Lone Star Trail
Texas themed hunting and fishing interviews featuring experts and real tales from the field.
Lone Star Trail
Bow Season Just Around The Corner
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Jeremy Balderrama with Heart of Texas Archery gets us ready for another great bow season. Sponsored by RanchPro Real Estate and Texas Farm and Ranch Wildlife Solutions.
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Welcome to Lone Star Trail, a new outdoor show aimed at bringing you hunting and fishing updates and compelling stories from around Texas and right here at home. Get ready to join us down the trail. Now, here's your host, Nathan Smith.
SPEAKER_03Hello, friends, and welcome to another edition of the Lone Star Trail. I'm your host, Nathan Smith. Glad you could join us for another show. Well, every day that passes, we're getting closer to the opening of bow season for Whitetail Deer here in Texas. And if you're a bow hunter, hopefully you've been out practicing already. If you're not, you're late, according to Jeremy Balderama, who's the owner of a Heart of Texas archery right here in Brown County. Jeremy joins us on the program today to talk about all things archery, including some tips on how to get started and some things to look out for when getting your gear. All this and more right after the break, so pour some more coffee, and I'll see you soon. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchPorRealEstate.com. The land is their life.
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SPEAKER_03You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome to the Lone Star Trail today. Glad you could join us. We have Jeremy Baldorama on the show today. Jeremy is uh owner, operator, chief executive officer of Hard Texas Archery, uh right here in Brown County. So uh Jeremy, thanks for being here. Thanks for coming on the show.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Nathan, thanks for inviting me on here, man.
SPEAKER_03Well, I've I've been kind of watching you from a distance and watching your business, and um uh it's a newer business, but you're not new to archery. So I'd love as we start our conversation to find out more about you. Give me some background on yourself and uh how you got into archery and then kind of how the the business came from that.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yeah. So um, so basically I started shooting uh archery a long time ago. Um it was mostly bow hunting, was what I did, and it was just kind of on and off, you know, how most bow hunters are. You set the bow down for 90% of the year and then pick it up right before the season starts and then shoot a few and then get ready to go hunt. Um, I'd kind of set it down for a little while uh in the process of you know, I graduated college and then moving a few times and and doing that whole deal and ended up here in Brownwood. And I was like, you know what? There's a it's a really good hunting area up here. I'm gonna go ahead and get my bow back out and start getting getting geared up for that. So um started talking to some people and ended up getting it getting into uh tournament archery, found uh found tournament archery. Uh like there's uh different types of tournament archery. There's like 3D where you're shooting at like 3D foam targets. There's what people refer to as like paper punchers or like target archery where you're shooting at like a piece of paper that has like a bullseye and stuff on there, you know, like something you'd see uh shooting BB guns or whatever at. Um, and so I started doing that, fell in love with that whole deal, and kind of proceeded from there. I've been been shooting tournament archery for about six years now, going on seven. Um I have uh I've kind of made a name for myself in in Texas on that side. Um there's a I mean I've I've won numerous things, I've set state records, I've set state records in Oklahoma, I've won you know numerous competitions, but there's national tournaments and stuff, and so I've I've placed in like the top 20 on a lot of those, which is pretty difficult out of like 200 something people. Um traveled all over California, Pennsylvania, all that kind of stuff, and and just really fell in love with the sport. And I I noticed that here in Brownwood that we we had a had a shop, um, sticking strings bow shop over there off of Mylum. Um the gentleman had some some health issues and everything and and ended up closing his business down. Um, I would have some people give me a call, like, hey, I know that you, you know, do the archery thing, like can you help me out? I was like, Yeah, sure. So I'd you know started kind of just getting into it, just helping people out that way. And then finally came down to the idea of like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and and take a take a leap and uh and start an actual shop. So um, so that's kind of what I what I did. Um, I'm I'm actually sponsored by uh Elite Archery and and a company called the Outdoor Group, which has Elite Archery and some other some other companies, uh Scott Archery, some broadhead companies and things like that that are like it's a subsidiary of those. Um and so I kind of got my foot in the door with that since I was sponsored through them. And so I was able to become a dealer for them and uh recently became a dealer for another uh distributor called Lancaster Archery, and um and so just kind of have been going from there and and trying to increase my my inventory and just the main thing and the the deal that I tell everybody with my business is I'm not in it to make money. Um, I have a full-time job that pays the bills and everything on that side. This whole thing is just to try to facilitate and help um either people get into archery in the area. Like I have uh there's a lady that's supposed to be coming out with her kid that's interested in archery. I'm gonna help them out and and let them try a couple bows and stuff and and work on them with some things. And um it's just you know, it helps push the sport along and and help like it even the bow hunting side, it helps, you know, people get into bow hunting and just get into archery in general. And that's the thing that I really enjoy is just you know helping folks on that side.
