BOWHUNTER OF THE YEAR

from Vol. 50 #4 Summer 2023 Issue

Hunting Tradition in a Technological World byStephanie Prater

Chris Blaskowski (long time member of the MBA) has had a year that is nothing short of incredible. Between February 2022 and February 2023

Chris shot two mountain lions that were treed by his Drahthaar Cain and hound Cruz, two Asiatic Water Buffalo in Australia, a bull elk, a mountain goat, a whitetail buck, multiple whitetail does and three Texas hogs all with longbows. If the Asiatic Water Buffalo and mountain goat was not impressive enough on their own, Chris only had one day to hunt elk In between his Australian adventure and southern Montana mountain goat hunt and managed to call in a lone 5x5 bull with his dog Cain by his side. Chris sent perfectly placed arrow through the bulls lungs within a few hours of leaving the truck. Chris Blaskowski is our 2023 Bowhunter of the Year! I thought I’d ask Chris a few questions about his epic season and share a little bit about Chris for all of you.

10 Questions with the Bowhunter of the Year, Chris Blaskowski

1. Bowhunting success can be defined by many ways and you just had one heck of a season. Besides the sheer amount of successfu l kills you made in 2022, how do you define your bowhunting succes s?

Ironically I consider any time away from work and in the woods a success Harvesting an animal is great but if that’s how I measured success I wouldn’t be using a longbow or recurve that’s for sure. All those close encounters and time alone in the field are victories in my book!

2. Many bowhunters were essentially born into the bowhunting lifestyle with families and friends starting them shooting and hunting at a young age. Some bowhunters are self taught and fumbled their way to eventual success. What did your introduction into archery and bowhunting look like?

My father has always been a bowhunter. As well as my Aunt and Uncle and various family friends. I grew up with Bowhunter magazines laying on the end table and read them constantly. I still remember when Traditional Bowhunter magazine came out and looked forward to my Dad bringing each issue home. Bows were always available to us kids and I spent countless hours shooting ( and developing bad habits!) My firsts hunts were for neighborhood carp close to home and snowshoe hares in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

3. Can you briefly describe the most difficult hunt of 2022?

That’s easy! My Montana mountain goat hunt saw me go from sea level in Australia to 10000 feet in the Absarokas in a matter of days. My buddy Jake and I did a ten day backpack trip in. The constant grind was wearing my feet down a bit but the real difficulty started when I made a steep down hill shot and ended up with a single lung hit. The emotional roller coaster until I sealed the deal the next day provided the difficult part. I wouldn’t trade that for the world. It made the success that much sweeter!

4. How would that difficult hunt have changed if you were using a modern crossbow with a 4 power scope?

Ha! Good one! I probably would have been pissed the whole time trying to lug that ugly thing around! I don’t think on that hunt it would have helped me any but I can’t even imagine hunting whitetails with one. Lame

5. I shoot a handful of bows throughout the year but I prefer to hunt with one bow, with the same arrow and broadhead combination for the entire season. What is your current bow setup and did you change throughout the season to adjust to the species you were hunting?

Currently I’m shooting a 56” Big Stick Gremlin at 60#s. Mainly because it’s my newest bow and I’m getting ready for spring bear and turkey. I used a total of 4 different bows throughout the year. I started with a 56” Timberghost recurve for lion, than to a 65# Centaur longbow for water buff, than to a 62” RER longbow I won at a MBA convention for elk, goat, and deer. Finally I ended up with that Gremlin hunting lions and hogs. All my hunting is usually done with Easton Axis shafts and Simmons shark broadheads. For Buff I had to get creative to get a 1050 grain arrow dialed in.

6. I was lucky enough to kill an “El Gigante” whitetail buck in 20 22 but I also shaved hair of his brisket a few days before at 22 yards. Tell us about any miss or misses from your 2022 epic season, even the Bowhunter of the Year misses right?

You bet they do. I actually screwed up a shot on a rutting whitetail in November. It was single digit cold and the buck came in chasing a doe. I had to slip out of my heater body suit and twist left to shoot. Something happened and my arrow ended up about 18”s left and I hit him in the hip. Even with great snow and trying to do everything right I was unable to seal the deal. Oh and then there was this big boar hog….

7. In your opinion, what is the biggest threat to our coveted archery only season?

High success rates which are elevated through technology

8. If you could magically draw any Montana hunt and any species, w hat would that be?

That includes any special tag you’ve already drawn.

That would have to be Mountain Goat again! I have been privileged to hunt them twice and it leaves me wanting more. Of course I wouldn’t mind a Bear Paws elk tag again either…

9. Reflecting on your entire bowhunting history do you have a story of the “one that got away”?

Unfortunately I have quite a few.

My hunt years ago for a giant bull in the breaks. I hunted like 17 days with the longbow screwing up a couple shots and having a couple massive bulls in close with no shot. With only one weekend left to hunt I dug my compound out from the closet just sure I would kill a massive bull easy. On Friday after work I drove til midnight to get there The next morning after making a huge loop I was headed back to camp when a bull responded. I screamed back at him and he walked right in. At 18 yards he went behind a tree and I came to full draw. He turned to walk away and at 25 yards broadside I let it rip. I saw my fletches heading right for the money when my arrow deflected straight up and off his antlers. I was sure he blocked my arrow with his antlers until I found a rubbed off sapling 5 feet from where he was standing with a 2 blade hole right through it! A one inch sapling. Oh well he was maybe only 360 or 370… Tag soup

Whoa! Back up there buddy. You’ve drawn two goat tags and a Bears Paw tag in your short life on this planet? I should end this interview there but I have one more, it’s kinda weird.

One goat hunt was actually a guided hunt up in BC years ago. Ok then, last question

You have a choice:

A. You go back in the past to the time of dinosaurs (the landscape crawling with killers) for one day

B. You go 100 years into the future ( the landscape crawling with who knows what) for one day

You can bring your bow and a quiver full of arrows for self defense for self defense of course, probably gonna need that in both scenarios.

Would it be A, Dinosaurs or B, Future Humanoids?

A - I’d head back to the time of the dinosaurs and pack my buffalo setup! Would be interesting to see what that era would have actually looked like.

I don’t believe 100 years from now will be to my liking!

I agree with you on that one!

Thank you for sharing your photos and bowhunting exploits with us, It was my pleasure to interview another exceptional Montana Bowhunter of the Yea r!