EBJ79 – First Look
With any luck you are reading this column in a hunting camp somewhere waiting for the bucks or bulls to get up and move again for the evening. Where does the time go? Here we are again at the start of another hunting season. It seems like the fall melts away so darn fast, then come the winter snows, the spring runoffs, summer heat, the early fall cool-down, and here we go again. The preparations have all been made and the three weapons: mind, body, and bow are all honed up and ready for action yet again.
This marks our seventy-ninth issue of Eastmans’ Bowhunting Journal and the thirteenth fall issue. Yet again, this issue is rounded out with some great member stories and some hard-hitting staff writings, not to mention plenty of motivation, flavor, and information to get you up and moving each early fall morning, or put you to bed with visions of giant bucks and bulls dancing in your subconscious.
One of my favorite offerings from this issue is the cougar story by fellow Wyoming resident Randy Burtis. Once I read this manuscript I knew we had to include this article, even if it was a last-minute addition – one man, one cougar, and two self-trained hounds trekking the rugged and rocky Wyoming backcountry with a handmade stick bow in hand. Randy hunted the same cat for weeks on end through some of the toughest cat tracking country in the West. Only after treeing the cat multiple times and Randy falling off a thirty-foot cliff with only a backpack to break his fall, was he finally rewarded with a big tom high atop a giant snag. This is a must-read for the EBJ audience – a true western trophy hunting adventure, not to mention all of the other great member stories we have lined up inside these pages.
The staff and I also worked to bring you some very informative and pertinent articles for the season. Yahsti brings a solid article on bowhunting elk in all three seasons, not just the rut. That’s something to think about, particularly for some of you Montana bowhunters.
South Cox is of course up to his normal hardcore gear writings where he brings to life a great article on early season clothing. This is one of the most comprehensive clothing reviews I have ever seen. South literally worked on this article for over three years and he had to in order to hunt in every single piece of gear he reviewed.
Top this off with a very detailed article from Brian Barney outlining some great tips on how to locate and find elk in your area. And for those of you hunting in grizzly country this fall, Jason Peak has put together a very interesting article in the MRS section regarding the rules and regulations on carrying a sidearm while bowhunting in bear country and some help on different ways to carry your pistol alongside your stick and string rig. This is a must-read for anyone heading to Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming for elk this fall.
The entire staff and I hope you have the best of luck this fall. Press on, hunt hard, and take good photos. I hope to be talking about your story in next fall’s issue of EBJ. It will be here before you know it.
-Guy Eastman
