Every deer hunter’s goal is to one day move from gun to bow. It is exceedingly more difficult hunting, as the hunter has to get much closer to its prey, has to make far more accurate shots, and often must track the animal for hours to find the wounded prey. But there are tremendous advantages, too. Hunting with a bow extends your season, and you don’t have to worry about buckshot contaminating or ruining vital meat.
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico knows all of this very well. He’s an avid hunter and conservationist who has begun to teach his two young sons how to bow hunt. And as I learned recently, they’re pretty darn good.
I went out to Izaak Walton League’s Rockville, Maryland, chapter to meet up with Heinrich and his boys, who wanted to take some 3D practice shots in preparation for a fall elk hunt coming up.
I got a great bow hunting lesson, but, even better, I got an opportunity to find common ground with a Democrat in our appreciation for the role hunters play in conservation.