Earlier this spring my outdoors buddy Seth called me and said it was time to convert his boat, the Carp ‘N Quack, from Quack to Carp. The sixteen-foot, modified V-hull john boat with steering console primarily gets used for two things; bowfishing and waterfowl hunting. A little bit of “normal” fishing gets thrown in.
The Carp ‘N Quack “Before”
So, I met him on a Saturday afternoon and got to work vacuuming all the leaves out and off the plywood bottom deck. (more…)
Thanks to Skinny Moose Media I had the opportunity to review the Magnet Gun Caddy. The Caddy is a small plastic and foam device with a magnet on the back. It is made to hold a gun upright against your car or truck before or after your field outing.
The picture on their website showing a shotgun leaning unassisted against a truck brings back memories of youthful pheasant and quail hunting in my native Kansas. A damaged sight bead, a scratched gun, a scratched vehicle, a disaster waiting to happen.
I didn’t think they would have released the product to the public or asked us to review it if it wouldn’t hold up a measly shotgun or rifle so I decided to give it an opportunity to hold up some real iron. After reading the instructions on the package and on the handout provided to reviewers I grabbed my .50 caliber, heavy octagon-barreled traditional black powder rifle and headed for the truck. My Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner sits up high enough and has contours in all the wrong places that it took me a couple of minutes to find the sweet spot. After that the Magnet Gun Caddy worked like a charm on both hard surface asphalt and on grass.
However, this is dv’s Mostly Archery so you know I couldn’t stop there. The same problem that the Magnet Gun Caddy addresses for gun hunters also plagues bowhunters. It is far too easy to step on a grounded bowstring, sight or bow-mounted quiver of arrows in early morning darkness. I grabbed my Reflex Highlander and experimented with fitting the top limb into the Gun Caddy. It worked, but required a lot more experimentation and I wasn’t happy with the results. That’s no fault of the Gun Caddy, though. It isn’t what it was designed for.
Summary
Function: ***** (4 stars) The Magnet Gun Caddy worked for its intended purpose and is a good idea to prevent damage to guns and vehicles. The instructions on the hand-out provided supplemental information and would be nice to have when purchasing the product.
Value: ***** (2 stars) I think the street price of $9-11 is a little high. I’d probably have to encounter catastrophic damage to one of my seldom used guns before I paid more than $4.50 for one.
The Magnet Gun Caddy has received the North American Hunting Club Field Tested Seal of Approval. For more information visit Magnet Gun Caddy.
Note: For all Gear Reviews please refer to A Note About dv’s Gear Reviews and Gear Provider Recommendations.
happy hunting, dv
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Coming up on Mostly Archery
Bowhunting, Fitness, Peas and Carrots
If you’ve been following dv’s Mostly Archery you know that at age 19, err, 39 I’ve been preparing for my first half marathon; see 7 Miles In – Training For A Half Marathon and All In – Registered For The Wisconsin Half Marathon. Working out and running are like bowhunting for me. They’re in my blood. It’s what I look forward to when I get up in the morning. If I don’t get my work out in I’m grumpy. In my opinion fitness and bowhunting go together like peas and carrots. And, I just wanted to see if I could do it. There may be a marathon in my future and this was a starting point. Heck, if P-Diddy and Oprah can do it I don’t see why I can’t.
Training
Anyway, the Wisconsin Marathon and Half Marathon, billed as “The Cheesiest”, were held Saturday, May 1st in Kenosha, Wisconsin. After following Hal Higdon’s novice training program for eight of its twelve weeks (I was already running at the four-week level when I started) I was ready to test my mental resolve. I say mental, because that is my weakness. Running is just one foot in front of the other, but wanting to quit due to boredom is a problem for me. I knew I was ready, but I feel my mind and body do better under steady-state conditions (continuing to run) than the prescribed final (more…)
As we gear up for bowfishing I thought I’d go over my bowfishing rig and talk about the equipment we use. Primarily we shoot fish under 20 pounds from a moving boat on lakes at night. Water depth is usually 2-5 feet and shots are typically less than 4 yards. We made our first trip to the Mississippi River last year and felt there may be a few changes needed for that specific shooting. I’ll point those out as we go along. Also, for those of you who want to put out minimum funds or change minimum equipment I’ll discuss what I did in my early days of bowfishing from the bank and from a canoe.
Bow: I use an early 1990′s Hoyt Spectra Fastflite bow set at 45 pounds. It is a long axle-to-axle and brace height bow which is good for finger-shooting. This bow is still in good enough condition to act as a back up hunting bow if need be and has done so. While our typical lake shots are less than 4 yards the shots out on the Mississippi were sometimes up to 17 yards. I believe turning the bow up to 50 pounds for those longer shots would be beneficial.
A Hoyt Spectra Fastflite set up for bowfishing.
A Visit to the Forge Bow Company Factory Store
I’ve had an affinity for blacksmithing and forging since a very young age. So when I learned about Forge Bow Company, Inc in the early nineties at the Madison, WI Deer and Turkey Classic I was immediately drawn to the line. However, Forge has always posted some relatively mild speed ratings in my opinion. As owner Steve Pagel pointed out, I like to compensate for my 26.5″ draw length with a little more draw weight and a fast bow. They no longer forge their risers, but Bowhunt America recently reported in the June 2009 Spring Buyer’s Guide that Forge was producing the Ventilator for 2009. A 34″ axle-to-axle (ATA), 8″ brace height (BH) bow rated at 330 feet per second (fps) catches my attention.
Jerry grew up in rural Kansas where his parents not so much mentored, but allowed, he and his brother to trap, hunt, fish and spen...
