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in reply to: Stalking and Still Hunting #39778
I am definitely no expert when it comes to deerhunting. However, I am a newbie hunter that still hunts from natural ground cover, shoots a 68″ longbow, and has learned A LOT from the one season I have under my belt. I had a few failures last year, including an encounter with a nice 8-point at 10 yards, but I did manage to kill a deer from the ground and stay unseen amidst about 25 hungry does in the middle of a Michigan winter.
For what its worth, the most important lessons I’ve learned from hunting on the ground from natural cover are the following:
1) Don’t look for the perfect cover, because it doesn’t exist. Especially with a longbow. You will most likely have to maneuver slightly to make your shot. Make sure there is cover around to do that.
2) You don’t have to stand/sit behind things. In fact, I avoid it if possible. I drove myself crazy trying to find cover that I could hide behind and still shoot my bow. As long as you have cover behind you: a big tree, brush tangles, etc. deer will have a hard time seeing you. You will feel naked, but it works and makes life easier. The trick is figuring out what “behind you” actually is. This is hard if you cannot identify where deer are moving in the area.
I hunt a lot of edges, clearings, water sources, shallow ravines, funnels, orchards, etc. and I position myself just off of where I think a deer may cross.
3) Be flexible. The perfect spot becomes not-so-perfect really fast. The cool part is that you can do something about it by not having a stand. Don’t be afraid to move as long as its into the wind and you do so slowly through cover.
4) Find something light and ultra quiet to sit on if you are still-hunting. I had a little 360 stool last year and it was great until it broke on me. I’m still looking for the perfect solution. Carpet or a pad works great in the winter.
Brian J. Sorrell’s Traditional Bowhunting for Whitetails book is great for ground hunting tips.
in reply to: Howard Hill Tembo Very Disappointing #39477Same here…read Hunting the Hard Way and was not terribly impressed.
After reading the book, I was telling Pat that Howard reminded me of Hank Azera’s character “Patches O’Huilihan” from the movie Dodgeball.
70-100 yard shots at goats and deer, 60 yard shots at squirrels, bagging 50 squirrels/rabbits in one weekend, etc. I definitely don’t idolize him for his hunting though I did see some of his African safari footage on YouTube (the lion and the elephant stalks) and they were pretty intense.
I became a Howard fan after watching Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood. That is the HH I love.
FYI..I don’t know if you read Fred Bear’s field notes but he took quite a few unethical shots himself. While he did kill quite a few animals, he must have wounded plenty. If it was in bow range – he shot at it.
in reply to: Recurve or longbow your choice and why? #37641I agree with Don. The argument that one is more traditional than the other is a load.
The history of the longbow is just a bit more attractive to me as I’m a Howard Hill fan.
I’d also like to point out that one of my reasons for making the switch is finger pinch. I’m a tall guy with really long arms and didn’t like the finger pinch I was getting out of my 62″ bows. I felt like shooting a 64″ recurve was silly so the longbow felt like the natural progression.
I currently shoot a 68″ and would love to buy a 72″.
in reply to: Recurve or longbow your choice and why? #37139Smiley wrote: I shoot only the longbow but with the handel designs reflex deflex limbs there can’t be much diffence between the two anymore other than the classic D shape
That would be a hybrid sir. Not a longbow. 😛
in reply to: Recurve or longbow your choice and why? #36298Started on a recurve but gravitated to the heritage, simplicity, and challenge of a longbow quickly. I’m not looking back.
Its hard to explain. You’re either a longbow shooter or you aren’t. You’ll find out fast.
in reply to: Where do you get your tradional supplies from #34589Tradtech’s site is confusing to me which is why I haven’t ordered from them.
I’d always rather buy things from shops.
in reply to: Arrows Lost Per Year #34588I broke or lost 7 carbons last year via Robin Hood or cracking the ends. I lost 3 aluminums rabbit hunting. I broke two aluminums deer hunting. I broke 7 more aluminums during league/shoots in January-February.
So give or take:
Carbons: 7
Aluminums: 15I lost 22 total in my first year of archery.
Switching to woods now except for indoor league. Hopefully I’ll shoot better.
in reply to: Where do you get your tradional supplies from #34422I’ve had nothing but good experiences with 3 Rivers.
Braveheart Archery is also REALLY good. Not as much inventory but they ship very quickly and you can paypal.
There are plenty of people who carry arrow-makings if you need that. Fletcher being one of them from thefeatheredshaft.com
I will admit that I buy a lot on ebay – especially feathers. There are some really good archery shops with ebay stores.
in reply to: A visit to the Great Lakes Longbow Invitational #34374You didn’t mention that I hollered across the field at the two of you walking….”HEY…IS YOUR NAME PAT!!!???”
