Watches

[paleoman]

#2991

What is the wisdom out there on wearing a wristwatch on a hunt? I do just as habit. No fixated on it. But on a pin drop day I wonder if the critters can’t hear the tick tick tick of the watch? I certainly can when I hold it up to my ear. Just curious what the collective wisdom is…

[Ralph]

#15360

Go digital 😀 They don’t tick. I think not anyway. Lots of stuff I don’t hear anymore my wife says.

Never occurred to me it might be what she’s sayin. Never occurs to her either.

I haven’t worn a watch since I retired. If I don’t have my phone or I’m in a vehicle when I’m out and about I usually have no clue what time it is.

There used to be discussions where people said a deer could hear a watch ticking at 15 yards. Don’t know bout that????:)

[David Coulter]

#15383

Paleo,

If I’m in a tree, which is most of the time, I have a watch that I lay down on the deck of the stand. I can see it at a glance and keeps me from moving my hands to see the time. I’d like to say I can forget about the time, but having the watch actually helps me relax. I also like to keep a rough tab on what happens at about what time. I’m more worried a deer will hear my stomach rumbling that my watch ticking! best, dwc

[David Coulter]

#15408

Lots of stuff I don’t hear anymore my wife says.

Never occurred to me it might be what she’s sayin. Never occurs to her either.

R2, I went to get my ears checked last year and found out that selective hearing was a real audio thing before it was a joke. You might know which kind of selective hearing you have if you don’t hear the words, but hear the frying pan coming.

[Stephen Graf]

#19330

I still wear a watch. As David does, when I’m in the woods I like to know about what time things happen.

I have found that deafness has many advantages. For one, I am now super quiet in the woods. I can slide through the crunchiest leaves like a shadow.

So far I’ve been able to avoid the frying pan 😀

[John Cholin]

#21110

I wear one. I am generally keeping track of when I finally have or loose shooting light so I can make sure I leave for my stand early enough, etc. I’m less concerned about the ticking than I am about the potential for game picking up the luminous dial during “prime time”. I make a point of keeping sleeves as long as possible.

John Cholin

[Ralph]

#23943

If you hear a tick tock, tick tock, ya might keep wanna keep an eye out for the croc?????:roll:

Imagine that David, selective hearing has been around way longer than ear docs have been around. Bet “Huh” came along right after “Ugg”…

Steve, bet your recurves are as quiet as your longbows too, eh???

[Stephen Graf]

#30335

R2 wrote: …Steve, bet your recurves are as quiet as your longbows too, eh???

Well shoot, I don’t know. Been so long since I shot my recurve….

[Ralph]

#30705

Me too………………… 😉

Was just stirrin’ the pot a little………

Off to Memphis, Texas that is, for big TBOT shoot and trad gathering. Purty country down there.

To stay on topic, no watches needed…..except to watch the flight of your arrows.

[Ralph]

#9058

Ha, bought an inexpensive watch, digital, for my target setup and 3D shoot trip. The job and country I felt might be conducive to cell phone loss or abuse.

It took me two days to start looking at my wrist again instead of reaching for my phone to see the time.

Also had a dozen mini strokes checking to see if my phone was in my pocket and it wasn’t. Gahhh. We’re creatures of habit!!!!

[paleoman]

#15437

Yes we are. It is a huge love/hate thing for me, the phones. But,I made my peace as my Millennial kids text more than talk so I gave up! I want an old fashioned wind up watch now just for balance:)

[Ralph]

#15683

Many moons ago “let your fingers do the walking”.. Today they’re doing the talking!!:roll:

[Stephen Graf]

#31448

I’ve got a flip phone. Never could warm up to a smart-A$$ phone. It fits in a nice holster on my belt, so no worries about loss. It’s water proof so no worries about the rain or duck hunting. And when I get a text message, no worries about responding to it. Everybody knows it takes me forever to punch out a message on the keypad 🙄

[Ralph]

#31536

Steve, you mean you haven’t got one of those that guides your arrows??

No es gran cosa, they work for no bueno squat….:roll:

[Stephen Graf]

#37570

Apparently, there is nothing on this great green earth that can guide my arrows to the mark 👿

[Ralph]

#37934

Sometimes a little gentle persuasion works better than a whole bunch of these, “You sorry little *&#@#*&^’s” 🙄

😀

[grumpy]

#44573

Got a small black digital watch mainly because I got tired of digging the phone out of my pocket. Learned a long time ago that the smaller the watch the less likely I am to break it.

[Charles Ek]

#45613

I’ve gone back and forth between relying on my smartphone as I usually do and bringing a wristband watch when hunting to minimize arm movement. (I keep my smartphone in a waterproof sleeve in the field, and unlocking the screen is almost always a PITA with gloves.)

