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What Distance Should Be Used to Pattern a Shotgun?

In order to be the most effective in the field or at the range, you have to know exactly what is leaving your shotgun barrel with each shot

BY PHIL BOURJAILY 



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Patterning your shotgun is the only way to learn its effective range. Testing your gun with different choke and loads can increase your hitting percentages by helping you find the ideal pattern spread for the type of shooting you will be doing. Patterning helps you make clean kills and teaches you the maximum range of your shotgun. But what distance should be used to pattern a shotgun?

Shoot your patterns at meaningful yardages. Sticking with only the default 40-yard distance used in most tests won’t give you all the information you need to make the best choice of choke and load. Pattern testing also shows you the maximum range for your gun.

Why Patterning Distance Matters

Traditionally, patterns have been shot at 40 yards, a range likely chosen because it once was considered the maximum effective range of a shotgun. Forty yards is still a useful benchmark when deciding what distance should be used to pattern a shotgun. However, patterns at 40 yards don’t tell the whole story of what happens when shoot a particular shell through a particular choke in a given gun. That’s especially true if your target isn’t flying by at a measured 40 yards.

Patterns change throughout their flight from the muzzle to the target and beyond. Shotgun pellets emerge from the muzzle as almost a solid slug, held inside the shot cup. As the payload encounters air resistance, the pellets separate from the shot cup. The pellets themselves then run into air resistance and begin to spread. Patterns open up from the front, as the pellets in the lead have to fight the air and get pushed off course, while those behind get a free ride as they draft behind the leading pellets, and fly straighter longer. The farther the pattern flies downrange, the more it opens, and the more pellets it loses as air resistance forces pellets off course. The pattern a gun shoots at 20 yards is much different than the pattern it shoots at 30, 40, or beyond.

Your goal in choosing chokes and loads is to find the combination that puts the optimum pattern spread on target at the distance you’ll be shooting. 

How to Pattern




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You will need paper, a backstop, a staple gun, a marker, and, if you’re serious about distance-patterning, a range-finder. The paper should be at least 36 inches wide, to ensure you get the whole 30-inch pattern on paper even if your aim is slightly off. If you’re testing turkey loads, you can get by with a smaller piece of paper, as you’ll be evaluating pellets in a 10-inch circle.


Like thumbprints and snowflakes, no two patterns are exactly alike. The number of hits a particular choke/load/gun combination puts on target can vary greatly even between shells from the same box. Therefore, you should shoot at least three patterns with each combination at a given range. Better yet, shoot 10 patterns so you can record an accurate average.

Measure the distance to the backstop with your rangefinder. Put up your paper and make an aiming spot on it with your marker. Shoot, then write the details of gun, choke, load and range on the paper, put up a fresh sheet and repeat.  

Once you get all your paper home, use the densest part of the center as the center of your circle and mark 20- and 30-inch circles (or just 30 if you prefer). A marker on a string makes a good improvised compass. Count the holes, and take an average of all the patterns you shot at that distance.

What to Look for in a Pattern

We evaluate patterns in a 30-inch circle because 30 inches is roughly the maximum size of an effective shot pattern. What you will usually see is a pattern core about 15-20 inches in diameter that contains the densest part of the pattern, and a pattern fringe in that outer 20- to 30-inch ring that begins to thin out. Outside of that 30-inch diameter, patterns become too sparse to hit with reliability. A good pattern has that dense core, and also a fringe containing enough pellets to provide some margin for error if you don’t hit the target with the center of the shot cloud.

Patterns can be too center-dense, giving you overkill that can tear up birds in the middle. At the same time, that pattern will have fewer pellets in the fringes, reducing your margin for error if you don’t put that center directly on target. 

Consider this: a 30-inch circle contains 706 square inches. Reduce that circle to 25 inches with a tighter choke, and now you only have 490 square inches of coverage to work with. It’s a big difference. Tight doesn’t always make right. But, wide-open patterns aren’t always the answer, either. Patterns can also be too sparse all over. You may shoot straight but your pattern won’t put enough hits on the target.