SPEAKER_03Well, that sounds great. And you know, when we we talked off-air a few days ago, um, I told you I was gonna ask some dumb questions because I'm I'm really ignorant about archery. And it I guess it's just been one of those things as I've grown up. Um I just never it's never really been appealing to me, but I've never really given it a chance either. And so uh my son, he's 10, uh, 10 and a half, he uh he's all about it. I mean, he's all about everything hunting and and fishing. But um we've uh we've talked about bow fishing uh recently, and that is something I would love to try uh at some point in the near future. But the the idea of of shooting something at 30, uh, 40, 50, 60 yards with a bow, to me is it's like uh you know what? No, that's why that's why firearms were invented, and I'm gonna stick with my rifles and pistols and whatever. Uh that's my first reaction. But uh as I think about it more, and my friend Dayton, uh, who we went out just last night, hunted pigs, got them into about 100 yards, and we're able to put a few down. Uh he he made a comment one time we were out hunting, he was talking about uh bow hunting. He's not a he's not a bow hunter either, but he said anything you can take with a bow is a trophy because of the skill that it takes and the uh accuracy and precision. And you know, a rifle with a scope that's zoomed in at 20 power and you know, you've got it dialed in. I mean, let's be honest, that's that's not nearly as challenging and doesn't require near as much skill as somebody who like yourself who has to get uh a lot closer to that game animal if you're talking about you know deer. And so I have a I I do have a huge respect for people who can who can do it and who are involved in it. And uh and I want to know more about it. I know our listeners want to know more about it. So um and I want to know more about your business too, and and we'll we'll kind of circle back to the business here in a few minutes, but before we get away from the topic, I always love talking with other podcasters. And and I was recently on the Gundog Nation podcast with Kenneth Witt. That was a great experience. And uh Kenneth's a great guy, and I I can't wait to find out more about uh his his stuff and what he's doing. Tell me, uh I've I've recently learned you have your own podcast. Tell me about your podcast, the name of it, um, what do you talk about, how often is it published. Uh I'd love to hear more about your podcast.
SPEAKER_04So uh so I do, like you said, I mean, I I have a podcast that's called At Full Draw Archery or At Full Draw Podcast. My apologies, at Full Draw Podcast. Um, we're on Spotify and everything. Originally, it was just me and a friend of mine that he does a lot of lessons and stuff, like he does a lot of online lessons, has a huge presence on on uh YouTube, like 10,000, 20,000 followers. Um, we we were talking and we're really good friends, and we were just kind of talking. We're like, man, you know, starting a podcast would be pretty fun. Let's you know, let's dive into it. So we looked into it, figured it out, got it started, got going. We were doing great, had a whole bunch of episodes coming out, and then for him, he's a realtor on the side, so or like for his you know, for his business. Um, he's uh a realtor over in the Dallas Fort Worth area, so he got busy. Yeah, so we kind of we you know, we kind of fell off of it for a little bit. And um, I talked to him the other day, and and so I'm actually starting it up just basically by myself now, just doing kind of a solo thing. Um, but what we do is in the previous podcasts and stuff, we talk about um bow hunting, we talk about some of the target stuff, a lot of so one of the main things that I can that I can't stress enough that a uh a number of people don't necessarily understand when it comes to archery is um archery is is 90% mental and 10% physical. I mean, you gotta think like you're literally pulling a bow back, pulling a trigger, and sending an arrow. I mean, that's basically I mean that's the brought down to the bare bones, that's basically it. So everything from like the mental side of it of what you're thinking about, what you're looking at, how you're aiming, um, being consistent and how you're drawing and everything, a lot of that stuff plays into that. So we talk about a lot of those things on that on that podcast. Um we've talked about uh numerous tournaments and stuff. I talk about tournaments and and hunting coming up and just kind of some of the stuff in Texas um is really kind of what what I'd what we talk about on that podcast in general.
SPEAKER_03Sounds like a great spot for folks that want to know more. And I know we could talk, obviously, you've dedicated a podcast to this this area, this topic. We could talk a lot a lot longer about um our stuff today, but I'd I'd love to uh before I ask any more questions, have you run across Richard Porter from this area at any of this?
SPEAKER_04Yes, yeah, I'm really good friends with Richard.
SPEAKER_03Okay, all right. So I run into him from time to time uh in town, and uh we do talk about our tree sub, and he's as I understand it, he's a pretty great archer himself.
SPEAKER_04Yes, yeah, he's he's won a lot of things. Um he's actually the so for anybody listening that doesn't know this, there is a uh a bow hunting club in town. Um they have a range and everything on on FM uh 45 South. Uh very cheap to to get a membership in that. Richard's the president, and I'm the vice president. I was the president for like five years, and Richard was the president before me. Um, and so yeah, so I'm I'm very familiar with Richard. And if anybody's looking at uh at wanting a place, it's got it's it's a great place, has a static range, some 3D targets set up. You can go out there and practice. There's no broadheads allowed, but you can use field points. Um but yeah, it's a it's a great place, and a lot it's really sad because a lot of people in Brownwood don't know about it.
SPEAKER_03Well, hopefully we can change that with just this one one episode. Folks listening uh can can find out more. You guys have a Facebook page?
SPEAKER_04We do have a Facebook page. Um and then you can also get in touch with Richard, um, I believe, uh, through the through the Facebook page. You can you can get in touch with him or get his number. I mean, he you know, he's very well known in town. Oh yeah. So um so you know, get in touch with him and everything, and he has a little form that you just fill out real quick and then hey, it's like $35 for the year for an individual. And then like $50 for a family. So it's not it's not expensive at all. And it's you get a combination, you can go there from dust till dawn, go shoot whenever you want to out there. Um, there is no hunting allowed, but uh, but they have static range, like where there's bag targets set, you know, at certain distances and everything. And so you can get some really good practice out there.
