KJ's Kustom Archery Shop doesn't go out of its way to be "high profile." It's the kind of place you find out about through word of mouth.
KJ's squats along Old Route 21 on a bluff overlooking the Monongahela River in Greene County, sharing the building with a tattoo parlor and loomed over by the towers, stacks and scrubbers of the Hatfield Power Plant. But if you care less about atmosphere than straight talk about bowhunting, KJ's is a good place to spend time.
At this time of year, KJ's and archery shops all across Western Pennsylvania are busy helping hunters tune up for archery deer season, which begins Oct. 4 in Pennsylvania (Saturday for antlerless deer only in Wildlife Management Unit 2B) and Oct. 18 in West Virginia.
Kevin Polish, who owns KJ's, says one of the most important things a hunter, especially a new bowhunter, needs to get ready for bow season is humility -- accepting his own physical limitations and being willing to accept professional help.
"Nobody should feel intimidated about going to a pro shop for help," Polish said. "And at these little family run shops you'll get advice from a more-qualified person than at the big box stores. We're not here for the sake of selling something. If you don't need to buy a new bow, I'm not going to tell you to buy a bow."
Polish maintains that proficiency is more important than power.
"Too many guys try to be heroes, but it doesn't pay," Polish said. "It's essential to find a draw weight and draw length that you're physically comfortable with. For a hunting bow, you should be able to sit down at your kitchen table and draw your bow. That way, when you're cold and stiff and standing in a tree for three hours, and that big buck comes along, you'll be able to do what you need to do."
Kevin's son, Jason "KJ" Polish, the shop's technical advisor and winner of the National Archery Association's Gold Medal in 2005, agrees.
"The biggest thing is to not set your draw weight so heavy that you can't be consistent," KJ said. "Too many guys are after arrow speed, but speed is nothing without accuracy."
Besides his competitive archery accomplishments, KJ bowhunts every fall in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois.
"Accuracy follows consistency" is almost a mantra at KJ's and among its regular customers. "Learn to shoot right and don't stray from that," Kevin Polish said. "When you practice, it is better to shoot 10 arrows the right way than 50 arrows wrong."
Dave Samuel, a KJ customer, retired professor of wildlife management at West Virginia University and elected member of the World Archery Hall of Fame views practice the same way.
"There are two things that backyard practice can do for you when you get to the woods," he said. "First, it will develop a shooting routine that works for you and sets up consistent reference points -- drawing the bow with the back muscles in a fluid motion, aiming through the center of the peep and finding your comfortable anchor point."
Samuel said practice also gets a hunter ready for the field.
"Mentally ready ...," he said, "and this does not need to involve shooting a lot of arrows. Rather, it's important to shoot each arrow consistently and think about each one being shot at the buck of a lifetime."
Samuel and the Polishes echoed the importance of a consistent anchor point.
"Put your nose on the string for each and every shot if that helps you to be consistent," Kevin Polish said. "If you do that, and if you center your string peep on the housing of the front sight, then put both on the target, you've got a three-point setup that encourages consistency."
Consistency also promotes confidence, they said, another trait of a competent bowhunter.
"Practice at a distance that instills confidence. You need that," Kevin Polish said. "Most bow shots are taken at 18 to 25 yards, so practice a little at a time until you are confident at that range."
"To build that confidence, you also need to practice with your hunting broadheads. They will fly differently from field points," KJ Polish said.
"When you go to that stand on Oct. 4, you want confidence in your hip pocket. Practicing correctly, within your own physical abilities, will put it there for you."
First Published: September 14, 2008, 8:00 a.m.