Gaps are part of any pattern. “Even distribution” does not mean one pellet per every square inch of the 30-inch circle. “Even” means a pattern that’s not overly center-dense, nor too sparse on the fringes. That’s what you’re looking for: a broad, easy-to-hit-with swarm that still puts enough pellets on target to break a clay or cleanly kill a bird.

You can cut out a silhouette of a bird or a target to hold over parts of the pattern to see how many pellets would strike it, or, you can refer to the CONSEP tables often found in hunting regulation booklets. They include recommended numbers of pellet strikes in a 30-inch circle for various game birds.

What Distance Should Be Used to Pattern a Shotgun?


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Upland Hunting

Most upland birds are shot within 30 yards of the gun. Some thick-cover species, like grouse and woodcock, are shot closer to 20 yards than to 30. Likewise, hunters shooting over pointing dogs often get closer shots than do hunters with flushing dogs. It makes sense to pattern your upland gun at 25-30 yards. It’s important, too, though, to check out that same combination at longer ranges for wild flushes or second shots. Of course, if you’re shooting a double gun, you’ll have to do double the amount of patterning.

Dove Hunting

Mourning doves are small enough that when they appear to be in range, they are often close. Pattern your dove gun at 25 yards, especially if you shoot them over a spinning wing decoy. White-winged doves typically fly higher and don’t decoy, meaning your shots may come at 30 or even 35 yards or more. Your pattern testing should reflect that.

Waterfowl Hunting

Waterfowl hunting in flooded timber means very close shots, often inside 20 yards. Over decoys in the marsh or a field, the distance of your first shot at ducks or geese might be 25 yards, whereas pass shooting distances can extend out to 50 yards. If you’re shooting a single-barrel gun, it might be wise to pattern for second shots, as flaring ducks can quickly put distance on your shot.

Turkey Hunting

For guns grouped with turkey chokes and high-performance ammo, 50 yards is the new 40, and that’s a good distance to test your gear. If you screw in a factory full choke and shoot standard lead loads, however, confine your patterns to 40 yards.

Clay Targets

Trap and skeet present consistent targets so you know exactly what range to shoot your clays. For skeet, patterning at 25 yards makes sense. For 16-yard trap, test your gun at 35 or 40 yards. Sporting clays presents targets at all distances. You’ll either have to do a lot of pattern work if you’re a choke-changer, or pattern one all-around constriction at several distances from 20 yards to 50.

What Distance Should Be Used to Pattern a Shotgun With Buckshot?

Testing buckshot is different than patterning shells for flying targets. You still should draw a 30-inch circle, but your real concern is a 10- to 12-inch vital zone. Because there are so few pellets in a load of buck, a pattern that is lethal at 40 yards may be worthless by 50 or even 45. As always, shoot at the range you will take your shots. If you’re using the gun for home defense, the value of patterning is to show you that you have to be on target at across-the-room distances. Buckshot patterns inside 10 yards are fist-sized at best.

Patterning at Shorter and Longer Distances

Regardless of the distance at which you think you’ll shoot your game or your targets, shoot some patterns at longer and shorter ranges as well. When determining what distance should be used to pattern a shotgun, you need to know what happens if you miscalculate the range, or you have to take a followup shot. Shoot some patterns 10 yards beyond your designated distance. You might see a pattern that holds together and still offers a clean-killing potential. Or, you might see a pattern that would do nothing but wound. If that pattern still looks good 10 yards beyond the target, try pushing a little farther. 

By the same token, try some pattern at shorter ranges with your chosen choke and load. You’ll see, especially with turkey loads, just how small a pattern spread you’re working with up close.



 

Comeback Story: Minnesota Hunter Tags 180-Class Opening-Day Giant

A few years ago, LeRoy Purrier fell from his stand and suffered a spinal-cord injury. This year, he dropped this tall-racked typical trophy on the archery opener

BY SCOTT BESTUL




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It’s one thing to get a trail-cam pic or two of a mature buck, and quite another to have the buck’s sheds, assemble a library of photos of the deer, and then have that buck walk into bow range on the opening day of archery season. But that’s just what happened to LeRoy Purrier when he tagged a giant 6×5 whitetail on Minnesota’s archery opener. The buck green-grosses close to 180 inches and stands an excellent chance of making the Boone & Crockett record book as a typical.

