[Bloodless]

in reply to: BOW ARM TECHNIQUE QUESTION #50505

NV — good question. I too have never really paid attention. Maybe you should simply try both and see which comes most naturally and delivers best accuracy shot after shot. Bodies are built different, one to another. The single most important tip for just starting out is not to overbow. Get all this basic stuff worked out without pain, and don’t rush it. Then up the poundage a bit at a time so far as it doesn’t cramp your proven successful form. All advice above looks sound to me. Just another angle.

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Target Panic #50501

Well Patrick, good on you for going back and resurrecting the oldie but goodie topics. I’ve never had target panic on targets and can’t even comprehend it, though I know it’s very real for some if not many archers. Maybe that’s because I’ve tried never to over-bow, so can be a bit relaxed at full draw. I consciously anchor, and momentarily register that ancher, before releasing. A related “trick” that may help some of our panicked brothers and sisters is to purposely aim to be off target, left or right a week bit, as you reach full draw. The split-second it takes to bring your arrow tip a bit left or right is all it takes to forbid panic. Now, if I could only remember to “pick a spot” when drawing down on live game, that’s when I “panic” though I feel fully in control. Maybe that’s why I’m so often — Bloodless

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Michigan "Meatout Day" #40080

We used to “BBQ” all winter on an outside propane grill, but when temps are really cold it doesn’t work well and screws up the essential coordination between grill check and kitchen cook. Then we tried one of those cheap little George Foreman indoor “grilling machines,” specifically the low-fat version (tilted forward so that fat drains off into a tray as it cooks). And now I plan to give my outdoor grill away! Wife wants a bigger Foreman-type indoor grill. It cooks from top and bottom at once so you don’t have to turn meat, and it keeps it moist. No smoke but the same good “char-broiled” flavor. Perfect for wild red meat which tends to easily overcook on the grill. Way off topic but highly recommended.

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Texas Hog hunt #35997

I’ve never done the TX hog hunt, so far, largely due to expense of getting there and having no choice but to pay to hunt a baited private ranch. Your experience, Bill, sounds like a good compromise and the fact that you didn’t connect and still feel you had a good experience you want to repeat, suggests that you weren’t making any unsporting compromises. Also, I understand that “baiting” pigs often is different than the usual game-feeder bait stations they use for deer and turkey there, or the mountains of apples they pile up in some eastern states. Basically someone spreads corn every morning along ranch roads to get the pigs out of the dense brush. Had to judge without being there, but like you, to me hunting is stalking. I’d think that in some conditions of terrain and cover that would be possible for pigs. Best luck next trip. Bloodless

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Wood Arrow Build Along "Finished" #26288

Fletcher — I see ’em too!
DesertDude — tell us about it — both the building, and how they shoot and hold up (if you please).

Most interested! 😀

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Mail order source for tungsten wire? #23853

This sounds interesting, Fletcher. Where do you find lead wire locally? Thanks, bloodless

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Why carbon arrows??? #13571

Hello down there! If you are getting good clean kills with your setup, absolutely no need to change. The advantages of carbon mostly have to do with their ability to provide extreme forward-of-center (EFOC) shaft balance — lots of weight up front on a light shaft — which unarguably gives more penetration and thus better kills. If you want to maximize the penetration and lethality of your current aluminums, go to heavy two-blade heads, like the Brown Bear or Grizzly El Grande, preferably single-bevel. Wood arrow shooters also have problems getting EFOC. What is your biggest, toughest game animal there?

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Hi Everyone #13564

Welcome to the campfire. They call me “Bloodless” because of my infamous hunting skills! The animals love me. “Here comes old Bloodless again! Nothing to worry about.” 😆

[Bloodless]

in reply to: stupin with woodies #53477

“There is no more decent an end to a wooden arrow than to have it shatter in a zillion pieces after colliding with a stump.”
George — May we too, like that funereal arrow, find such a happily sudden and poetical going-out party! The idea of “permanence” for anything, arrows or us, is the cause of endless, needless woe, past present “forever.”

Geeze … all of that from a dying arrow? George, you trouble-maker!:P Ol’ Bloodless

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Most Trouble Free Wood Shaft #42227

This is getting to be an interesting forum. According to the Braveheart website. Surewood shafts are $36.95 dozen. I can’t find anything on taper or the extra cost. Come on Patrick, since you started this, be a sport and build a dozen each of everything recommended here and give us a report! 8):wink:

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Most Trouble Free Wood Shaft #41025

Great info! Anyone know anything about pine hex shafts? I’ve heard some swear by them, and others say they’re impossible to keep straight as all the lams swell and shrink at different rates. Anyone with personal experience carrying them in hunting conditions?