This got me to thinking that the folks in Gainesville might want to offer a watch as an alternative to a compass embedded in the riser. And to keep it trad, it should be an analog style, not digital.

But then I remembered that the market for trad bows is dominated by people of R2’s vintage, who are old enough to recall when “let your fingers do the walking” referred to something other than a method for aiming. 😈

So the watch dial would need to be so large to be readable by them (um, us) that the “C” handle would have to be brought back, and who wants to lug one of those around in the woods all day?

[David Coulter]

#47651

Maybe R2 can put a sun dial on his riser?? Might be tough for those early morning hunts, but it sure would be trad. dwc

[Ralph]

#59508

dwcphoto wrote: Maybe R2 can put a sun dial on his riser?? Might be tough for those early morning hunts, but it sure would be trad. dwc

They do’em in digital? I don’t do Latin and have no desire to learn. I may shoot a longbow but I don’t dwell in the past.

Besides I hunt from see to cain’t see or I get worn out so why let time be a worry. Gut tells me time to eat, dusk tells me time to quit.

I’ll worry about time when other things going on.

[Stephen Graf]

#8905

I think it’s time to let this one go 😀

[Col Mike]

#26492

Your arm extended at full reach with your thumb up and little finger pointed down subtends an angle at infinity of 15 deg. That coincidentally is the time the sun apparent movement makes in one hour (hence our time zones). Check sunrise and sunset time before heading out and by using that personal set of nav dividers you can walk the sun down or up the horizon to pretty accurately tell the time. More importantly in a survival situation one can figure how much time to sunset and when you need to start building a shelter for the night. When it’s overcast or just cloudy you just wing it–with practice you can get pretty good with it in home terrain, takes some adjusting when traveling.

From a personal note I only wore a watch when timing had to be to the second for air or artillery support/control. Not needed now and haven’t worn one in over 15 years.

You that are interested in natural navigation may want to check out the website for the Polynesian crew who are circumnavigating with no instruments. I never carry a digital device in the woods—find that just being there makes me more AWARE of what’s happening.:lol:

Semper Fi

Mike

[James Harvey]

#24458

Not sure if it’ll help but our little army trick for stopping the reflection of watches is cut the top 3-4 inches off a green sock and slip it over your wrist to cover the watch. Then you just peel it back when you want a look. Might muffle any obnoxious ticking 😉

[David Fudala]

#34109

I like wearing a watch because it keeps me from fumbling with my phone. As soon as I pulled the phone out, I had to check the time, then I’d check for messages, then emails, I’d see missed calls… On and on and on! Now, the phone goes into airplane mode and rides in the pack for emergencies only. Quick glance at the watch and I’m back to looking where I’m supposed to be!

[Ed Ashby]

#38587

Ausjim has the right idea. More game will be alerted by reflection off the watch’s crystal than by sound the watch makes. That’s especially true for the stalking hunter but can happen any time your hand moves. When we use to hunt the open mountains and tundra and split up to hunt opposite sides of the valley one of the easiest ways to locate the other others across the valley was to watch for that flash of light off their watch’s face (or any other reflective surface that wasn’t covered). I always used either a watch band with a cover or used a pocket watch.

Ed

[Ptaylor]

#50237

I started bringing a digital watch backpacking as an alarm, instead of bringing an alarm clock. I don’t like wearing the watch in the woods though, because it can get snagged on brush and that bothers me.

[arthurw]

#25207

I’m pretty sure lots of hunters have killed deer while wearing watches. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine it being a factor. The only reason I don’t wear one is I’m a gorilla who forgets to take a watch off before I fix cars, fall in rivers, and a whole bunch of other things I do that destroys nice things. Pocket watches are in the same category as wristwatches as being destroyed by me. When hunting the cell phone stays in the car, and I carry a fancy compass and a pocketknife.

[Ralph]

#26474

I got curious about finding a watch that ticked in this age of time?? and found that it’s more of a hassle than I’d care to mess with even if I was interested. They’re available as vintage watches or as watches that I could spend a sum money on or by several new bows with those dollars.

I hate decisions. ??

[skifrk]

#28041

I generally don’t wear a watch and try to keep my body’s internal clock going. Work’s for the most part but occasionally get off a bit and then if I am out hunting have a gps to turn on and reference time.

[Mark Turton]

#28044

You might try a pre-owned railway pocket watch, not too expensive robust and strangely reassuring to have about you.

Mark.

[Don Thomas]

#32297

I agree completely with Ed. Sound is not a problem, but reflection from a crystal or metal band sure can be. No phones for me, and I would do without the watch too except that sometimes you need to meet a hunting partner at a given time, and in coastal Alaska you have to know what the tide is doing down to the minute. Don

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