Purrier became aware of the buck back in January, when he purchased a 90-acre property in Fillmore County. “The previous owner had a history with the buck and had hunted it in 2022, but couldn’t connect,” he told F&S. “I bought the farm in January from Chad Garteski (owner of Weiss Realty, whose trophy buck we profiled last fall), and was really amped up when I found both of the buck’s sheds that winter. Pretty much everything I did on the property from that point on was designed to help me shoot this buck.”



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The parcel is largely wooded, with just enough room for some nice food plots, according to Purrier. “It’s about 85 percent timbered, and there are 14 tillable acres that allowed me to establish a couple of nice plots, as well as some native grasses,” he said.

It wasn’t long before the big typical buck became a regular on Purrier’s trail cameras. “At the beginning of summer, he seemed pretty faithful to one end of the farm, and it made sense, as there was some thick bedding cover there where he probably felt safe,” he said. As the bow opener approached, however, the buck switched to the other end of the farm, where he had a food plot planted to turnips, rape, chicory and radishes. With the season only days away, the was in the plot in daylight for seven days in a row. “Needless to say I was pretty excited, but also a bit worried, as each daylight visit was getting later and later.”


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Opening day found Purrier in an elevated box blind on the food plot, crossbow in hand. “I fell from a tree stand a few years ago and spent six weeks in the hospital with a spinal cord injury,” he said. “It was quite the journey to get back into deer hunting, and while I can’t draw a bow any more, I never take hunting for granted anymore.” As the afternoon wore on, deer began to filter into the field, including another mature buck that Purrier would have been happy to shoot had he not known about the tall-racked typical.

“That big buck was feeding at about 35 yards, and there were at least a dozen other deer in the food plot when they all stopped feeding at once and looked back in the woods,” Purrier said. “When I followed their stares, I could see that tall rack coming toward the food plot. I’d literally spent hours looking at pictures, videos, and the sheds from that buck, and I still wasn’t prepared to see him walking toward me. I knew which deer it was immediately and slowly opened a window of the blind, hoping he’d walk into range.”




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Though area deer had long ago accepted Purrier’s blind as part of their world, cracking the window suddenly had their attention. “I don’t know if it made a little noise, or a doe suddenly saw an opening that wasn’t there before or what, but all of a sudden almost every deer was looking right at me,” he said. “Fortunately, the big one was not one of them. He walked into the food plot and when he got close to the other mature buck he stopped to feed. He was only 35 yards away, but I couldn’t shoot because the other buck was in the way. It felt like an eternity, especially since several of the deer were still acting nervous. I was worried a doe would spook and clear the plot.”

Fortunately, the other buck finally shifted positions, and Purrier had a clear shot at his dream deer. “He was well within range at 35 yards, but it looked to me like the shot was a little back,” he recalled. “He tore off the field, and I waited for 45 minutes before I even got out of the blind. I found my arrow in the field, and it had good blood on it, but I wasn’t taking any chances with a deer like that. One of my buddies was hunting with me that night, and when we met after dark, we agreed we’d take up the blood trail in the morning.”

Purrier, who now had three other friends to help him track, started blood-trailing shortly after daybreak. “As it turned out, I’d hit the buck perfectly, and he barely made off the food plot,” he said. “We found him after a short tracking job, and it was something else walking up on a deer I’d dreamed about for so long. And, of course, it was even more special because I had my friends with me.”



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Cracking the B&C net typical mark is one of whitetail hunting’s harder barriers, but Purrier’s buck stands an excellent chance. The tall-tined 6X5 sports a 20-inch inside spread, 25-inch main beams, and 5-½-inch bases. “His G2’s and G3’s were each 11-½ inches and his G4’s were 8 inches each,” he said. “We measured him at 179 inches gross green.” While Purrier will have to wait for the 60-day drying period to know if the buck tops the 170-inch minimum for a B&C net typical, the final score really doesn’t matter to the veteran hunter.

