Scouting Bears

One way to determine what size bears are in your area is to hang a bait bag up in a tree. Choose a tree with fairly smooth bark. Leave the area for a day or two and come back to check the tree for claw marks. A 4 inch wide claw pattern equates to approximately a 200 pound bear. A 5 inch wide claw pattern equates to approximately a 300 pound bear and a claw pattern wider than 5 inches equates to one big bear.

Shoot Better by Looking Farther Away

Have you ever played a video or arcade racing game and noticed that you do better if you focus down the track rather that at the front of the car?

When shooting at upland game or clay birds, look where you expect the birds or clays to be when you shoot. Our eyes are much better at focusing from far to near than vise versa.

If you are watching the gun barrel and a bird flushes or you yell Pull at the trap range, the object you desire to hit seems to get away a whole lot faster and is normally a blur.

Try keeping your eyes focused on where you expect to shoot and your hits will improve greatly.

Canine CPR

There may come a time when your 4-legged friend needs your help and knowing how to perform CPR may save their life. This process is not difficult to learn and all dog owners should know how to do it properly.

• Check for breathing and a pulse. Watch the chest closely for any movement. Check for a pulse with your index and middle fingers. The best place to check for a pulse is on the femoral artery, ankles and chest.
  
  
• If you see no signs of breathing and cannot find a pulse it is time to start chest compressions. Lay the dog on his side. Place your hands on top of each other, lock your elbows, place your hands on the dogs ribcage and start compressions. Perform 5-10 compressions, using fairly strong force.
  
  
• If this does not get the dog breathing again you will need to do mouth to nose breathing. I know this sounds funny, but remember, you are trying to save a dogs life. Put your mouth over the dogs nose, lightly sealing around the sides of the nose with your hands and blow a steady, medium size breath into the dogs nose.
  
  
• Rotate between chest compressions and nose breathing and after a minute or so check for a pulse. Continue this routine until the dog recovers and then get him to a vet.
  

If the dog does not survive, at least you will know that you did everything you could.

Keep Those Turkey Wings

Turkey hunters, after you have harvested your turkey keep the wings. Traditional shooters will gladly take them from you to make their own fletching from. Maybe you could even make some type of trade. If you have no one that wants them, send them to me. I'll take all of the wings you can get:)

First Robin Hood

Kind of fun but what a waste of $12.00!!

Your Arrow as a Sight

If you shoot a traditional style bow there are many different methods of aiming. The two most popular ways are instinctive and gap shooting. Shooting instinctively you concentrate only on the target but your subconscious mind still sees the arrow and makes the needed adjustments to make an accurate shot. Gap shooters use their secondary vision to see the arrow while they are looking at the target. In either method the arrow is still used as a reference, whether you actually see the arrow or not.

To enhance your subconscious or conscious minds ability to see the arrow put a small wrap of white tape around the end of the arrow behind the field point or broadhead. This little extra added visibility can make a big difference in your accuracy. This becomes especially beneficial during periods of low light. Using white reflective tape may also come in handy for arrow retrieval in the event that you miss.

Break and Wait for Turkeys

If you find yourself with several turkeys in front of you and there is no safe shot available you may want to try rushing into the flock of turkeys to break them up. After they scatter, wait until they start coming back one by one or in pairs. This does not always work but it may be your only option at times. Also, turkeys are known for coming back to the location where they were broken up, just be sure to give them enough time to return. They should start coming back in about 15-20 minutes. Light calling can also get the birds returning in a timely manner.

Don't Over Call Turkeys

One of the biggest mistakes turkey hunters make is calling too much. The idea is to get the birds attention and then let them come to you. Calling too much increases your chances of being picked out and once they spot you it is over.