not made a home of the beaver den; rather it seemed curious as to whether it was occupied.

     Nutria are as rat-like as it gets.  Their long tail is round and slender like a rat, rather than the waffle shape of a beaver.  Their head has rat features other than being much larger and having a blunt nose.  Also unlike a beaver, its fur is of different lengths and appears unkempt.

     They were introduced to North America, relocated from South America, due to the fur trade industry.  They were valued for both their meat and their hides.  Once the value of the fur increased to a premium, at one time as valuable as mink, farmers found a way to raise them.  They were easy to keep, had large litters, and females could breed the day after giving birth.  Due to the farming of the nutria, the fur become over abundant and the value plummeted.  A hurricane hit the Southeast and many of the farmed nutria escaped.

     Like many invasive species, they began to take over their habitats.  Nutria feed only on the bottom of saplings and plants, leaving over 80% of the plant useless.  They choked out the muskrat, as they shared habitats and dens.  And with the beaver falling to near extinction, the nutria’s breeding habits, able to give birth nearly 3 times in a calendar year, the nutria overwhelmed many areas.

     If you know where to look, you can find nutria in nearly any southern state, and they range as far north as Ohio.  They can expand further north if there are subsequent mild winters.  The only barrier is they tend to get frostbite on their tails, causing infection and death.

     As mentioned prior, I took note of where I saw the nutria and the time.  The next time I would be in the water, the bow would be in hand rather than the shotgun.

     A couple of days later, the nutria had a head start on me.  As I was headed to where the blind was, I saw him already swimming well ahead as the water and air was clear.  I positioned myself near the blind and could see it still swimming amongst the trees in the swamp.

     It only took 15 minutes for it to become curious enough to see what I was.  Once it was in range, about 20 yards, I released the arrow towards its mark.  No thrashing, no circling, no fighting.  Just a roll over and the arrow was sticking nearly straight up.

     Once there, I had to look to see if it was a beaver and not a nutria.  It was as huge up close as it looked the other day.  I pulled it into the boat and headed to shore.  This was by far the largest I have taken.

 

BowAmerica

Here is the inaugural issue of BowAmerica, the e-Magazine for Bowhunters.  Subscriptions are free so be sure to sign up in order to get your issue each month.  Each issue contains stories on traditional, compound, bowfishing, women bowhunters, target and competition archery, wild game recipes, how-to and do-it-yourself, bowhunting life, and starting with February's issue, habitat and game management as it pertains to bowhunting.

More Great Things Coming!

As we get closer to the one year Blogoversary on Monday, things just keep getting better!

First, Bill Howard's Outdoors broke the 10,000 mark for reads earlier.  I hope as this number continues to grow that you, the reader, is getting something from this, whether it is a bit of knowledge, a warm cozy feeling of nostalgia, an understanding, or maybe even a tear down the cheek every now and then.

Second, on the one year mark, I will be making a guest appearance on Coast2Coast Outdoors with RB Wright and Kerry Mackey.  I will post a link to the show on this blog afterwards.  The show appears LIVE at 9pm EST here:  Coast2Coast Outdoors. There will be a good message in my appearance, so I hope you all will be able to join or watch later in the week on the embedded video.






Emily Anderson and her
Kansas whitetail grace our
first cover.

Lastly, I am working on my newest endeavor, BowAmerica.  BowAmerica is an e-magazine featuring all things bowhunting!  We have lined up some great talent in our inaugaral issue set to launch in January.  The awesome thing here is subscriptions are FREE!  All you have to do is sign up via email and the magazine will come to your inbox each month with departments in TRADITIONAL, COMPOUND, BOWFISHING, DO-IT-YOURSELF, LIFE, WOMEN BOWHUNTERS, TARGET SHOOTING, HUNT RE-CAPS, GEAR REVIEWS, and much, much more!  If you bowhunt, there will be something each month in BowAmerica that you are interested in. 

Some of our contributors include Nick Viau (Life and Longbows), Al Quackenbush (SoCal Bowhunter), Will Jenkins (The Will to Hunt), Amanda MacDonald, (Bow Meets Girl), Mark Huelsing (Sole Adventure), Ryan Shoemaker (BowhuntQuest), Emily Anderson (Scent Free Lip Gloss) tips and stories from Lester Harper (LH Custom Archery), Tony Catalde (Bearded Boar), Timothy Borkett (Unlucky Hunter), Randy Mabe (Broadhead Kennels), Sonny Ithipathachai (NC Outdoor Adventures) and many many more!  Each of these are experts in their own rights, are parts of various prostaffs, have tremendous followings and even hold some bowhunting records.  We will also have guest stories from industry leaders in various segments of bowhunting and archery.

The best part of our magazine is it is not your typical magazine!  We are going to cover some of the usual stuff such as whitetail hunting, but we are also going to throw some stuff out there that is a little out of the norm.  How 'bout snow goose hunting with a bow?  Or how dogs can assist bowhunting?  Maybe even how to spot and stalk using a horse for cover.  We will have a directory for state wildlife agencies, taxidermists, and game processors for each state as well to help you no matter where you hunt.

So, if you love bowhunting, or just love hunting and the outdoors, this magazine will provide some good reads for you.  Just head over to BowAmerica and sign up there.  Again, its FREE!