“Tagging him was truly a bittersweet moment,” Purrier said. “I’d spent the last several months thinking of that deer pretty much non-stop, and now it was over. But I love the entire process, which is just a lifestyle more than anything. Now it’s time to take my daughters down to the property and help them enjoy hunting it too. And spend time with my wife, Cindy, who tolerates my passion and supports me more than anyone I know. I couldn’t enjoy success like this without her!”  



 

WHAT WATERFOWL HUNTERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TICKS

Protect yourself and your retriever from tickborne illnesses this fall


By Jay Anglin


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In the not-too-distant past, the risk of being bitten by a tick harboring potentially deadly pathogens was an afterthought for most Americans. However, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data indicate that the number of people infected with tickborne illnesses has increased dramatically over the past 25 years. Why should waterfowl hunters be concerned about ticks and the diseases they carry? The simple answer is anyone who ventures outdoors should be concerned. In fact, if you mow the lawn, rake leaves, or even take a walk in a suburban park, you are potentially putting yourself at risk.

GET TO KNOW TICKS

While they can be found anywhere, ticks prefer tall grass, brush, and wooded areas. The most common species are dog, black-legged (deer), and lone star. Some may harbor bacteria or viruses (or both), which can be transmitted to humans and pets. This occurs when an infected tick bites its host, introducing pathogens into the bloodstream. There are at least 18 different tickborne diseases found in the United States, including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Powassan virus, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, rickettsiosis, among others.

“When I grew up, we roamed all over. We’d run around in shorts and tennis shoes in the woods of northern Pennsylvania and never worry about ticks,” says lifelong outdoorsman and University of Georgia forestry professor emeritus Dr. Karl V. Miller. “Now they’re common, and in many areas, they are a serious problem."

What has driven the rapid expansion of the tick population and range? Miller believes that the increased abundance and expansion of white-tailed deer over the past 50 years is at least partially responsible. This is especially the case where deer and human activity overlaps, such as in the suburbs and through outdoor activities like hunting.

“White-tailed deer are a big factor because they are an important host for these ticks. Ticks do bite other animals, of course, but the expansion of whitetails, particularly into the suburbs, has exposed a lot more people,” Miller says. “Any place you have deer; you’re going to have ticks.”

Lyme disease is the most common tickborne disease, but some cases go unreported. According to the CDC, estimates are difficult to derive and reliant on data such as insurance records, which may not accurately represent the entire population.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of tickborne illnesses vary, but flu-like symptoms are a very common early indication of an infection. Miller, who has had Rocky Mountain spotted fever and ehrlichiosis, remembers suffering achy joints, feeling run down, and malaise. Some tick bites are associated with a rash as well.

“If you ever feel like you have the summertime flu, for example, you may want to get checked out,” Miller says. “Much of the time, hunting waterfowl won’t directly expose you to ticks, but many waterfowlers also hunt deer and turkeys and do other outdoor activities in the off-season, such as retriever training, working on blinds, walking on dikes, whatever. The odds are much greater that you’ll be exposed in those situations."


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HOW TO AVOID TICKS

Anyone who ventures into the outdoors where ticks are present should protect themselves. Tucked-in long-sleeve shirts and long pants, ideally tucked into boots or socks, offer some protection. Applying products that contain DEET, picaridin, and Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus also helps.

Miller says it’s important to take a hot shower and self-examine for ticks as soon as possible after potential exposure. It also helps to have someone else inspect difficult-to-see areas such as the back and head.

Another good option is to treat boots and clothing with products containing permethrin, which can remain protective after several washings. Some manufacturers even offer permethrin-treated clothing.

Sitka Gear has taken this concept to another level by adding mechanical elements to treated garments, further preventing contact with ticks. “You need a dual path for effective prevention,” says Chris Derrick, product line manager at Sitka Gear, who was instrumental in the development of the Equinox Guard line.

Derrick grew up hunting and fishing in the South and has a degree in forestry from Auburn University, so he is keenly aware of the risks tickborne diseases pose to outdoor enthusiasts. “You’re going to need a mechanical component to prevent ticks from contacting the skin, and a chemical side to knock them down, which means they’re either going to fall off or die,” Derrick explains. “The problem with ticks is they’ll ride home with you, so we added permethrin-based Insect Shield. It is infused for the life of the garment, so you don’t have to re-treat and it has the knock-down effect."

