Want to hunt and nothing to hunt

By Louis Urquides

AZOD Hunting Section Leader

This time of year has got to be the worst time of the year for a hunter. You have done your homework by looking up draw/harvest success, filled out your application, rubbed it with your luck elk ivory and mailed it off. Now what?

Well most of use this time to catch up on that neglected “to do list” and then we sit and wait to find out what we were drawn for. There is one major part of that neglected “ to do list” that we as hunters need to quit overlooking until the last minute to do.

We need to get our hunting equipment taken care of now instead of waiting until the week or day before the hunt starts. I know I have been guilty of procrastinating a few times but I really try and stay on top it.

Here are a few things that will help pass the time between now and next fall.

For the archery hunter maybe you might want to get your bow into the shop now. I get to spend a ton of time in the various pro-shops making sure that they are taken care of for product I sell to them and scheduling the up coming seminars. These folks at these shops are some really lonely people. The one thing I hear from them is, “ I wish the hunters would start bringing their bows/rifles in now to get fixed.” Most of the time they won’t have but a couple of bow’s/rifles that need repair or tuned up this time of year. Most of archers wait until August to even think about getting their bow in the shop or having their arrows built.

Now that you have bow all ready to go, get out and shoot it. There are several types of shoots going on through the state that give the archer something to do. Here is list of the types of league shoots and events that can keep you entertained. Like right now I have been shooting at Fiesta Archery on Wednesday nights on the 3-D’s and Thursday nights shooting a 3-spot league. Curtis at ZW Archery has got the Techno-Hunt league. Go and see Rhonda and Lonnie at Corner Archery and I think they are shooting at OSO Park for their league shoot. If you are in the Prescott Valley area Ron at Mile High Archery has a league going to start. Now if you are not near any of these that I have mentioned just check with your local archery shop and should be able to get you pointed in the right direction. Now don’t worry about having to shoot the entire league if you just want to get out and shoot for the fun of it get out and do it. Walk inns are always welcome.

For the gun hunters you have just as many if not more options to choose from to keep on top of your game. Just as the archers the gun hunting folks procrastinate. Get you gun out, clean it and take it to the range and shoot it. Because you know that there is going to be something wrong with it. If you don’t think so, why is that there are so many hunters that have to run to the local gun shop or gunsmith to have something fixed?

One thing that I enjoy is to see just how accurate I can shoot my rifles. My good friend and Shooting Editor, Gary McCraw asked me once, “ How many rounds do you think you can put in an 8” pie plate at a 100 yards off hand?”

I told I really didn’t know. So I went out to the range and found out. I usually get about 3-4 hits out of 5. I consider myself a decent shot and I am here to tell you it is not that easy. The reason why I am bringing this up is because there is going to be a possibility that I will “jump” up a big buck and he will be somewhere close to that 100 yard range and I want to be able to get a quick accurate shot off. The pie plate trick really dose help you out, give it a try. Yes I know that when you are presented with that opportunity you will be more than likely be a little more excited than what you were standing at the range. Well when you are at the range add some pressure to you game. You can get your heartbeat up by going on a run or do some push-up’s. Now that you have added that degree of difficulty see how many times you hit that pie plate. I went down to 2-3 hits out of 5. Folks I don’t recommend anyone shooting off hand at anything out past 50-75 yards. Do what you can to get to some kind of stable rest to take your shots. You will wound a lot less animals.

Another nice way to get geared up for the next years hunt is to get some of those life sized photocopied animal targets. Gary recommends that you should cut out animal and glue it to a cut out of same size cardboard and shoot at it. Take out and put your target at as many different angles you can get away with and shoot it. You can also put it out at unknown distances and do the same thing. I have seen a few people take this to another level by using the 3-D archery targets to shoot at. That is going to get a little pricey.

You bird hunters, go out and shoot some sporting clays or trap and skeet. I know that Ben Avery and Usery Mountain Range have got some real decent shotgun shooting activities for you to enjoy. Another thing you will get from going to an organized outfit like those places is that you can learn a lot from some of old codgers like Gary. Folks like him love to take the time to give proper instruction on how to shoot your shotgun more effectively. You can also stop by and see Gary at Randall’s Firearms at 51st Ave and Olive and he will help you out.

Well I hope this will help you all pass the summer time huntless blues. I know I really enjoy this time of year a lot more now that I have gotten involved with some of these activities. Good luck on the draw!

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