SPEAKER_03We will publish that on our social media also. Um Jeremy, as we talk about somebody like myself who maybe um is thinking about getting into archery and doesn't know where to start, and we're gonna get to some of that uh here in a minute. But what what are some of the most common mistakes that you see uh new archers or folks that are new to archery make whenever whenever it comes to um purchasing their bow uh and and then after that the gear that they are looking to acquire as they are and I'm talking specifically about uh from a hunting perspective, I guess. What are some common what are some common mistakes you see folks make?
SPEAKER_04Okay, so uh so from a hunting aspect, really, I mean it kind of boils down to just an any sort of archery aspect. The thing you gotta look at is the best thing to do is to go to a pro shop. And I'm not just saying that so people come out from my shop or anything. I I support any shop in Texas, I support any shop in in the United States or even even out of even out of the states. Um, because we're all in it for the same for the same thing, for the love of the sport. You're not gonna be a millionaire trying to sell bows. It's it's just not that does not happen. Yeah, they're doing it because they they love the sport. So the thing I would recommend would be go to a pro shop and talk to people, talk to the people that are working there, talk to the owner, talk to whoever, the botech, whatever that's back there. Because so, whenever I first got started, I had no idea what draw weight was, I had no idea what draw length was, I had no idea what holding weight was. And I know you told me to, you know, kind of I guess dumb it down for you so it wasn't so confusing.
SPEAKER_03Two words, Jeremy, is always dumb.
SPEAKER_04Man, and it's not really there's no dumb questions. Uh the only dumb question is one that you don't ask, is is my saying. Um but uh what my wife says, but okay, keep going. So the so the thing is you want to get a bow that's fit for you. So back, and this is just kind of just a short, short deal, back in the old days, every bow is like 30 inches of draw length and such such and such, like 70 or 80 pounds or whatever. And now they've actually started doing um they've done adjustable draw links so which fit people better. So if your bow fits you correctly, then you'll have more fun shooting it because it'd be like taking a rifle, like you know, rifles, it'd be like taking a a stock that's like a built, like you have to build it yourself and just putting a a barrel and receiver and everything in there and not fitting anything to you and just trying to shoot it like that. It would be uncomfortable, you know, things would be blocky, it just wouldn't feel right. But if you go and you start actually like if you work on it and sanded things down and get it to feel right, then it makes shooting it much more much more fun. Same sort of concept with archery. You want to find somebody that can help you get your draw length that you need, because draw length is a b is a big thing. Um, it helps it helps you, you know, whenever and what draw length is is basically whenever you pull back your bow and it hits the the stops or whatever, it hits the maximum distance that it's gonna be drawn back. That's what your draw length is. And so if your draw length's too long, it'll feel really, really, really terrible. If your draw length's too short, then you feel like super scrunched up and it just it does not feel comfortable at all. And so you want to make sure that you get your draw length correct. The other thing is draw weight. If you have messed up shoulders or a messed up arm, or you're you have a tweaked back or whatever the whatever the situation is, you want to get a draw weight that is correct for you or that works well for you. Um, also, if you're brand new to it, like you said, uh being somebody that's new, you don't want to start out with a 70-pound draw weight because you're gonna pull something trying to draw it back. And I'm not talking about pulling the bow back. You're gonna pull a muscle or or mess your shoulders up or something. I mean, there's gonna be something that's gonna happen because it'd be like if you know somebody didn't work out and they went and tried to bench press 315 pounds, it's just not gonna be pretty. Um so you want to get a draw weight that's that's good for you, that that fits you for that time. And I mean, you can always go up and draw weight. Um, a lot of bows nowadays they have a pretty wide range of draw weights that you can go through. Um and so so that's another another major thing that uh to to look for. But yeah, I mean, just go into a pro shop or go into an archery shop and just asking them, like, hey, can you help me out? I'm new to this, I want to get into archery. Um, what do I need to do? And then like I've had that question happen numerous times, and a lot of times people walk out super happy with a bow or or I'm maybe they didn't buy a bow right then and they're gonna go look around and see what they can find because the I didn't have something within their price range. You know, it's it's whatever. I I'm not, you know, I'm not upset about that. Just as long as they go out and get a bow, I'm happy. So um, so yeah, I mean that's that's really the main the main tips on that is finding something that that fits you. Um that's gonna where you're gonna have the best success at.
SPEAKER_03If you're just joining the program, we're talking with Jeremy Baldorama with Heart of Texas Archery right here in Brown County. Uh, we're talking about some common mistakes or some things that folks that are starting to get involved in archery uh need to look for, need to need to talk about with some professionals and get the right advice uh the first time. We're gonna have to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll hear more about uh tips of the trade and uh tools of the trade with Jeremy Baldorama. Stay tuned. If you follow the podcast or if you're new, either way, we talk a lot about trapping. You're gonna find that out. Uh, we've got our own predator issues out here in Brown County we try to mitigate, but I want to talk a little bit about Texas Farm Ranch Wildlife Solutions. My good friend Philip Woods out in East Texas. Uh, he's an expert when it comes to managing predation on Texas farms and ranches. If you've got trouble with coyotes, with bobcats, with uh beaver, if you've got nuisance predators impacting your bottom line, you need to call my friend Philip Woods, 713-208-3517 is his number. That's 713-208-3517. You can email him at woodscattlecompany at gmail.com. Uh, Philip Woods out there in East Texas, he does a great job, but he's statewide. If you got problems in South Texas or the Panhandle, uh, professional trapping services, Texas Farm and Ranch Wildlife Solutions, that's who you need to call.