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Moving target plans #41018

“Chad, 200 yds, I don’t go that far on vacation.” Good one, Mark! :D:lol:8):wink: Give us humor, or give us … boredom, stress and high blood pressure.

Foam soccer balls? So the arrow sticks in ’em? My first great shot with a bow, as a young kid, was hitting a soccer ball that an adult kicked out in front of me with a dare … and then as ever since with “real” balls, the arrow bounced back and almost skewered me! Guess I should use broadheads! 🙄

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Enough for Elk?????? #35950

Stick says: “[I] want to insure that my equipment does not limit me in the event something unforeseen happens – like I get rattled at having a 500 pound bull charge in at close quarters, screaming like a banshee.”

Well first, as one who’s “bought that t-shirt” a few times, man it’s more like 700 pounds for your average mature screaming bull! A spike or cow will go 500 … so while I get your point, you need to up the ante even more!

Brothers Stick and Duncan, you both sure got the essence of it! I guess it’s possible for a fellow to have so many elk in his “backyard” that they become nothing special … screw up and lose one, and you can go right on after another. I both feel envious and sorry for folks in that situation. But hey, like you say, most of us don’t get to chase elk very often, if ever. Considering all the planning and dreaming and driving and spending it takes to get us there, and the rarety of that great privilege for most of us, why cut corners at the crucial moment with an attitude of “maybe this will work, if everything goes just right” regarding equipment. I mean, what’s most important –stubborn personal opinion that what’s always worked for me with deer and pigs, will also work for me with elk … or “buying some insurance” to assure that the meat we bring home isn’t just our own broken hearts. Sure, like others have said, you can do it with 46 pounds — if you get every little other thing exactly right! But you can do it far more easily with 55 pounds … if you still get every other little thing right! Why bring a sandwich to a banquet! 😉

[Bloodless]

in reply to: Performance Differance between the 160 Grizzly and the 160 STOS #35927

So Dude, how is it that a Swabby (term used with affection) turns out to be a desert rat? But then, on second thought, it makes sense as opposites attract!

Anyhow, I’ve used both the Grizz and STOS extensively and here’s my 2 sent worth(less?) opinion: Right now the Grizzly is the better head because it’s single-bevel (if only right-wing, which leaves most of us out of that loop) and because it’s harder. BUT THEN, as you say, because STOS (stands for “Slicker than owl sh–“, no kidding!) isn’t quite so hard and is double-bevel, it’s easier to sharpen. And all advantages of hardness and single-bevels go away if they’re not sharp. Yet the STOS is harder than most. So I reckon in your case maybe it comes down to what you’re hunting? If nothing bigger than deer and feral hogs, and you have problems sharpening Grizzly (as I do too!), you can’t go wrong with STOS in my experience. If you’re hunting way-big critters like moose or elk, you either need to learn how to sharpen ultra-hard steel broadheads or buy some pre-sharpened by KME. Looking ahead, STOS promises heavier, single-bevel heads, while Grizzly promises heavier, better-factory-sharpened heads … but in both cases, year after year now … when? A really good halfway point for now IMHO is the Tusker Concord, which has all the same great features of STOS and Grizzly and costs no more or less, but comes in L and R single-bevel and pretty darn sharp from the factory. Well, you asked for opinions, and I sure got some! 😆

[Bloodless]

in reply to: America's Vanishin Silent Spaces #35920

“… once that peace is gone, we’re not likely to live to see its return.”

Exactly, brothers! Some of us, seeing little other choice, too easily adapt to hunting within the sound of a roaring Interstate. Perhaps we as a species are “lucky” to have such flexibility. But then, if we can swallow whatever garbage “progress” shoves down our throats, where then do we find motivation to save what we can of the real world that once (like forever except the recent past) was how it was, by natural design, and never will be again as you suggest, and which we are desperately, instinctively and even if unconsciously struggling to preserve within ourselves and humanity through traditional hunting? When I was a wee lad, being a “good sportsman” meant being good at killing animals and catching fish and woodsmanship, period. Nowadays it’s still that, but like everything else, so much more! Blessings on your children, as karma is on your side. 😉

[Author]

Posts