Sitka's Equinox Guard pants feature internal gators that tuck inside socks, which prevent ticks from contacting the skin. The hoody is made of breathable, tightly woven bite-reduction fabric with built-in permethrin Insect Shield and features a long tail for tucking into pants and a mesh facemask. While the series is designed specifically for warm-weather turkey hunting, it is also a great option for early-season goose and teal hunting and any other activity in which ticks and biting insects are encountered.

TICKS AND DOGS

Dogs are also susceptible to tickborne diseases, and their owners may pick ticks up from their pets as well. This is especially true for hunters and their dogs, who spend a lot of time in tick-infested areas together.

“We don’t worry about mosquitos much other than they are the vector for heartworms. So, as long you have your dog on a heartworm preventative, you’re in good shape,” says Missouri veterinarian Ira McCauley. “But ticks carry some horrible diseases that are super common here in the Midwest. Dogs can get a tick any time of year, but obviously it’s more of an issue during spring, summer, and fall. Here in Missouri, the big three tickborne diseases are ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Lyme. There are a couple others that aren’t as common."

"Of course, you don’t know your dog has a disease until he is sick," McCauley says. "Tests aren’t perfect, and they can even be misleading. So, if a dog comes in and we suspect a tickborne disease, we treat it with Doxycycline. We see a ton of dogs come through our office that are sick with tickborne diseases, and it can kill them if not treated quickly.”

As far as prevention goes, McCauley prescribes a class of drugs that contain isoxazoline. “The tick must bite for it to work, but they don’t live long enough to transfer the disease. Bravecto, Simparica, and Nexgard are examples of those types of drugs. This new class of drugs also kills fleas as well.”

Tickborne diseases can be incredibly costly and compromise a person’s health and even lead to death. Everyone who spends time in the outdoors, including waterfowl hunters, should take measures to avoid exposure.



 


New Blood Tracking App Could Change Everything We Know About Recovering Wounded Deer

The TRAKR app helps connect hunters with tracking dog owners. It also collects crucial data on wounded deer behavior

BY KATIE HILL


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You shot the buck of a lifetime and picked up a blood trail. But now, for the life of you, you can’t find the animal, and the sun is starting to set. Sound familiar? As is the case for most modern afflictions, there’s an app for that.

It’s called TRAKR, and it’s going to help hunters recover wounded deer by connecting them with experienced blood-tracking dog owners in their area, veteran blood tracker and TRAKR co-founder Shane Simpson tells Outdoor Life. For hunters in the South and Midwest, seasoned trackers with highly trained dogs are often within a half-hour radius, sometimes just a short drive away. While they might be scarcer in other parts of the country, they do exist, and the app will help hunters find them. What’s even more interesting about the app is the lethality and recovery data it will collect. When requesting a tracker, hunters enter data points like distance of shot, weapon used, projectile used, shot angle, and estimated point of impact. Trackers who end up trailing the deer input recovery data, too. The app will take all these data points from thousands of tracks across the country and build helpful takeaways that hunters can use for more effective kills and faster recoveries.

The free app launched on Sept. 8, just in time for most archery seasons across the country to get underway. It’s the official app of the United Blood Trackers, a national organization of blood-trailing dog-owners who emphasize the “ethical recovery of big game,” as they put it. Blood tracking with dogs is fully legal in all but seven states. (Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island don’t allow it, and California has exceptions.) While blood tracking is popular in some parts of the country, like the South and the Upper Midwest, hunters in other regions are much less familiar with it. Simpson and other co-founders Garrett Prahl, Greg Godfrey, and Ryan Carpenter want to change that.

“We can give answers to people,” Simpson says, noting that trackers in Minnesota alone recovered over 400 deer last season. “Without us, that’s 400-some-odd deer that are dead, 400 hunters that didn’t fill their tags and go out to shoot another deer. So now that’s 800-something dead deer instead. But we salvage those animals, and hunters put their tags on them. United Blood Trackers did over 3,000 recoveries last year, and that was just according to a voluntary survey.” 

