By Brenda Valentine
First Lady of Hunting®
September, 2008

It happens this time every year, so I've come to accept it as normal: that antsy anticipation of the upcoming hunting season that starts off mild and builds in intensity with the passing of each Dog Day of summer. One balm I've found that will temporarily soothe the pain is shopping. I scour catalogs and attend trade shows and hunting events in search of any new product or gadget that will magically insure me a successful season, or at least guarantee a safe and fun time afield. With a few decades of hunting experience to my credit, I've become harder to impress due to too many unkept promises of sure success. However, I am still amazed by the technology and unbridled creativity of those in the outdoor industry that keep coming up with cool ideas. Here are just a few of the things that have really caught my eye and eased the must-get-outdoors itch until hunting season is officially open.

The subdued pink camo gives the new Parker bow feminine appeal yet it is still practical for hunting situations.

Parker Pink SideKick Bow

At first glance, some will think the Parker Pink SideKick is just a cute girlie bow for backyard shooting. Wrong! This is a gutsy, state-of-the-art, parallel limb, mega-adjustable bow that can easily be sized to fit the smallest archer up to a full-grown bowhunter. The subdued pink camo is just right to give it a feminine feel but not so much that it wouldn't be appropriate for hunting. In fact, the one I brought home was quickly claimed by my bowhunting daughter who may have lost it just as quickly to her daughter. Every gal in the Valentine family is trying to lay claim to the Pink SideKick because it is so much fun to shoot and it looks 'way cool'. This bow has all of the high-end quality features and lifetime warranty that Parker is known for, plus the famous "Grow up with Parker" plan that can't be beat for anyone buying a bow for a growing youth.

The Pink SideKick XP is the hands down favorite among the gals in the Valentine clan.

Tink's Power Scrape Deer Scent

Mock scrapes are certainly nothing new to most seasoned deer hunters. However, Tink's, one of the oldest names in deer scents, has a new product called Power Scrape.

After listening to an educational seminar by Terry Rohm, Tink's Director of Sales and Marketing, I was convinced enough to add a couple of 16-ounce spray bottles of Power Scrape to my 2008 must-have list. The thing that sold me about Tink's Power Scrape is that it will stay fresh indefinitely on the shelf or behind the seat of my pick-up. According to Terry, a mock scrape should be started a couple of weeks before the season near your stand site. Power Scrape should be mixed with the dirt and also sprayed on leaves and trees all around the site. The urine smell will be reactivated whenever it rains, or a new application can be added weekly or whenever you are in the area. I don't know what's in Power Scrape that makes whitetail bucks go nuts over it, but the guys at Tink's had deer pawing and scraping last year during February in Michigan, long after the rut was over.

After every hunting season, as routinely as most folks make New Year's resolutions, I resolve that I will lighten my pack, pare down my equipment, make hunting less complicated, and become less of a packhorse. Of course, like most resolutions, it takes only until the next batch of latest products, guaranteed to heighten my success rate, that all good intentions are out the window and my hunting pack is bulging again. In seasons past, there were many times when I was half-way up a mountain or even a tall tree that I was tempted to start pitching stuff out of my backpack and pockets just to lighten the load. However, trying to choose an item I couldn't do without seemed an impossible task and I trudged on with thoughts of perhaps investing in a pack mule to carry my stuff.

Leupold Switch/Power Binos

Quite by accident, I stumbled on a fantastic tool for cutting down on weight and space by combining two necessary items, thus eliminating the need for one in many instances. The Leupold 10/17x42 Switch/Power Binos are a unique set of optics with the uncanny ability of switching from the ever-popular 10-power to the up-close look of a 17-power optic with a simple flip of the switch. It's almost like magic that I no longer need to switch from binos to spotting scope when I'm trying to size up an animal.

Leupold's SwitchPower Bino's are my new favorite optics.

This summer, while doing some long distance deer scouting, I've used the 10x to scan fields and spot bucks. Then, without taking my eyes off them I could zoom in for a closer rack inspection with the flip of a fingertip.

One thing that really surprised me was how stable the glasses were on the higher power. In most instances, trying to freehand powerful optics was almost impossible, usually ending with strained eyes, blurred images, and a bursting headache. Another thing that I noticed right off the bat was the overall light weight of the Switch/Powers — at less than 1-1/2 pounds they're even lighter and sleeker than my old 10x42 Gold Rings. The Switch/Powers are also available in a 7/12x32 which I think would be perfect for bowhunting, turkey hunting or any short-range applications. Of course, there will still be places in wide open country where I'll need a good spotting scope but, for the majority of hunting opportunities, the Switch/Powers fit the bill perfectly. As with all of the Leupold Golden Ring products, the Switch/Powers are built tough to last a lifetime but, should the unexpected happen, they're backed by a lifetime guarantee. I love the included neoprene neck strap which has enough adjustments to fit over my shoulder for carrying the binos tucked under my arm and out of the way when I'm riding or climbing. Now, if only Leupold could figure out how to build in a rangefinder, flashlight, skinning knife, lipstick, and cell phone in one unit so I could eliminate a bunch more stuff in that heavy hunting pack.