Becoming a Bowhunter

This week is another solo episode in which Matty does his best to bring you a beginners' guide to bowhunting.

Inside this episode, Matty takes you through the A-Z of everything you’ll need to know to get started in bowhunting in 2024 and beyond.

Think of this episode as an open letter to anyone looking to get into bowhunting, new to bowhunting, or even someone still looking for their first success with the bow. 

Episode topics: 

• Buying a bow
• Accessories 
• Arrow weights and spines
• Broadheads
• Perfect practice - develop a repeatable process
• Gain access (paid, public or private)
• How to approach a new hunting block on your first visit
• The stalk
• Animal behaviour 
• Field dressing - different approaches
• Meat care
• Meat processing. 

Relevant Episodes:

#1 - Buying the perfect bow with Ian Summers 

#133 - Using Wilderness First-Aid To Save Your Life with Christie Pisani

#115 - Gaining Hunting Access w/ Matty Turner

#98 - Liam’s Rut Recap and Perfect Shot Placement with Liam Woods

#43 - Meat Safety When Hunting with Bevan Blacklock 

#97 - Cooking Wild Meat with Ross O'Meara

Videos Worth Watching: 

Home-made target: https://youtu.be/uvy2-lWB9sI?si=GI9kcmhB0HGV1cnA

Shot placement for Australian Bowhunters with Liam Woods: https://youtu.be/nKSvR4_2RSU?si=2lmnTlHwTbeeh91o

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure - Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

In this episode, Matty is joined by renowned traditional bowhunter Ben Maher. 

Ben has been pursuing his passion for traditional archery and bowhunting for decades.

But it hasn’t always come easily, which sent Ben on a pursuit of gaining coaching and becoming the best shooter he can be.

A lot of great tips and tricks were shared inside this one that helped Ben to overcome his target panic.

Ben is a very passionate lover of all things traditional bows and bowhunting and has been a helpful pillar of the traditional community for a long time.

Podcast Topics:

- Ben's early introduction to archery and bowhunting through his father

- Stuff your wheels, give me recurves & longbows

- Bowhunting turkeys in New Zealand

- Target panic: Overcoming mental hurdles and embracing a triggerless shot

- Many mentors make light work — unless you’re Ben Maher (or so Tom Clum, Rod Jenkins, and Joel Turner would say)

- Key lessons and takeaways from the best in the biz

- Bowhunting transforms lives

- Sometimes, the best hunts are the unsuccessful ones

- Promoting positive perceptions of bowhunting to the wider community

- The growing popularity of traditional archery and bowhunting in Australia

And much more...

Find Ben Maher:

@benmaher73

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure - Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

In this episode, Matty is joined by Jordan De Jong and Adam Barter as they recap the hunt that was on their drive home.

This hunt was Jordan’s first-ever experience of bowhunting.

Matty and Adam made it their goal to help fast-track Jordy’s hunting abilities and get him his first animal with the bow.

They were successful; however, they didn’t come without challenges.

This recap gives great insights into what worked well, what didn’t work at all and what each member of the hunting party would have done differently to make good of the opportunities that weren’t fruitful.

Podcast Topics: 

- How’d we get here? 

- The excitement that new blocks bring

- Seeing your first critters in the wild

- The first stalk failed - Good!

- The second stalk failed - Good, what did you learn?

- What made the third stalk a charm?

- Pigs, & goats… Take your pick

- Wind

- Day 2

- Hello Mr Fox

- Check your gear, DUMMY.

- The mountaintop that keeps on giving.

- Biggest takeaways

- Bowhunting changes lives!

And much, much more.

Find our guest:

Jordan:

@Jordodejong

Adam:

@adam.j.barter

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure — Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week, Matty is joined by Poldi, the man behind the YouTube channel Westcoast Adventures.

To keep the adventures alive, Poldi set himself the challenge of going stickbow only moving forward and has been trying to master his craft for the past year. 

What’s cool to see is with the system Poldi has adopted he has truly become a beast with the recurve, especially when it matters with a live animal in front of him.

Podcast topics: 

- Kayaking Norway

- The influence of Bruce Barns

- Getting the right start in the outdoors

- I sold my wheels to go on an adventure

- Push archery 

- Hunting is tough with a bad back

- Stewart Island

- Patterning the animals year-round.

- Springtime red deer

- Chamois can see

- Tahr love slips

And much more…

Find Poldi:

@poldi_wm

https://youtube.com/@westcoastadventures8877?si=-pmAiUl2sAvUQ8s3

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure — Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week Matty is joined by Christie Pisani.

Christie has a background in both paramedics and bowhunting.

She now teaches wilderness first aid courses, sharing her knowledge and time in the bush to teach people how to save their lives if things go wrong.

Podcast topics: 

- Heart Of The Huntress

- Why do Bowhunters need to understand first-aid?

- Personal location beakers

- What’s in a good first-aid kit?

- Broadhead and knife wounds

- Gunshots

- Common farm injuries to be prepared for

- Rolls and breaks

- What to do if you’re bitten by a snake

And much, much more.

