By Luke Clayton

As an outdoors writer for almost 4 decades now and weekly author of this outdoor column, as might be expected I have been exposed to a great deal the outdoor lifestyle has to offer. This week, I want to share with you a close to home hunt that details what extent and old hunter will go to put game on the meat pole. You will probably get a chuckle out of my encounter with a big boar and a “hot” electric fence. But first, I will share with you what I consider a revolutionary system for ordering a bow online that arrives perfectly set up and ready for the shooter to make final adjustments. Let me explain.

Pyramyd Air is well known as “the” place for everything related to airguns. The company offers all the popular air guns and accessories, a one stop shop if you will for everything airgun related. Through the years, I’ve depended upon the company for all my airgun needs. You might know that I shoot and hunt a great deal with PCP air rifles that pressure up to 4,500 psi that are more than up to the task of efficiently killing big game such as deer and wild hogs. You might not know that Pyramyd Air also offers a wide variety of outdoor gear including a well stocked archery department.

Shopping online has become very popular these days and the company saw the need to ship bows that were set up and adjusted to fit the shooter. Things such as draw length, peep sight placement, poundage, etc. must be taken into consideration, things that previously had to be done by a bow technician at a pro shop. I think it important to state that I absolutely love archery pro shops, I actually have a couple of friends that own pro shops. Hands on instructions are important in archery, especially for those that are getting fitted for their first bow and a qualified bow technician can be very helpful. But there are those that simply don’t live close to a pro shop and wish to choose and order a bow online. A compound bow ‘off the shelf’ requires the instillation of peep sight, arrow rest, quiver, etc. and each bow must be adjusted to perfectly fit the shooter.

Until Mr. Ron Duker, the archery manager with Pyramyd Air, developed and patented a system for ‘setting up’ a compound bow that perfectly fit the shooter it was necessary to locate a qualified technician to do the work locally. I’ve been a bow hunter for many years now and after visiting with Ron, I was excited to learn exactly how his newly patented method could be accomplished with measurements made by the shooter.

I shoot a top of the line bow, a Gearhead that shoots as smoothly and accurately as any bow on the market and it’s my go to bow for hunting. But I thought it would be an interesting experiment to actually go online to Pyramyd Air, pick out an entry level bow, input my measurements and have it shipped to my home where I could see how accurate this newly developed system works. I ordered a bow for about $500, I won’t name the make. After inputting all my measurements including a vertical measurement from the corner of my eye to the corner of my mouth, I made the online purchase. In a few days the bow arrived, with peep sight, D loop for attaching my release, bow sight, quiver, etc. All I needed to do was the final sight in. Now, a $500 dollar entry level bow shoots nowhere nearly as smooth as a top of

the line compound that costs almost three times this amount and drawing and shooting this bow took me back to how most all compound bows shot a couple decades ago. When I drew the bow, the peep sight was in precisely the right spot. I paced 20 yards and placed the green top pin on the center of the bulls eye, squeezed the release and let the arrow fly. It impacted 3 inches left of the bulls eye and was perfect in elevation. I was amazed at how a few easy to make measurements could result in such accuracy. After a phone visit with Mr. Duker I learned there was quite a bit of math involved in the patented process he developed. Honestly I could care less about how the math results in an ‘out of the box’ bow that needs only a final adjustment but I was amazed by the fact that it does. Now I have a back up bow that I’ve been shooting out to 25 yards that was shipped right to my door, ready to shoot. To learn more about the process, visit www.pyramydair.com click ‘archery’, pick out a bow and you can see the simple but effective process.

HOT WIRE HOG My buddy down the road lives in wild hog central, each fall when squirrels knock green pecans on the ground, wild porkers show up in force. He called and said he had spotted on two occasions a big boar in the area, both times an hour or so after dark. Big boars dig big holes in hay meadows and are never welcome by farmers or ranchers. I have a corn feeder hanging from a low limb of a pecan tree about 25 yards from a cross fence that has a VERY hot electrical wire. Last week, I parked by truck about 50 yards from the feeder, settled into the bed of the truck in my comfortable office swivel chair, began sipping on some cold green tea and waited for the hog. Just after dark, I began seeing hogs coming through the pecan grove, a bunch of them. At one time I counted 30 across the fence heading my direction. My plan was to wait for the boar and make the shot on my side of the fence. That first evening, the lone boar showed up well in front of the others, munched green pecans on the far side of the fence but would not cross over. I could have easily made the 60 yard shot but I didn’t want to deal with that hot wire. I wanted to photograph the hogs and possibly remove the backstraps for an upcoming barbeque! A pack of coyotes showed up and spooked the sounder of smaller hogs and soon they disappeared. The big boar was not the least bit concerned with the approaching coyotes nor, they with him. The pack disappeared in the direction of the big sounder of smaller hogs. The boar slowly ambled back in the pecan trees rather than cross the fence to much corn under my feeder. My hunt was over for the evening.

The next evening I was back with a vengeance! After a short 45 minute set I heard water splashing in the nearby slough. It was the boar and he was back on the far side of the fence to enjoy more green pecans. I watched him for a good 10 minutes and fully expected him to head for the corn on the ground under the feeder. When he began to feed farther away, I settled the ATN Thor thermal scopes crosshairs on the hog and squeezed the trigger. The shot was perfect and my hog was on the ground- 30 yards across that dang hot wire fence. I located the spots where the hog cross under the fence, wired the bottom strand up and belly crawled through the fence remaining VERY low to the ground. This hunt is available to watch now on YouTube and Carbon TV. Search out “A Sportsman’s Life” I was unable to film my antics of making it under the fence which I am sure would have given you a very good laugh!

Email Luke through his website www.catfishradio.org