Want to extend a welcome and introduction to our new Adventurous Bowhunter , Nigel Ivy.

Nigel was born in Zimbabwe and was never far from a hunting camp or fishing rod.
At 6 years of age hunting with his father, Nigel killed his first Impala. Like many, that set a foothold to a passion for the outdoors and the hunt.

Since then Nigel has hunted around the world, traveling and experiencing some great hunting grounds. It did not take Nigel long to pick up a Bow and Arrow and that’s been the focus of his hunting since seeing that first arrow in flight.  Nigel hunts with both traditional and modern compound bows.

Nigel has a strong interest in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and the sustainable role a hunter plays in the management of the whole ecosystem.

With a natural ability behind the camera, I hope you guys enjoy some of his fine art wildlife photography as he documents his hunts and adventures through the lens and behind the string.

Like a good knife, its hard not to appreciate a great Axe.

Something time tested, a tool of the ages, taken for granted now except by those that still live off the land were the trusty axe is no more then an arms reach away, throughout the day.

Its a life saving work horse when you need a good one. And Im never in a hunting camp or extended trip without one.

There are a few today that stand above the rest, which Iv used and worked hard with over the years.  They come highly recommended.

Made in Finland, Outstanding quality, designed and built to be simple, functional and effective.  Make no mistake, these axes and Tough like hell, I had my doubts when I first laid eyes on them, but in hard use these thing are unbelievably Strong.  I love the design, I like the weight distribution, unlike some old axes, with heavy handles and heavy overall carry. The Fiskars axe’s reduced weight where it is not needed but did not compromise the weight needed to get the job done.

The hardened forged steel blades, are very resilient, and maintain there edge under the hardest of cutting of conditions. It will not chip or crack.

From Splitting to chopping to Felling there are some nice options to choose from. My go to is the x15

Fiskars axes, use a shock-absorbing FiberComp handle, that is perfect in the hand, Stronger than steel!  Iv badly over swung on occasion slamming the handle into the log, enough to easily break the average handle, and had zero effect on the FiberComp handles on these axes. Durability +5.

Another great option for the backpack hunter that needs an Axe is the Fiskars X7, Compact and lightweight.

remote trophy recovery and Splitting Hardwood for the Safari camp, with the X17

Next is the

The Axe of all Axes. Gransfors Burks in my opinion set the Benchmark for Axes, these beautiful, hard working axes are the top of the line.

Made in Sweden

Each Axe, forged and hammered by selected professional Smiths, Each Axe stamped with the Smiths initials that stand proud of there work. Its quality over quantity for this company and its great to have a real Craftman behind a product.  Gransfors Bruks, as well as there quality also have an environmental Ethic that’s is almost non existent in today’s industry.
I encourage you to go to there website and read more about them.

http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html

Between my father and I we own and have used just about all their Axe’s, Hunting, Camping, Bushcraft, as well as felling and woodwork making cabins and splitting logs for the cold winters. My Gransfors Burks Hunter axe is one of my most prized possessions,  worked hard and looked after I have no doubt it will still be going strong when I pass it down when the day I can no longer swing it comes around.  There is an axe for any need in there line up.

My Go to for this is the Hunter. But there is everything from Big splitting axes to some of the smaller, hatchets for those wanting smaller and lighter options.

The Forge quality is superb, as good as some of the best custom knifes I have, You can get these things Broadhead Sharp!

The handle is excellent quality Hickory, the best Iv seen in Axes.   I really like the stippling at the base of the hunter handle, for extra grip and control, in the demanding conditions.

The Hunter

If your looking for an Axe to depend upon over the years, no matter the aplication the Fiskars and Gransfors Burks I can hands down recommend.

Be safe and happy chopping.

Andy Ivy

Its been an intense autumn, and I hardly found time to write for the blog, so I would like to apologize myself for my lack of contribution, and I will try to keep up from now own!

I have spend quite a few days in the mountains, looking for red deer, wildboar, chamois, ibex, partridges, ducks,… a bit of everything, that I will try to share with you in the following posts.

I would like to wish you all a great Christmas time surrounded by your family and friends, and if you can go hunting even better!!

Have all a great time and wish you a great 2013, I am sure it will be a great year!

Take care,

Pedro Ampuero

Cool video showing the performance of the Blazer Vanes made by Bohning. I have been using them for years and couldnt be happier.

Give them a try if you are not shooting them yet!