Find Christie Pisani:

@wildernessfirstaidconsultants

www.wfac.com.au

Heart Of The Huntress: https://youtu.be/mU--NjlNE70?si=dkr4SQNZVWKOlSJA

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure — Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week Matty is joined by Colin Gair from Outlaw Custom Bows.

Colin recently created Matty’s daughters two absolutely stunning bows, to help them transition from toys to real bows.

Colin has a background in engineering that allows him to tinker and recreate traditional longbows and recurve bows.

Through applying basic maths, physics and what he learned through his structural engineering degree Colin has created many variations of specialised custom trad bows.

Podcast Topics:

- Kids bows

- What led to Colin making custom bows 

- The different types of low bows and recurve bows

- What goes into making a bow

- The Australian naming series

- Why do people question the speed of your bows?

- How are you able to make these bows so fast?

- The current lineup

- What to look for when buying a trad bow

- Bringing your kids into hunting

- Hunting stories with the trad bow

And much, much more.

Find our guest:

@outlawcustombows

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure — Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week is Matty is in Deer Camp With Grant Rand, Corey Seymondsbergen, and four relatively new hunters.

It was very cool to go back to basics and help fast-track the learnings in the field within a few hunts.

Podcast Topics:

- Matty’s Buck

- Why it’s important to introduce others to good bowhunting practices

- Great questions

- Simple mistakes leading to stalks ending

- Be mindful of your movements

- You usually have more time than you think

- Danny’s Boar

- The penetration test

- Good mates = great camps

And much, much more.

Find our guest:

@corey_seymo

@grant_randy_rand

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee @dogandguncofee

Bloody great coffee ready for adventure — Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads @kayuga_broadheads

For precision and reliability in your hunting gear use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week host Matty is joined by Returning guest Corey.

If you listened to the marathon episode “Bowhunting Bulgaria’s Finest Fallow, Boars and Mouflon w/ Grant Rand — You’ll be somewhat familiar with this story as Corey was Grant’s travel buddy on this hunt.

Corey’s trip also included many ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and stepping outside of his comfort zone and boundaries.

Note that this episode is not to warn off of hunting abroad — In fact, the opposite, just to give you a full perspective of what can go right and wrong on any hunt.

Podcast Topics:

- Trying to speak without talking

- Doing the same old thing

- I want to hunt like I do at home

- Stalking unshootable critters

- Cliffs are mild inconveniences

- The Kieler: #1 human Killer

- In hindsight… Actually nah

- When push comes to shove

- Expectations will kill the outcome

Find Corey:

@corey_seymo

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee: Enhance your hunting morning with a rich cup from Dog and Gun Coffee. Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads: For precision and reliability in your hunting gear, choose Kayuga Broadheads. Use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week Matty is joined by returning guest Tobie Hynes.

Tobie recently went to Stewart Island, New Zealand, to hunt Whitetail Deer in one of the only places in the southern hemisphere where they can be hunted.

Stewart Island is an incredibly popular hunting destination and is booked out 365 days of the year.

Based on Tobie’s stories, you’ll start to understand why.

Podcast topics:

• The Whitetail deer herd
• Opportunities through the Hunters Club
• Logistics of the trip
• Declare EVERYTHING, and don’t buy a new pack of bullets
• Don’t get lost — Here’s how
• Gullies become a trip hazard at night
• Your best chance at hunting these deer is… 
• The sea life
• Policing and fisheries on the island
• Bringing hope your capes

And much more… 

Find Tobie:

@hunt_mountains

@thebighorndeercaller

https://www.youtube.com/@thynes2995

Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Hosted by: @mattyafter

Podcast Sponsors:

Dog and Gun Coffee: Enhance your hunting morning with a rich cup from Dog and Gun Coffee. Use code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next purchase. Visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Kayuga Broadheads: For precision and reliability in your hunting gear, choose Kayuga Broadheads. Use code BAB10 for 10% off your next order. Check out https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

This week Matty is joined By William Platell from Riverleigh Taxidermy.

William has been tinkering with Taxidermy for the past 16 years. After suffering a nasty shoulder injury in the army, he decided to turn his passion into a full-time gig.

As you’ll see and feel throughout the episode will is an absolute lover of animals and obsessive with mastering his craft.

Will Loves the fact that he gets to preserve not only the animal… BUT also the adventure and story of the hunt for the hunter to hold onto for the rest of their days.

Podcast Topics Include:

• Hunting or taxidermy, what came first 
• Soulders, who needs them anyway?
• Picking the bow back up after many years
• Quick turnaround for big outcomes 
• Obsessed is an understatement 
• The one that got away 
• Bring me the boars baby!
• Full body mount Camel you say? 
• Next steps for Riverleigh

And much more.

Find William Platell :

@riverleigh_taxidermy

Where to Find Becoming a Bowhunter:

Instagram: @becomingabowhunter.podcast

Host: @mattyafter

Podcast sponsors:

@dogandguncoffee

https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/

Use checkout code BOWHUNTER for $10 off your next order ✌️

@kayuga_broadheads

https://www.kayugabroadheads.com.au/

Use checkout code BAB10 for 10% off your next order ✌️