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Heck Doc, the wind’s blowing about 45 mph gusts. Thought you might enjoy sharing some down time with me.
I was out practicing holding in the wind. Hold here, hold there, no, over there, hell, let go!! Makes for good habits. Kinda different when the targetee (R2 Texan word :wink } is moving and the target is still.
And I’m gettin old, just not famous:lol:
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I remember the winds of MT!
If it ain’t blowing, it’s fixin to!
I have to hand it to you guys in the windy West…you have issues I don’t often deal with… our deer tend to hunker down in the thickest stuff they can find when it’s a blowin… so I usually tend to not get after them in that!
Practice, even windy practice, makes for assurance when the time comes….
The wind blew the ____ flew and there was Ralph practicing away!:roll:
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By the way, I believe the above photo of Art Young was taken on a moose hunt in Alaska in 1926. After downing a big bull, they ended up making a skin boat out of the moosehide to float themselves and the meat out. Another time, for sure.
You can watch the 1/2 hr. film “Alaskan Adventures” here (moose hunt starts at about 8:30):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaQ7ajWanFg
It’s silent, so put on whatever music you feel is appropriate. 😉
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I don’t know what’s changed from then to now, maybe it’s the food or the air. Something’s changed.
I read Pope’s book a little while back and there was some good stuff in it. But the one thing that sticks in my craw is his description of 70 yards as “point blank” describing a shot on a bear.
Maybe what’s changed is our ability to embellish the truth 😳
Another good thread by our very own Hammer!
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Steve,
by no means an EXPLANATION to your question, just some observations.
I have a Fred Bear Theater VHS of a Wy hunt I think with the same looong shots. BOW OF THE LI’L DELTA goes into some detail about those early days.
game was more plentiful, Archery as a hunting tool was in it’s infancy, and the issue of ETHICAL distances was more about what you could hit regularly,–or so it seems.
Not defending, just reading. The Field Archery was huge then, with 80 yard shots normal. so Point ON was something those guys dealt with a lot and while I enjoy an occasional 3D shot “way out there” I seldom shoot that far and suck at it. Perhaps it was more common and they didn’t suck?
Still leaves a lot of room for questioning, but as with most things, perhaps it “Evolved” to where we are today with more conscientious distances???
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I remember having a similar reaction the first time I read “Hunting the Hard Way.” But it was clearly a very different time – in the case of Pope and Young we’re basically talking a century ago!
I think things changed because of pressure, both from within the ranks of bowhunters, and from the public, who didn’t want to see wounded animals walking around with arrows sticking out of them, and realizing that if bowhunting was going to have a future, the notion of “ethical” shot distances and clean, efficient kills was going to have to become the norm.
All of which were very good and essential developments for the future of our sport, of course. But I can still go back and look at these old films and writings and greatly appreciate and enjoy them, without judging the individuals through the lens of a different set of rules than they had at the time. Long shot distances aside, some of the things these guys did were really remarkable, and Young’s taking of a bull moose with a home-made yew longbow, deep in the AK wilderness of the early 1920s, and then making a boat out of the hide in order to return to civilization, epitomizes that time, in my mind.
So yeah, I think that some things have changed for the better in terms of increasing awareness of ethics. But on the other hand, there was something about that era, and the places those guys went at that time, which is harder to find today.
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Good point and well (better said) than I,
The other thing that impresses me about these older tales and clips is the sheer toughness of the people involved!
I mean, those guys flopped down in water after fish, rafted white water without life preservers, waded volcanic creeks full of “quick mud” and just kept on trucking…
We (me?) hot house flowers would wilt and die, emergency kit or not, under such conditions!
I reference Glenn St. Charles writings, but the sheer guts and toughness of even his home-state hunts absolutely blow my mind.
Some things evolve and ethics change with time, but to have the “true grit” of those men in those days with their (by our standards) antiquated clothing and gear, is just shy of flippin amazing to this old hoss! 😯
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When I first watched the Art Young film years ago, not only being impressed with the hunting, shooting, country and all, I noticed the footwear.
It reminded me of the years as a young’n living in Idaho in the late 50’s and early 60’s and the hunting trips I went on with my dad plus other outdoor activities with the scouts.
This era had no neat insulated ( not insulted Bruce:wink: ) waterproof boots. We did our best to waterproof our boots with melted tallow but that of course let no moisture out as well as not in, kinda not in anyway.
I remember how cold and miserable my feet were and when I watched Art and company wading rivers, mucking in swamps in similar foot gear I wondered how did they do that.
That’s intestinal fortitude folks. As we all know miserable feet are miserable people.
They must have had way better wool socks than I. Maybe there’s other secrets that I knew not then. 😀
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What stuck in my craw was not that they were taking shots we might find unethical, it’s that they considered them “gimme” shots.
From the context of the story, it was obvious (to me anyway) that a 70 yard shot was super easy to them. It stuck in my craw cause I was jealous of their skill.
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Steve Graf wrote: What stuck in my craw was not that they were taking shots we might find unethical, it’s that they considered them “gimme” shots.
From the context of the story, it was obvious (to me anyway) that a 70 yard shot was super easy to them. It stuck in my craw cause I was jealous of their skill.
Thanks for that clarification, Steve…
Funny, how readers (different parts of country/different experiences) can read the same words and get entirely different perceptions!
I would have taken your words “stuck in my crawentirely differently without your clarification…
Indeed, I have to wonder if the Field Archery thing forced people to get better and practice more and extended ranges?
We have better designs, better modern materials for both bows and arrows, but we do not always (myself at least) have the “hell for leather” dedication those guys must’ve had to shoot so much and so far!
Critters, from readings, weren’t wired and as hinky as they seem today, and often stood and looked at those birds like “What the…?” where today, it SEEMS TO ME, critters see anything, wiff anything and they are OUTA HERE! Gotta be closer cause flight time will only lead to wounding.
Again, thanks for your clarification, Steve. I would agree… they were much more manly than I and far better shots, too!
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Been there R2, remember using SNO PROOF to try to get the boots waterproof. Didn’t work, we always had wet feet.
Also had the rubber boots the dairy farmers wore. They were waterproof, but COLD. When we got home from a trek in the woods (upstate NY) our jeans were frozen stiff up to the waist (OK so I have short legs). The leather straps on the TRADITIONAL skis/snowshoes would get wet, stretch, and they all fell off. No nylon straps, parkas, just cotton, and wool.
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Jeeze, but these young’uns here will think we’re talking in some sort of weird “code”. I remember all that stuff and the stinky, stinky stuff with a cotton ball applicator we put on our Big John leather boots, some sort of silicone that slathered on and we set outside due to the stench…
Kept em water proof for a wee bit… 😯
Reminds me of my “roller skates”…the cranked onto our shooes with a wind up key… was a real buggar when all we had were Keds Tennis shoes… really had to wind those clips tight to keep em on!
Skate all day, take em off and try to walk and fall flat on my face!
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