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SPEAKER_03You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. We're back here on the Lone Star Trail with Jeremy Balderama. Thanks, Jeremy, for being here today.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, not a problem, man. Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_03So before the break, we were talking about uh kind of the first mistake or the maybe the biggest mistake that you see uh uh beginners make is uh is is first and foremost not talking to a pro. Uh and you already said you're not in this business to make money. So uh it's not about just just trying to drive low sales or equipment sales, it's really about getting uh that conversation started about what is gonna fit uh uh fit you. And you made a great analogy, like if you just throw a some rand a random barrel on a random stock and a random piece of you know, lower, upper, or whatever on a rifle and expecting it to work, it's not it's probably not gonna work like you need it to. Uh same goes for uh a bow, even more so for a bow and lots of a different archery uh component. So you talked about um a little bit about cost of entry. Can you and I know this is probably an impossible question, but can you kind of give us like a an entry-level type price range uh for a complete setup? I mean, what what should somebody expect to walk into your shop or any shop and and think, okay, I need to get a setup for everything I need to hunt whitetailed deer this year? What kind of ballpark it for us, if you don't mind?
SPEAKER_04Okay, so um, so to be 100% honest, it the the price range really just depends on what the person's wanting to spend. There's bows that range from a few hundred dollars, like three hundred dollars or so, all the way up to I know there's some some tournament bows or or you know, hunting bows that are like two thousand dollars, and that's just for the bow. So, you know, the there's different there's different price ranges or there's different equipment that fit people's price ranges and and can you know um facilitate everybody. So a a general bow, um a lot of bows that you can get nowadays, like uh, for instance, a bear bow. Um bear is a company. Uh they have some some different, they're more of like a hunting type company. You can get a bear bow for three, four, five hundred dollars, and a lot of times it'll come with a site, a rest, and like all the little odds and end pieces that you don't necessarily think about. Because whenever you're getting into archery, there is a a lot of components that you have to get together. It'd be like building uh um an AR or something, right? Um, there's a lot of little components and things that you have to get. You'd have to get a bow, you'd have to get a sight, you would have, and this all and this is just strictly for for compound. That's uh I gotta stress that. Strictly for compound, you'd have to get the bow, a sight, a rest, um, arrows. Uh, you'd have to get a if it didn't come with a peep in the bow, you'd have to get a peep for it. You'd have to get get the bow set up with a D loop and everything. You would need a re uh a release, um, either a handheld release or one that straps on your wrist that's called like an index release. Um, then you need arrows. Uh that's and then you know fill points or broadheads or whatever you're planning on using. So there's a lot of little things that kind of kind of you know build up, but they do have price ranges that vary across for everything. Um I have some I currently have some broadheads in here that are almost a hundred dollars for a pack of three. But I also have some broadheads that are a pack of three for like thirty dollars. So it's you know, there's definitely budget-friendly items that you can get that that can help with that that price. But for a full setup and everything, I mean you'd probably be looking for for the lowest end, like the lowest side, the the cheapest budget-friendly part, you'd probably be looking at about maybe six hundred dollars or so um on getting everything. And the nice thing about it is too, is that even if you start with a budget-friendly bow, and you you get the bow, you get the release, some arrows and everything, and then you start shooting it, and you're like, Man, I really like this. This is really fun. You can always upgrade things later. You can always get a different release, you can always get different arrows, you can get some different broadheads, you can get a different site, you can get a different rest. I mean, there is the the opportunities are basically endless on what items you can get to upgrade what you have. Um, so don't let, you know, I'm gonna throw a name out there. Some people might know him, some people might not, but like Levi Morgan, he's a huge name in the the bow hunting industry. Um he's shooting like a a $2,000 bow and you know, yeah, $200, $200 arrows and these really nice broadheads and all these different things. Um, because he's sponsored by them. Don't let that influence you on, like, oh, I have to have those items to be able to go out and you know, shoot an animal, harvest an animal, uh, shoot a hog, a deer, whatever it is. Um, you don't have to have all that. That's one of the uh main um pitfall that people get into is is thinking that they have to have the absolute best thing in the world to start. That's not not true at all. Some of those better things do help. They help you, you know, advance your your um your technique or how your arrows are grouping and things like that. But from the beginning, like just getting started and just seeing if you even enjoy it, the budget-friendly stuff is is more than capable of putting down a deer.
