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in reply to: Light Weight Hunting Bows #35177
45# is the minimum for antelope and deer in Wyoming. Elk and trophy game require 50# or heavier. Anything goes for small game and varmints.
I have four bows: 35#, 45#, 50# and 55#. My 26″(+/-) draw puts actual draw weight about 5# lower. So I am trying to master the 55# bow and use it exclusively.
in reply to: Man Eaters of Kumaon #35174Yep, I was just revisiting this thread and was going to add that just days ago I saw an article about a recurrence of tiger attacks in parts of India.
Maybe I will re-read Corbett’s book…it’s been a while since I did.
in reply to: poll on release #35164Split with a tab because that’s how I started. I’ve never tried 3-under, not even once. It seems like split gives me more control of arrow during nocking and initial part of draw.
in reply to: how good is good enough? #35532I just joined the local club, High Plains Archers. That gives me 24/7 access to a nice indoor range and evening leagues. At 7200’ elevation consistent outdoor practice is pretty unlikely until June.
The indoor range allows a full 20 yards but I try not to think about that. I move up or back after almost every practice shot to train my eye to instinctively respond to the apparent distance of the shot. I try to put the calculation of distance out of my mind.
When (if?) Spring comes I will get back stump shooting in my hunting territory. The goal will be to fine tune my eye so I can immediately categorize any target (stump, flower, dirt clod, etc.) into one of four categories: close shot, medium shot, long shot, or NO SHOT (too far). The eye sees the target and the brain says go or no go without ever considering distance in feet or yards.
The result of each release will be evaluated as dead on (think tennis ball), real close (think volley ball), or BAD SHOT (think wounded deer). My goal is to eliminate BAD SHOTS by developing my ability to reliably and quickly discriminate between doable shots and NO SHOT before I even draw my bow.
Well that’s a lot of words to say I am trying to get away from using numbers in the process of improving my traditional archery skill. It’s judgment, not measurement. After all, why calculate yardage at all if I am shooting a bare bow?
in reply to: Always be Ready… Rookie Mistake #35488That’s what I consider a trophy encounter. Congratulations! Any time you get that close to a deer in his own backyard you are doing a lot of things right.
I will be 67 before I stock up on tags from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department for 2014.
Even during September it is pretty chilly prior to sunrise in my hunting cabin located a little above 8000 ft. elev. (See avatar of 12’x16′ log kit cabin.)
What I feel most strongly though is a desire not to make bow hunting into a rat race of schedules, destinations, and a bunch of stress. I go to the cabin to slow down and de-stress. So I am pretty casual about getting up and out into the timber.
Looking back over my 22 years of rifle seasons of early rising for antelope, deer, and elk in Wyoming it’s clear I rarely have shot any game before mid-morning and a bunch of successful encounters have come in late afternoon.
I returned to bow hunting last season largely because it fits in with my slow down and de-stress outlook at this time in my life. Getting out is as important as ever but tagging out isn’t nearly such a big deal as it used to be.
in reply to: Pulling my hair out over quivers. #35453I have not used the plains type quiver myself. But I do enjoy, and often learn from, the YouTube videos of Greyarcher1. Grey does not hunt but he is way, way into traditional archery and makes much of his own gear. Recently I have only seen him using a plains quiver. Check out his videos and see how it works for him.
in reply to: Just a thought (on technology)… #23992The older I get the harder I work to take less stuff on my hunts. So NVG, etc. is not a direction that appeals to me.
I will continue to carry a GPS as a safety measure and maps when in new territory. Otherwise a simple headlamp and basic compass will get me off the local mountains after dark. When available a bright moon is usually all the light I need.
Happy New Year to all! I might even stay up to finish a football game but likely not.
in reply to: resolution #23986I know nothing about hunting in So. Cal. But it sure was pleasant to spend last weekend in Costa Mesa for an uncle’s 90th birthday celebration.
I have hunted public land 90+% of the time since moving to Wyoming in 1991. Trophy designation for me is based on “how” not “what” I hunted. Even with a rifle I consider myself a trophy meat hunter: trophy meat cow (elk), trophy meat doe, trophy meat forkhorn, etc.
The effort and the experience define the hunt. Tagging an animal is just a bonus.
in reply to: Quality, yet affordable knife suggestions? #24668+1 for Mora knives. You can get them from Amazon and lots of other places. They are a great value for the price and perfectly adequate.
I have two Moras in my meat hauling frame pack. When I kill an elk I field dress with a folder before I head for the truck to get the meat pack. It contains everything needed to quarter, bone, hang, and haul. An elk takes me five trips to retrieve on foot.
(BTW, I went out to “look around” for elk on the spur of the moment one season and ended up with a 5X5 on the ground at 4 p.m. I CAREFULLY gutted and quartered with an Old Timer pocket knife (2, 3″ blades, no lock) and a cheap Michael’s hunting saw. It was messy and a headlamp saved me as darkness fell and I still had to get off the mountain. I can’t recommend this system but it can be done.:D)
in reply to: broadhead target #24647A simple frame to hold paper in front of a pile of sand, “good” dirt, or mulch works well but is hard to find piles without rocks that can damage the points. A dirt cutbank on a creek works but again is hard to find without hidden rocks. There is a public range about 60 miles from here, right off the highway, that has a dirt pile and frame specifically for broadhead testing. If I happen to be going that way it’s a good option to plan a stop.
This week I will buy a couple of bales of straw at a local feed store. I will add some soft wire binding just in case I cut the string. The straw bales will be set up safely at our cabin property (21 acres), not in my backyard in town. This minimal expense set up will serve for at least one season.
Six hunting arrows will be tested on the straw, and the four best fliers chosen for hunting. The other two can be used to “stump shoot” into a dirt bank near my cabin. If those points get damaged, so be it.
in reply to: Camera mugger — caught in the act! #24632I agree with David. Well said. Marketing is the culprit. Marketing science has become extremely efficient at creating a sense of need and offering a product to satisfy it. The creation of needs must go on from year to year because most products do not wear out for a long time. To sell more product a new sense of need must be created.
For a huge per cent of so-called hunters the attraction is not the hunting experience, it is the consumption experience that is the driving force. That’s the world we live in.
in reply to: Cougar tips? #12846During elk season of 1998 a young mountain lion came in to check out my cow chirps. She got pretty close without me being the wiser. I just happened to go in the cat’s direction when I decided to move up the ridge.
We locked eyes for a few seconds before I fired my rifle. That was an electric moment for sure.
The weird part of this story is that I actually had a lion tag in my pocket. It’s the only time I have ever purchased a lion tag. Now I have a lion rug on the wall above my desk.
I was not in any danger and am confident that I could have scared this 2 1/2 year old female away if I had tried to. Her stomach was empty but she was in good shape. A mature male might have been a different story.
Try a variety of varmint, or deer, or elk calls — whatever is natural to your area. If I decide to try for another lion that’s the approach I will take.
in reply to: Picking a bow for 2013 hunting #61558For me elk and deer season opens on September 1. Pronghorns are legal a little earlier but I won’t chase them with a bow.
in reply to: Your first trad kill… #61556I hope to have a “first kill” story before the year is out. This will actually be my first season of serious bowhunting. September 1 will find me in the timber with bow in hand.
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