As soon as these pursuits are finished, you can dive full-time into 3-D shooting. Combine these efforts with occasional trips to your nearest pro-shop offering "video" or "techno" hunts and you're well on your way to mastering the "moment of truth" that you'll surely face next autumn. While pursuing these avenues of betterment, be sure to maintain a well-rounded program of physical conditioning--no room for fat on that backcountry elk hunt that you should be going on soon!

The author works long and hard to achieve his ultimate goal of bowhunting full-time. The results have been phenomenal.

Along this line of thinking, any discussion on full-time bowhunting would not be complete without addressing the issue of "far away places" and "strange critters." Western deer, elk and antelope hunts are well within reach of the average do-it-yourselfer.

Certainly, by expanding your bowhunting efforts to include many species--in many different types of habitat--you can do a much better job of becoming an excellent outdoorsmen. It has certainly been my experience that the mental and physical toughness gleaned from these outings has paid me great dividends in the whitetail woods also--not to mention the fact that such trips can double the amount of time that you spend bowhunting each year!

Mid-summer is also a time to go through all your old gear and make sure it is in good order for the upcoming season. If you kept good notes on your last season, there are probably plenty of suggestions to be found there on ways to improve and/or modify some of the stuff you're already using.

Most likely, you will have jotted down some ideas for new gear that you need for the upcoming season as well. Right here is the perfect time to break into your piggy bank and spring for some new toys. Hey, even shopping is an important support activity in the well-rounded archery hunter's plan of attack!

I Have A Dream
I'll stick my neck out here and say that most hard-core archery hunters have one common trait at the center of their make-up--they are dreamers, planners, wishful thinkers. It's the lure of the unknown and the love of a good challenge that fuels the fire inside them. It's an unexplainable desire to match themselves against the great outdoors that push them to excel at their pursuit. The more time they spend afield, the stronger they fantasize about partaking of more.

In sharing a consuming desire for more time afield, we archery hunters are of a kindred spirit. Beyond this common link however, few are ever able, or willing, to bring to fruition a lifestyle of full-time bowhunting--but then again, this is only as it should be. After all, if everyone was bowhunting full-time, well, you can only imagine the problems!

Realistically, it's okay to dream about taking it to the limit, but don't let such fantasy detract from your current level of enjoyment--simply bowhunt, be happy and have fun--this is the true essence of what the pursuit is all about. And believe me, the forbidden fruit isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

Sometimes it's better to simply strive for a goal, than to actually reach it. At least that's what I tell myself each year after I've just finished hammering myself with another timberline buck hunt…another backcountry elk hunt…another zillion hours in a whitetail tree stand. Oh well, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! And by the way, if you're a full time archery hunter that simply has more good places to hunt than you can handle, just let me know and I'll call for the help of a certain full-time archery hunter that I know…Captain Claypool to the rescue!