SPEAKER_03That's a great, that's a great point. And it's so similar across a lot of spectrums. I mean, if you're talking about, I mean, you can spend endless amounts of money on anything in the hunting world, and there's so many uh marketing schemes out there that really push different stuff. And as I think about cycle combing, predator hunting, same exact thing. You don't have to have the the two you know, $3,000 brand new Fox promoted to get it done. I mean, you know, like my dad and granddad's generation were carrying those records around at one point and matrix and then cassette tapes, and then I was gonna say putting the little cassette tapes in there and listening to that screaming reading for a few hours. And then you know, the CDs came along, and then you know, you had uh the the speaker wire running mount out the back window of the truck and the spotlight that weighed 20 pounds, and oh yeah. They were still putting cabs down, and maybe even in some cases a lot more effectively than I am with my Fox Pro and you know e-caller and uh you know, I don't know. You can go back and forth on a lot of that stuff. But that's a great point. So thank you thanks for making that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I mean one one thing to one thing to say too. So I'm a I'm a big fan of and not to like try to drag anything out. I I'll try to keep this short. No, no, we're good. But um but for instance, you know, I told you I I do tournament archery. I I shoot a a new bow. I mean, it's a it's a brand new like 2026 bow that I shoot normally and everything. Well, I kind of got the itch. I was like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna get an an older bow, like a bow from like back in the in the 80s. I'm gonna get an old bow like that. I'm gonna set it up with all the old stuff and just see how it shoots. Man, I shot just as good as I do with my normal bow, with a bow that is nowhere near the same technology as what my new bow is. And I mean, I'm it I can still shoot lights out with it from a in a tournament standpoint. And I mean, so it just kind of goes to show you that just because a bow is old doesn't mean that it just is trash. I mean, as long as everything is in working condition and taken care of and everything like that, that there's been some you know maintenance and stuff done to it, um it can be just as great as any of the newer stuff as well.
SPEAKER_03Great point, great point. Uh you know, and especially as we across every every sector, everything gets more expensive. But that's a great point to make. You know, shop those estate sales, stop, shop those garage sales, look around if you're interested in getting into the game. There may be something you can find and and get started, you know, upgrade.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. Yeah. Now, some of the some of the problems are is that some of the older bows, um, they were uh drawling specific or draw length specific on the cam. So the cam, if you don't know, is on the end of the limbs, the pieces that come out is the wheels that are on there. Um a lot of those back in the day were drawling specific. So you would have to find one that that had your draw length because if it is like my like the bow that I have is a 1991 model. Um I if I I could not find the the cams to change the draw length on there. Like you I just there's no way. Like I would it would be a one in a million chance for me to actually find those. So you want to make sure that if you do buy a bow like that or find one like that, try to check to see if the draw length is actually like go to the shop, figure out what your draw length is, and then if you go out to a estate sale or whatever, um, and you find a bow and you're like a 28-inch draw length, and you look at the bow and it says usually there's a tag on there or something that'll say what the draw length is, um, and it says like 30 inches, stay away from it. It's too long, like that. So it's just you know, it's kind of one of those, one of those types types of things. But I mean, you can even find them on Amazon or uh not Amazon, uh eBay. Yeah, you can find old old bows on that's where I actually got mine, was on eBay. And I mean, so you can find older stuff that'll fit you and everything like that, that that um is very price friendly, and uh, I mean, they they work just as great as any of the newer bows.
SPEAKER_03Good point. How old were you in 1991? Were you born yet?
SPEAKER_04Yes. Uh I was two.
SPEAKER_03Okay, we're about the same age. I was four in 1991. So we're just like you know, fine wine. We get better with age, right? Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean, I was I was born in 89, so I'm so I'm still young. So uh, but I mean just getting a bow from that from that era, I just thought that that was that that was really cool. Like it, I really I enjoy shooting that thing more than I enjoy shooting some of my other bows. Like it's just it's fun because it's just nostalgic, it's history, you know, it's it's pretty neat. That's great.
SPEAKER_03And as we as we talk about in the hunting type scenario, we're getting closer, and not close enough for me, but we're getting closer to October. And uh that means bow season in Texas for white-tailed deer. And so uh I'd love it if you could, Jeremy, just kind of give us your top five um maybe uh most important tips when it comes to preparing, executing, uh uh getting ready for for that bow season uh right around the corner. What are your what are your top five pieces of advice for for archers, whether they've been in the game for a while or maybe they're new, what what what comes through your mind?
SPEAKER_04Okay, so um so I'll actually start off with the top one. Uh the number one spot is if you haven't started, so October 3rd is literally what three months away. Yeah. Is October 3rd is the is the opening day. If you haven't started shooting your bow yet to get prepared, it doesn't matter if you're but if you shot it last year and it was dead on money and everything was great. If you haven't started shooting your bow this year, you're already behind. Because you need to get out, practice with it. I don't care if it's I mean, personally, I don't care if it's two arrows, five arrows, ten arrows, thirty arrows, whatever. You just want to get out and just shoot that bow and just get it. I mean, even though it's like riding a bicycle, you still want to get out there and and just remember everything that's going on. Or there could be things that have changed. Um strings can can move or or anything like that, or something could have happened while it was in the case and something changed. And so now it's hitting, you know, a half inch low or a half inch high or or way off, you know. Um, so getting out and and just shooting your bow now and and getting prepared for that is the absolute number one thing that I can recommend to somebody um before the season. There