A release is a release is a release....sometimes. Two of the biggest name in archery releases, Carter and TRU-Ball. High quality precision and both very reliable. I have seen many people shooting both brands and shooting them well.

Then you have Scott releases. These are also very good too. Just comparing these companies they are all very similar, yet many subtle differences abound. Buckle straps forward trigger backswept triggers, sear triggers for super crisp releases and no trigger travel.

It seems the choices are almost endless. Buckle straps, velcro straps, camo black and on and on. Good leather straps are great and wear a long time. They don't squawk when you draw them back like velcro does on occasion.

Most releases have trigger travel. They can be set to less or more travel depending on your tastes. Others operate off of trigger tension or more or less pressure before they fire. I prefer the latter myself. Just something about feeling a trigger move before it fires messes with my head.

Definitely try any release out before you buy one. Because there are so many different styles. Ask friends, read the forums. There is a ton of information out there. Heck, you can probably search youtube.com for videos showing and explaining the very aspects of releases, fit style and disciplines.

Here is a neat item for you hunters. Keep your game cool and protected from the elements with the Trophy Kooler Bag. Perfect for those times times when you have to transport game. Keep your game covered and protected from flies, dirt and heat.

I am from Oklahoma and it is cool to find something made in Oklahoma as cool as this product is. The Kooler looks pretty good with a Mossy Oak finish. The inside is insulated and has a Foil type liner to keep fluids inside and acts an an extra insulator to keep your game cooler faster and longer.

Keeping your game cleaner and cooler certainly enhances the flavor by keeping your game at a proper temperature and by keeping it cleaner helps stifle the growth of bacteria allowing the game to be fresher when you process it.

Hopefully by using a product like this we can keep our trophy protected and make some better eating for us and our family. Delicious jerky, sausage and more to share with friends and family for a special treat and now you have become a hero to all.

Form follows function it would seem. A lot of people don't like the Hoyt riser. It is ugly they say. Well maybe but they are strong. Hoyt has also come out with a new bow with a carbon riser called The Carbon Matrix. Carbon is supposed to be stronger and stiffer than aluminum, so to me form follows function in this application.

Mathews newest offerings has a wider and stronger riser with it's newest bow the Z7. Form following function. With waffled appearance this bows riser is wider and stronger than what Mathews riser designs have been in the past. Pretty? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I say.

I am amazed at how much, smoother, quieter, and better bows shoot than they did just a few years ago. Look at PSE's Omen. It is faster than the X-Force. Just amazing what the engineer's are coming up with.

As archer's and hunters they are sure making our job easier. Consider that you can shoot a bow at 50 pounds of draw weight and produce more kinetic energy than bows that you used to have to shoot 80 pounds. We live in a time that archery equipment actually can help us be more accurate and better do the task at hand. Whether it be hunting for an animal or placing the arrow in the middle on a target over and over.

Do you like working and tinkering on your bow? I know I do. I have been shopping around looking at the many tools you can purchase to tinker until your limbs fall off. The list of things are almost endless and money is the only limitation as to what you can own.
One of the first things I would buy would be a bow press. I have a friend that owns a Last Chance Archery EZ Press. It is no the cheapest unit out there, but the simplest to use and works on pretty much any bow. You can get one that is manual or electric. For most of us the manual crank would be plenty. If you were working a high volume shop, I would no doubt opt for the electric powered unit. You can see these at Last Chance Archery.

Next would be a bow vise. Wow you can find really basic pieces and top of the line 3rd axis adjusting ones for the level of shooting you would like to achieve. Starting with the Apple Bow Vise and going all the way up to a HTM Bow Vise you can see the difference depending on what you want to accomplish with your vise.

Well, the list can go on and on, but these are a great start. If you want to learn to fix your own equipment and have the satisfaction of tuning and fixing your own gear hopefully these tools will help you get off to a great start.

Customizing your bow

Customized.... That connotes expensive. Well it does not have to be. In today's economic strife, most of us are having a hard time buying new bows or are doing so reluctantly. Here is an idea. Customize.

Have some custom strings made to enhance your bows finish. My wife has a pink bow with lots of black trim so we had some custom strings made in pink and black. Wow! That little bow pops now. The limbs are carbon fiber looking so we looked around and found a stabilizer in the same pattern. Even better. Bowjax makes custom colors in their dampening products, bling! Pink to match and even better.

If you are really bored you can even have your bow re dipped. Sweet! Different camo, wood grain on a compound? Aw yes! Something like this can run around $150.00. Way cheaper than a new bow.

What next? Arrow bling...Matching fletching colors. Custom arrow wraps and matching nocks are another inexpensive thing to set your rig apart and look cooler than cool. Did you know you can even get a stabilizer wrap? Yep, neat huh. One of the younger guys has his stabilizer with camo flames which I think looks really cool and no one else does so he stands out.

So does this make you shoot better? Doubtful but hey at least you look good, and at least you have fun fixing up your rig.

Now that the indoor archery season is mostly over, the outdoor venues are coming around. FITA, ASA, IBO and so on. So it is time to switch things around on our bow setups and practice a little differently to achieve our goals.

How does the wind effect your shooting? What of uphill and downhill shooting? All these factor into good shooting if we follow through and maintain form. Even how your bow is tuned to be level with your sight can effect the outcome of your shot in these scenarios.

Experience goes a long way in these situations. I prefer to shoot with more experienced archers so that I may ask questions and learn and in turn advance my shooting. It will pay dividends for a person to shoot with better and more experienced shooters. Many lessons can be learned and advice given freely if we just listen and watch at times.

This year I would like to shoot less eights and more tens. How will I do this? Diligence and lots of practice. Careful tuning and arrow selection.
What goals have you set for yourself? This will also help you advance your archery skills. Setting goals. We have all heard that right? Well, it is true.

Get out there , ask questions, observe, and even enlist the help of friends, pro-shops and the internet or magazines. There is a ton of information right at your fingertips for the taking if you look and ask.

It is that time of year again. Where manufacturers try to entice us into buying new gear for our archery addictions. Mathews, Hoyt, PSE and Bowtech along with Martin Archery among others.

Quieter faster and smoother are the words best used to described what the archery companies use to tell us what we want to hear.

One of the newer bows creating buzz this year is from Hoyt and called the Alphamax. This bow comes in two configurations. A shorter 32 inch axle to axle version and a 35 inch axle to axle version. There are some noticable and major riser improvements. These bows are lighter and stiffer with the newer manufacturing techniques used on them.

Thinner in some areas, thicker in others. More trussing and more of an I-beam look to the riser which allows the riser to be stronger and lighter at the same time. The limb pockets are significantly longer and should be more stable and stronger. This should also keep the limbs from shifting which helps a bow to be more accurate.

So I ventured down to a local pro shop to photograph these new bows and post them here for you to see. As usual there are more new bows out there and if you like post a comment on what ones you are interested in and maybe a description to share with us.