“Yeah!?”
“SMEATON??!!”
“Yeah?!”
lol…lucky I’m not a shy person. It was definitely Bernie’s hat that gave yall away.
in reply to: What type of bow does everyone shoot #31039Longbows!!
I’ve got a 68″ 65#@31″ Bama longbow made out of Bocote and maple and a 68″ 56#@31″ Royal longbow made out of curly maple, cocobola, and bocote veneers.
I shoot my Dad’s Silvercreek 66″ longbow whenever I go home to visit. I know nothing about the specs of that bow.
in reply to: My First Hand-Made Wooden Arrows! #31032ToddRvs wrote: No when I first started to make arrows I knew nothing of spine weight. I just bought the ones that looked the straightest and went with them. I was only shooting a 25 pound draw and believe it or not they shot ok Now there were no olympic size groups bu after some practice I was able to hit a papper plate 3 out of 5 times at 20 yards. Pretty funny when you think about it. When I started moving up in weight that’s when I started to see all types of crazy things starting to happen. So I bought some ready made ceder wood shafts from Outdoor world. They worked real good. Then I made my first set of real ceder arrows with correct spine and everything. As for the poly, I at first used 5 or 6 coats like you but, doing that my groups got erratic. I spoke to an old timer at my club and he told me that I was using too much poly and changing the spine of my arrows. So I now use only 2 coats. Thank for the reply.
Hmmm…I’ll tray a thinner coat on my next set. I usually spray a quick layer of Shellac top coat on there too.
Nice avatar! Ol’ Oliver Queen. I love Green Arrow.
in reply to: My First Hand-Made Wooden Arrows! #31031ToddRvs wrote: No when I first started to make arrows I knew nothing of spine weight. I just bought the ones that looked the straightest and went with them. I was only shooting a 25 pound draw and believe it or not they shot ok Now there were no olympic size groups bu after some practice I was able to hit a papper plate 3 out of 5 times at 20 yards. Pretty funny when you think about it. When I started moving up in weight that’s when I started to see all types of crazy things starting to happen. So I bought some ready made ceder wood shafts from Outdoor world. They worked real good. Then I made my first set of real ceder arrows with correct spine and everything. As for the poly, I at first used 5 or 6 coats like you but, doing that my groups got erratic. I spoke to an old timer at my club and he told me that I was using too much poly and changing the spine of my arrows. So I now use only 2 coats. Thank for the reply.
Hmmm…I’ll tray a thinner coat on my next set. I usually spray a quick layer of Shellac top coat on there too.
Nice avatar! Ol’ Oliver Queen. I love Green Arrow.
in reply to: My First Hand-Made Wooden Arrows! #30004ToddRvs wrote: Very nice, Beats my first wood arrows I made. I used wood dowels from Home Depot, They actually worked quite well but I could not maintain a tight group with them. Switched to ceder and solved that problem. I have also used bamboo with good results.
I would suggest to limit your coats of stain to two maximum to limit changing the spine as much.
You mean coats of poly? I only have one coat of stain. Two coats of poly seems pretty thin. I would imagine it would start coming off easy when removing them from 3D targets and what not.
These fly great out of both of my bows with 5. I think I’m in good shape.
Were you weighing and spining the dowels at Home Depot after you bought them or did you just make arrows out of them? If the latter…I can imagine why you had problems.
in reply to: Elm Hall, MI Stick Bow Shoot #27676These are awesome!
Please tell me you stayed for the meal…or A meal???
I really missed that shoot but it was my 10 year high school reunion this weekend. Ripforce and I are headed to the Michigan Longbow Association shoot this weekend. Are you guys going?
I hope it doesn’t rain – supposed to be 88 and thunderstorms on Saturday and I can only pray that changes.
in reply to: My First Hand-Made Wooden Arrows! #24441I used a Grayling jig. A really cheap crappy, plastic, Grayling jig. Same one I used when I started. lol That is the one thing I REALLY need to upgrade. The Bitz gives you more accurate gluing and less bubbling and what not.
I have been shooting them exclusively since last week. My first test was shooting 3Ds with Ripforce today and we were both really really impressed. The penetration was excellent, the heads stayed on fine, and I only had to straighten one because it was REALLY stuck in the target and came out funny.
I shot better then I have in months with woods. I love them. I’m going to start stocking up. I’m definitely hunting with them.
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