| We can't possibly answer every single question but we'll try! Click here to pose your question! |
| Personal - Some I'll answer and some are well, too personal. |
| How do you get started in being a professional hunter?
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I get asked this one all the time!
It's different for every person. Some have the financial resources to sustain their families while on the quest to become a professional hunter, most people who ask this question do not. I wasn't lucky enough to start out in this business with a wad of money. It's taken years of my life and a tone of personal sacrifice and support from my family to get where I am today.
One thing that is for certain, you have to kill record animals year after year after year and never stop. In this business you are only as good as your last season. For anyone to take you seriously or trust you know what you're talking about, you have to have proof you're good at what you do. Being a professional hunter requires skill and knowledge that puts you where the book animals are. You can't learn this from a book and if you don't have a big budget it's trial and error. In the beginning, it's mostly error.
You can't miss an opportunity to be "out there" and you simply can't miss an important shot with thousands of sponsor dollars on the line. There is something not related to hunting skills that's just as important as the last book animal you shot. You have to have been born with, blessed with or learned to have a strong business sense. It's not all lights and cameras and plane trips. Dealing with the business end of being a professional hunter is like running any business. It's not all glory. There are lots of professional hunters who I know who do a fine job in the field but who lack the skills in the office to turn what they do into a full time job.
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| Bow School - All questions you would ever want to ask about Bob Foulkrod's Bow School. |
| What are the dates for the 2004 Bow School?
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July 8-11
July 15-18
July 22-25
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| Equipment - Questions regarding equipment issues and choices. |
I have been shooting fingers/compound/instinctive for 15
years. This problem showed up a couple of years ago a little (after I had a shoulder injury). This year it's driving me nuts! Every few
arrows shot I get a metallic sound (the arrow hitting the flipper rest)
and at (sometimes tail high) release. It's worse if I shoot with a tab over a light glove. A friend said I might be twisting the string before release. So I'm very aware of keeping my fingers straight. I'll get 3 shots perfect then 2 bad ones? I switched to a leather glove and shooting with 2 fingers and that seem to work so far. Should I just open my hand for release or pull back at the release? I watched you and Chuck and you both seem to just open your hand without moving anything else. I shoot a 41" Hoyt 31" 2413's and it's tuned to shoot bullet holes. I never had a problem for 10 years, I just don't have a clue.
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I'll be straight out with you. It's nearly impossible to provide advice based solely on words on a page. When it comes to form, whether is be a finger shooter or release shooter, seeing is knowing.
When muscle memory gets ingrained through repetitious motion and is then combined with proper form, shot consistency increases. When something goes wrong or consistency declines the only way to know for sure is to either watch the person shoot or videotape them during a shot sequence. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that something is wrong with your form if 3 shots are good and then 2 are bad. I suspect the equipment has little or nothing to do with the problem. The usual culprit is fingers torqueing the bow string and affecting arrow flight.
Here's what I would suggest you do to diagnose your own problem. Before you do ANYTHING make sure your equipment checks out. If you're used to tuning your own stuff this time I wouldn't suggest you do your own inspection. You say it's tuned to shoot bullet holes and I have no reason to disagree with you but...take it to a pro shop you trust and have an objective eye scrutinize your set up. Whatever this might cost is worth knowing your "launching pad" checks out. Make sure whoever does this inspection understands the unique set up requirements of a finger shooter. This probably goes without saying but as a rule, the average pro shop owner doesn't necessarily see allot of finger shooters these days. If the shop owner happens to be a finger shooter let him shoot your bow. Don't draw any accuracy conclusions based on his shots but look, listen and observe your rig at work while it launches arrows.
