[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145797

Unfortunately this was one of the hives that I was worried about.  Activity around the hive dropped off to nothing in just a couple of weeks so I decided to open it up.  There was no brood in the hive and a bunch of dead bees in the bottom.  The amount of dead bees was just a fraction of the bees that was in  this hive.  I don’t really have any idea what happened.

It’s almost time to set swarm traps so we’ll see how that goes.

I haven’t seen the bee numbers around here like I used to.  Last April I was down in southern Arizona, two miles from Mexico, on a different kind of hunting trip.  While in camp one day I watched four large swarms of bees fly over camp and another day four of us passed by a Mesquite tree that had a large swarm in it.  I wondered if these were the Africanized variety.  You don’t hear much about them like you used to.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145793

Well, I ran out of jars.  Wound up with about 4.5 gallons of honey.  I have 24 12oz jars and 29 8oz jars and about 2″ left in the five gallon bucket.  Now to clean up the mess.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #145779

One of my beehives has had little or no activity around it for a couple of weeks so since the temperature was in the 70’s I decided to open it up.  The supers are crammed full and the bees had bridged the frames.

I got the top super off and got seven frames of honey.  I pulled three frames out it last fall.  Tomorrow I will pull the next super and work on it.

So far the seven frames have yielded around two gallons of honey.  I need to go buy some jars.

[aeronut]

in reply to: OJAM Oklahoma Selfbow Jamboree #145695

The OSS board has made the decision to cancel OJAM XVI because of the health guidelines put forth by President Trump in yesterday’s press conference.  It is very late notice but is a needed precaution.
I hope the media induced panic subsides soon and people realize this is no worse than the H1N1 flu that the media barely mentioned at all.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142666

Here’s my bottle targets.  Lots of fun.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142665

I recently made these practice blunts to shoot at my hanging bottle targets.  They are Poplar shafts and weigh the same as my hunting arrows.  Had to wait about four days for the rain to quit so I could go out and shoot them.

My bees really like the yellow fletchings.

I make my blunts by pressing a 125 grain  11/32″ field tip into a .38 Special casing.

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142655

Ralph, these bees are really docile.  The reason for waiting until after dark is not that I might get stung but the fact that the bees will fly into the liquid stream as it goes into the feeder and I have had to rescue a lot of them from drowning.  I have since changed from the chick feeder to a bucket modified to sit upside down.  The number of drowned bees has gone down substantially.

 

Old feeder

This is one of the modified bucket feeders.  Less mess.  This is one of two I have and set it on the end of my picnic table by my wood shop.  I work on the other end of the table and they don’t bother me a bit.  The wasps are the ones I watch out for.

My hives are right out in my range and I shoot my bows around them all the time.  I always have one or two bees checking out the bright fletching and cresting colors on my arrows.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Hunting truck #142369

1999 Dodge Ram 1500.  Over 275,000 miles and I’ve owned it for 15 years.

Also a 1997 Jeep Wrangler.

 

[aeronut]

in reply to: What ya got goin'? 2 #142368

I haven’t seen the bee numbers here in SE Ks. like I used to in the past so I started keeping bees last July.  I’ve got four hives set up now.  I robbed five frames of honey from them this year.  Leaving the rest for their winter feed.

I went out to fill their feeder and decided to wait until after dark.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Smoking arrows ??? #138844

Possibly liquid nitrogen that they dipped the arrows in.  But that would make them brittle.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Can you consistently hit a paper plate? #137018

I go a different approach at times.  Instead of taking shots at my 3D targets from various places around the yard I have some other targets hanging around.  I tied some plastic water and soda bottles to some tree limbs so they can swing in the breeze and shoot at them with blunts.  Doesn’t take long to get the windage right, so to speak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINLEUa-O4I

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136508

Traditional and shield cut is the same.  What I and a lot of people call Cherokee cut is Cut Section in this link from Gateway.

NITTY GRITTY ON FEATHERS

And then there is this little How-to-d-it here.

Cutting Feathers for Arrow Fletching

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136495

I’ve been making arrows for over 30 years starting out with multiple recommendations from a lot of different people and mainly just experimenting on my own.  We didn’t have something called internet back then.

My routine is what Ralph pointed out only I use 3# per inch, not 5.  First you need to know your actual draw length.  When I set up as a vendor at a lot of the 3D shoots it was fun to see the reaction of people when we did an actual measurement of their draw length.  A good 85% of those claimed a longer draw length than what we measured and most all of them were going by what they drew as a compound shooter.

The spine of an arrow is measured on a span of 26″ and that measured spine is figured with a 125 grain point as a standard.  If you use a lighter point the shaft will react as a stiffer spine.  Using a heavier point the spine is weaker.  Arrow length also has an affect on spine.  A shorter shaft is stiffer in spine.  Anything over 28″ will be weaker spine.

I have a hard time agreeing with the 3 Rivers recommendation of cutting the shafts to 27″ BOP.  That would stiffen the shaft.  Best bet is to start with a full length shaft and work back from that.  If they show too stiff at full length step up to a heavier point.  If they show a weak spine shorten the shaft in 1/2″ increments until they fly better.

As an added item to confuse people even further the size and shape of your fletching will also affect the flight of the arrow.  Short parabolic cut feathers are a little faster.  Shield cut are a tad slower but stabilize the arrow quicker.  A flat Cherokee cut will stabilize even quicker since there is no slope to the front of the fletch.

Now to answer your question about Poplar shafts Kristin.  Poplar is a lesser hardwood and is close to the same weight as a POC.  Maybe a tad heavier.  They take stain and seal well and I have made and sold a lot of them.  I would go with trying a 30# 5/16″ shaft.   Like I said, leave them full length to start.  You can always remove wood but it’s danged hard to put it back on.  Start out with the 125 grain points.  If they show too stiff for your setup find some 100 grain points.

I will look through my boxes of shafting and see if I have some 30#.  If I do we can probably do a deal.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Wood Types for Light Weight Arrows (30-35 Spine)? #136479

Poplar or Lodgepole Pine.  I shoot a lot of Poplar and they have a lot of the same characteristics as POC.  They just don’t smell as nice as POC when you break one.

I lean toward disagreeing with 3 Rivers on the spine selection for your draw length on your 32# bow.  If you are shooting 40# then the 30-35# would be good.  I shoot 40-45# and have a draw length of around 26″  I shoot 35# spine shafts with a 125 grain head.

Dennis

[aeronut]

in reply to: Longbow Selection #136473

I can’t help you with your question.  I have only shot one factory made longbow.  One of the guys in our club had a Hill style longbow, 70#@28.  I shot it maybe a half dozen times.  It shot well but that was 40 years ago and I don’t remember much about it.

I have several longbows that I made myself, all D/R design from 30# to 55#, and love them.

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