With Kentucky’s 143-day archery season for deer opening in about two weeks, bow hunters are getting their gear ready and honing their shooting skills.
The season dates are September 1, through January 21, 2019.
The archery industry cranks out improved, high-quality gear every year, but some products stand the test of time.
Do you have an archery gear wish list?
Here’s some new products, and one old standby, a tried and true broadhead, that makes the grade.
• The Muzzy 75-grain 3-blade broadhead has been an old reliable for decades.
The ruggedly-built Muzzy 3-blade 75-grain
In a marketplace flooded with high tech, and expensive mechanicals, this fixed-blade broadhead still brings home the venison. It’s an ideal choice for seniors, youth and small-framed adults who hunt with compound bows with lower draw weights.
This ruggedly-built broadhead flies straight, penetrates deep and cuts cleanly. It has a body made from high-grade aircraft aluminum, a hollow-ground Trocar tip, scalpel-sharp .020-inch stainless blades, and a 1.0-inch cutting diameter.
Easy to take apart and assemble, a small wrench is provided to tighten the Trocar tip. A unique blade locking system ensures that the blades will stay in the ferrule, so the broadhead won’t come apart on impact. Unsharpened practice blades can be purchased separately.
Muzzy 3-blade broadheads are also available in 100-grain and 125-grain versions. The MSRP is $39.95 for a 6-pack.
To buy online visit their website at www.feradyne.com
• An important tool that every bowhunter needs is a folding hand saw.
An important tool that every bow hunter needs is a folding hand saw, for field dressing a deer in the woods, and cutting shooting lanes.
They make cutting through the deer’s sternum and pelvis a fast, and easy chore when field dressing a deer in the woods.
A folding saw should also be in every archery deer hunter’s pack because they are also useful for cutting shooting lanes — if a limb or branch is in your way when drawing your bow, or blocking you from shooting through an opening, simply saw it off.
Wicked Tree Gear, of Kerrville, Texas, sells a line of high-quality hand and pole saws for the deer hunter.
Their folding hand saws claimed to be “The Toughest Saws on Earth,” and have a cast aluminum handle, hardened locking hardware, and high carbon steel blades. The MSRP is $29.99.
The product line also includes a bone saw, ideal for quartering and butchering game in the field.
Visit their website at www.wickedtreegear.com
• In the late 1990s Matt McPherson founded Mathews Archery and perfected the single cam bow.
In 2017 Mission Archery came out with the Hype DTX
Mathews Archery is the parent company of Mission Archery, producers of value-priced compound bows.
In 2017 Mission Archery came out with the Hype DTX, a great bow for deer hunting, ideal for beginners and experienced archers alike.
The Hype DTX offers power and accuracy traditionally found in higher priced bows. It has a perimeter weighted cam, adjustable draw length of 19 to 30 inches and over 55 pounds of draw weight adjustment without the need for a bow press, from 15 to 70 pounds.
This makes the bow a good choice for growing teenagers and older archers who still want to hunt, but can’t handle high draw weights.
Standard is the Mathews string stop and harmonic stabilizers to dampen noise and vibration. The bow is available in black or Lost camouflage.
Specifications include an IBO rate up to 305 feet per second, a weight of 4.16 pounds, axle to axle length of 31 inches, brace height of 7 inches, let-off of 80 percent, and an MSRP of $399, for the bow only, but accessory packages are available.
To find a local dealer visit their website at: missionarchery.com
Archery deer season is nearly here. Our deer herds are growing, and good hunting is found throughout the state, especially in northcentral Kentucky.
Don’t miss out on one of the state’s top hunting deer hunting opportunities. Bring home some organic, free-range venison for your family to enjoy all winter long.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.