Next, I'd suggest you have a friend with a good video camera and tripod film several shot sequences. The cost of tape is cheap so too much footage is better than not enough. The tripod is essential to a steady shot so DON'T try this exercise without one! Make sure you shoot the same number of arrows you normally do when practicing. No more, no less. Keep focused on the target and remember you're not "performing" for the camera so block out the presence of your videographer friend. You are looking for tight camera shots of your hand & fingers on the string from either side of your grip. You are also looking for tight camera angles (3) on your grip. Make sure the camera angle and frame is filled with your hand. Then shoot footage behind you, on both sides of you and in front of you. The front shot is obviously at an angle for safety reasons or if you're put the camera directly in front of you, focus on the hand and have your cameraman hit record and then retreat to a safe distance. Repeat this sequence of shots a second or third or fourth time opening up the camera angle to include your entire torso. The last sequence should be full body shot from head to toes.
After each shot, have your friend document the shot results (hit, miss, etc) so that when you review the footage later you can analyze the shot results against the footage. If you don't do this it's easy to get mixed up and the taping exercise becomes useless. You're trying to capture footage in a 360 degree circle around you while you shoot focusing first on tight shots of your draw hand and then tight shots of your grip. You finish the shooting sequences by doing the same sequence again opening up the camera frame to include your torso and finally opening up the camera frame even further to include your full body.
Key to analyzing your problem is the ability to slow down the shot. Frame by frame is the best but if that's not possible at least the ability to display slow motion. If you can't get slo mo then forget this exercise! Some newer cameras have the ability to shoot the sequence this way which I highly recommend but at the very least the playback deck should be able to slow things down so you can see what the heck is going on.
If you've been shooting instinctive for 15 years as you say then without having the opportunity to actually watch you shoot (knee deep in hunts all over the planet) then I'm betting for some reason your form gets inconsistent and causes the intermittent problem. Luckily since you're a finger shooter _*and*_ you shoot instinctive you've eliminated some potential problems right off the bat.
Oh yeah, make sure the arrows going through your set up are the same. If you haven't spun them in a while you probably should. I know this sounds obvious but wobbly shafts mixed in your bunch of practice arrow could cause erratic flight and intermittent shot results. The arrow rest is another common culprit but then I bet you knew that.
Hope this helps!
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I've been out of hunting & bowhunting for a long time. I just purcased another bow it dosn't shoot as well as expected, can I buy an idler wheel and a cam ,and install them to my
new bow for better purformance? I've done this in the past, with older bows
,newer ones I have no idea.
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You haven't given much specific information about the bow you bought so I'll approach the answer another way.
With any bow you need to start with a tuned platform to know whether it's truly the bow or it's your lack of proper form. Honestly, it's more likely you've aren't exercising proper form which is easy to do if you've been out of the loop for a while. Erratic or poor arrow groupings may appear to be the bow's fault the bow is just a dumb machine. It does what you tell it to do. Now, having said that a bow that's way out of tune (especially a two cam or the new cam 1/2) can cause erratic groups. You also need to make sure you're shooting properly spined arrows. If the arrow flexes too much coming off the rest it's impossible to control the flight and potentially a dangerous situation.
My best advice is either meticulously set up the bow yourself or have your local pro shop dial this bow in _*AND*_ take a few lessons from the shop pro. Muscle memory is a very, very important aspect to archery consistency and if you've lost it you need to get it back. Muscle memory is one of those things where you just feel everything is right before you let an arrow fly.
Hope this helps! Shoot Em Straight!
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Recently at the fall hunt special in Ft. Lauderdale, you said that one of the things that most people new to bow hunting is that they get a bow that is to long in the draw. My question is what should be the proper draw length be and how do I measure for it ?
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The best way to measure for proper draw length is to make a visit to your local pro shop. The standard practice is to have you draw a bow with a specially marked arrow with increments marked on the arrow.
Done right the Pro Shop owner will adjust your form while at full draw to make sure you are anchored properly and will likely insist you draw the bow with the release aid (if you use one) that you intend to hunt with. Proper form involves a solid and reliable anchor point, slight bend in the arm holding the bow, level draw arm as you draw and the grip you intend to utilize.
Additionally, things like what you use or don't use on the string itself can slightly affect your draw length. For example, if you don't use a string loop attached to your bow your draw length will be slightly shorter than if you do use a string loop.
