Gabe.Robins0n

The most lethal bow isn't the one that pulls the most weight. It's the one you shoot best.
Here's the trap. A bow that's a grind to draw means you practice less, it beats up your shoulders, and you're cooked after 10 arrows. Your form goes backwards. Meanwhile the guy pulling 10 pounds lighter is shooting every night and getting dialed.
If you dread drawing your bow back, that's not toughness you're missing. It's a setup that doesn't fit you.
Drop your poundage. Shoot more. Shoot better. Get more lethal.
Save this if your shoulders needed to hear it.

Hunting arrows cost me about $20 a piece. Practice arrows cost me $5.
Break five hunting arrows in a year and that's $100 gone, almost half a dozen, before you ever step in the field. And arrows bend, crack, and get lost. There are a dozen ways to wreck your good ones.
So I practice with cheap Amazon shafts. Two dozen for half the price of one dozen hunting arrows. I can break 5, even 10, in an off season and not feel it. Come season I retune, double-check my sight, and walk in with a full dozen of the good stuff ready.
Do you build your own arrows? And if you do, separate target and hunting setups, or just one you practice with? Comment below.

The man who taught me everything about the outdoors. This year I got to guide him.
My dad took me to the woods before I could hunt, just to fish and learn that every second in nature is a blessing. He didn't pick up hunting until I was in high school. I didn't start until college, and I fell hard for archery antelope.
For years I tried to get him to put in for a Montana antelope tag. Last year he finally did, and by the grace of God he drew on his first try.
He'd never shot past 100 yards, so we spent all summer stretching it to 300, 400, 500. Then it all came together on a great goat in a field.
My whole life he was the one teaching me. This year I got to turn it around. A memory I'll cherish forever.
Who got you into the outdoors? Tag them.

Most archers run one arrow build for everything. That's a mistake.
You need two. A cheap practice build and a premium hunting build. Archery is a game of reps, and $40-a-dozen shafts let me shoot thousands without flinching when one breaks. Come season I switch to premium shafts, retune my sight, and trust the straightness when it counts.
The weakest link in your gear should be you, not your arrow.
Save this before your next build.

Where you aim changes with the animal.
Deer are all brown with no obvious spot, so I find the shoulder and push back to center body. Off by an inch in any direction and I'm still in the lungs. Some guys aim low to account for a whitetail ducking the string, but they don't always duck, so I hold here.
Antelope are easy. God gave you a target. Aim at that white crease on the chest and you're right in the lungs. That's the money spot.
Stegosaurus? Just pick up a rifle.
Where do you hold? Drop it in the comments.

I used to punch the trigger. I didn't trust myself, so I'd force the pin to the spot and snap it. That's target panic.
What fixed it wasn't a new release or a better sight. It was reps. Thousands of them, until I could pick a spot, float the pin, and relax at full draw. You don't earn that trust shooting at animals. You get one or two shots a year. You can shoot your bow thousands of times.
Fall apart at full draw on a real animal? It's not your gear. It's reps and confidence.
Save this and go shoot.

Bear spray or a gun at the bottom of your pack does nothing when a bear comes around the corner charging.
Bear defense only works if it's where you can reach it. That's why I run the Invader Concepts Recon Chest Holster. It keeps my spray or sidearm ready the second I need it, not buried under three days of gear.
You never know what's around the next corner. Stay strapped, stay safe.
Grab yours at invaderconcepts.com and use code ROBINSON10 for 10% off.

Cheap arrows for practice. Premium arrows for the hunt. That's the system.
Archery is a game of reps, so I shoot $40-a-dozen practice arrows and never flinch when one snaps. Come season I switch to premium hunting arrows and trust the straightness when it counts. Your setup should never be the weak link in the chain. That part's on you.
Save this before you build your next dozen.

Most of us aren't just hunters or just anglers. We're both. Baseline is one app that keeps up with all of it. 30-day free trial in the App Store. Download it, then tell us what to build next.

Antelope taught me more about bowhunting than any other animal. More stalks, more reps, more shots at actually getting close. New out west, start here. Would you rather chase antelope or deer?