there are a number of hunters that'll get out and start practicing earlier or year-round, they'll shoot their bow every so often. Um, but I do know a number of people that October 2nd wait till the yeah, wait till the very last day, exactly. Like October 2nd, they pull their bow out, shoot it three times. Yep, I'm good, and then throw it back in the truck and then go. I mean, if something wasn't good, then you aren't gonna know, and now you're trying to struggle to get ready for that for that opening day. Um one other thing would be check your strings. Uh, number two, it would be definitely check your strings, make sure that everything still looks good, make sure you don't have any uh any fiber sticking off because so how is what a string, what a um what a bowstring is, is it's basically a bunch of fibers that are in like the shape of almost like think of dental floss, kind of a flat type material. And so what they do is they put it on a jig, do a bunch of circles with it to get it to the thickness that they want, and then put serving and stuff on there to protect the string, and then basically build the string and stretch it and whatnot. If you have a string that has one of those pieces cut, which is very easy to do, especially whenever you have sharp broadheads around your string, um, if you have one of those pieces cut, it basically destabilizes the bundle of strings and you can actually have it eventually snap depending on how long you've been shooting it like that. If it's like just happened, then generally you're okay, but it's something that needs to be changed out because if you've never had a string blow up in your face and had your bow blow into pieces, oh man, it it's a it's not exactly fun. It's it can be very, very scary. Um, especially because you know, people have lost eyes, um, like a peep come out and bounce off something and hit somebody in the eye. I mean, it there's there's bad things that can happen. So so with that, check your strings, make sure your strings are good. If you like if you live in the area and you're like, man, I don't know if these strings are still good, man. Bring it by. I don't charge anything to just look at a pair of strings. If you need to get your strings changed, I'll tell you that you need to get your strings changed, and then we can go from there. If you come in and you're like, well, you know, I don't know, and I look at them and they're good. I'll tell you, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm gonna tell you, yeah, no, you're good. I would probably recommend changing them next year or something like that. Um I've had a few people that I've that has had that happen. They bought a used bow, brought it in. Man, I don't know if I need new strings, take a look at them, everything looks great. You know, you're good, dude. Go go start shooting it. So changing the strings or checking your strings would be definitely number two. Um, number three would be if you bought any new broadheads, shoot the broadheads into a phone target and make sure that stuff is hitting on. Because different broadheads can do different things. Um so just a quick rundown. You know, an arrow, it's a cylindrical piece, has veins on the back, has a point on the front. If you put and uh just a field point, like so just a cylindrical point, like a like a bullet point, um, if you put the the veins are there to stabilize the arrow. So while it's flying in the air, it helps spin it and keep the arrow going in the direction that you want it to go. Whenever you put, like, say, uh a fixed blade broadhead on the front of that thing, you're basically adding veins to the front of your arrow as well as the veins on the back of the arrow. So if you don't shoot it, things can go wonky. It could just like with the field point, it could be hitting on right behind your pin, and then you put the broadhead on there, and then you're hitting wide left or wide right or high or low or whatever it is. That's uh that's a big, big thing is to make sure to shoot the broadheads that you are planning on shooting at a deer to make sure that they are hitting where they need to go. And if they don't, then you need to make adjustments and everything to get them to hit where they're supposed to. Um, but I've known a number of people that have gone out, thrown a brand new broadhead on there, gone and oh man, it was it was tuned, ready to go with the old broadheads, these will be just fine, and then completely miss a gear because they didn't have everything set up right. Do the homework, do the research, yeah. Do the do the homework, do the research, and and trial and error. I mean, just test it out. You want to definitely test it out and make sure that that everything is going to work for when because I mean, I don't know about you, but I would rather know that my broadhead's gonna hit right behind the right behind whenever a 10-point massive buck walks out. I don't want to be thinking like, oh man, is is this gonna hit where I where I expect it to hit? You know, is is this a chance? So uh, so I mean that's just uh you know, that would be another one. I mean, that's you know, top three right there. Um four would be, you know, make sure you're in in shooter shape, getting some, you know, some exercise in, making sure your muscles and all that stuff are good. Try doing some um, like I talked about practicing, would be going and practicing and like doing what's called a cold bore shot where you you know you haven't warmed up, you haven't practiced or anything, throw your your arrow in there, put your target at whatever distance is that you're usually shooting at a deer, and then you know, take one good shot at it and see how it's hitting, because that's gonna be the one shot that matters. Um, if you shoot 10 or 12 arrows at a target and your first one's terrible, your second one's terrible, and then they start getting better. Well, then you're not gonna help anything because you're generally only gonna get one shot at that deer. Um, and that's that's really kind of kind of the main things. Make sure your your screws and stuff are tight, make sure that uh your your rest is is tight and everything's good on it, like as far as the the bolts and everything, some of those things can rattle loose. Uh, make sure your sight is tight and like on the bow correctly. Um, some of those, like I said, those bolts can back out over time and everything, and and your sight can move. And um, there's a lot of gang adjustments and stuff, like your up and down and your your lateral movements on there. Some of those bolts can come loose. And I've been at even tournaments where somebody's shooting and they're like, Man, I don't know what's going on. And then you grab the front of their sight and the whole thing slides around all over the place because it's just loose. So, you know, make sure all the all the nuts and bolts are tight on your bow before going out and doing anything.
