The DIY Hunter

Big Game Mounts at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo

Here are just a few of the many mounts that can be found at the 2014 Western Hunting and Conservation Expo.

I had a little time between work and Dallen's High School basketball to check out some of the booths at the Western Hunting Conservation Expo this year. I decided to donate $50 to put in for some of the hunting draws I would like most. The Desert Big Horn and Rocky Mountain Bighorn were no brainers. The Hunt Expo is most likely my only chance to draw one of them. By the time I have enough points to draw my once in a lifetime moose hopefully before I die, I think I will put in for a Mountain Goat and there's no way I'm living long enough to start on a third once in a lifetime big game animal.

Anyhow with the $50 for ten different hunts, $12 for parking, $10 to get in the show and my gas to drive down. It's worth it to have another chance to get a limited entry hunt in Utah.

As usual, there is some pretty cool stuff at the show. The place is just packed with huge mule deer and elk mounts not to mention tons of sheep and other critters. I do like walking through the taxidermy judging section. I feel a lot better seeing realistic sized deer and elk in this section. Many of the mounts are of deer with antlers the size I might actually see in the areas I hunt. Now throughout the rest of the show, the antlers just don't look real. I've hunted hard my whole life and never seen bucks or bulls anywhere near the size of most of them found in the show... wow!

Poison Arrow Bow Mounted Elk Decoy

Here is the Poison Arrow elk decoy collapsed on a bow.


Poison Arrow Bow Mounted Elk Decoy Deployed

Here Poison Arrow Gear's cow elk decoy deployed on the side of a bow. You can see how you can hide your draw behind the decoy.

Anyhow there where two products that caught my eye as I walked the show this year.

First was a lightweight decoy/blind that Poison Arrow is making that mounts to an arrow in your bow quiver. Being a solo DIY archery elk hunter I have many a time found it difficult to call in a bull within range without getting busted. My most successful technique is to ambush elk along an active trail or water hole. There are times when I am calling and I can see that carrying just a few more ounces of weight on my bow with one of Poison Arrow's cow elk decoys could help buy me some precious time to get the shot.

The decoy is a "flag" of material with a cow elk head printed on it. There is a small bungee cord that ties the decoy flag down by being wrapped through the nock of the arrow that the decoy is attached too. The decoy can be deployed in just a couple of seconds. The decoy attached to the arrow can also quickly be removed from the quiver and attached to a tree or brush etc.

Most of the time I try to ambush the elk and would prefer not to have the decoy visible attracting attention to me however sometimes I do have to cow call to pull a bull within range and if I have a bull coming directly to my calls this decoy might just buy me the time to get the shot. I can also see that it would offer a great shield to block the view of me drawing my bow. I might have to get one of these before next archery elk season.

CamStrap Video camera head mount

Solvid's CamStrap video camera head mount and one of their hats with a slot in the side for the mount to come through.

Another product that looked pretty cool was a nice solid camera mount that straps around your head called a CamStrap from a company called Solvid. Unlike GoPro cameras and mounts this mount appears very strong and secure allowing for the use of variable zoom digital video camera. The footage they were showing of archery mule deer hunting and other hunting was pretty amazing. I was impressed.

I could see how this could get awesome footage of my archery hunts and I could see how it could be very valuable to review the footage after a shot to see how well my shot placement was on an elk. A GoPro is cool but the footage is so wide-angled that anything past a few yards looks very distant. This system can bring the action in much closer. This could be a lot of fun as long as I'm not fiddling with the camera when I should be focusing on taking the shot.

Now if I get one of these straps I'll have to get a camera to use with it, hmm....

For more information about the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo check out huntexpo.com.