Explore Bowhunting Course Teaches Critical Skills

Lancaster Archery Supply in August 2015 became just the second retailer in the country to hold the Explore Bowhunting course created by Archery Trade Association.From Aug. 12-14, a group of nearly two dozen students of all ages spent 4 hours a day learning the ins and outs of bowhunting.Through a team of instructors led by Lancaster Archery Academy, those students learned about deer habits and behavior. They learned how to identify deer tracks, and about game calling.They learned about estimating distance to a target, and how that's especially critical for hunters using bows and arrows - short-range implements, when compared to firearms.Progressing through the course, the students studied deer anatomy. They learned which vitals are important to aim for, and where they are located within a deer's body cavity.After making simulated organs, using various food items placed in plastic baggies, they arranged the organs in anatomically-correct order inside a cardboard tube, which simulated a deer's body. The students shot at the tube with bows and arrows in hopes of hitting the heart and/or lungs. Then they went outside and followed a mock blood trail.Upon "recovering" their animals, the students then got a chance to "field dress" a box, which involved cutting it open and removing the organs - hopefully without slicing any of them open.The goal of the course is to give novice hunters some idea of what they will encounter when they head to the woods for the the first time carrying a bow and arrows.Lancaster Archery Academy is planning more Explore Bowhunting sessions in the coming months, including one tentatively scheduled for September - right before the Pennsylvania, fall bowhunting season begins.Check the Academy's website, LancasterArcheryAcademy.com, and its Facebook page regularly to look for course announcements.