SPEAKER_03Today on the Lone Star Trail, we're joined by Jeremy Balderama. Uh, if you're just joining the program, we've been talking about all things archery today. Uh, we've just uh completed his list of of uh things to do before bow season gets here on October 3rd, which is actually just right around the corner. I know the thermostat doesn't show it, but it is just right around the corner. Uh so if you're a bow hunter or looking to get into bow hunting and you haven't started shooting your bow, uh you're already late. So get out there and start practicing. We're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we're gonna talk about some of the most memorable uh game takedowns uh that Jeremy's experienced. So stay tuned. We'll be right back after these messages. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchProRealEstate.com. The land is their life. Let's face it, whether you farm or ranch or raise wildlife, you've encountered problems with predators, no doubt. My friends at Texas Farm and Ranch Wildlife Solutions have the answer to your predator nuisance varmint problems. They specialize in taking care of those pesky raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, beavers, whatever wildlife issues you're having. Texas Farm and Ranch Wildlife Solutions is your answer. Call my friend Philip Wood, 713-208-3517. That's 713-208-3517. You can find him online at TFRWS.com. He's a professional trapper. He knows what he's doing. He has the right resources and the right techniques to get the job done. If you don't believe him, look at his website and see all the happy customers he's racked up over the years. Phillip Woods with Texas Farm and Ranch Wildlife Solutions. Give him a call. You'll be glad you did. Let them help protect your land and livestock. Welcome back to the show. Jeremy Balderama with Heart of Texas Archery. Thanks for being here again. Jeremy, we're having a great conversation. Thanks for your time today.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, not a problem, man. Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER_03So uh we talked a little bit about some of the technical pieces. You really did a great job walking us through what to look for if you're trying to get into bow hunting and archery, uh, some of the top things to prepare for as we get closer to season. But I'd love to use the what remaining time we have left today to talk a little bit about some of your experiences in the field because I think some of those stories are always the most interesting. And and I love hearing about those from other folks. And uh I know as a hunter, you know, uh that adrenaline rush is whether you're you're doing it for the first year or this is your 20th or 25th year to start uh a season upcoming, uh, that that adrenaline rush is still there. Tell me about uh whether that was your first or not, but what's your most memorable uh game you've harvested with a bow? Is it a mind?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I actually have a couple. Um one is a negative story, uh, which I hope helps people out in the future. Um, I'll I'll give that one first. And then uh the other one's a very positive story. Um so with like you had talked about, you know, shooting at an animal long distance, all that kind of stuff. Um, the different like there's as you know, big differences between shooting a deer, especially like a white tail for around here, shooting white tail with a bow versus shooting one with a gun. With a gun, generally, they're gonna go down right there in front of where you're at, or maybe run 20 yards, if that, and then fall over where you you can still see them. Um I there's been a couple times, and I'm not gonna say what broadheads they were or anything like that. Um, I I'm not one to to put down a company. Um, but I I had a I was testing out a broadhead that I'd got and was just seeing how I liked it. I was about 23 yards from the dough. Um, I was inside of a pop-up line. They had no idea that I was there. And and for some people, you know, that there's different distances that people are are okay with. Some people only want to shoot a deer that's maybe like especially with bow hunting, you want to shoot a deer that's 10 yards because it's a you know what I refer to as like a chip shot. It's it's very close, you're very comfortable with it, the chances of missing are much less. Um and so everybody kind of has their their area of where they they will you know pull the trigger on a on a deer. Um, this one was at 23 yards. She was standing there. I you know, as we were talking before, I don't like to brag on myself, but I I'm a pretty proficient archer. And so um, so I I drew back on this. Yeah, and I I generally kind of know what I'm doing. Uh and so uh so I I drew back on this dough, and I have some people run multi-pin sites where it's like 20 yards or 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, whatever. The sites that I generally use, I can literally dial them, like I can do a range finder on it and literally dial it to the distance that I'm trying to shoot. So if I hit a range finder on a deer and it's 32.5 yards, I can put it at 32.5 yards and hit right behind where that that spot is. Um, and so she was at like 23 yards, dialed my sight, drew back, and shot. And I mean, I heard that, you know, that fantastic thump of it hitting the side of it. And I was like, okay, you know, great shot. Everything felt really good. She took off running. I was in a pretty wooded area, and so I kind of gave her a minute and um got out, and I was like, okay, you know, shouldn't be too hard to find this deer. So start walking, start walking, start walking, find a little bit of blood. Uh ended up finding part of the arrow, and it was an expandable broadhead that I was using. Again, not gonna say the name, but only one of the sides had expanded out, the other side had bent and didn't come out. So I was like, that's not good. So um kept looking around. I ended up having to look for like three days and never found her. I found really good blood trails for maybe 150 yards or so, um, but never found the actual animal. And that's one thing that really just irks me so bad is with with archery, uh it's a there's a high likelihood that you might not find that animal. Um, especially with you know, you've heard of uh like string ducking and things like that. They're deer are very, very fast. And so a a bow generally is like a an arrow speed is generally moving maybe 260 to 290 foot per second. So I mean it's not lightning fast, but um there are some that are faster and there are some that are slower. Um but you know, having that happen, it it really, it really hurts you as a sure, you know, as a conservationist of of everything. I mean, I'm really big on hunting, but I'm also really big on on keeping the animal, you know, the animals around, keeping food around for them, and you know, taking care of the animals because it is part of nature that we need to harvest them. And um it it is part of that whole, you know, that whole ecosystem of of or the basically the ecosystem of everybody combined. Um so you know, that's one of the negative sides of it. That is a very negative portion of archery, um, of bow hunting, is that that can happen. Um hopefully it doesn't happen to very many people, but I know it does happen to quite a few. Um so it's just, you know, making ethical shots, knowing how far you can shoot and what you're comfortable with. Uh it just