Pedro Ampuero

The global economic crisis has lead to a great increase of poaching activity everywhere but even more so in Spain where almost all hunting is on privately owned land. This makes hunting in Spain an expensive hobby, especially with such demand. I love to bowhunt and I would like to share with you an unreal story from a bowhunting outing I had exactly one year ago in my hunting area.

The afternoon started slowly, a storm was coming in and we only spotted some small bucks and does but they were still bedded down. Suddenly, below our position on a cliff we noticed some movement between a row of bushes. Concentrating on that area, it was not long until we realize it was the buck we were after!

At fifty yards the buck noticed something, his eyes directly on our location. We couldn’t move at all. The buck must have caught our movement but rather than bolting out of the area, he started coming toward our position. Curiosity sometimes is not a good thing but the buck couldn’t resist his desire to get closer. He wanted to investigate the strange rock that had caught his eye. So, head down he just kept coming right toward us.

50..45..40..and he kept coming, straight at us. I didn’t want to take a front side shot so I kept my eyes locked on the buck, hoping he was going to eventually give me a chance for a better shot. Finally, the buck stopped. I didn’t have time to measure the distance, but I estimated it to be around 30 yards, still in my PSE EVO´s first pin range!

I drew back, put my pin in the best place and released the arrow. I saw the yellow Bohning Blazer Vanes disappearing in the Roe buck’s body. The arrow hit the buck perfectly and dropped him in its tracks. I was thinking it was a quick kill but the buck was only down for a few moments. It then stood up, walked a bit more, fell down again and once again stood back up.

When the buck stopped to fall down the second time, Julito told me that there was someone else there! I was a bit confused but then I saw, just 60 yards away, a poacher aiming his rifle at my buck! I could not believe my eyes, the poacher didn’t even know that we where there, or had even notice that we had just shot that buck and he was going to shoot it!-

I started shouting like crazy (not exactly love poetry) to stop him from shooting my buck. Suddenly the buck fell down and the poacher noticed my shouting at him and looked at us. He realized that he was not alone and I suppose that really confused him because the buck died in front of him!

Being caught red handed the poacher turned and ran as fast as he could to his car and drove away. There was no time for officers to appear but we did have time to film him on video. We knew who the poacher was so are hoping justice will be done.

How important luck is in hunting is highlighted once again. If we would have arrived at the site a few minutes earlier, we would have discover the poacher sneaking into the place and if we would have arrived a few minutes later, we would have seen him taking out a dead deer. For just a few minutes he would have not just killed a deer, a person’s dream too!

In the meantime we celebrated my buck. And yes, it was the buck of a lifetime! I have spent countless hours in the woods for this moment, and it finally came true. The wait and effort had been worthwhile for sure. Obeying the law is always the best way to hunt and on this day I was rewarded with a trophy Roe deer buck.

 Sadly, the poacher is still hunting. Out video was not evidence strong enough to prove he was poaching because it didn’t actually show him shooting at the buck. Just hunting on our land wasn’t enough to prove poaching. So he got away with almost poaching my trophy buck. Time will tell if this taught him a lesson strong enough to stop him in the future.

Wish you all good luck in the woods,

Pedro Ampuero

The arrow in its parabolic trajectory passes twice through the first pin. The trajectory of the arrow depend on the bow and arrow setup, but it typically starts below the first pin, raise and cross it at around 5 yards, keep going up and make zero again at around 20 meters for example.

Depending on our preference, with the first pin we would cover a “X” distance, but we need to know that it will hit a bit high between the first zero and second one, and low in the other areas of the curve. (Curve is general, it has not been take with my bow).

The important thing is to know our equipment and understand what the arrow is doing. Here a simple test. Start and shoot with your first pin aiming dead center at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 yards and check what the arrow is doing. My setup is really quick, I am shooting a PSE OMEN Pro at 70 pounds and 28.5 draw length. The arrows are Carbon Express Maxima Hunter 450 with a total weight of 420 gr, and I am shooting them above 300 feet per second.

My first zero is at 5 yards, and my second one at around 30 yards. Here you can see the grouping (around 3 inches) with just the first pin and arrows shot at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 33 yards (30 meters). I feel comfortable shooting like that with only one pin, I just know that if I want to have even a better grouping I just need to correct a little, since I know how high the arrows are going at 20 yards (peak of trajectory). I love not having to guess the distance under 33 yards, specially for stalkers and quick shots.

This is just and example, since it will depend a lot on you setup, and even with things like the peep height, etc.. Try it for yourself!

Good luck in the woods, be efficient!

Pedro Ampuero