Check those rules first before claiming any bow hunting records

I just wonder how many of you archery guys are aware that some of the gimmicks that you cherish will keep you out of legally participating in the Pope and Young Club record books?

I know masses of you went out and bought crossbows. That one right there takes you out of the running. Pope and Young will not accept any crossbow-taken deer for their records. Neither will they accept animals taken with bows having rangefinder sights affixed nor with illuminated nocks on your arrows. You may justify and rationalize all you want but those are the rules. If you take an animal with a bow with a “let off” of more than 65%, your name will be recorded, but an asterisk will be placed by your name.

It’s not such a big thing to most hunters, as just achieving the minimum sizes seems to be the important thing. I doubt you’ll ever find a Delaware whitetail that would crack the top 10 in the records, but if you think you can do it, it might be wise to familiarize yourself with the rules. You can find them at www.pope-young.org/bowhunting_equipment.asp.

I was able to get a good fish story. Dave Henderson of Camden and Jack Van Dorpe of Dover booked a fishing trip recently to Alaska and the story made it’s way here, obviously.

They went out of Homer, Alaska, for halibut and silver salmon that make their annual run in the early fall. On the halibut trip, the boat was carrying six fishermen with six baited rigs set by the crew. Dave had rod five and Jack ended up with rod six. Action was a bit slow when Jack decided that if it works on the Delaware Bay, why wouldn’t bottom bouncing work in Alaska. He picked and extra rod and began to fish.

Suddenly rod No. 6 bent over and the mate told someone to grab it. As Dave was right there, he grabbed it and after about an hour’s fight, the 110-pound slab was finally aboard the boat. It ended up being the largest fish caught that day and it was caught while the rod’s true “owner” was bottom rigging.

We’re already a week into the bow season and I’ll have to apologize for not having any stories about the success of our intrepid hunters. Because of the holiday weekend our deadlines didn’t allow for much. I’m sure by next week I’ll have enough lies to fill several columns.

I just wonder how many of you archery guys are aware that some of the gimmicks that you cherish will keep you out of legally participating in the Pope and Young Club record books?

I know masses of you went out and bought crossbows. That one right there takes you out of the running. Pope and Young will not accept any crossbow-taken deer for their records. Neither will they accept animals taken with bows having rangefinder sights affixed nor with illuminated nocks on your arrows. You may justify and rationalize all you want but those are the rules. If you take an animal with a bow with a “let off” of more than 65%, your name will be recorded, but an asterisk will be placed by your name.

It’s not such a big thing to most hunters, as just achieving the minimum sizes seems to be the important thing. I doubt you’ll ever find a Delaware whitetail that would crack the top 10 in the records, but if you think you can do it, it might be wise to familiarize yourself with the rules. You can find them at www.pope-young.org/bowhunting_equipment.asp.

I was able to get a good fish story. Dave Henderson of Camden and Jack Van Dorpe of Dover booked a fishing trip recently to Alaska and the story made it’s way here, obviously.

They went out of Homer, Alaska, for halibut and silver salmon that make their annual run in the early fall. On the halibut trip, the boat was carrying six fishermen with six baited rigs set by the crew. Dave had rod five and Jack ended up with rod six. Action was a bit slow when Jack decided that if it works on the Delaware Bay, why wouldn’t bottom bouncing work in Alaska. He picked and extra rod and began to fish.

Suddenly rod No. 6 bent over and the mate told someone to grab it. As Dave was right there, he grabbed it and after about an hour’s fight, the 110-pound slab was finally aboard the boat. It ended up being the largest fish caught that day and it was caught while the rod’s true “owner” was bottom rigging.

Don’t feel sorry for Jack, however. When the fish started to bite, he got his revenge. Of the 10 fish caught by the party that day, eight of them came off his bottom rig. Obviously the bottom rigging works well in both sides of the country.

Speaking of that, Dave shared some of both salmon and halibut with Connie and me. Nothing tastes better than this oversized flounder to begin with, but just to celebrate Jack’s feat, I decided to slit the huge filet chunk and stuff it with Delaware blue crabmeat. As they say down South, that was “fittin’ to eat.”