As I was going through my hunting and fishing gear I realized my hunting and fishing equipment needed tuning up. My urgency was more with my fishing gear because there are still plenty of good fishing opportunities left. With that said, early archery elk season is not that far off either. I have already started my body tune up but as I was looking at my archery equipment, it dawned on me that I had not taken care of some routine maintenance issues on my bows, releases and arrows. It’s a good idea to routinely check your bow strings and cables. If the strings are frayed and dry make sure you wax them. I use a leather glove to apply the wax to the string, that way I can create friction to melt the wax in and on the string. For your cables just check to see if there is any unusual wear and make sure they fit correctly on your wheels or cam’s. Check all the fasteners on your bow, make sure they are secured, including your sites and rests. Don’t forget your D-loop and peep. Just a solid once over will normally work, but don’t take anything for granted. You can live with operator error, it’s the mechanical issues that causes most of hunting heart burn!
For your arrows, check for any irregularities in arrow flight. They could have been nicked or the fletching could be torn or separated from the arrow. Both of these can alter your arrow flight significantly. Make sure your inserts and knocks are secure as well. None of these checks take long, it is just good practice to routinely check all of your equipment. Don’t forget your releases. They will sometimes collect dust or some other foreign object. Both of those will cause release malfunction, trust me I learned that lesson the hard way.
I know I am guilty of not changing my fishing line near often enough. It is a simple task that I ignore way to much. I don’t fish for a living but I have opportunities to fish where there some real quality fish and there is nothing more frustrating than to loose a good fish because of fishing line integrity. So I changed the line on all my reels, Now if I loose a fish more than likely it will operator error and not the age of the line.
I have some of the same neglect issues with my reels, I just expect them to work! Not so fast my friends, they need tuning up just like any other piece of equipment. They collect dust and need to be cleaned and lubricated periodically to work properly. So in addition to new line on my reels, I did a complete oil and lube job on all of them.
My confidence is much higher now that my hunting and fishing equipment has been tuned up. No more neglect!
The Outdoor Quarterback