it kind of, you know, you learn a lesson from it. I also learned a lesson that I wasn't gonna be using those broadheads anymore. So it's just, you know, it's kind of kind of one of those things. It's an unfortunate, an unfortunate test. Um, but things happen. Um, she, you know, probably, you know, died somewhere. She became coyote dinner, whatever, coyotes got to eat too. So um, you know, other animals have to eat as well. So just kind of giving back to the earth is kind of how I look at that sometimes, just to try to make myself feel a little better and not feel as bad. Um, but one of my one of my positive stories, um, it was it was my first my first uh it was my first time hunting in Brownwood. Um I was hunting, I was lucky enough that I had a um a friend of my family's that uh had you know a hundred and something acres of of really good wooded area. They didn't allow other hunters out there, they didn't like lease it or anything like that, but they were like, hey, I'm really big into duck hunting too. So they were like, hey, you can come duck hunt out here, you can come deer hunt, just let us know when you're here and and everything. And so I set up a feeder, set up a blind, did the camera thing, had some really good deer coming in, and um was really excited about it. And so it was really my first season getting back into bow hunting, and um, I'd gone out there numerous times and would see a few does here and there, would see a see some spikes and some other things, and you know, it's nice seeing the animals, but it was I was like, I know there's some some good deer out here. So towards the end of the season, um I'm sitting there and uh there's a spike standing like five yards from me, and I'm up in a tree stand, and um this little spike standing there and he's munching. And I took a picture of him just as a joke, and I was like, man, these you know, these life size or these uh these decoys are real lifelike, and you know, just joking. I sent it to my wife and my dad, and uh end up he walks off, kind of looked back and walked off, and I was like, huh, you know, maybe there's something else coming. And sure enough, coming right out of these trees, there was about four bucks, and they were all walking straight towards the feeder. First one was a little bit smaller, second one was a little bit bigger, and then the last one was a was a good size. Um, I mean, I wouldn't say like, you know, trophy wall, hope and young type buck, but he was he was definitely a good buck. He was one of the one of the bigger bucks that I've ever shot with the bow. And he's mosing along and everything, and you know, you start kind of getting a little nerves, and I I was set up, ready to go, and uh he walks literally right under my stand. I mean, like I could have dropped the arrow on him. He was he was so close. Um, so I you know dialed my sight to what I what I thought it was because he was like it said that he was five yards, but I'm also like 15 foot up in a tree. So if you don't know, there's there's cuts that you have to do. Like so, if you're up higher and you're shooting at a lower target, gravity kind of takes effect on there. And so if you say you ranged it and it was five yards and you shoot it for five yards, you're you might miss. Um, you you have to do a cut on there, and and it changes the actual yardage of what you need to shoot it for. Uh same thing for like long-range uh rifle shooting.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_04And so uh so I got ready, drew back, pent over at almost like a 90-degree angle, and stuck him like straight through the back, straight down, down through the guts, and or straight down through the heart and the lungs and everything. And then the arrow stuck in the ground and he took off running. And uh that was probably one of the most excited, excited moments that I've ever had. Because I mean, I was just like after it happened, man, I couldn't hardly even text my wife. My hands were shaking so much. Um and I didn't really, it was getting dark because it was a it was an evening hunt, and I couldn't really find him. And so I went home for a little bit. Um, we had a we had a baby at the time. Um, my son was was like maybe uh maybe six months or so. So I had to go home. He was throwing a huge fit, so I had to go help the wife with that. Oh, yeah, and uh then, you know, which gives it some time, go back out there and I start looking, and I'm looking and looking, and I'm like, man, I don't know where this thing went because all I saw was just him dive off into some brush, and then nothing, and it was very, very dark at that time. So I'm looking around, looking around, looking around. And eventually I get back onto this little road that was over there, and he was maybe 20 yards from the gate that I'd pulled into. I just walked around where yeah, I just walked around where he was at and just never even saw him. And uh yeah, it was uh it was an exciting, exciting experience. It was my first deer in Brown County, and uh I have him hanging on the wall here at the shop, and uh it was it was one that I was that I was very proud of.
SPEAKER_03That's great. What an awesome experience and and uh sounds extremely memorable. So that's great.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, thanks for sharing that both of those accounts, because that's you know, it's important for people to understand what you're doing out there, and that you know, we talk a lot about the ethical shots and conservation and uh making that an important part of uh the whole experience as well. So Jeremy Balderama, the heart of Texas Archery, we are out of time for today's episode. We're gonna have you back on the show. And uh I wanna I want to catch up with you uh before maybe first or second week of rifle season to kind of follow up and see how your archery season has gone and what you're hearing out in the field. So we'll uh we'll check back in for sure before the rut this fall and talk a little bit more about archery uh here in the Central Texas area. But Jeremy, thanks again for being here. Uh and you can catch Jeremy uh on his own podcast at Full Drum Podcast on Spotify, Apple, and uh wherever you get your podcast, check Jeremy out uh up there and visit Heart of Texas Archery if you get a chance. Uh it's a great shop, it's a brick and mortar shop, and uh he's also available over my phone for for consultations and for uh for some great advice and for some bow fitting as well. So uh again, if you're not already if you're not already out there practicing, then you're already late for this season. So uh here's your sign if you needed one to get out there and start shooting. Jeremy, thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_04Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02Stay tuned right here.
SPEAKER_03Lone Star Trail will return after these messages. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway. Call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchproRealEstate.com. The land is their life. Well, that's all the time we have for this week's episode. Thanks for stopping by. Me and ol Hank the Guardog will catch you next week at the same time, same place. If you can't join us on a local station, find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. Also, you can connect with us on Facebook and share your hunting and outdoor photos and stories with us at Lone Star Trailradio at gmail.com. Until next time, for all of us here at the show, so long.