A Better Way

Blood tracking with dogs has been around for millennia. It has become more popular in the U.S. in the last five or so decades, Simpson says. When you watch his dog Callie work, it’s easy to understand why.

 
But a bottleneck would often occur when it came to connecting hunters in need with available trackers in the area. Social media helped alleviate that issue at first, Simpson says. But eventually, long threads of comments on posts in Facebook groups gummed up the works. Hunters were also constantly at risk of hiring unvetted, unreliable tracker wannabes. Plus, hunters had to disclose their general location to the group to figure out who was nearby. Between the scamming and the hot-spotting, Simpson and other Minnesota blood trackers thought there had to be a better way. They tried a website with a submission form, but struggled to keep up with the volume of submissions.

“A mobile app was the obvious solution, but that was very expensive. So we decided to build the website,” Simpson says. “But you need someone to manage the submissions, and you have no idea what trackers are available when. So we decided if we could build the mobile app, it would take the work out of our hands and automate everything.”Here’s how it works. Hunters in need of a tracking dog submit a request on the app, which they can do offline as long as they’re already logged in when they leave cell service. The request pings every blood tracker in the area who fits the hunter’s needs. Some trackers might be too far away, or unavailable for the weekend, or they don’t track the species the hunter is chasing. Those trackers who do fit the criteria receive a notification and can respond to the hunter through the app. A tracker’s profile exhibits their experience level, any certifications they and their dogs have, their working rate (although posting this information is not required), and past client reviews and testimonials. Ideally, the hunter will have a few different trackers to choose from, and they can pick one that meets their needs and works within their budget. Hunters then pay a $10 finding fee to TRAKR, which directly funds the app. It’s essentially the same concept as Uber, but for hiring tracking dog experts. 

The trackers are the only ones who can see a hunter’s exact location, Simpson says. (Most trackers have very little time to hunt, he adds, which means hunters shouldn’t worry too much about their public-land spots getting burned.) Hunters can even make requests anonymously if they’re embarrassed about losing a deer. But Simpson also ensures that the trackers on the app are good folks, and they’re all vetted. Simpson describes one individual tracker in Wisconsin who he won’t allow on the app, due to the guy’s record of making judgemental comments at hunters for their shot placement, choice of broadhead, or other factors that contributed to a wounded animal.

“These hunters are already in a bad situation. You don’t need to make them feel any worse,” Simpson says. “We keep the bad apples off.”

An Easy Yes for Trackers

As for vetting a tracker’s skill level, there are a few ways Simpson ensures someone is up to the task.

“If you’re certified and pass tests, that’s a good way to help get yourself on the app. But you don’t need to be certified to be on the app,” he says. “Guys in the South might have 200 recoveries with a proven [uncertified] dog. If they’re getting endorsed by a reputable source in the community, they’ll get on the app.”

If the vetting process sounds a little lax, that’s because it is. But it also helps ensure that the best of the best choose to engage with TRAKR, Simpson explains. For decades, trackers have taken a “shirt off their back” approach to the work they do, sometimes only working for tips, beer, meat, or maple syrup, which Simpson describes as a currency of choice in his region north of St. Paul. Bringing the practice further into the digital age means asking some of the veterans to modernize their practices if only slightly, and Simpson wants it to be as easy as possible for the right trackers to answer the call. He also wants to help them make the money they deserve.

“We don’t charge trackers anything. The app is 100 percent free for them at this point,” he says. “We have discussed adding a yearly subscription to use the app as a tracker, but this year we made it totally free. We wanted every tracker on here. Without the trackers, the app is useless for hunters. We want to let them get a taste and a feel for it, and sell them on it. Let them see how efficient their jobs become, and next year they’ll want a subscription.”

A New World of Data

The benefits of TRAKR don’t end with the matchmaking element. By processing a hunter’s request, connecting them with a tracker, then processing the tracker’s recovery, the app also digests vast amounts of data that could shed light on the nuances of shooting and blood trailing deer.

Right now most hunters rely purely on anecdotes from the field, not real data points when debating broadhead selection, shot placement, shot angles, or cartridge choice. The same goes for deer behavior after the shot. Old theories like “wounded deer won’t run uphill” or “gut-shot deer always run toward water” still persist. But soon, Simpson and his team will have practical data to better inform all of these deer camp discussions and debates. 