Lastly, your arrow rest can also play a role in how the arrow is positioned on the launch shelf and therefore determine proper draw length. You want to make sure your broadheads have all the proper clearance they'll need on the launch shelf at full draw.
If you don't want to go the Pro Shop route or there isn't a local shop that's convenient you can do this exercise with the help of a friend by coming to full draw taking into account all the items mentioned earlier in this email and have them mark the arrow at the point where it makes the most forward contact with your arrow rest. The presence of an archery professional takes advantage of a trained eye watching for proper form.
The process usually is that simple! Just draw the bow, make sure proper form (or perhaps more appropriate, your form) is present, evaluate the length measurements on the marked arrow and that's it!
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| How do you choose your sponsors?
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Sponsors are chosen based on the quality of their product offering first and foremost.
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| iIwould like to know 2 things. 1 bought a new Hoyt Protec. The ATA is 46 inchs and has the "new" cam and 1/2. I want to shoot fingers so I bought a Cavalier "Free Flyte" rest and Cavalier plunger for it. I am shooting xx78s 2413s at 70 lbs. How do I know how much plunger tension I need and how do i set center shot for this rig?
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Plunger tension is actually quite simple. When an arrow is at rest on the plunger you should see a slight deflection when the arrow weight is placed on the plunger. "Slight" means the plunger noticeably reacts to the arrow being gently placed on it but does not deflect more than 1/16". If the arrow deflection on the plunger is too heavy the plunger sags, too little and there is no noticeable difference. Correct spine of your arrows is a critical factor so make sure you are shooting a minimum of 5 grains per pound of draw and don't be afraid to shoot as many as 9 grains per pound of draw. It's far better to have too much weight than not enough. The tradeoff in a heavier arrow is a loss of speed but it's quieter and maintains kinetic energy down range better than a lighter spined arrow. Besides there is the safety factor when considering the arrow/compound bow interaction.
Of greater concern for the finger shooter is how the rest is set up on the riser. For a right handed finger shooter the arrow should be pointed slightly left to accommodate for the natural skew the arrow takes when drawn and then released with fingers. The arrow does correct itself in flight to some degree but unlike a release shooter that wants a "dead straight" arrow/rest alignment on the center shot adjustment, the finger shooter must compensate differently in the setup. For a left handed finger shooter the arrow should be pointed slightly right. If either rest adjustment is too severe the arrow will noticeably "fishtail" when coming off the rest and at the target the angle of entry will not be straight.
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| Hunting - Questions and answers regarding hunting. |
| Do you do much pre-season rut scouting?
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Being on the road so much makes scouting a challenge. However, I would strongly recommend it to EVERYONE as part of their hunting routine.
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| What is your favorite animal to hunt?
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That's a tough one because each hunt offers it's own unique qualities. But, if I had to choose, I suppose it would be the whitetail in my home state of PA.
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Do you think there will ever be a separate book entries for public
and private land?
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No. I can't see it ever happening. Too many variables could come into play when the record keepers need to substantiate a record animal.
I think we can all admit that just because a hunter possesses a bigger budget is not a guarantee that bigger bucks will be the only deciding factor. However, it's also not much of a stretch to suggest that the hunter with deeper pockets can hire professionals to scout for him and hunt land where bigger non-pressured animals are likely to range.
It's far more likely that current legislative trends will gradually and silently restrict hunting access and rights as has been the case for the last 10 years. Unless hunters step up their involvement in ensuring the freedoms currently enjoyed, hunting as we know it will either disappear entirely or at the very least become so restrictive that already dwindling hunter numbers accelerate downward. Anti-hunters are better financed, better organized and united in their goals. Hunters as a whole spend too much time arguing and not enough time uniting to protect their freedoms.
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| Outfitters - Recommendations and everything else you always wanted to know! |
If there was but only one outfitter you would recommend for a good quality trophy whitetail bowhunt, based on the best value for the hard earned buck and the amount of shot opportunity, who would you stake your claim on?
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The "Outfitters" section of my website says it all! If they're in there, I've used them, I endorse them fully and in many cases my life was in their hands.
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