“This is one of the things we’re super excited about, maybe more so than the efficiency of helping hunters and trackers connect. Those features are all great,” Simpson says. “But when we created the website with the tracking request form, we started getting so much other data. I tried to be selective in what I asked the hunters. We want to get a full picture of the hunt so we can make our best judgment on the track. But also, I would say ‘While we have you here, what broadhead were you shooting?’”

Those questions were always optional to answer, Simpson says. But a lot of data came in that way. He and other Minnesota trackers running the website would analyze it all manually and post the findings to social media. But TRAKR will do that part automatically. 

“At some point, our analytics page will be active, where you can filter through all the data, by state, type of animal, sex of animal, weapon used, how far the animal traveled, even recovery rate for pass-throughs versus non-pass-throughs,” Simpson says, noting that they hope this feature will be available sometime during this deer season. “It’s definitely going to answer some questions that people have been asking for years.”

But it’s also going to help fill freezers, alleviate stress, and enable a nationwide community of enthusiasts and their dogs to keep doing what they love to do—find animals and answers, good or bad, for hunters in a time of need.

“Imagine experiencing the joy of filling a tag 30 to 40 times a season,” Simpson says. “When you find an animal, it feels like your hunt. You get to experience that over and over and over again. When I go out there and I can’t find a deer for a little kid, I’m bummed. But there are a lot more highs than lows. Even if you don’t recover the animal, you’re giving them some type of closure.”



 

These 5 Mathews Bows Changed Archery Hunting

Why does Mathews have such a cultish following? Besides great marketing, these five bows have a lot to do with it

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Any discussion about iconic brands in the bowhunting world has to include Mathews. What Matt McPherson built over the past 32 years is the stuff of legend.

Mathews bows have helped lead the way in the advancement of archery technology. No question. But there are several bow manufacturers who are in that same stable.

What makes Mathews different is that they’ve built a brand that’s bigger than the bows. Through a combination of building quality bows, saturating all forms of media with eye-catching marketing, and partnering with big names in the outdoors—Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, Levi Morgan, Mark and Terry Drury, to name a few—Mathews has molded its brand into a way of life. The brand has an almost cultish following, that’s always eager to see the latest and greatest offering.

And while Mathews typically doesn’t disappoint, it’s not like they never disappoint. I mean, has there ever been a Mathews grip that’s been universally loved? 

Seriously. I want to know. 

And if promised immunity, would anyone really admit liking the TX-5?

I’ve worked at Lancaster Archery Supply, one of the biggest archery-only retailers in the world, for the past decade. I know that every bow manufacturer has their loyal fans. But the Mathews crowd takes that loyalty to a different level.

When QAD first offered two versions of their wildly popular Ultrarest—one branded simply as QAD, and the other bearing the Mathews logo—we could hardly sell a Mathews bow without the Mathews rest, even though it was priced higher than the same rest without the Mathews logo on it. Functionally, it was the exact same. Didn’t matter.

“I want the Mathews one.”

As the Mathews-verse eagerly awaits the release of the 2024 hunting lineup, it seemed timely to take a look back at the company’s offerings from the past 15 years or so, to find the cream that rose to the top. Certainly, such a discussion will spark debate within the ravenous Mathews fan base. Everyone has reasons why the Z7 Xtreme is better than the No Cam HTX and vice versa.

Well, I’ve shot nearly every Mathews bow put out over the past 15 years. And so here are my top 5 favorite Mathews bows from that period. I didn’t rank them according to how I like them now. I ranked them based on how much I liked them when they hit the market. How much they blew me away once I started slinging arrows through them.

The Best Mathews Bows of Recent History

Beyond just taking a stroll with me down memory lane I hope you use my list if you’re searching for a bow on the used market. In good condition, any of these bows will still be plenty capable today.

Phase 4 33


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The 2023 Phase 4 33 is the quietest, most stable and accurate Mathews hunting bow I’ve ever shot. The massive riser makes it hold like a dream. That’s why 3D pros including Jeff Hopkins and Levi Morgan shot it in competitions in 2023. It aims that good.

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We’ve never seen anything like the rubber strips separating each of the eight limbs on the Phase 4 bows. Mathews calls it Resistance Phase Damping. I don’t care what they call it. This bow is almost silent.

I won’t take shots like this at game animals, but the Phase 4 33 is the first Mathews hunting bow I’ll shoot regularly at 100 yards on the practice range and fully expect to hit what I’m aiming at. The pin just sits there.

A whisper quiet hunting bow that shoots good enough for tournament use? Yeah. That’s why it’s my top pick. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best compound bows of 2023.

Z7

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The 2010 Z7 just looked different than any other Mathews I’d ever shot. The honeycombed riser—Grid Lock, in Mathews-speak—and parallel limbs screamed “new and innovative.” Once I shot it, well, I loved it.

In the Mathews’ Solo Cam heyday, the Z7 was the apex predator. It had the smoothness of all the solo cam bows. But it also had speed and minimal hand shock. The riser was big, so it held nice, but with all those honeycombed cutouts, it was pretty light. With all that performance, the Mathews Z7 won Outdoor Life’s 2010 Bow Test.

Mathews knew they smacked a homerun with the Z7. That’s why they kept recirculating it for seven years afterward in various iterations – Z7 Xtreme, Z7 Xtreme Tactical, Z7 Magnum, eZ7, Z9, Z2, Z3.

Traverse


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The 2019 Traverse is the best Mathews bow you’ve never heard of (unless you’re a serious Mathews fan, then you know all about the Traverse). But when it was launched, it was the annoying little brother to the star athlete, favorite son Vertix, which got the lion’s share of the year’s marketing budget. Vertix launched the Mathews Switchweight mod system, which allows you to change the bow’s draw weight range by changing mods on the cam, as opposed to getting new limbs. The Traverse didn’t have that.

Meanwhile, bowhunters like me, who got their hands on the Traverse, were blown away by its performance. They’re still not easy to find for sale in the secondary market. Those who own them, typically don’t part with them. 

The Traverse was the hunting bow Mathews built to appease those of us who loved the Halon, but thought, “Man, I wish it was just a little bit longer.” Essentially, it’s a 33-inch Halon 7.

Creed


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I think I liked the 2014 Creed so much because it was like an updated Z7. It had that Grid Lock riser, single cam and parallel limbs just like the Z7. But the Creed was the first Mathews bow to feature something Mathews fans thought we’d never see in a Mathews bow—split limbs instead of solid limbs.

The efficiency gains afforded by the split limbs were apparent, and the Creed drew smoothly, held nicely at full draw, and cast virtually no hand shock or noise at the shot. It was one of the bows in the Mathews line that caused you to stop and say, “Wait a minute. This one’s different, in a good way.”

Halon 6

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Every flagship bow Mathews has put out since the 2016 Halon 6, has the Halon DNA at its core (read next: Mathews V3X Review). The Halon introduced us to the Crosscentric cam system, to long, bridged risers and to short, wide limbs. All of these innovations generated a new level of power, comfort, and accuracy. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intimidated by the giant cams (at least they were considered giant at the time) powering the Halon when I first laid eyes on them. But once I drew the bow, and those big cams rolled over like butter, I was hooked. The Halon 6 was a quiet, screaming fast speed bow that didn’t draw or sound like the typical speed bow, which is to say that it was a pleasure to shoot. 

Mathews Bows Q&A

Where are Mathews Bows made?

All Mathews bows are made in Sparta, Wisconsin.

When does Mathews release new bows?

For the past few years, Mathews has announced its lineup of new hunting bows in November.

Who owns Mathews bows?

Matt McPherson is the founder and CEO

Where Can I Buy Mathews Bows?

There are Mathews retailers located all over the world. Find the closest one to you right here.

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Final Thoughts on Mathews Bows

So that’s it. That’s my list of the five best Mathews bows of the last 15 years. Some will agree. Some will disagree. The great thing about the Mathews-verse is there is no shortage of opinions on which Mathews is “the best.” I have no doubt the 2024 offering will have some new and cool and unique feature. Regardless, as long as it’s got a sticker that says “Mathews,” it’ll sell.



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